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§06 MARKET_BREADTH

OVERVIEW

An index can rise on the back of a few giants while most stocks fall. Breadth tells you how many stocks are joining in. A rally that most names share is sturdier than one carried by a handful. Breadth is free with a Tapeboard account. Logged-out visitors see a sign-up prompt.

MARKET_BREADTH

Note

The panel does not auto-refresh. Reload the browser tab whenever you want a fresh read. The cache window is short, so a hard refresh returns session-current numbers within seconds.

FEATURES

What's on it

  • Advance/decline line — the day's A/D step-line plus the up-volume/down-volume split
  • New 52-week highs / lows — count + a ticker list of who's doing it
  • Breadth read — a one-word state: STRONG / MIXED / WEAK, with the day's numbers as support

Sentiment Chip

The headline read is derived from the breadth percentage formula:

Breadth % = (advancers + unchanged × 0.5) / total × 100
Breadth % Sentiment Color
≥ 65% BULLISH Green
45–64% NEUTRAL Yellow
< 45% BEARISH Red

A/D Bar

A horizontal bar with a green segment (advancers) and red segment (decliners), proportional to count. Raw counts, the A/D ratio, and the percent split are displayed below the bar.

The A/D ratio is calculated as advancers / decliners, rounded to two decimals. If there are no decliners, the ratio equals the advancer count. A ratio above 1.00 means more names are up than down.

Volume Split Bar

A second bar showing cumulative session volume split between up-names and down-names. Use it to read conviction:

  • High up-volume on a moderate advancer count → buyers pressing hard into the green names
  • Low up-volume on a high advancer count → green names drifting up on light tape

Stat Grid

Field Description
ADVANCERS Count of universe symbols with positive netChange
DECLINERS Count with negative netChange
UNCHANGED Count at exactly zero change
A/D RATIO advancers / decliners, two decimals
BREADTH % Headline breadth read
CHECKED Total symbols that returned a usable quote
UP_VOL Cumulative session volume on names with positive change
DOWN_VOL Cumulative session volume on names with negative change
NEW_HIGHS Count trading within 0.25% of their stored 52-week high
NEW_LOWS Count trading within 0.25% of their stored 52-week low

Note

The server response includes above_50dma and above_200dma fields, but both currently return 0. These metrics are reserved for a future expansion and are not surfaced in the UI.

Sector Breadth

SECTOR_BREADTH lists each sector with how many of its stocks are advancing. Look for sectors that lead when the market is up and sectors that hold up when it is down.

HOW TO USE

When to use it

Moment What to look for
Before the open Is a green premarket actually broad, or three names? Set expectations accordingly.
Intraday If breadth stays negative while SPX goes green — fragile rally, tighter stops.
End of day One-line sanity check before tomorrow.
  1. Click Breadth in the sidebar. The panel batch-quotes the universe and renders within a couple of seconds.
  2. Glance at the sentiment chip at the top for the immediate one-line read. It reads BULLISH when 65% or more of stocks are advancing, NEUTRAL from 45% up to 65%, and BEARISH below 45%.
  3. Read the A/D bar for the advancer/decliner split and ratio.
  4. Check the stat grid — confirm CHECKED is close to 111. A significantly lower number means some quotes failed to load and the sentiment chip may swing harder than usual.
  5. Read the volume split to judge whether buying or selling pressure is concentrated or broadly distributed. When the green share is larger, buyers are putting in more of the money.
  6. Review sector breadth to see which sectors are leading or holding up.
  7. Reload the tab whenever you want an updated snapshot.

Tip

Index up and breadth down means few stocks are carrying the move — be careful. Many new lows in a falling market signals widespread selling. Breadth turning up before the index can be an early sign of recovery.

  • Heatmap — the same universe shown as a treemap; use it to see which names sit behind the breadth numbers
  • Scanner — the every-name tape this summarizes
  • Economic Dashboard — what macro is doing under the hood

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Shortcut Action
None assigned Open /breadth directly via the URL or the §MARKETS sidebar group

Note

No dedicated keyboard shortcut is currently assigned to this panel.

LIMITS

  • Universe: 111 large-cap US equities across the 11 sectors only. This is a directional read, not an NYSE-wide A/D line and does not survey the full Russell 3000. It says little about small caps.
  • New-high/new-low flags depend on stored 52-week values that may lag by one session for some names.
  • Not currently surfaced: McClellan Oscillator, NYSE NH-NL, % above 50DMA, % above 200DMA, and equal-weight vs. cap-weight comparisons. These are placeholders reserved for a future expansion.
  • Refresh cadence: Numbers update through the session. Outside market hours you see the last session's data. No streaming or polling — reload for a fresh read.
  • Volume tallies are session-cumulative and reflect directional skew, not precise dollar volume.
  • New-high/new-low proximity band is intentionally set at 0.25%. Strict equality would miss most session prints; a wider band would dilute the signal.
  • When the market-data feed is wholly unavailable, the UI surfaces a dedicated DATA_UNAVAILABLE state.
  • Numbers may differ from other sites because other sites count a wider set of stocks.

TROUBLESHOOTING

Tiles are blank

The data feed may be down. Reload in a minute.

Sentiment chip is missing

The chip appears once data loads.

CHECKED shows significantly less than 111

Some quotes failed to return — usually a partial timeout. The breadth math remains valid for the names that did come back, but the sentiment chip may swing harder than usual on a smaller sample. Refresh in 30 seconds for a fuller read.

Sentiment chip shows BEARISH but indices are green

Mega-cap concentration is the most common cause. A handful of large-cap names with heavy index weighting can lift SPY or QQQ while the majority of the universe declines. The breadth panel is counting names equally, not weighting by market cap — this divergence is the signal, not a data error.

Numbers differ from another site

Other sites count a wider set of stocks. Breadth here covers 111 large stocks only.