{"slug":"what-is-the-vix","qid":"vol_product_drift","label":"Median daily percent change: VXX against SPY, by calendar year","post_title":"What Is the VIX? What It Really Measures","post_url":"/blog/what-is-the-vix#q-vol_product_drift","columns":["year","vxx_median_daily_pct","spy_median_daily_pct","vxx_sessions"],"rows":[{"year":2020,"vxx_median_daily_pct":-1.038,"spy_median_daily_pct":0.226,"vxx_sessions":253},{"year":2021,"vxx_median_daily_pct":-0.906,"spy_median_daily_pct":0.134,"vxx_sessions":252},{"year":2022,"vxx_median_daily_pct":-0.588,"spy_median_daily_pct":-0.181,"vxx_sessions":251},{"year":2023,"vxx_median_daily_pct":-0.971,"spy_median_daily_pct":0.071,"vxx_sessions":250},{"year":2024,"vxx_median_daily_pct":-0.533,"spy_median_daily_pct":0.103,"vxx_sessions":252},{"year":2025,"vxx_median_daily_pct":-0.372,"spy_median_daily_pct":0.133,"vxx_sessions":250},{"year":2026,"vxx_median_daily_pct":-0.169,"spy_median_daily_pct":0.136,"vxx_sessions":123}],"shape":"ranking","sql":"WITH d AS (\n    SELECT ticker, date, toFloat64(close) AS c\n    FROM global_markets.stocks_daily_aggs\n    WHERE ticker IN ('VXX', 'SPY')\n      AND date >= toDate('2020-01-01')\n      AND date < toDate('2026-07-01')\n),\nr AS (\n    SELECT ticker,\n           date,\n           toYear(date) AS year,\n           (c / any(c) OVER (PARTITION BY ticker ORDER BY date ROWS BETWEEN 1 PRECEDING AND 1 PRECEDING) - 1) * 100 AS ret_pct\n    FROM d\n)\nSELECT year,\n       round(quantileDeterministicIf(0.5)(ret_pct, toUInt64(toYYYYMMDD(date)), ticker = 'VXX'), 3) AS vxx_median_daily_pct,\n       round(quantileDeterministicIf(0.5)(ret_pct, toUInt64(toYYYYMMDD(date)), ticker = 'SPY'), 3) AS spy_median_daily_pct,\n       countIf(ticker = 'VXX') AS vxx_sessions\nFROM r\nWHERE year >= 2020\nGROUP BY year\nORDER BY year","computed_at":"2026-08-14T14:35:09.982019+00:00","elapsed":0.00282854}