Indicator 13

VIX Spike Radar

Four independent stress readings, one dial: how loaded is the spring under this market?

Own pane · Daily · Any chart; data comes from the volatility complex

The VIX Spike Radar combines four independent stress readings into one dial, so a single stretched input cannot light it up alone. It answers how loaded the spring is across the whole volatility complex rather than how high one number happens to be today.

What it shows

A stepped dial from 0 (nothing) to 4 (every component firing at once).
Component one: tail-risk skew stretched versus its own history.
Component two: the VIX term structure flipping out of its normal shape.
Component three: a calm-tape read, when implied and realized volatility are both unusually quiet while the spread between them stays wide.
A persistence rule: a level only confirms after three straight sessions, so one-day blips never page you.

How it reads the market

No single volatility reading is trustworthy on its own; stretched skew alone is noise, and so is one quiet tape. This radar only escalates when independent readings stack, and the dial tells you how many are on. It reads best as a risk-posture tool: the higher the tier, the less you want to be caught leaning long without protection.

Settings

Setting	Default	What it does
Gauge timeframe	Daily	The radar computes on this timeframe, independent of the chart.
Component thresholds	desk defaults	Each reading's stretch levels are inputs.
Persistence	3 sessions	How long a level must hold before it confirms.

Everything is an input: colors, thresholds and time windows adjust from the indicator's settings panel, no code needed.

Built-in alerts

Tier 2 confirmed
Tier 3 confirmed
Tier 4 confirmed

Set them once from TradingView's alert dialog and get notified on your phone, no chart-watching required.

Comes with the membership

The whole indicator suite is included with the paid plan, $20/month or $200/year. Subscribe, submit your TradingView username, and the scripts land in your TradingView library.

Get full access

How to add it to your chart

Request access above with your TradingView username (one request covers the whole suite).
We grant it on TradingView, usually within 24 hours; TradingView notifies you.
On your chart, open Indicators → Invite-only scripts and add VIX Spike Radar.

When to use it, and when not to

It earns its place when

You want a stress read that does not hinge on the VIX alone.
You are sizing risk into a drawdown and need to know how far the stretch has gone.
You already use the VIX Spike Meter and want the wider picture behind it.

Leave it off the chart when

You need a precise entry. A loaded spring says nothing about when it releases.
Volatility is repricing structurally rather than spiking. Stress gauges assume a return to normal.
You want a single clean number to act on. Four inputs disagreeing is information, and this tool will show you that disagreement rather than hide it.

Common questions

What four readings does it combine?

Independent measures of volatility stress rather than four views of the same number. That independence is the design: correlated inputs would just be the VIX wearing hats, and the dial would spike whenever the VIX did.

How is this different from the VIX Spike Meter?

The Meter scores one input against its own history and gives you a fast read on fear. The Radar asks how much stress has built across the complex. Use the Meter for today, the Radar for the state of the market.

What does a fully loaded reading mean?

That several independent stress measures are stretched at once. Historically that clusters near turning points. It also happens in the middle of real crises, on the way down.

Can it stay loaded for a long time?

Yes, and that is the honest limitation of every stress gauge. Extreme readings persisted for weeks in 2008 and 2020. Extreme means unusual, never imminent.