Calculating CAGR and Total Growth Across Chart Timeframes

Summary

The document explains an indicator that reports compound annual growth rate (CAGR) and total percentage growth between an asset’s first and latest available closing prices. CAGR annualizes the change using the elapsed period count, while the growth rate gives the unannualized change. The indicator selects annual period assumptions according to chart frequency: 12 periods for monthly data, 52 for weekly data, and 252 for daily or shorter data. It also displays the period count and results on the chart.

The method offers a way to compare growth over different durations and data frequencies, but its outputs depend on the selected start and end values and on the period-count assumptions. The document does not provide performance tests or discuss dividends, fees, deposits and withdrawals, or the effects of choosing a different measurement window. Its description says intraday charts count elapsed days, while the code uses day changes for timeframes at or below one day; users should check how the indicator counts periods in their platform before relying on the annualized figure.

Key ideas

• CAGR annualizes the change from an initial asset value to a final value.
• Total growth reports the percentage change without annualizing it.
• The calculation uses different annual period assumptions for monthly, weekly, and daily or shorter charts.
• The displayed results depend on the selected price endpoints and period-count method.
• The document does not evaluate the indicator’s performance or account for cash flows and costs.

Tags

This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.