# Ulcer Index

`D07-F06-A03` · 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/ulcer-index/
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 { ulcerIndex } from "fintech-algorithms/technical-indicators/range-and-volatility-indicators/ulcer-index";
```

## Signature

```ts
ulcerIndex(input)
```

Ulcer Index: the root mean square of the percentage drawdown from the running peak close, measured across a window of `period` bars.

## 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 only `period` (default 14, integer >= 2), the width of the root-mean-square window. |

## Returns

`TopicResult`

`series` holds a single key, `value`, and `latest.value` is its last reading. The warm-up is `period - 1` leading nulls, so `ready_at` is 13 at the default period.

## Warm-up

The first ``period - 1` bars (13 at the default period)` positions are `null`. The drawdown of each bar against the running peak close is available from the first bar, but the root-mean-square needs a full `period`-bar window before it emits. The peak itself is expanding, not windowed, so it always starts at the first bar supplied.

## Errors

- When `parameters.period` is not an integer >= 2 — throws Error
- When a bar is missing open, high, low, close, or volume, or one of them is not a finite number — throws Error
- When bars are not strictly ordered by timestamp, or a bar's high is below its open, low, or close — throws Error

## Complexity

Time `O(n * period)`, 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
ulcerIndex(input)
```

### Returns

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

```json
{
  "topic_id": "D07-F06-A03",
  "title": "Ulcer Index",
  "state": "calculated",
  "ready": true,
  "ready_at": 13,
  "series": {
    "value": [null, null, null, null, null, null]
  },
  "latest": {
    "value": 4.221368476494294
  },
  "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/ulcer-index/
- Implementation source: https://github.com/IslamBaraka90/Fintech-Algorithms-Library/blob/main/src/technical-indicators/range-and-volatility-indicators/ulcer-index/impl.ts
- Package on npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/fintech-algorithms
- Domain index for agents: https://docs.thefintechbuilder.com/technical-indicators/llms.txt