Time period dates specify the period (days, weeks, months or years) over which a calculation is made. You can use any of the following period codes: D, W, M, Q or Y. For example, to calculate a moving average in the FTSE 100 index:
MAV#(FTSE100,5D) returns the moving average over a moving 5 day period
MAV#(FTSE100,1M) returns the moving average over a moving 1 month period
Function time periods must be greater than the data frequency, that is, the frequency at which data is stored. For example, equity data is stored on a daily basis: the minimum time period you can use, therefore, is two days (that is, 2D). Monthly economic data requires a minimum time period of two months (that is, 2M), and so on.
Note The following functions accept a time period that is equal to the data frequency:
For these functions, single unit time periods are accepted, that is: 1D for daily data, 1W for weekly data, 1M for monthly data, 1Q for quarterly data, and 1Y for yearly data.