
How do you calculate the volatility of a stock?
Mar 17, 2019 · The formula for the volatility of a particular stock can be derived by using the following steps: Firstly, gather daily stock price and then determine the mean of the stock price. Let us assume the daily stock price on... Next, compute the difference between each day’s stock price and the mean ...
What is the best measure of stock price volatility?
Mar 14, 2022 · Calculating Historical Volatility in Excel Step 1: Timeframe. Volatility is a time-bound measurement, meaning that it measures the price swings of an asset or... Step 2: Enter Price Information. After determining your timeframe, the next step is to enter all the closing stock... Step 3: Compute ...
How to calculate volatility correctly?
To calculate the volatility of the prices, we need to: Find the average price: $10 + $12 + $9 + $14 / 4 = $11.25. Calculate the difference between each price and the average price: Day 1: 10 – 11.25 = -1.25. Day 2: 12 – 11.25 = 0.75. Day 3: 9 – 11.25 = -2.25. Day 4: 14 – 11.25 = 2.75.
What is the formula for price volatility?
Feb 17, 2022 · Implied volatility can be calculated from the prices of put and call options. Measuring stock market volatility For individual stocks …

How is stock volatility measured?
What is a good stock volatility?
How is daily volatility calculated?
How is volatility ratio calculated?
Do you want high or low volatility?
Is High volatility good in stocks?
How do you calculate stock?
How do you check stock volatility on Robinhood?
- Tap the Search icon at the bottom of your app.
- Search for a stock symbol.
- In the Stock Information Page, tap Trade, then Trade Options.
- Select the expiration at the top of the screen.
- Select the option from the chain you want to trade.
How do you calculate stock volatility in Excel?
- Step 1: Timeframe. ...
- Step 2: Enter Price Information. ...
- Step 3: Compute Returns. ...
- Step 4: Calculate Standard Deviations. ...
- Step 5: Annualize the Period Volatility.
Explanation of the Volatility Formula
The formula for the volatility of a particular stock can be derived by using the following steps:
Example of Volatility Formula (with Excel Template)
Let us take the example of Apple Inc.’s stock price movement during the last one month, i.e., January 14, 2019, to February 13, 2019. Calculate the daily volatility and annual volatility of Apple Inc. during the period.
Relevance and Use
From the point of view of an investor, it is essential to understand the concept of volatility because it refers to the measure of risk or uncertainty pertaining to the quantum of changes in the value of a security or stock.
Recommended Articles
This article has been a guide to Volatility Formula. Here we discuss how to calculate the Daily and Annualized Volatility and the practical example and downloadable excel sheet. You can learn more about accounting from the following articles –
Traditional Measure of Volatility
Most investors know that standard deviation is the typical statistic used to measure volatility. Standard deviation is simply defined as the square root of the average variance of the data from its mean.
A Simplified Measure of Volatility
Fortunately, there is a much easier and more accurate way to measure and examine risk, through a process known as the historical method. To utilize this method, investors simply need to graph the historical performance of their investments, by generating a chart known as a histogram .
Comparing the Methods
The use of the historical method via a histogram has three main advantages over the use of standard deviation. First, the historical method does not require that investment performance be normally distributed.
Application of the Methodology
How do investors generate a histogram in order to help them examine the risk attributes of their investments?
The Bottom Line
In practical terms, the utilization of a histogram should allow investors to examine the risk of their investments in a manner that will help them gauge the amount of money they stand to make or lose on an annual basis.
The SparkNotes Take: What Is Volatility?
Volatility is the up-and-down change in the price or value of an individual stock or the overall market during a given period of time. Volatility can be measured by comparing current or expected returns against the stock or market’s mean (average), and typically represents a large positive or negative change.
Crunching the (Volatility) Numbers in Excel
For those of you who like to see exactly how numbers work out, here’s how to calculate volatility in Excel:
Behind the Highs and the Lows
Volatility happens every trading day. The reason behind it depends on the stock itself, the stock’s sector, or several other instances.
Thanks for the Info. Now What?
Now that you know what volatility is, how it’s calculated, and what causes it, the next step is to continue living your life and investing in a way that will help you reach your financial goals.
Historical Volatility Strategies
To calculate the volatility of a given security in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, first determine the time frame for which the metric will be computed. For the purposes of this article, a 10-day time period will be used in the example.
Why Volatility Is Important For Investors
While volatility in a stock can sometimes have a bad connotation, many traders and investors actually seek out higher volatility investments. They do this in the hopes of eventually making higher profits. If a stock or other security does not move, it has low volatility. However, it also has a low potential to make capital gains .
Types of Volatility
This measures the fluctuations in the security’s prices in the past. It is used to predict the future movements of prices based on previous trends. However, it does not provide insights regarding the future trend or direction of the security’s price.
Calculating Vol
The simplest approach to determine the volatility of a security is to calculate the standard deviation#N#Standard Deviation From a statistics standpoint, the standard deviation of a data set is a measure of the magnitude of deviations between values of the observations contained#N#of its prices over a period of time.
Sample calculation
You want to find out the volatility of the stock of ABC Corp. for the past four days. The stock prices are given below:
Additional resources
Thank you for reading CFI’s explanation of volatility. CFI is the official provider of the Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA)™#N#Become a Certified Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA)® CFI's Financial Modeling and Valuation Analyst (FMVA)® certification will help you gain the confidence you need in your finance career.
Volatility is an important concept for traders and investors alike
Tim writes about technology and consumer goods stocks for The Motley Fool. He's a value investor at heart, doing his best to avoid hyped-up nonsense. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @TMFBargainBin
What is stock market volatility?
Stock market volatility is a measure of how much the stock market's overall value fluctuates up and down. Beyond the market as a whole, individual stocks can be considered volatile as well. More specifically, you can calculate volatility by looking at how much an asset's price varies from its average price.
Beta and the VIX
For individual stocks, volatility is often encapsulated in a metric called beta. Beta measures a stock's historical volatility relative to the S&P 500 index.
Why is volatility important?
By understanding how volatility works, you can put yourself in a better position to understand the current stock market conditions as a whole, analyze the risk involved with any particular security, and construct a stock portfolio that is a great fit for your growth objectives and risk tolerance.
Exclusive Market Volatility Q&A with Outside Experts
The Motley Fool had the chance to connect with Dr. Suchismita Mishra, a Professor of Finance at Florida International University’s College of Business. Dr. Mishra is an expert on corporate finance, financial markets, and international finance.
Implied Volatility, Definition
Implied volatility is a forward-looking metric that’s designed to gauge how volatile the market may be in the future. This measure of volatility doesn’t predict whether the price of a stock, or any other type of security, will move up or down.
What Implied Volatility Tells Investors
If you’re looking at the stock market in general, then implied volatility is often used as a guide for tracking bullish and bearish swings. When investor sentiment leans toward an increase in prices, then implied volatility may decrease as the market turns bullish.
Implied Volatility and Options
Implied volatility is most often used by options traders and is determined using option pricing models. If you trade options and understand how to read implied volatility, then you can use that information to choose entry or exit points for trades.
How to Calculate Implied Volatility
As mentioned, implied volatility is calculated using an option pricing model. One option is the Black-Scholes model, which factors in current market price of a stock, options strike price, time to expiration and risk-free interest rates. While there is a specific formula for this model, it can be complicated to follow and there’s no room for error.
Using Implied Volatility for Options Trading
Implied volatility is not a magic crystal ball, though it can give you some insight into how the market as a whole views a particular security. When using implied volatility to trade stocks or options, there are other things to consider as well, including:
The Bottom Line
Implied volatility is an important concept to understand if you trade options or plan to add that to your investment repertoire. While implied volatility is not necessarily an exact predictor of stock price movements, it can serve a purpose in helping you make more informed decisions about when to enter or exit an options trade.
Tips for Investing
Consider talking to a financial advisor about how to use implied volatility when making investment decisions. If you don’t have a financial advisor yet, finding one doesn’t have to be complicated. SmartAsset’s financial advisor matching tool makes it easy to connect with professional advisors in your local area. It takes just a few minutes.

Traditional Measure of Volatility
A Simplified Measure of Volatility
- Fortunately, there is a much easier and more accurate way to measure and examine risk, through a process known as the historical method. To utilize this method, investors simply need to graph the historical performance of their investments, by generating a chart known as a histogram. A histogram is a chart that plots the proportion of observations that fall within a host of category r…
Comparing The Methods
- The use of the historical method via a histogram has three main advantages over the use of standard deviation. First, the historical method does not require that investment performance be normally distributed. Second, the impact of skewness and kurtosis is explicitly captured in the histogram chart, which provides investors with the necessary information to mitigate unexpecte…
Application of The Methodology
- How do investors generate a histogram in order to help them examine the risk attributes of their investments? One recommendation is to request the investment performance information from the investment management firms. However, the necessary information can also be obtained by gathering the monthly closing priceof the investment asset, typically found through various sour…
The Bottom Line
- In practical terms, the utilization of a histogram should allow investors to examine the risk of their investments in a manner that will help them gauge the amount of money they stand to make or lose on an annual basis. Given this type of real-world applicability, investors should be less surprised when the markets fluctuate dramatically, and therefore they should feel much more co…