What is a relative strength (RS) rating?

An RS rating is a percentile from 1 to 99 that ranks a stock's price performance against every other stock over a trailing period. A rating of 90 means the stock has outperformed 90 percent of the market.

What is the difference between RS rating and RSI?

RS rating compares one stock's return to the whole market, so it measures leadership. RSI is a 0-100 oscillator computed only from a single stock's own recent up and down closes, so it measures overbought or oversold momentum. They are different indicators.

What is a good RS rating for a stock?

Trend and breakout traders typically want 80 or higher, which is the top fifth of the market, and often look for 90 or above for leadership names.

What is RS rating?

An RS, or relative strength, rating is a percentile from 1 to 99 that ranks a stock's price performance against every other stock. A rating of 90 means the stock has outperformed 90 percent of the market over the measured period. It answers one question: is this a leader or a laggard?

How it is calculated

Start with each stock's trailing price return, usually weighting more recent performance more heavily so the score reflects current leadership. Then percentile-rank the entire universe and map it onto a 1-99 scale. Because it is relative, a rising RS rating means the stock is beating its peers, not merely going up. A stock can be green on the year and still have a mediocre RS rating if most others did better.

RS rating is not RSI

This is the most common mix-up. RS rating compares a stock to the whole market to measure leadership. RSI (the Relative Strength Index) is a 0-100 oscillator built only from a single stock's own recent gains and losses to flag overbought and oversold conditions. Same two words, completely different tools.

Why it matters

Leaders lead. The stocks that outperform in one period disproportionately keep outperforming, so high RS is a filter for where strength already is.
It cuts the noise. Ranking the whole market on one number lets you skip the laggards and spend time on the names actually working.
It confirms breakouts. A breakout in a high-RS name backed by rising RS is stronger than the same chart in a low-RS laggard.

A high RS rating tells you a stock is strong, not that it is a buy at any price. Pair it with a sound base or a fresh breakout rather than chasing strength blindly.

How MomentumSift uses it

MomentumSift computes an RS rating for the whole universe nightly and makes it a first-class screener field: filter for RS at or above 80, sort the leaders to the top, and stack it with momentum, a golden cross, and sector strength.

Try the RS rating screener →

FAQ

What is a relative strength (RS) rating?: A 1-99 percentile ranking a stock's price performance against every other stock. 90 means it beat 90 percent of the market.
What is the difference between RS rating and RSI?: RS rating compares a stock to the whole market (leadership); RSI is a single-stock momentum oscillator (overbought/oversold). Different indicators.
What is a good RS rating?: Typically 80 or higher, and often 90+ for leadership names.

What is RS rating?

How it is calculated

RS rating is not RSI

Why it matters

How MomentumSift uses it

FAQ

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