# What is relative strength? A swing trader’s guide with real charts > What relative strength means, how the RS line and the 1 to 99 RS rating work, and how swing traders use them to find stocks that lead the market. With charts. Canonical: https://getmarketstrength.com/what-is-relative-strength Last updated: 2026-10-28 By Market Strength Scanner · Published 2026-10-28 · Updated 2026-10-28 · [How the data works](https://getmarketstrength.com/methodology) Some stocks rise with the market. A few rise much faster. And some keep climbing even when the market falls. The difference has a name: relative strength. This guide explains what it is, how the RS line and the 1 to 99 RS rating work, and how swing traders use them to decide where to look. [![What is Relative Strength | Market Strength Concept 1/6](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/P2y14hZriuA/hqdefault.jpg)](https://youtu.be/P2y14hZriuA) Watch the 3-minute explainer: relative strength in plain English. ## The one question relative strength asks Relative strength asks a single question: is this stock doing better than the market, or worse? Take a simple example. Over one year the Nifty 500 goes up 10%. Stock A goes up 30%. Stock B goes up 2%. ![Bar chart: Nifty 500 up 10% in a year, Stock A up 30%, Stock B up 2% and fell behind the market](https://getmarketstrength.com/blog-rs-stock-a-vs-b.webp) Both stocks made money, but only one of them led. Both went up. But only Stock A was a leader. Stock B made money and still fell behind the market. Relative strength is how you tell the two apart, and it is why swing traders do not simply sort stocks by percentage gain. ## The RS line To see relative strength on a chart, traders draw the RS line. It is the stock’s price divided by the index, and nothing more. When the line rises, the stock is beating the market. When it falls, the stock is lagging, even if its price is still going up. When it is flat, the stock is just moving with the market. ![Diagram of an RS line equal to stock price divided by index: rising means beating the market, falling means lagging, flat means moving with the market](https://getmarketstrength.com/blog-rs-line.webp) The RS line: price divided by the index. On every Market Strength chart the RS line sits right under the price, measured against the Nifty 500. ## Why the stocks that fall the least matter The most useful time to look at relative strength is when the market falls. Watch which stocks fall the least. Their RS line keeps rising, even on red days. ![Price chart with the RS line rising during a market fall, and the stock breaking out first when the market recovers](https://getmarketstrength.com/blog-rs-line-red-days.webp) The RS line keeps rising on red days; the stock is often among the first to break out afterwards. These stocks are often among the first to break out when the market recovers, because big buyers were holding them through the weakness. That is not guaranteed, but it is a sensible place to start looking. The idea is explored further in [strong stocks in a weak market](https://getmarketstrength.com/strong-stocks-in-weak-market). ## An RS line new high before price Another early clue is the RS line making a new high before the price does. The stock is already leading, quietly, and price can catch up later. ![Chart where the RS line makes a new high before the price makes its new high](https://getmarketstrength.com/blog-rs-line-new-high.webp) RS line new high first, price later. A scanner can list these automatically. See [RS line new highs](https://getmarketstrength.com/rs-line-new-high) for how to find them. ## The RS rating: 1 to 99 Comparing every stock with the index one by one is slow, so stocks are ranked instead. The RS rating scores every stock from 1 to 99. A rating of 90 means the stock did better than 90% of all stocks. ![Scale from 1 to 99 showing an RS rating of 90 as better than 90% of stocks](https://getmarketstrength.com/blog-rs-rating-1-99.webp) An RS rating of 90 beats 90% of stocks. ## How the rating is weighted Recent months count more than older ones, so the rating reacts to fresh strength. In Market Strength the last 3 months carry 40% of the score and the last 6, 9 and 12 months carry 20% each. Every stock’s weighted return is then ranked against all stocks in the scan. The full method is in the guide to the [RS rating for NSE stocks](https://getmarketstrength.com/rs-rating-nse). ![RS rating weights: last 3 months 40 percent, 6 months 20 percent, 9 months 20 percent, 12 months 20 percent](https://getmarketstrength.com/blog-rs-rating-weights.webp) Weights behind the rating. ## What counts as a leader Leaders usually sit above 80. Laggards sit below 30. Many of the big winners in a rally already have a high rating before the main move, which is why momentum traders often start their search at 80 and above. Treat these numbers as rules of thumb, not thresholds. ![RS rating scale marking laggards below 30 and leaders above 80](https://getmarketstrength.com/blog-rs-leaders-laggards.webp) Leaders above 80, laggards below 30. ## Using relative strength in Market Strength - **Start with groups.** Strong stocks usually come from strong sectors and themes. The [sector rotation](https://getmarketstrength.com/sector-rotation-nse) view ranks them by RS and shows which are Leading, Improving, Weakening or Lagging. - **Filter by RS.** In the Stock Screener, add an RS rating filter such as 80 or higher and the list shows only the leaders. - **Check the RS line.** Open a chart and look at the line under the price. Rising, or at a new high, is what you want. - **Read the timeframes.** Each stock shows RS over 1, 3, 6 and 12 months, and how much the rating changed in the last month, so you can tell steady strength from a one-month spike. ![Market Strength Sector Rotation tab listing NSE sectors and themes with their RS rating and a quadrant chart](https://getmarketstrength.com/blog-rs-sector-rotation-list.webp) Sector Rotation tab, snapshot from 27 Oct 2026: every sector and theme has an RS rating. ## What relative strength does not tell you Relative strength tells you where to look. It does not tell you when to buy. A stock with a rating of 98 can still fall 10% tomorrow, which is why traders still wait for a base, watch the pivot and use a stop. Ratings rank past price performance. They are not forecasts. For how it differs from the RSI indicator, see [relative strength vs RSI](https://getmarketstrength.com/relative-strength-vs-rsi). ## Frequently asked questions ### What is relative strength in stocks? How a stock’s price performance compares with a benchmark such as the Nifty 500, or with other stocks. A stock that rises more than the market, or falls less, has strong relative strength. ### What is the RS line? The stock’s price divided by an index. A rising line means the stock is outperforming the index; a falling line means it is lagging. ### What is the difference between the RS line and the RS rating? The RS line shows one stock against one index over time. The RS rating is a 1 to 99 rank of a stock against all other stocks, built from weighted 3, 6, 9 and 12 month returns. ### Why watch relative strength in a falling market? Stocks that fall the least are showing demand while the market is weak. They are often watched as early leaders when the market recovers, though that is not guaranteed. ### Does a high RS rating mean I should buy? No. It is a ranking of past price performance, a tool for deciding where to look, not a buy or sell signal. **✨ Ask the AI**Inside the scanner you can type questions like: “Which stocks have RS above 90 and an RS line at a new high?” The AI answers from the scanner’s own data. [How the AI assistant works](https://getmarketstrength.com/ai-stock-analysis) ## Keep exploring [All guides](https://getmarketstrength.com/learn)[Blog](https://getmarketstrength.com/blog)[Relative strength scanner for NSE stocks](https://getmarketstrength.com/relative-strength-scanner)[Sector rotation analysis for Indian markets](https://getmarketstrength.com/sector-rotation-nse)[RRG chart](https://getmarketstrength.com/rrg-relative-rotation-graph)[RS line new highs](https://getmarketstrength.com/rs-line-new-high)[Relative strength vs RSI](https://getmarketstrength.com/relative-strength-vs-rsi)[Momentum investing in India](https://getmarketstrength.com/momentum-investing-india)[RS rating for NSE stocks](https://getmarketstrength.com/rs-rating-nse)[Strong stocks in a weak market](https://getmarketstrength.com/strong-stocks-in-weak-market) --- Source: Market Strength Scanner (https://getmarketstrength.com). Educational content, not investment advice. Cite with the canonical URL above.