Guide · Momentum
Does 52-Week High work?
Across 374 stocks, 52-Week High cut the worst fall on 89%, beat buying and holding on risk-adjusted return on 19% and on raw return on 16%. Mainly a seatbelt: it softened the big falls on most stocks, but usually gave up return to do it.
What it predicts
Stocks trading near their 52-week high tend to keep going, because traders anchor on the old high. Hold while it is close.
- In at month-end when the close is within 5% of its 52-week closing high.
- Out when it slips more than 15% below the high.
Momentum plays bet that what has risen most over the past months tends to keep outperforming for a while. The family guide
How to use it
- It trades rarely (about 1.0 switches a year), so it suits someone who checks in occasionally, and a single bad call can last months.
- Expect to be wrong more often than right: only 35% of its calls worked. Its results come from the size of the winners, so following it means sitting through strings of small losses.
- It worked best on Media & telecom (40% beat holding on risk-adjusted return) and worst on Big tech (0%).
- Use it as one input. Your signal combines the plays you count with the other factors you weight into one call.
When it worked
52-Week High did best against holding in the 2008 crash (+35% median gap) and worst in the 2020–21 rally (−26%). Median gap in return against holding the same stock (per year over stretches longer than 18 months; crypto excluded).
| 2008 crash | Recovery 2009–19 | COVID drop | 2020–21 rally | 2022 bear | Since Oct 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52-Week High | +35% | −7% | +0% | −26% | +8% | −8% |
Where it worked
By kind of stock: how often it beat holding on risk-adjusted return, and the median Sharpe ratio gap.
| Group | Beat holding, risk-adjusted | Sharpe gap |
|---|---|---|
| Media & telecom | 40% | -0.02 |
| Financials | 31% | -0.07 |
| Indexes & ETFs | 29% | -0.00 |
| Healthcare | 28% | -0.19 |
| Energy & power | 27% | -0.08 |
| Software & devices | 26% | -0.15 |
| Real estate | 21% | -0.11 |
| Industrials & materials | 18% | -0.11 |
| Sectors | 17% | -0.09 |
| Consumer & retail | 15% | -0.10 |
| Industrials & rentals | 11% | -0.14 |
| Semiconductors | 9% | -0.18 |
| Metals & mining | 4% | -0.30 |
| Big tech | 0% | -0.15 |
Where it helped most
Sharpe ratio gap against holding, stocks with 3+ years of history
Right now
52-Week High holds 137 of 377 names as of the Oct 13, 2026 close.
No changes of call in the last two weeks.
Backtest results since 2005 (or as long as each stock has traded), against holding the same stock over the same dates, after 0.05% per switch. Past results don't promise future ones. This analysis does not constitute trading advice. Please meet with an advisor or independently review sources before making any decision.