Chaikin Volatility Calculator
Calculate the percentage change between the current high-low range EMA and its value a stated number of completed bars earlier, with every comparison visible.
Enter two periods and ordered HLC bars
Use completed bars from one symbol, timeframe and broker feed. High minus low drives the calculation; close is retained for row validation.
One completed bar per line. Close must lie inside the high-low range. Separate values with commas, semicolons or tabs.
Latest Chaikin Volatility arithmetic
Entered Chaikin Volatility, KST and SMI 1.0.0.
| Label | Index | High | Low | Close | High-low | Range EMA | Comparison index | Comparison EMA | Difference | CHV (%) | State |
|---|
How Chaikin Volatility is calculated
EMA alpha = 2 ÷ (smoothing period + 1)
CHV[i] = 100 × (Range EMA[i] − Range EMA[i − change period]) ÷ Range EMA[i − change period]
Version 1.0.0 seeds the EMA at row zero with the first entered high-low range. It reports only when the current and comparison EMA positions are both beyond the smoothing warm-up.
Unlike Average True Range, this formula does not use the previous close and therefore does not incorporate gaps outside each entered bar.
Assumptions and limits
- Smoothing period must be a whole number from 2 to 200; change period must be from 1 to 200.
- At least smoothing period plus change period ordered HLC rows are required.
- A zero lagged range EMA makes the percentage change undefined and is rejected.
- Rows must use one symbol, timeframe and broker feed.
- Volatility state, expansion, contraction, direction, timing and recommendation labels are withheld.
Worked example from the audited fixture
How to interpret the result
The positive percentage means the smoothed entered high-low range is larger than its value ten rows earlier. It does not measure gap-aware true range, forecast future volatility or establish a direction signal.
Frequently asked questions
- Enter smoothing and change periods plus at least their sum in ordered high-low-close rows from one consistent source.
- Each source value is current high minus current low; close is retained for validation and audit context.
- Version 1.0.0 starts the EMA from the first entered high-low range at zero-based index zero.
- It is one hundred times current range EMA minus its change-period lag, divided by that lagged EMA.
- It appears at zero-based index smoothing period minus one plus change period, so both EMA positions are beyond the stated warm-up.
- Chaikin Volatility uses each bar high minus low and does not use the previous close or include an outside gap.
- The percentage change is undefined, so version 1.0.0 rejects it instead of inventing a value.
- No. Volatility state, expansion, contraction, direction, timing, entry and exit interpretations are withheld.
Sources and methodology
- MetaQuotes Code Base — Chaikin Volatility — Published high-low range EMA percentage-change formula and default 10/10 periods.
Compare entered volatility measures
Compare the chart feed and trading terms
Use one broker feed, symbol and timeframe for every entered observation, and compare the source history with your terminal before relying on a platform match.
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