Why traders watch 52-week highs
A stock at a 52-week high has no one above it sitting on a loss and waiting to sell, which is one reason strong stocks often keep making new highs. Momentum and breakout traders start their search here. A stock at a 52-week low is the opposite: every holder from the last year is under water.
- New 52-week high today: today’s high is above every high of the previous 251 trading days.
- Within 3%: the close is within 3% of the 52-week high (or low).
- 30%+ below high and doubled off low help find beaten-down names and big recoveries.
Frequently asked questions
Are prices adjusted for splits?
Yes. Candles are split-adjusted, so a stock split doesn’t create a fake 52-week high or low. Dividends aren’t adjusted.
Why do I need an Alpaca key?
US stock prices are licensed data, so they can’t be handed out for free by a website. Alpaca gives anyone a free market-data key that allows 200 requests a minute and returns many stocks per request, which is enough to scan the whole list. Your key is saved only in your browser and is sent only to Alpaca. See how to get a free Alpaca key.
Which stocks does it scan?
About 600 US stocks and ETFs: roughly the S&P 500, popular growth and momentum names, and around 75 of the most traded ETFs. The largest 135 load first; the rest follow automatically a few seconds later.
Is the data real-time?
Alpaca’s free data is 15 minutes behind the market. Daily figures update through the trading day, and the latest candle is the current (unfinished) day while the market is open.