Why this compare exists
VIX, MOVE, credit spreads, FCIs, Cleveland Fed SRI — priced or near-coincident stress versus sealed structural clocks.
Desks search for "Market stress gauges" and need a clean answer on what object they are buying. This bulletin syndicates the Index-native contrast — not a trash piece, a category map.
When Market stress gauges wins
- You need daily market risk for trading books, FCI dashboards, or banking-stress market reads.
- The mandate is priced financial conditions — not human-system thermodynamics.
- You are diligencing central-bank or dealer research series as research inputs.
When Entropy Index wins
- Gauges are calm and you still need a structural read.
- You need Watch vs Act and sealed episode clocks for the IC.
- You want sealed clocks on the same physics as the live face.
Sealed proof anchor
Watch and Act both lit dual Crisis by March 2008 — 6 months before Lehman. — GFC sealed backtest.
Full compare
Read the dimension table and Q&A. Instrument literacy stays on /research.