52W High
Cycle & extremes
The price sets a new highest level of the past year.
Construction & calculation
- Take the closing prices of the last 252 trading days (about one market year).
- If today's closing price is higher than or equal to all previous prices in that window, there is a 52-week high.
52W High: C(today) >= max(C over the previous 251 bars)
Interpretation
- There are two schools. The momentum school (and the academic literature around the '52-week high effect') holds that stocks at a yearly high tend to keep rising on average: the breakout draws attention and buyers.
- The contrarian school sees a yearly high as a risk zone: there is no resistance left above the price, and the chance of profit-taking is high.
- This scanner uses the contrarian reading and marks a 52-week high red (bear). Treat it as a warning to review your position, not as a sell order.
How the signal works in this scanner
Sell signal (red)The closing price is equal to or higher than the highest closing price of the past 252 bars.
Watch-outs & pitfalls
- If you are a momentum investor, you read this signal the other way around. The color is a convention of the scanner, not an absolute truth.
- For a young stock with fewer than 252 trading days of history, the full available series is used — the signal is then less meaningful.