Skip to main content
Track Market breadth
68 / 71
Search the archiveLibrary
Library

2011issue C1063-70

Constructing a Nasdaq hi-lo index from highs, lows, and issues traded

A Nasdaq-only hi-lo index is assembled from total issues traded and daily new 52-week high and low counts. A 10-period average and a keep-or-substitute rule then turn those counts into an overbought and oversold breadth study.

  • The hi-lo index is a Nasdaq breadth oscillator built from total issues traded plus daily new 52-week highs and new 52-week lows.
  • A high-low logic percentage is the lesser of new highs and new lows, divided by total issues traded, multiplied by 100, and then averaged.
  • That averaged logic value is kept only when it is at least 2.15 or at most 0.40; otherwise the construction substitutes 1.
  • The final index multiplies the adjusted logic factor by a 10-period average of the new-high share, scales the product by 100, and uses reference lines at 90 and 20.
Entries in this reading3 entries
HI/LO4 readingsCurrent trackMarket breadth120 readingsMoving average449 readings

What the hi-lo index is

The hi-lo index is a Nasdaq breadth oscillator that multiplies an adjusted high-low logic factor by a smoothed new-high share of all new highs and lows.

It is built from Nasdaq total issues traded plus the daily counts of new 52-week highs and new 52-week lows. The same construction can be plotted on daily Nasdaq Composite bars as an overbought and oversold breadth study.

Market-breadth inputs

Market breadth supplies the exchange-wide counts used as the index inputs: advancing issues, declining issues, unchanged issues, new 52-week highs, and new 52-week lows.

The oscillator itself is assembled from Nasdaq total issues traded and the daily new 52-week high and new 52-week low counts. When a dedicated total-issues series is unavailable, a platform implementation can approximate total issues traded by adding advancing and declining issues.

The high-low logic percentage

A high-low logic percentage is the lesser of new highs and new lows, divided by total issues traded, then multiplied by 100 and averaged.

A moving average here is a simple average of a defined lookback. That average is applied to the high-low logic percentage and to the new-high percentage before the final product is scaled. Default construction uses a 10-period average for both steps.

When the averaged logic value is kept

The averaged logic value is kept only when it is at least 2.15 or at most 0.40. Otherwise the construction substitutes 1.

The kept or substituted value is the adjusted logic factor that enters the final product.

The scaled index and reference lines

The final index is the adjusted logic factor times a 10-period average of the new-high share, then scaled by 100. The new-high share is the share of all new highs and lows.

Overbought and oversold reference lines sit at 90 and 20. The finished series can be plotted on daily Nasdaq Composite bars as an overbought and oversold breadth study that uses those two lines.

Daily JK HiLo Index on the Nasdaq Composite

Buy marks follow breadth washes that push the oscillator through the 20 oversold line, while sell marks sit on rallies that tag 90. Daily values were read from the published Nasdaq Composite screenshot; the platform printed 69.86 on the last bar, with fixed references at 20 and 90.
Buy marks follow breadth washes that push the oscillator through the 20 oversold line, while sell marks sit on rallies that tag 90. Daily values were read from the published Nasdaq Composite screenshot; the platform printed 69.86 on the last bar, with fixed references at 20 and 90.Nasdaq Composite Index · Daily · 2009-11-01T00:00:00.000Z to 2011-07-31T00:00:00.000Z

The published formula uses a 10-session average and keeps the high-low logic percentage only when it is at least 2.15 or at most 0.40; otherwise it substitutes 1 before scaling by the 10-session new-high share times 100.

Educational research material, not investment advice. Historical source context does not establish present-day performance.
68 of 71 in the Market breadth track
201349-56 pp.Next on Market breadthCumulative advance-decline versus a one-year averageThe charted object is a cumulative advance-decline series read against a one-year breadth moving average of that same series.
All readings on this track · 71 readings
  1. 1987How a failed rebound, weak breadth, and cycle dates broke the 1987 bull case
  2. 1988Diagnosing market bottoms with breadth, divergence and averages
  3. 1988Diagnosing index tops with breadth divergences
  4. 1988Record highs versus seven-day breadth and divergence
  5. 1989Constructing a percentage-scaled internals composite
  6. 1989Constructing a weekly block-tick breadth z-score
  7. 1989Constructing a dual-rate advance-decline oscillator
  8. 1989Normalize advance-decline series for a common-scale comparison
  9. 1990Unchanged-issue share as a narrow-breadth case study
  10. 1990Evaluating daily and weekly unsigned plurality breadth
  11. 1990Constructing paired new-high and new-low breadth indicators
  12. 1990Ten-day HI/LO extremes as a long-horizon breadth signal
  13. 1990Confirming index cycles with breadth, volume, and waves
  14. 1990Index cycle gates from breadth and volume
  15. 1990Constructing advance-decline breadth indicators
  16. 1990Weekly advance-decline oscillator: weight map, extremes, and spike cycle
  17. 1990Price-weighted construction distorts breadth, support, and trend
  18. 1991A peak-sequence test from the new-highs-to-advances-ratio
  19. 1991Fuzzy rules that turn daily market-breadth into a session consensus
  20. 1991From daily breadth tallies to a weighted consensus signal
  21. 1991Retesting market-breadth when market structure changes
  22. 1991Constructing TRIN as a breadth-volume ratio
  23. 1991Build the market clock before you read a price bar
  24. 1991A construction audit of the long-horizon trading index
  25. 1991Independent formula timers kept as a testable combination
  26. 1992When identical TRIN prints come from different pairings
  27. 1992Grade closing tick before a next-session breadth hypothesis
  28. 1992Noncumulative advance-decline swing confirmation
  29. 1992Five-day sum construction of the trading index
  30. 1992Daily closing-trin extremes and next-day direction
  31. 1992A three-layer audit: regime, breadth, and group RSI
  32. 1992Constructing a nine-state trend, momentum, and breadth score
  33. 1993Constructing a market-volume-impact rating from nested averages
  34. 1993When advance-decline confirmation counts the wrong universe
  35. 1993Constructing breadth momentum from advance-decline smoothing
  36. 1993Constructing a cumulative market-thrust line
  37. 1994Three-horizon construction of the Haurlan index
  38. 1994Checklist-gated session entry in 1993 index futures
  39. 1994Read one advance-decline pair through three windows
  40. 1994Constructing calibrated market-breadth summation indexes
  41. 1994Constructing a two-speed advance-decline oscillator and a calibrated summation
  42. 1995NYSE tick extremes and candlestick reversal entries
  43. 1995Assembling range, breadth, and a stored stop into one procedure
  44. 1995Restating market breadth timing rules as ratios
  45. 1995Constructing breadth ratio gates after lookback drawdowns
  46. 1995Building a short-range breadth and price oscillator
  47. 1996Constructing a smoothed advance-decline trend filter
  48. 1996Smoothed advance-decline alerts at the 1987 and 1990 turning points
  49. 1996Constructing breadth, RSI, and stochastic range filters
  50. 1996New-high and new-low counts as a breadth construction
  51. 1996Constructing the four-input breadth-volume ratio
  52. 1996Constructing the McClellan oscillator and a calibrated summation index
  53. 1996Declare the oscillator seed, then calibrate only the summation index
  54. 1997Three-gate centered strength in market-breadth construction
  55. 1997Daily advance-decline and new-high new-low breadth signals
  56. 1999Index-fund positions as a majority-vote committee
  57. 2000Tick, tiki and TRIN as a three-layer session confirmation stack
  58. 2000Constructing an advance-decline oscillator from one listed tape
  59. 2001Market breadth, beta, and volume-price confirmation
  60. 2001Regime context from relative venue volume, breadth, and intermarket spreads
  61. 2002When NYSE breadth misreads operating-stock participation
  62. 2003Two-gate breadth divergence and a trend filter for rally tops
  63. 2003Market internals confirm or diverge from the index
  64. 2004Constructing the McClellan oscillator and summation index
  65. 2005Intraday index-futures divergence as a three-part session hypothesis
  66. 2005Breadth summation levels as a short-term signal filter
  67. 2005Checking trend versus range with breadth and divergence
  68. 2011Constructing a Nasdaq hi-lo index from highs, lows, and issues traded
  69. 2013Cumulative advance-decline versus a one-year average
  70. 2013A one-year breadth average as a participation gate
  71. 2015Falsifying a healthy correction with breadth and support
By fieldMarket breadth101 readingsBy year201165 readings
All 120 readings tagged Market breadth
Also on Market breadth5 readings
1996Constructing the four-input breadth-volume ratioHI/LO1990Ten-day HI/LO extremes as a long-horizon breadth signalHI/LO2020High-low activator, directional oscillator, and momentum swing agreementHI/LO1988Diagnosing index tops with breadth divergences1988Diagnosing market bottoms with breadth, divergence and averages