Reference

Glossary

Every term TickerStance uses, in plain English — Stance and its four subscores, the breadth internals, leadership and macro signals, and the setup scanners. 140 terms.

Stance: Composite 0–100 score combining Trend, Breadth, Leadership, and Macro into a single market-regime read. Higher = more constructive; lower = more defensive.
Regime: The current state of the market named by Stance band: Aggressive, Constructive, Neutral, Caution, or Defensive.
Aggressive (≥80): Trend fully extended, breadth broad, leadership hot. Risk-on regime — full size on A-grade setups, ride winners.
Constructive (60–80): Major averages in gear, healthy breadth, solid leadership. Buy clean breakouts at normal size.
Neutral (40–60): Indexes drifting, mixed participation. A+ setups only; tighter stops; chop punishes wide-stop trades.
Caution (20–40): Indexes losing structure, breadth deteriorating, leadership narrowing. Half-size or starter only; demand a pristine base.
Defensive (<20): Trend broken, breadth collapsing, macro flashing. Capital preservation beats opportunity — no new longs.
Stance EMA: Smoothed Stance line — exponential moving average over recent sessions. Cuts daily noise to show the slower trend underneath the prints.
Conflict: When subscores disagree strongly (high standard deviation across the four). Flags low-confidence regimes — the read is genuine but contested.
Macro-stress multiplier: Stance is scaled down when Macro is below 30. Prevents bull regimes when credit is broken or volatility is unanchored.
Trend: Are the major indexes going up or down? Position vs the 50- and 200-day moving averages, plus distance from 52-week highs.
Weinstein stage: Stan Weinstein 4-stage cycle: 1 basing, 2 advancing, 3 topping, 4 declining. Stage 2 is the only stage where swing-trading long is historically favorable.
Breadth: How many stocks are participating? Percentage above moving averages, distribution-day count, advance/decline, McClellan.
Leadership: Who's leading? Sector strength, growth vs defensives, small-cap vs large-cap rotation — broad participation is healthier than narrow.
Macro: What's the credit + rates + volatility environment saying? Yield curve, high-yield credit spreads, Fed trajectory, VIX.
Subscore weight: The percentage of the Stance score this subscore contributes. Trend and Breadth are 30% each; Leadership and Macro are 20% each.
Stance contribution: How many Stance points this subscore (or a single signal) currently adds to the headline number.
50-day moving average: Average closing price of the last 50 sessions. The short-to-intermediate trend baseline — close above it = constructive, below = warning.
200-day moving average: Average closing price of the last 200 sessions. The long-term trend anchor — above it is the bull's home turf.
52-week high: The highest closing price in the last 252 trading sessions. Distance from this is a fast read on whether trend is extended or correcting.
200d MA slope: Rate of change of the 200-day moving average over recent sessions. Rising slope = trend strengthening; falling slope = trend rolling over.
SPY: The S&P 500 ETF — the standard stand-in for the broad US equity market. Used as the benchmark in nearly every relative-strength comparison on this site.
Distribution day: An index falls (typically ≥0.2%) on volume heavier than the day before. One day = noise; five within 25 sessions = institutional selling pressure.
Follow-Through Day (FTD): A big up day on big volume, 4–10 sessions after a market low. O'Neil-style confirmation that a rally attempt has legs — until it prints, stay flat.
McClellan Oscillator: A 19/39-day exponential moving average of advancing minus declining issues. Breadth-momentum gauge — above zero = improving, below = deteriorating.
Up vs down volume: Sum of up-volume divided by sum of down-volume across the universe. Conviction behind the breadth.
Stocks up 4% on volume: Count of stocks closing +4% or more with rising volume. Stockbee primary breadth scan.
Stocks down 4% on volume: Count of stocks closing -4% or more with rising volume. Stockbee distribution scan; the inverse of the up-4% tile. Spikes mark capitulation or distribution.
4% up/down ratio (5d): Sum of stocks up 4% on rising volume divided by sum of stocks down 4% on rising volume across the last five sessions. Above 1 = bullish thrust week; below 1 = distribution dominant.
4% up/down ratio (10d): Sum of stocks up 4% on rising volume divided by sum of stocks down 4% on rising volume across the last ten sessions. Smoothed cousin of the 5d ratio.
Up 25% in a quarter: Count of eligible stocks now at least 25% above their prior 65-day low. Leadership-formation gauge — broader counts mean the market is minting winners across the universe.
Down 25% in a quarter: Count of eligible stocks now at least 25% below their prior 65-day high close. Stockbee capitulation gauge — high counts mark broad selling pressure and washout candidates.
Up 25% in a month: Count of eligible stocks at least 25% above their close 20 trading days ago — point-to-point, not min-of-window. Faster cousin of the quarterly leadership count; surfaces the freshest leadership cohort.
Up 50% in a month: Count of eligible stocks at least 50% above their close 20 trading days ago. Froth marker — sustained readings above 20 are a late-cycle warning per Stockbee convention.
90% up day: Lowry confirmation: session where up-vol ≥90% of up+down vol AND advancers ≥90% of adv+dec. A pair within 20 sessions is the canonical washout-reversal signal; isolated occurrences are noise.
90% down day: Inverse of the 90% up day: down-volume ≥90% of total AND declining issues ≥90% of adv+dec. Marks broad capitulation; clustering inside a short window historically precedes major lows.
VIX level: CBOE VIX close (FRED VIXCLS). Below 15 = calm; 15-22 = normal; 22-30 = stressed; above 30 = panic. Below 12 = complacent — contrarian late-cycle marker.
Zweig Breadth Thrust: 10-session EMA of broad-market advancers divided by advancers plus decliners. A move from below 40% to above 61.5% is a rare thrust signal.
McClellan Summation: Running sum of the broad-market McClellan Oscillator. Positive/rising means cumulative breadth momentum is expanding.
Cumulative A/D Line: Running sum of broad-market advancers minus decliners. The /data tile shows the 20-session change because the full line level is arbitrary; slope reveals hidden strength or weakness.
A/D Volume Line: Running sum of advancing-stock volume minus declining-stock volume. The /data tile shows the 20-session change to capture whether volume-weighted participation is improving or deteriorating.
A/D vs SPY divergence: Compares 20-session slope of the broad A/D line with SPY. Bullish means breadth rises while SPY falls; bearish is the inverse.
Broad Hindenburg state: Broad-market stress cluster: many new highs and lows together, negative McClellan, and SPY still in an uptrend.
Advance/decline ratio: Number of advancing stocks divided by number of declining stocks for the day. Above 1 = up day broadly; below 1 = down day broadly.
Net new 52-week highs − lows: Stocks making new 52-week highs minus stocks making new 52-week lows, as a share of the universe. Positive = leadership expanding.
Up/down volume ratio (UDVR): Total volume in advancing stocks divided by total volume in declining stocks. Above 1 means buyers were in control; below 1 means sellers were.
Market RVOL: Today's total dollar-volume across the eligible universe divided by the trailing 30-session average. Above 1 = heavier than recent norm.
% above 40d MA: Share of the eligible universe trading above its 40-day moving average. Stockbee / Worden T2 extremum gauge — sub-20 oversold, above-80 overbought.
% above 50d MA: Share of the eligible universe trading above its 50-day moving average. Higher = broad short/intermediate participation.
% above 200d MA: Share of the eligible universe trading above its 200-day moving average. Higher = long-term trend health is broad, not just index leaders.
Cumulative net advancing volume: Running sum of advancing-stock volume minus declining-stock volume. Trend in money flow — slope tells you which side is dominant over time.
Relative Strength (RS): A stock or sector's price performance compared to a benchmark (usually SPY). Higher RS = outperforming the market over the chosen window.
Multi-horizon RS: Relative strength measured across 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, and 1-year windows and blended together. Captures fresh momentum and durable leadership.
Excess vs SPY: Stock or sector return for a window minus SPY's return for the same window. The cleanest "is it actually leading?" number.
Sectors beating SPY: Fraction of GICS sectors outperforming SPY on a relative-strength basis. Higher = leadership is broad rather than concentrated in one group.
Cyclical vs defensive: Risk-on groups (tech, discretionary, financials) versus staples and utilities. Cyclicals leading = healthy risk appetite.
QQQ vs SPY: Tech and growth (QQQ) versus the broad index (SPY). Positive = growth leadership; negative = rotation away from tech.
Small vs large cap RS: Small caps (IWM) versus large caps (SPY). Small caps leading is the classic risk-on tell — the median stock is participating.
Equal vs cap weight (RSP/SPY): Equal-weight S&P (RSP) versus cap-weight (SPY). Equal-weight leading = broad participation; cap-weight leading = mega-caps masking weakness.
Leadership composite: A score combining alpha vs SPY, volume velocity, distance from 52-week high, and trend smoothness — the four signatures of a true leader.
Yield curve (10Y − 2Y): The 10-year Treasury yield minus the 2-year. A steeper positive curve is healthier for the cycle; inversion (negative) is a classic recession warning.
High-yield credit spread: The risk premium investors demand to hold high-yield (junk) bonds over Treasuries. Wider spreads = stress in risk credit and weigh on the regime.
Fed Funds rate: The Federal Reserve's benchmark short-term interest rate. Easing supports liquidity for risk assets; tightening is a headwind.
VIX: The CBOE Volatility Index — built from S&P 500 options. The "fear gauge" — calm middle ranges are supportive; spikes and complacency both carry risk.
GICS sectors: Global Industry Classification Standard — the 11 sectors (Tech, Health Care, Financials, Energy, etc.) that every US-listed stock belongs to.
Composite multi-horizon RS: An IBD-style composite blending 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month price momentum, recency-weighted so newer windows count more. Single percentile rank.
Δ21 (rank change): A sector's rank change versus 21 trading days (3 weeks) ago. Positive = climbing; negative = falling. The cleanest rotation signal on the sector board.
Lens: One ranking methodology used to identify leaders — 1M, 3M, 6M, 1Y RS, IBD-Classic strength, or Leadership composite. Each sees the universe differently.
Consensus: Stocks appearing on three or more lenses simultaneously. Cross-lens agreement is much higher signal than any single lens.
All-five: A stock that appears on all five lenses at once — unanimous leadership across short-, medium-, and long-horizon plus IBD strength and Leadership composite.
Classic strength (IBD): An IBD-style strength composite blending 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month price momentum into a single percentile rank (0–100).
Strength %ile: Where this stock ranks within the eligible universe on the chosen strength measure (0 = worst, 100 = best).
Power (absolute strength): An absolute 1–99 strength rating on a frozen scale — the top is genuinely scarce in a weak tape. Unlike a percentile, it measures how far a stock outruns the market, not just its rank against peers.
ADR (avg daily range): Average daily range as a percentage. A volatility proxy — high-ADR stocks move fast in both directions.
Coil: Range-contraction score 0–100: the lesser of the 4-day average true range (as % of price) ranked vs the prior 60 sessions, and an absolute scale (100 at ≤2% avg range, 0 at ≥8%). 85+ = tight for this name AND in absolute terms.
RS line at new high: The stock's relative-strength line itself (price ÷ SPY) is making a new high. A strong leadership confirmation, often before price prints a new high.
RS percentile: Where a stock ranks on relative-strength within the eligible universe over a given window (1-month, 3-month, or 6-month). 90 means outperforming 90% of peers.
% of 52-week high: How close the stock is to its 12-month closing high, expressed as a ratio (1.0 = at the high). O'Neil's proximity filter — leaders near highs beat leaders far from them.
% above 50-day MA: How far the stock trades above (positive) or below (negative) its 50-day moving average, as a percent. Trend-following filter — extended far above means chasing; near or just above is the sweet spot.
30-day return: Raw price return over the trailing 21 trading sessions (≈ 30 calendar days). A momentum proxy — positive and above SPY is the minimum bar for a leadership candidate.
Universe: The eligible stock pool — close ≥ $5 and trailing dollar-volume ≥ $1M. Filters out illiquid microcaps that distort breadth and leadership reads.
50-day avg dollar volume: Average daily dollar volume (price × shares) over the trailing 50 sessions. Liquidity proxy — shortlists require a minimum here so entries can actually be traded without slippage.
Accumulation: Up-volume dominant on heavier-than-average total volume. Institutions are buying — the constructive volume regime.
Distribution: Down-volume dominant on heavier-than-average total volume. Institutions are selling — the bearish volume regime.
Churning: Heavy two-way volume with no clear winner. Demand and supply are battling; conviction is absent.
Stalling: Below-average participation — the tape is indecisive, neither side committing capital.
Pocket pivot: An up-volume day whose volume exceeds the largest down-volume day of the prior 10 sessions. Morales/Kacher's early-leadership buy signal.
Volume dry-up: Volume contracts well below average — supply has been absorbed, often the last condition before a clean breakout.
Climactic volume: Volume three or more standard deviations above its mean. Often marks exhaustion at the end of a move (top or bottom).
Blow-off top: A climactic-volume day that closes near the high. Frequently marks a final buying surge before a meaningful pullback.
Capitulation: A climactic-volume day that closes near the low. Frequently marks the panic flush at the end of a downtrend.
RVOL: Relative volume — today's volume compared to its trailing average. Above 1 = heavier than usual; the standard "is something happening here" filter.
Net dollar flow: Sum of (close − prev_close) × volume across U.S. common stocks and ADRs. Positive = capital rotated in; negative = rotated out. Not a measure of true buyer/seller imbalance.
Flow breadth: Count of common stocks and ADRs finishing yesterday up vs. down. Distinct from net dollar flow — a market can be down on the dollar but up on breadth.
Directional dollar volume: (close − prev_close) × volume. An end-of-day proxy for capital flow. True money flow needs tick-level uptick/downtick analysis.
Time-travel: Replay the dashboard exactly as it looked on a past trading day. Pro feature — useful for studying analogues to today's setup.
Snapshot: The daily computed regime state (Stance + subscores + signals + leaderboards), posted ~17:00 ET on every US trading day.
Percentile rank: Where today's reading sits inside the rolling 250-session distribution (0 = lowest in a year, 100 = highest). Lets you compare scales across signals.
Pro: Paid plan ($9/month, grandfathered for early subscribers). Unlocks 10y history, time-travel, full leaderboards, and component drill-downs.
Free: Public plan. Today's read, headline arc, 1Y of stance history, and one ungated leadership lens.
Swing trader: A trader holding positions for days to weeks (not minutes, not months). The dashboard's primary audience — Qullamaggie / Minervini / O'Neil tradition.
CANSLIM: William O'Neil's 7-letter checklist: Current earnings, Annual earnings, New something, Supply/demand, Leader, Institutional sponsorship, Market direction.
As of: The trading date the data on screen is anchored to. "As of 2026-05-09" means every number reflects the close of that session.
Replay: Same as Time-travel — view the dashboard's state on a chosen past date by clicking a point on the chart.
Narrative: A weekly editorial commentary that contextualizes the past week's regime moves. Pro tier; lives at /weekly.
Rank replay: A 13-week daily trace of each sector's composite RS rank (1 = strongest, 11 = weakest). Reveals rotation momentum and when leaders/laggards switched places.
Sector-internal breadth: Fraction of the sector's eligible constituents trading above their 50d / 200d moving averages, within 10% of their 52w high, or printing fresh 20d highs/lows. Reframes RS: a leading sector with only 38% above 50d is narrow leadership.
% above 50-day average: Share of the sector's eligible constituents trading above their own 50-day moving average. Short-term participation — high means most stocks in the sector are rising, low means leadership is narrow.
% above 200-day average: Share of the sector's eligible constituents trading above their 200-day moving average. Long-term trend health — high means the sector's uptrend is broad, not just driven by a few names.
% within 10% of 52-week high: Share of the sector's eligible constituents that closed within 10% of their 12-month high. Proxy for how many names are still pressing into highs vs sitting back.
Fresh 20-day highs / lows: Count of the sector's constituents that printed a fresh 20-day high or low today. Skew toward highs = momentum is expanding; skew toward lows = damage is spreading.
Eligible constituents: How many stocks in the sector pass the universe filter (close ≥ $5, dollar volume ≥ $1M). The denominator for every other breadth percent on this card.
Industry rotation inside sector: FF49 industries computed only on the sector's constituents. Mean excess vs SPY over the trailing 3 months. Top 3 constituents shown for orientation.
Accumulation day: A day where the stock closes ≥ +1.5% on ≥ 1.5× its 30-day average volume. Wyckoff / O'Neil-tradition demand read.
Today's dollar volume: Total dollar volume traded across all of the sector's eligible constituents today. Raw size of the tape inside this sector.
RVOL vs 30-day average: Today's sector dollar volume divided by its 30-day average. Above 1× means heavier-than-usual trading; below 1× means quiet.
Market share: Share of the entire market's dollar volume that traded through this sector's constituents today. Surfaces where capital is concentrating.
Heavy-buy / Distribution count: Number of the sector's constituents printing accumulation (heavy-buy) days vs distribution days over the recent window. Net read on institutional engagement.
Accumulation / Distribution ratio: Heavy-buy day count divided by distribution day count. Above 1 = accumulation outpacing selling; below 1 = distribution dominant.
ETF: Exchange-traded fund: a basket that trades like a stock. It can hold stocks, bonds, commodities, or a mix, depending on the fund mandate.
NAV: Net asset value: the per-share value of the fund holdings after liabilities. ETF market price can trade slightly above or below NAV.
Expense ratio: Annual fund fee shown as a percent of assets. Lower fees leave more of the underlying return for holders, but strategy and liquidity still matter.
N-PORT-P: SEC monthly portfolio filing used to source ETF holdings. TickerStance reads these filings after they become public.
Holdings weight: Percent of the ETF portfolio represented by one holding. A 6% weight means roughly six cents of each fund dollar is exposed to that position.
Top-10 concentration: Combined portfolio weight of the ten largest holdings. Higher values mean the ETF is more dependent on a small group of positions.
Report date: The portfolio date covered by the filing. It can lag today because ETF holdings arrive through periodic public reports.
Issuer: The asset manager that sponsors and operates the ETF, such as Vanguard, BlackRock, State Street, Invesco, or Schwab.
AUM: Assets under management: total dollars invested in the fund. Larger AUM often improves liquidity, but it is not a quality score.
Face value: Bond principal amount reported in fixed-income filings. It is not the same as share count, so bond ETF parsing needs separate handling.
52-week high distance: How far the sector ETF closes below its highest close of the past 252 trading days, expressed as a negative percent. 0% means the ETF is at a fresh 12-month high; -10% means it is 10% below the peak.
50-day slope: Percent change of the ETF close from 50 trading days ago to today. Labeled rising / flat / falling with a ±2% flat band.
Average True Range: 14-day ATR expressed as percent of current close. High = ETF moves a lot relative to its price.
Fundamentals rank: 1-99 percentile of blended EPS + revenue growth factors across all ranked US stocks, from SEC-filed numbers. Higher is stronger.
Verdict: Rank band: Leader (90+), Strong (70-89), Average (30-69), Laggard (below 30).
Rank momentum: Change in fundamentals rank vs 15 (3wk) or 30 (6wk) trading days ago. Positive = improving. The classic "buy strength in improving groups" read.
EPS YoY: Latest quarter EPS vs the same quarter last year, sign-aware: narrowed losses count as improvement, not negative growth.
Sales YoY: Latest quarter revenue vs the same quarter last year, from filed XBRL revenue.
Margin Δ: Trailing-twelve-month operating margin change vs the prior TTM window, in basis points.
Code 33: O'Neil-tradition flag: three quarters of accelerating EPS and sales growth with expanding margins.
RS overlap: Share of a group's eligible companies whose 6M relative strength is in the top quintile (RS ≥ 80) — how much of the group also has price leadership.