V.11:11 (472-476): SIDEBAR: RANDOM WALK INDEX SPREADSHEET by Thom Hartle, Editor

SIDEBAR: RANDOM WALK INDEX SPREADSHEET by Thom Hartle, Editor

Sidebar Figure 1 is a bar chart with 10 days of simulated data; today's current high and low are plotted as if the market is still trading. The random walk index of the lows can measure if today's low price indicates that the market is trending or just in a random trading range. Sidebar Figure 2 is an example of setting up an Excel spreadsheet for creating the random walk index for lows. This spreadsheet is set up with the most current day's data in the bottom row. Remember that the denominator for the index uses the average range of the lookback period multiplied by the square root of the number of the days of the lookback period. The average range uses the true range, which is the greatest of two comparisons: today's high minus today's low or yesterday's close minus today's low.