Glossary term
VIXEQ (Constituent Volatility Index)
Cboe's gauge of the average expected volatility of S&P 500 members — a 'single-stock VIX'; its gap to VIX reflects implied correlation and dispersion.
VIXEQ — the Cboe S&P 500 Constituent Volatility Index (INDEXCBOE: VIXEQ) — measures the average expected 30-day implied volatility of the individual stocks in the S&P 500, rather than of the index itself. It is effectively a 'single-stock VIX': where VIX prices the volatility of the basket, VIXEQ prices the average volatility of its members. Because index moves net out offsetting single-name moves, VIXEQ normally sits above VIX, and the spread between the two is a read on implied correlation and dispersion — wide when stocks are expected to move independently, narrow when they move together. A regime where single-stock vol rises alongside a rising index ('stock up, vol up' — a positive S&P / VIXEQ relationship) flags idiosyncratic, dispersion-driven trade rather than the usual inverse VIX-to-index reflex, and it is the backdrop in which vanna- and gamma-squeeze-style single-name dynamics tend to dominate.