StockVolatilityTwoYears: Analyze 2-Year Historical Volatility

The StockVolatilityTwoYears function helps you quickly measure how much a stock has fluctuated over the past two years in Excel. This function is particularly useful for understanding risk levels, as it uses historical data (approximately 730 days) to calculate the standard deviation of returns. With MarketXLS powering the data, you can easily compare different stocks’ volatility side-by-side—all from the comfort of your Excel spreadsheet.

Why Use This Function?

• Get a quick, straightforward measure of how much a stock fluctuates over a two-year window.
• Identify potentially riskier assets (high volatility) versus more stable assets (low volatility).
• Quickly compare different symbols to guide portfolio balancing and risk management.
• Integrate seamlessly into any Excel workflow for further manipulation, charting, or modeling.
• Useful for short-term or intermediate-term trading strategies that rely on the consistency of price movement.

How to Use in Excel

=StockVolatilityTwoYears(Symbol)

1. In any Excel cell, type “=StockVolatilityTwoYears” followed by the stock’s symbol in parentheses.
2. Press Enter to retrieve the 2-year volatility for that stock’s daily returns.
3. If the ticker symbol is invalid or data is unavailable, the function will return “NA.”
4. If your MarketXLS license is not active, it may also return a licensing message or “NA.”

Once the value populates, you can format the cell for further calculations (e.g., treating it as a percentage to show volatility in percentage terms).

Parameters Explained

• The only required parameter is the Symbol.
• Different symbols will yield different results based on each stock’s historical price and returns data over the last 730 days.

Example Usage

Basic Examples

1. =StockVolatilityTwoYears("MSFT")

   • Provides the 2-year volatility of Microsoft shares.

2. =StockVolatilityTwoYears("AAPL")

   • Retrieves Apple’s 2-year volatility based on its daily returns over the past 730 days.

3. =StockVolatilityTwoYears("GOOG")

   • Quickly get Alphabet’s volatility value to compare with other tech stocks.

In each of these examples, the output is the standard deviation of daily returns for roughly two years. You can interpret larger numbers as higher volatility.

Advanced Scenarios

1. Compare Multiple Stocks:

   • In one row or column, list multiple tickers. In the cells next to them, reference the function. This helps you visualize which stocks have the highest or lowest volatility at a glance.

2. Conditional Formatting:

   • Use Excel’s conditional formatting to highlight values above a certain threshold, making it easy to see which symbols are riskier in terms of daily price movement.

3. Combine with Other MarketXLS Functions:

   • For instance, use StockVolatilityTwoYears in parallel with a function that retrieves historical returns to gain both a raw performance percentage and a volatility measure.

Common Questions and Troubleshooting

1. Why am I getting “NA”?

   • The symbol may be invalid, there may not be enough historical data (fewer than 2 data points for the symbol), or your MarketXLS license might not be active.

2. What happens if data is still refreshing?

   • In some cases, you might receive a “Refreshing” message if the data is being updated at the time of the request. Once the refresh is complete, rerun the function.

3. Is this annualized volatility or daily volatility?

   • The function calculates the standard deviation of daily returns over 730 days. It provides a 2-year perspective on day-to-day volatility.

4. Can I convert the result to a percentage?

   • Yes. Format the cell as a percentage or multiply the result by 100 to interpret it as a percentage figure.

5. What if my data appears skewed due to splits or dividends?

   • By default, the function uses adjusted historical pricing, helping account for splits and dividends in the underlying calculations.

Remember:
• Confirm your license is valid.
• Always enter valid stock tickers.
• A large result indicates higher fluctuation in day-to-day returns, while a smaller result indicates more stable movement.

With these details, you’ll be equipped to measure and compare volatility across a variety of stocks, helping you make more informed investment decisions in your Excel workflow with MarketXLS.