GAPO: Measuring Price-Range Volatility with a Logarithmic Oscillator

Summary

GAPO, or the Gopalakrishnan Range Index Oscillator, is presented as a way to quantify how an instrument’s trading range changes over a chosen lookback period. It uses price action alone: find the highest and lowest prices in the period, take the logarithm of their range, and divide by the logarithm of the period length. The default interval is five days, and the indicator has one adjustable input: its period.

The document attributes the indicator to Jayanthi Gopalakrishnan and connects its motivation to work by Benoit Mandelbrot on the changing nature of financial markets. It describes the calculation but gives no trading rules, empirical tests, or evidence that GAPO predicts returns. The formula also leaves implementation details such as handling zero or invalid ranges unstated. GAPO is therefore best understood here as a range-based volatility measure, not a complete strategy or a validated signal.

Key ideas

• GAPO summarizes the high-to-low price range over a selected lookback period.
• Its calculation uses the logarithm of the range divided by the logarithm of the period length.
• The indicator relies on price data and has one input parameter, the calculation period.
• The document explains the formula but provides no performance evidence or entry and exit rules.

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