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Breakouts scan

52-Week High Screener

This scan finds stocks that closed above their highest price of the last 52 weeks (about 252 trading days). At a new 52-week high, every buyer from the past year is in profit.

Run this scan in the live demoFree, no sign-up. The demo uses made-up sample data.

The exact rule

Type this in Chalni: new 52 week high

  1. Close > 52-wk high

Find US stocks where the closing price is above the 52-week high (before today).

Formula view
close > highest(high, 252, before_today)
Example chart: 52-week high breakoutDaily candles of a made-up sample stock with 52-week high (before today). The shaded day is the day the scan fired.
  • 52-week high (before today)
  • Shaded day: the scan fired
Example from Chalni's made-up sample market, not a real stock. It shows the most recent time this scan fired in the sample US market, picked whether or not the trade worked.

What it means

Many people feel a new high is a bad time to buy, because the price looks expensive. The evidence often points the other way. A well-known 2004 study by George and Hwang found that stocks near their 52-week high tended to do better than stocks far from it. One simple reason: at a new high, nobody who bought higher is waiting to sell at break-even, so there is less selling in the way.

Chalni compares the close with the highest high of the 252 days before today, so today's own high does not count. That makes it a real breakout, not just a high day.

How traders use it

  • Use it as a list of leaders, then narrow it down with volume, trend or sector rules.
  • Many traders add "volume above 1.5x average" to keep only breakouts with real buying behind them.
  • Some traders wait for the first pullback after the breakout instead of buying on the breakout day.

Watch out for

  • In a falling market, new highs are rare and fail more often. Check the overall market first.
  • Small, thinly traded stocks can make new highs on very little money. Add a liquidity rule.

Test it before you trust it

Every scan in Chalni sits an exam. First it runs on older data, the practice: each time it picks a stock, the stock is held for 10 trading days and 0.2% is paid in costs. Then it runs on newer data it has never seen, the exam. A scan that only works in practice has just memorised the past.

See the practice and exam results for this scan in the demo (on sample data; real data comes at launch).

Questions

Is it good to buy a stock at a 52-week high?

It can be. A new high shows strong demand, and studies have found that stocks near their highs often keep doing well. It is not a guarantee: breakouts fail, so traders use a stop loss and test the rule first.

What is the difference between a 52-week high and an all-time high?

A 52-week high is the highest price of the last year. An all-time high is the highest price ever. Every all-time high is also a 52-week high, but not the other way round.

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