Breadth Indicators

Breadth indicators are powerful market indicators that require very intensive calculations. They help us explain the movements of a stock index by examining the collective behavior of its component stocks. We currently publish 85 breadth indicators that are based on 5 of the stock indices that we track. These are:

• Dow Jones Industrial Average
• S&P 500
• NYSE Composite
• Nasdaq 100
• S&P 100

We apply two indicators; the Moving Average and the Relative Strength Index (RSI), to each component stock. This is done repeatedly, using different parameters each time, and the results are compiled according to 4 different criteria:

• The number of stocks that are currently trading above their moving average
• The number of stocks with RSI above 70 (the price has risen rapidly)
• The number of stocks with RSI below 30 (the price has declined rapidly)
• The average value of the RSI for all stocks

All our breadth indicators are available for the last 3 years to show past performance. We maintain short and longer term versions of these indicators to suit different trading strategies.