Relative Strength
Relative-rotation read of which assets are leading, lagging, improving or weakening versus the benchmark.
Fresh Rotations
Quadrant changes within the last two weeks — the actionable transitions, across all universes
- US Sectors Health Care (XLV) rotated Improving → Leading, two weeks ago — tighten stops — momentum fading.
- US Sectors Real Estate (XLRE) rotated Leading → Improving, last week — wait — turn not confirmed.
- US Sectors Staples (XLP) rotated Lagging → Improving, two weeks ago — wait — turn not confirmed.
- US Sectors Materials (XLB) rotated Lagging → Improving, two weeks ago — accumulate — best risk/reward of the cycle.
- US Sectors Discretionary (XLY) rotated Lagging → Improving, last week — accumulate — best risk/reward of the cycle.
- Industries Software (IGV) rotated Improving → Leading, two weeks ago — hold / buy pullbacks.
- Industries Retail (XRT) rotated Improving → Leading, two weeks ago — hold / buy pullbacks.
- Industries Oil & gas E&P (XOP) rotated Improving → Leading, two weeks ago — hold / buy pullbacks.
Relative Rotation Graph
Weekly RS-Ratio × RS-Momentum vs S&P 500 (SPY) · 8-week trails · assets rotate clockwise
| Asset | Quadrant | RS-Ratio | RS-Mom | Dir | 1m vs SPY | 3m vs SPY | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XLF Financials | LEADING | 100.98 | 101.19 | ↘ | +3.8% | +5.1% | Tighten stops — momentum fading |
| XLV Health Care | LEADINGNEW | 100.42 | 100.58 | ↓ | +1.7% | +7.1% | Tighten stops — momentum fading |
| XLE Energy | IMPROVING | 99.89 | 100.72 | → | +12.6% | -4% | Accumulate — best risk/reward of the cycle |
| XLRE Real Estate | IMPROVINGNEW | 99.85 | 100.78 | ← | +1.8% | -2.3% | Wait — turn not confirmed |
| XLP Staples | IMPROVINGNEW | 99.41 | 100.45 | ↙ | +1.9% | -3% | Wait — turn not confirmed |
| XLU Utilities | IMPROVING | 99.10 | 100.01 | ↙ | -1.1% | -8.9% | Wait — turn not confirmed |
| XLB Materials | IMPROVINGNEW | 99.02 | 100.27 | ↖ | -1.3% | -5.7% | Accumulate — best risk/reward of the cycle |
| XLY Discretionary | IMPROVINGNEW | 98.68 | 100.19 | ↗ | -1.9% | -5.6% | Accumulate — best risk/reward of the cycle |
| XLC Communication | IMPROVING | 98.65 | 100.54 | ↓ | -1.5% | -10.6% | Wait — turn not confirmed |
| XLK Technology | WEAKENING | 100.47 | 99.09 | ↑ | -5.7% | +5.8% | Watch — possible re-acceleration |
| XLI Industrials | LAGGING | 99.64 | 99.68 | ↑ | -2.1% | -0.9% | Watch — early turn forming |
The 60-second version
Every asset is always in a race against its benchmark, and the race has a shape: strength builds (Improving), peaks (Leading), fades (Weakening) and bottoms (Lagging) — then the cycle repeats, rotating clockwise around the graph. This page runs that analysis continuously across six universes — US sectors, industries, styles & factors, asset classes, global markets and crypto majors — each against its natural benchmark, with 8-week trails so you can see not just where each asset IS but where it’s HEADED. TradingView can chart one ratio at a time; this is all of them, positioned, with the transitions flagged.
How to trade the quadrants
- Improving (top-left) is where alpha is born — relative strength has turned up but the crowd hasn't repriced it. Accumulating here — especially names freshly rotated in from Lagging — is the highest risk/reward entry in rotation strategy. The NEW badge marks exactly those.
- Leading (top-right) is for holding, not chasing — own it, buy pullbacks, and watch the heading arrow: when a leader's momentum turns south (↘/↓) while still leading, distribution has started — that's the tighten-stops signal, not the add signal.
- Weakening (bottom-right) is the exit ramp — still outperforming on trend, but the rotation out has begun. Most traders hold too long here because price still looks fine — the graph shows the money already leaving.
- Lagging (bottom-left) is only interesting when it isn't — avoid by default; the exception is a Lagging name with a north-pointing arrow — the early turn that becomes next quarter's Improving story. That's a watchlist entry, not yet a position.
- Trails > positions — a long, straight trail means a persistent, tradeable rotation; a tight curl means chop — no signal. The angle of the last segment is the freshest information on the whole page.
Why six universes
Rotation is fractal. The asset-class tab tells you WHERE money is (stocks vs bonds vs gold vs crypto); the sector and industry tabs tell you where it is WITHIN equities; styles catch the growth/value/small-cap regime; global catches the US-vs-world trade; and crypto-vs-BTC shows whether alt-season is on (alts Improving/Leading against Bitcoin) or off (everything Lagging BTC). Reading them top-down — asset class, then sector, then industry — is a complete allocation process on one page.
Methodology & honesty
This is an open recreation of the relative-rotation method, not the proprietary JdK calculation: RS-Ratio is 100 plus the z-score of the asset/benchmark ratio against its trailing 26 weeks; RS-Momentum is the 4-week change of RS-Ratio; both on weekly closes from raw Yahoo daily bars. Quadrant boundaries and clockwise rotation behave like the classic version, but exact values differ from StockCharts’ — use it for POSITION and DIRECTION, not to compare numbers across tools. Relative strength says nothing about absolute return: in a bear market the Leading quadrant just loses least. Check the volatility and breadth pages for whether the tide itself is rising or falling.
In the MTS framework
Relative strength is Motion’s allocation engine. Breadth says how healthy the tape is; volatility says how it moves; THIS page says where to point the capital. The workflow: take the regime from those two pages, then buy from Improving and Leading, trim into Weakening, and let the Fresh Rotations panel surface the changes so you’re rotating with the money instead of after it.