Thank you very much this works and in line with other replies.
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"~L" wrote:

You could use conditional formatting.

If your initial amount is in cell A1, under format, conditional formatting,
choose cell is "less than" and enter $A$1, then choose a format.

"brewster56" wrote:

If I start with $1000 and lose $250, I would like to somehow indicate that
the remainder ($750 in this case) was actually "down" from the original
$1000. Conversely, I would like to have some indication that a gain was
actually "up" from the original $1000.
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