Stock market meltdown: How to track the volatility in near real time for free

The markets are crashing. If you’re interested in keeping track of the carnage in real time, the best way to do that is on a well-curated dashboard. Most dashboards are either a maze of tiny numbers or require subscriptions. Here’s how to watch for free.

To witness the worldwide bloodbath: Click over to Finviz, which shows charts of everything from the S&P 500 to the Nikkei to the Oats and Cocoa markets, all on one screen. It’s the best all-visual global snapshot around.
To watch the U.S. slide into recession: Finviz is also your friend. In addition to charts of the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq, a cluster diagram on the right maps top stocks in each industry (today it is blood red). Below, see dozens of the day’s most noteworthy stocks, such as top gainers, top losers, most volatile, unusual volume, etc.
For a country-by-country snapshot: Head to Barchart, where you can see currencies and U.S.-traded global stocks and ETFs, country-by-country, all in one place.

Note that these dashboards are not quite real-time—they typically have a 15-minute delay, which is close enough for most of us.

A word of calm: Though the markets are in a tailspin from the new coronavirus outbreak, remember that back in May 2015, the Dow peaked at just 18,312. Just a few weeks ago, it was up nearly 40%, at 29,551.  We have arguably been in a bubble for a while, and at the very least, a major market correction was in the cards, with or without coronavirus.