Construction

Let $(\varepsilon_i)_{i\ge 1}$ be i.i.d. random variables with

$$ \mathbb P(\varepsilon_i=1)=\mathbb P(\varepsilon_i=-1)=\frac12. $$

Define the simple random walk

$$ X_0=0, \qquad X_n=\sum_{i=1}^n \varepsilon_i, \qquad \mathcal F_n=\sigma(\varepsilon_1,\dots,\varepsilon_n). $$

Then

$$ M_n=X_n^2-n $$

is a martingale with respect to $(\mathcal F_n)$.

Verification

Each $M_n$ is $\mathcal F_n$-measurable and integrable. Also,

$$ X_{n+1}=X_n+\varepsilon_{n+1}. $$

So

$$ \mathbb E[M_{n+1}\mid \mathcal F_n]

\mathbb E[(X_n+\varepsilon_{n+1})^2-(n+1)\mid \mathcal F_n]. $$

Expanding,

$$ \mathbb E[M_{n+1}\mid \mathcal F_n]

X_n^2+2X_n\mathbb E[\varepsilon_{n+1}\mid \mathcal F_n] +\mathbb E[\varepsilon_{n+1}^2\mid \mathcal F_n] -(n+1). $$

Since $\varepsilon_{n+1}$ is independent of $\mathcal F_n$,

$$ \mathbb E[\varepsilon_{n+1}\mid \mathcal F_n]=0, \qquad \mathbb E[\varepsilon_{n+1}^2\mid \mathcal F_n]=1. $$

Therefore,

$$ \mathbb E[M_{n+1}\mid \mathcal F_n]

X_n^2-n

M_n. $$