Measuring Ranges: Points or Percent?

Statistical Mapping

Measuring Ranges: Points or Percent?

13.01.2025

When analyzing market movements, traders often measure price ranges to understand trends and volatility. The way these ranges are measured—either in points or percentages—can reveal unique insights about market behavior over time. This post explores the distinction between these metrics and demonstrates their implications using historical examples.

Measuring Price

The 'Price Range' measuring tool in TradingView provides three key metrics:

Points: This value shows the absolute price difference between the two points selected on the chart. In this example, it's a 1,770-point move.
Percentage: This represents the percentage change relative to the starting price. Here, the range corresponds to an 8.56% move.
Ticks: This indicates the number of ticks between the two points, reflecting the smallest price movement intervals. In this case, it's 7,080 ticks, which can vary based on the selected market and timeframe.

1000 Points Over the Years

This comparison highlights how a 1,000-point move in the market differs over time:

2010: It took over a year to achieve this 1,000-point range, representing a 32% increase relative to the starting price.
2019: The same 1,000-point range took just about a month, shrinking the percentage change to 11%.
2024: The move occurred in only 3 days, with the percentage impact reduced further to just 5%.

These examples show how absolute price ranges can become less impactful as the market grows. While the number of points remains consistent, the percentage change decreases over time, reflecting the evolving scale and volatility of the market.

StatMap Settings

The StatMap indicators offers the flexibility to measure ranges in either Points or Percent. This choice is essential for tailoring the analysis to different market conditions:

Percent: This option is particularly useful for assets like indices or cryptocurrencies (e.g., Bitcoin), where price ranges have grown significantly over time. Measuring in percentages allows for a better understanding of relative movements and market behavior. It becomes even more helpful when price is observed over a longer period of time, such as when the Maximum Lookback setting is enabled in StatMap, providing a broader historical perspective.
Points: This is more relevant for markets with stable price ranges, such as Forex pairs, where absolute values remain relatively consistent over time. However, this option can also be of interest when analyzing recent volatility measurements with a smaller Lookback setting in StatMap.

By switching between these options, traders can adapt their analysis to the specific dynamics of the asset being studied, ensuring more accurate and meaningful insights.

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