# How to get volatility data (VIX, VXTLT, etc.)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Alpaca Market Data\ **Created:** [October 6, 2020, 7:02pm UTC](https://forum.alpaca.markets/t/how-to-get-volatility-data-vix-vxtlt-etc/2907 "2020-10-06T19:02:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kjm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d26b3c/32.png) [@kjm](https://forum.alpaca.markets/u/kjm)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 7:02pm UTC](https://forum.alpaca.markets/t/how-to-get-volatility-data-vix-vxtlt-etc/2907/1 "2020-10-06T19:02:25Z")
Here’s what I get when I make an API call for VIX… > { > “code”: 40410000, > “message”: “asset not found for VIX” > } Am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![dan\_whitnable](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.alpaca.markets/dan_whitnable/32/1323_2.png) [@dan\_whitnable](https://forum.alpaca.markets/u/dan_whitnable)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 7:20pm UTC](https://forum.alpaca.markets/t/how-to-get-volatility-data-vix-vxtlt-etc/2907/2 "2020-10-06T19:20:40Z")
Alpaca only has data on US equities. VIX and VXTLT are CBOE Indexes (ie not equities). One can get a good proxy of VIX by looking at VIXY and VXX which are the ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF, and iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN respectively. ---
**Author:** ![kjm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d26b3c/32.png) [@kjm](https://forum.alpaca.markets/u/kjm)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://forum.alpaca.markets/t/how-to-get-volatility-data-vix-vxtlt-etc/2907/3 "2020-10-06T19:28:48Z")
Hi @dan_whitnable. Thanks for the reply. I actually tried backtesting with VXX instead of VIX, but found they don’t track close enough for my purposes. Any other good APIs out there that have CBOE’s products? ---
**Author:** ![kjm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d26b3c/32.png) [@kjm](https://forum.alpaca.markets/u/kjm)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2020, 6:24pm UTC](https://forum.alpaca.markets/t/how-to-get-volatility-data-vix-vxtlt-etc/2907/4 "2020-10-07T18:24:36Z")
If anyone is interested, I’m trying out CBOE’s LiveVol Data for now. Seems to be what I need. ---
**Author:** ![cispino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@cispino](https://forum.alpaca.markets/u/cispino)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 10:28pm UTC](https://forum.alpaca.markets/t/how-to-get-volatility-data-vix-vxtlt-etc/2907/5 "2020-11-05T22:28:41Z")
Hello, I would like to know more on how you are getting the VIX from CBOE’s liveVol Data. I found this link here [https://api.livevol.com/v1/docs/Help/Api/GET-market-symbols-symbols\_seqno](https://api.livevol.com/v1/docs/Help/Api/GET-market-symbols-symbols_seqno) but I’m getting back weird values and no date info. Any insight would be appreciated Thanks ---
**Author:** ![kjm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d26b3c/32.png) [@kjm](https://forum.alpaca.markets/u/kjm)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2020, 2:04pm UTC](https://forum.alpaca.markets/t/how-to-get-volatility-data-vix-vxtlt-etc/2907/6 "2020-11-06T14:04:49Z")
I signed up for the 1-month free trial and no problems hitting this endpoint. [https://sandbox.livevol.com/api/v1/delayed/market/symbols/](https://sandbox.livevol.com/api/v1/delayed/market/symbols/) It’s old data, but that’s fine for development/test purposes. I ultimately decided not to go down the CBOE path after getting a look at their subscription prices - too rich for my blood. ---
**Author:** ![Johnpaul\_Williams](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.alpaca.markets/johnpaul_williams/32/8323_2.png) [@Johnpaul\_Williams](https://forum.alpaca.markets/u/Johnpaul_Williams)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2026, 5:45am UTC](https://forum.alpaca.markets/t/how-to-get-volatility-data-vix-vxtlt-etc/2907/7 "2026-05-27T05:45:55Z")
Did anyone ever find a reliable for real time VIX data free? ---
**Author:** ![torobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@torobot](https://forum.alpaca.markets/u/torobot)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2026, 3:50am UTC](https://forum.alpaca.markets/t/how-to-get-volatility-data-vix-vxtlt-etc/2907/8 "2026-05-28T03:50:26Z")
you can get VIX, VVIX and a few others free from yahoo finance (yfinance). The data is 15 minutes delayed, but historical data is good enough for backtesting. the ticker symbols are ‘^VIX’ and ‘^VVIX’