How to Compare Relative Strength Across Timeframes

Key takeaways · 6

1. 01Bare leaders draws the wide RS matrix: 100 names with four relative-strength columns, 1M, 3M, 6M and 1Y, that are the same percentile computed over 21, 63, 126 and 252 trading sessions.
2. 02Relative strength is not one number, it is a term structure. A row strong on all four horizons, like RXT at 96 / 99 / 99 / 98 on the 2026-07-08 close, is the sturdiest kind of leader.
3. 03High on 3M, 6M and 1Y but low on 1M is a durable leader taking a breather: BAND read 36 / 99 / 99 / 98 and MXL 69 / 99 / 99 / 98, strong trends resting over the last month.
4. 04High on 1M and 3M but low on 1Y is fresh momentum with no long record and wider outcomes: OTLK read 99 / 99 / 98 / 39 and AIIO 95 / 99 / 17, strength that is still narrow.
5. 05Reading the row across, not down one column, is how you tell a name whose strength is broadening from one whose strength is narrowing. A blank 1Y, as with BNY, just means the stock has not been public a full year.
6. 06Focus one horizon with leaders 1m or leaders 6m, and run the matrix on your own list with ... | metrics rs. The CLS column reads how close the last close sits to the 52-week high, and every figure is end-of-day, not advice.

Relative strength is usually quoted as one number, a percentile from 0 to 99 that says how a stock ranked against the market over some lookback. The catch is the lookback. RS over the last month and RS over the last year are different measurements answering different questions, and quoting only one hides the disagreement between them.

The matrix computes the same percentile four times over four windows. The 1M column ranks each stock's return over the last 21 trading sessions, 3M over 63, 6M over 126, and 1Y over 252, then scores each against the whole universe. A 99 means the stock outran roughly 99 percent of the market over that window; a 40 means it sat mid-pack. Line the four up and you have a term structure of strength, the same idea a bond desk means by a yield curve: not one rate, a shape.

Reading the shape is the point. A row that reads 96 / 99 / 99 / 98 is strong everywhere. A row that reads 36 / 99 / 99 / 98 is strong everywhere except the last month. Those are very different stocks wearing the same headline RS, and the matrix is what tells them apart.

The four RS columns are a term structure of strength. Agreement across every horizon is the sturdiest leadership; disagreement between the short and long windows is the signal.

leaders on its own draws the whole matrix, 100 rows deep, sorted so the strongest sit at the top. Each row carries the four RS columns plus CLS, the last close's proximity to the 52-week high, and the usual trailing columns: change on the day, relative volume, average daily range, distance off the high, dollar volume, Weinstein stage and Power.

Walk a few real rows from this close. RXT reads 1M 96, 3M 99, 6M 99, 1Y 98: strong on every horizon, the sturdiest kind of leader, and AGL is nearly the same shape at 85 / 99 / 99 / 88. Then the disagreements start. BAND reads 36 / 99 / 99 / 98, weak over the last month and strong over everything longer, a durable name in a deep recent pullback. MXL reads 69 / 99 / 99 / 98, the same story milder, a leader resting. OTLK flips it: 99 / 99 / 98 / 39, on fire over the recent windows and only 39 on the year, a fresh leader with no long record yet, and its CLS of 99 says the last close sits right at the 52-week high. AIIO is younger still, 95 on the month and 99 on the quarter but 17 over six months, brand-new momentum. PIII shows the opposite tape, 18 on the month against 99 on the quarter, a sharp recent fade. BNY reads 66 / 99 / 99 with the 1Y cell blank, because the stock has not been public a full year.

Reading a row down one column tells you how a stock ranks today. Reading it across all four tells you which direction its strength is moving, and that is the read the matrix exists for.

A row where the shorter windows carry the strength and the longer ones do not is a stock whose leadership is new and still narrow. OTLK at 99 / 99 / 98 / 39 has almost nothing on the year, so its run is recent. AIIO at 95 / 99 / 17 is narrower still, strong only in the last quarter. Fresh momentum like this has the least history behind it and the widest range of outcomes, so a single strong month is a thinner tell than a strong year.

A row where the longer windows are strong but the shortest one has slipped is a stock whose strength is intact and merely resting. BAND at 36 / 99 / 99 / 98 and MXL at 69 / 99 / 99 / 98 are durable leaders that pulled back over the last month, the deep pullback in BAND, the shallow one in MXL. The long-window strength says the trend is real; the soft 1M says the stock is not extended right now. PIII, by contrast, reads 18 / 99 / 97 / 82: a much sharper one-month drop against strong longer windows, the difference between a name catching its breath and one starting to break down. The matrix shows you the drop; the chart tells you which it is.

When you want to rank the whole market by just one of those windows, pass the horizon as an argument. leaders 1m focuses the one-month percentile, surfacing the names strongest over the last few weeks; leaders 6m does the same for the half-year window, which leans toward stocks with a longer, steadier climb. Same matrix, one horizon promoted to the sort key.

To run the matrix over your own list rather than the top 100, pipe a source into metrics rs. Any screen or saved list followed by | metrics rs prints the same four RS columns for exactly those names, so you can read the term structure of a themed basket, an industry, or a watchlist instead of the whole board.

The CLS column rides alongside the RS columns and answers a related question: how close the last close sits to the 52-week high. OTLK's CLS of 99 says its recent strength has carried price right up to the top of its yearly range. Read next to the four RS columns, CLS separates a name that is strong and pressing new highs from one that is strong on the ranks but still well below its old peak.

Start with what the numbers are stamped with: the close. Every RS column, the CLS reading, and Power come off the session they were computed from, so the 1M percentile describes the 21 sessions that ended at that close, not the one opening tomorrow.

A blank cell is information, not an error. BNY shows no 1Y number because the stock has not traded publicly for a full year, so there is no 252-session window to rank. A young name can carry strong 1M and 3M columns with the longer ones blank, and that blank is the honest statement that the long record does not exist yet, the same reason its Power cell often stays empty.

And the terminal reports the shape; it does not tell you what to do with it. 'RXT is strong on all four horizons and BAND is strong on three' is a fact about the tape. Whether a broadening name or a resting one fits your timeframe, your risk, or your plan is a judgment the matrix leaves entirely to you. It shows you where the strength is and which way it is moving; the trade is yours.

The leaders matrix, its horizon arguments, and the | metrics rs pipe are all part of the tickerstance terminal, where you put plain questions to the tape and get columns back. The interactive terminal is a Pro feature at $28 a month, grandfathered, and everything it computes is end-of-day and point-in-time honest, with no 'here is what to buy' laid over the numbers.

Open the terminal and type leaders for tonight's RS matrix, then read a name across all four horizons before you read it down one. A stock strong on every window and a stock strong on only the last month are different animals, and the row is where the difference shows.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

• Relative StrengthWhat the RS percentile measures and why the same reading over a month and over a year answers two different questions.
• Finding RS LeadersThe broader leadership screen the matrix sits inside: how to rank the whole market by relative strength.
• Power vs RS RatingWhy Power is an absolute reading that needs a full year of history, and how that differs from the relative RS rank that fills the four horizon columns.
• 52-Week HighsWhat the CLS column measures: how close the last close sits to the 52-week high, and why proximity to the high is its own kind of strength.
• Open the terminalType leaders yourself and read a stock's relative strength across all four horizons after every U.S. market close.