I built the WFF Vol Dashboard because I kept getting caught off-guard. I would plan a trade on NQ, size it like a normal day, and then find out mid-session that VIX had been elevated all morning and the instrument was breathing 3x its usual range. That is an avoidable mistake. The dashboard exists so you check the vol regime before you touch size.
Here is what it does, how to set it up on TradingView, and how to replicate the same read in Sierra Chart.
What the Indicator Shows and Why It Matters
The Vol Dashboard pulls three instruments in real time.
- VIX (CBOE:VIX). The 30-day implied vol on S&P options. This is your primary regime signal. Below 15 is low and calm. 15 to 20 is normal. 20 to 30 is elevated and you adjust. Above 30 is high-vol and you cut size hard or step aside depending on your strategy.
- VVIX (CBOE:VVIX). The vol of VIX. This tells you how unstable the vol regime itself is. A VVIX reading above 120 means VIX could spike or crash quickly. Even if VIX is at 18, a VVIX near 130 is a warning that the calm may not hold.
- MOVE (TVC:MOVE). The bond market equivalent of VIX, measuring implied vol in Treasuries. When MOVE spikes, it usually means macro risk is repricing. NQ especially hates that environment. I watch MOVE as a secondary filter because bond market stress tends to lead equity stress by a few hours on big macro days.
All three are displayed together with color-coded background cells that flip based on threshold levels. Green cells mean low regime, amber means elevated, red means high. You read it in under two seconds before the open and it informs everything: whether you trade at full size, reduced size, or not at all that session.
The practical value is not finding specific entries. It is calibrating the container. A 1-lot trade on NQ in a low-vol regime carries very different dollar risk than that same 1-lot in a high-vol regime. If VIX jumps to 28, the instrument is breathing harder and your stop needs to be wider. The dashboard keeps you honest about that math.
How to Use It on TradingView
TradingView is where most people will run this. The indicator uses request.security() calls to pull CBOE:VIX, CBOE:VVIX, and TVC:MOVE into a single pane alongside whatever chart you are on. You do not need to open separate tabs for each symbol.
- Open the Pine Script editor. In TradingView, click the Pine Editor tab at the bottom of the screen. You will paste or load the WFF Vol Dashboard script here.
- Load the script. If you have access through the WFF community, the script will appear in your TradingView Invite-Only scripts. Search "WFF Vol Dashboard" in the indicator search bar after it has been shared with your account. If you are building your own version, the core data calls are
request.security("CBOE:VIX", timeframe.period, close), the same pattern for CBOE:VVIX, and request.security("TVC:MOVE", timeframe.period, close).
- Add it to a new pane. When you add the indicator, choose to display it in a new pane below your main chart rather than overlaid on price. It renders as a table or set of labeled value cells, not a standard line plot, so it reads better in its own pane.
- Set your timeframe intentionally. I run the dashboard on a daily chart in a separate tab pinned to the left of my workspace, so the regime read is always based on daily closes. The intraday values update live, but daily context is what matters for pre-session planning. You can also pin a 15-minute chart with the dashboard for real-time regime drift during the session.
- Read the color state before every session. The cells change color based on hardcoded thresholds. VIX: green below 15, amber 15 to 20, orange 20 to 30, red above 30. VVIX: green below 100, amber 100 to 120, red above 120. MOVE: green below 90, amber 90 to 110, red above 110. When two or more cells are amber or red, I drop to my minimum contract size and tighten targets to 1R.
- Set an alert on VIX crossing 20. In TradingView, you can right-click on the VIX line and create a condition alert. I use "VIX crosses above 20" as a mid-session notification so I catch regime shifts that happen after the open.
One thing I learned the hard way: do not bury the dashboard inside the same chart as your trade. Keep it on a dedicated monitor or pinned tab. If it is out of sight, you will stop checking it. The whole point is that it is always visible and always current.
How to Use It in Sierra Chart
Sierra Chart does not pull CBOE:VIX or TVC:MOVE directly the way TradingView does. You either use a DTC-connected data feed that carries those symbols, or you replicate the regime read using Sierra Chart's built-in study tools. Here are two approaches that actually work.
Approach 1: Symbol-based subgraph (if your data feed carries VIX). If you are connected to CQG, Rithmic, or another Sierra-compatible feed that carries index symbols, you can create a chart study with multiple subgraphs. Open a new chart window set to the VIX symbol (often listed as $VIX.X or VX00 depending on feed), then add it as a study to your main NQ chart using the "Symbol Study" built-in. Repeat for VVIX and MOVE. Display each as a subgraph in a lower pane with colored horizontal reference lines at the threshold values. Right-click each subgraph, go to "Subgraph Settings," and set the color to change based on a user-defined input or hardcoded value using a conditional color formula in the ACSIL custom study layer.
Approach 2: Spreadsheet Study (simplest, always available). This is the method I recommend if you are not on a full data feed for index symbols. Sierra Chart's built-in Spreadsheet Study lets you write cell formulas against any study value on any chart.
- Open the Spreadsheet Study from the Studies menu. Name it "Vol Regime."
- In the spreadsheet cells, reference the last close of VIX from a secondary chart window you keep open:
=SC_GET_CHART_CLOSE(VIXChartNumber, 0) where VIXChartNumber is the Sierra Chart number of your VIX window.
- Add a conditional cell that outputs a regime label: if VIX cell is below 15, output 1 (low). 15 to 20, output 2 (normal). 20 to 30, output 3 (elevated). Above 30, output 4 (high).
- Map that output value to a subgraph with color regions using Sierra Chart's study color-by-value feature. The pane will then show a colored bar that matches your regime, the same visual cue as the TradingView version.
- Repeat the formula pattern for VVIX and MOVE chart windows if your feed carries them, or track MOVE manually from a browser tab with the TVC:MOVE chart running on TradingView.
The Sierra approach takes about 30 minutes to set up the first time. Once it is done, you save the chartbook and it persists. The Spreadsheet Study approach is less elegant than a fully coded ACSIL study but it requires zero C++ and any Sierra user can do it. If you want the full ACSIL version, the WFF community has the compiled .dll available for members.
How to Combine It with the Rest of Your Plan
The Vol Dashboard is a pre-trade filter, not an entry trigger. Here is how I actually use it in my session workflow.
Before the open, I check the dashboard. If all three cells are green or at most one amber, I trade my normal plan at normal size. If two cells are amber, I cut size by one-third and move my targets closer to 1R. If any cell is red, I either step down to minimum size or watch only, depending on the strategy. Breakout and momentum setups can work in elevated vol. Mean-reversion setups get crushed. The regime tells me which playbook to pull.
During the session, VVIX is the one I watch for acceleration signals. If VVIX starts climbing while VIX is already elevated, that is a sign the move could extend further or reverse violently. Either way, tighter management is the answer.
MOVE is most relevant around macro events: FOMC, CPI, NFP. In the hours before a major print, MOVE tends to spike as bond traders hedge. I use that as a cue to reduce overnight exposure and tighten stops on any open positions, especially on NQ which is very sensitive to rate repricing.
The dashboard also helps me log context for each trade. I note the VIX reading in my trade journal alongside every entry. After a few months you start to see whether your setups actually hold edge in elevated vol or whether you have been accidentally trading only in low-vol regimes. Most setups are not regime-independent.
Test Your Setup Across Different Vol Regimes
Knowing the current regime is one thing. Knowing whether your specific strategy holds up across low, elevated, and high-vol environments is another. Try this: describe your NQ mean-reversion setup and ask the Backtest Lab to run it filtered to sessions where VIX was above 20. You will get a real backtest with profit factor, drawdown, and a forward-test verdict. Most setups fail that filter. Good to know before you trade them live.
Backtest Credits unlock the Qualified tier of the WFF Backtest Lab, giving you full access to regime-filtered strategy testing and saved strategy reports.
For more setups and indicator breakdowns, head over to the WFF blog where I cover the full toolkit we use on live NQ and ES sessions.
This is educational content only and is not financial advice. Past results, whether backtested or forward-tested, do not guarantee future results. Most short-term traders lose money. Trade with capital you can afford to lose and always use a defined risk plan.