# Chaikin Volatility

`D07-F06-A02` · Technical Indicators → Range and Volatility Indicators · archetype `series-transform` · difficulty 2/5 · verification **verified**

Full page: https://docs.thefintechbuilder.com/technical-indicators/range-and-volatility-indicators/chaikin-volatility/
Agent skill: `npx skills add IslamBaraka90/Fintech-Algorithms-Library` — https://docs.thefintechbuilder.com/guides/agent-skill/

## Install and import

```bash
npm install fintech-algorithms
```

```ts
import { chaikinVolatility } from "fintech-algorithms/technical-indicators/range-and-volatility-indicators/chaikin-volatility";
```

## Signature

```ts
chaikinVolatility(input)
```

Chaikin Volatility: the percentage change, `roc_period` bars apart, in an exponential moving average of the bar's high-low range.

## Parameters

| Name | Type | Required | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `input` | `TopicInput` | yes | `bars` is the required OHLCV array -- each bar carries `timestamp`, `open`, `high`, `low`, `close`, `volume` and an optional `basis`, strictly ordered by timestamp. From `parameters` this topic reads `period` (default 14, integer >= 2), the EMA length applied to `high - low`, and `roc_period` (default 10, integer >= 1), the rate-of-change lookback. |

## Returns

`TopicResult`

`series` holds a single key, `value`, the percentage change in the smoothed range; `latest.value` is its last reading. The warm-up is `period - 1 + roc_period` leading nulls, so `ready_at` is 23 at the defaults.

## Warm-up

The first ``period - 1 + roc_period` bars (23 at the defaults)` positions are `null`. The EMA of the range seeds at index `period - 1`, and the rate of change needs a smoothed value `roc_period` bars earlier. `value` is additionally null on any bar whose lagged EMA is exactly zero.

## Errors

- When `parameters.period` is not an integer >= 2 — throws Error
- When `parameters.roc_period` is not an integer >= 1 — throws Error
- When a bar is missing open, high, low, close, or volume, or one of them is not a finite number — throws Error

## Complexity

Time `O(n)`, space `O(n)`.

## Worked example

Captured by running this function on the input its own test provides. Real output of real code — but not asserted against a published figure.

### Input

`input`:

```json
{
  "bars": [
    {
      "timestamp": "2024-01-02",
      "basis": "synthetic-unadjusted",
      "open": 100,
      "high": 101.45,
      "low": 98.695,
      "close": 100,
      "volume": 750000,
      "benchmark": 200
    },
    {
      "timestamp": "2024-01-03",
      "basis": "synthetic-unadjusted",
      "open": 101.49111452,
      "high": 103.38381693,
      "low": 100.05480022,
      "close": 101.78791214,
      "volume": 795117,
      "benchmark": 200.56326135
    },
    {
      "timestamp": "2024-01-04",
      "basis": "synthetic-unadjusted",
      "open": 102.45519048,
      "high": 104.6701838,
      "low": 100.91147007,
      "close": 102.9549389,
      "volume": 840234,
      "benchmark": 201.11020913
    }
  ],
  "parameters": {}
}
```

### Call

```ts
chaikinVolatility(input)
```

### Returns

object with 9 fields: topic_id, title, state, ready, ready_at, series, latest, parameters, …

```json
{
  "topic_id": "D07-F06-A02",
  "title": "Chaikin Volatility",
  "state": "calculated",
  "ready": true,
  "ready_at": 23,
  "series": {
    "value": [null, null, null, null, null, null]
  },
  "latest": {
    "value": 11.096464053974685
  },
  "parameters": {},
  "diagnostics": {
    "causal": true,
    "input_count": 96
  }
}
```

## Verification and provenance

Tier: **verified** (via E).

The worked example below is the figure published in this algorithm's article, replayed and asserted by the test suite on every build. The arithmetic cannot drift without the build failing.

Both tiers guarantee the signature. Full explanation: https://docs.thefintechbuilder.com/guides/verification/

Generated from the docs.json payload shipped inside fintech-algorithms@0.13.0.
The signature and parameter list are checked against the compiled implementation at build time,
so a description that contradicts the code fails the build rather than reaching this file.

## Links

- Article (how it works, step by step): https://thefintechbuilder.com/technical-indicators/range-and-volatility-indicators/chaikin-volatility/
- Implementation source: https://github.com/IslamBaraka90/Fintech-Algorithms-Library/blob/main/src/technical-indicators/range-and-volatility-indicators/chaikin-volatility/impl.ts
- Package on npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/fintech-algorithms
- Domain index for agents: https://docs.thefintechbuilder.com/technical-indicators/llms.txt