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Definition / Meaning of

Relative Strength

Categories: Investing and Trading,

A stock's price change over a period of time relative to that of a market index, such as the s&p 500. The relative strength of a stock is calculated by taking the percentage price change of a stock over a set period of time and ranking it on a scale of 1 to 100 against all other stocks on the market, with 1 being worst and 100 being best. For example, a stock with a relative strength of 90 has experienced a greater increase in its price over the last year than the price increases experienced by 90% of all other stocks on the market. Some technical analysts, especially momentum investors, like stocks with high relative strength rankings, believing that stocks which have recently gone up are more likely to continue going up. Other technical analysts believe that a very high relative strength can be an indication that the stock is overbought and is ready to fall. Relative strength is really a "rear view mirror" metric, measuring only how the stock has done in the past, not how it will do in the future.