In the table below the total numbers of daily moves made by the DJIA and the S&P 500 have been compiled going to the beginning of our database. Daily percentage moves have been broken down into three separate columns based upon the size of the move and the year in which it occurred and then sorted by +1/-1 days, fewest to greatest. Next to each year, the total number of trading days in that year is also been listed. Since Saturday trading ceased in May 1952, each year since has approximately 252 trading days.

 

Last year, 2017 stands out for being one of the least volatile years in history. DJIA registered just 10 trading days in 2017 that had moves in excess of 1% which was the third fewest since 1901. S&P 500 tied for third place with 8 trading days. For those pondering how long such a low volatility streak could last; S&P 500 recorded three consecutive years, 1963, 1964 and 1965 with 8 or less trading days with moves in excess of +1% or -1%. A similar duration streak today could last until 2020 begins.

 

The sorting of the data also confirms that low volatility is most often associated with solid annual gains. However, at the bottom of the table high volatility is not always associated with losses as elevated volatility tends to persist after a major market bottom. A recent example would be 2009.