# Michael Parkinson

In 1980 Michael Parkinson estimated volatility from each day’s high and low instead of its close: σ̂² = (ln(H/L))² / (4 ln 2).

For a price that moves like a random walk, the range is about five times as efficient as close-to-close returns. Garman–Klass, Rogers–Satchell and Yang–Zhang later added the open and close to handle gaps and trends.

Canonical page: https://21ifm.com/great-minds/parkinson

## Explore

- [Volatility: the human-scale measure of risk (MF007)](https://21ifm.com/quant/mathematics/volatility-human-scale-risk)
- [Returns and volatility (QF002)](https://21ifm.com/quant/returns-volatility)
- [Why one week of risk is so noisy (ML016b)](https://21ifm.com/ml/why-one-week-of-risk-is-so-noisy)
