Gopalakrishnan Range Index

Some investment assets are more volatile than others. Before trading or investing in an asset, it helps to know if it'll take some time before reaching your profit target or if it will be a shorter-term trade. The Gopalakrishnan Range Index (or GAPO) determines the range of price moves for different assets and identifies which investments are more volatile and which tend to move in slow and consistent trends.

Calculating the Gopalakrishnan Range Index

The indicator takes the log of the difference between the highest high and lowest low of a specific period and divides it by the log of the chosen period. The formula is as follows:

$$GAPO = [Log (Highest\nobreakspace highₙ - lowest\nobreakspace lowₙ)]/Log(n)$$

Charting the Gopalakrishnan Range Index

Say you're trying to decide whether to protect your portfolio by investing in the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF), Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLU), and iShares 1–3 Year Treasury Bond ETF (SHY). However, the stock market still seems to favor mega tech stocks. Wouldn't investing in a high-flying stock like Nvidia (NVDA) make more sense?

In StockChartsACP, under Chart Settings, add the Gopalakrishnan Range Index from the Standard Indicators list.

The chart below shows the indicator in the chart of SHY. Note that GAPO is at -0.25 and over the last six months, the highest value was just slightly above zero.

The Gopalakrishnan Range Index applied to iShares 1–3 year Treasury Bond ETF (SHY).

If you're looking to take advantage of a market where mega tech stocks are moving higher quickly and you decided to invest in SHY, you should be prepared to wait for a very long time before making an acceptable investment return.