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How is the Relative Strength Rating (RS Rating) calculated and read? Steps and RPS comparison
⚡ Quick answer (Speakable)
RS Rating (Relative Strength Rating) compares a stock’s price performance over roughly the past 12 months with all other stocks and gives a 1–99 rank score: 95 means it outperformed about 95% of stocks. It looks only at price and only describes the past, so it is not a buy signal. Readers following China A-shares or Hong Kong stocks can compare it with the same-market RPS250 (about 12 months) together with RPS120/RPS50.
⚠️ Method limits (read first)
- IBD publicly describes only the basis (past 12 months, compared with all stocks, 99 best and 1 worst) and does not publish the exact weights; the weighted formula on this page is a widely circulated approximation. This site does not reproduce IBD values and does not guarantee they match.
- RPS Stock’s RPS is a within-market percentile computed separately for 20/50/90/120/250 trading-day returns; it is not a single weighted score. See RPS calculation methodology。
- A screener is not an entry point: whichever strength score you use, it only says a stock was relatively stronger over a past period. It is not a buy signal, a forecast or investment advice.
- RPS Stock has no affiliation or partnership with Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) or MarketSmith; IBD statements are quoted from its public educational pages.
- ; external information reflects public pages observed on 2026-10-19; the source pages’ latest content prevails.
1. What the RS Rating is
RS Rating (Relative Strength Rating) is a score introduced by Investor’s Business Daily (IBD). According to IBD’s CANSLIM “Leader or Laggard” lesson, it measures a stock’s price performance over the last 12 months and then compares it with all other stocks. Scores run from 99 (best) to 1 (worst); an RS Rating of 95 means the stock outperformed 95% of stocks.
So the RS Rating is essentially a rank score: it does not tell you how much a stock rose, only where it stands among all stocks. In Chinese usage, “RS”, “relative strength” and “RS rating” mostly mean this; the “RPS (Relative Price Strength)” used by RPS Stock follows the same idea.
2. How the RS Rating is calculated (three steps + example)
IBD does not publish the exact weights, but the calculation can be broken into three steps. The weights below are the most widely circulated approximation, for understanding the principle only：
- Compute returns: calculate price changes over the last 63, 126, 189 and 252 trading days (about 3, 6, 9 and 12 months).
- Weight them: the approximate formula is
加权分 = 0.4×近 63 日涨幅 + 0.2×近 126 日 + 0.2×近 189 日 + 0.2×近 252 日, giving the most recent quarter the largest weight. - Ranking: sort the weighted scores of all stocks in the market from low to high, convert them to percentiles, then map them to 1–99.
| Example (made-up numbers) | Last 63 days | Last 126 days | Last 189 days | Last 252 days | Weighted score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stock A | +20% | +25% | +22% | +32% | 0.4×20 + 0.2×25 + 0.2×22 + 0.2×32 = 23.8 |
| Stock B | +2% | +30% | +40% | +50% | 0.4×2 + 0.2×30 + 0.2×40 + 0.2×50 = 24.8 |
The two weighted scores are close, but the price paths are completely different: A has accelerated recently, while B rose a lot over the long run and has stalled lately. Once compressed into one number, that difference disappears—which is why looking at each period separately matters. If a market has 5,000 stocks and a weighted score ranks No. 4,500 (from low to high), the percentile is about 90% and the RS Rating is about 90.
The example numbers are made up to show the steps only and do not correspond to any real stock.
3. How to read the RS Rating: 80, 90 and the RS line
- 80: in the CANSLIM “L” lesson, IBD suggests focusing on stocks with an RS Rating of 80 or higher, i.e. stocks whose 12-month performance beat about 80% of stocks.
- Above 90: better than about 90% of stocks, roughly the top 10% of the market. Higher scores are more likely to include stocks with short, sharp spikes and high volatility.
- RS line: IBD also suggests checking whether the RS line (the ratio of the stock price to the S&P 500) is rising, ideally near a 52-week high. The RS line and the RS Rating are different things; see RS rating vs RS line。
- Only a filter: IBD uses it together with earnings, industry-group rank and other criteria; the RS Rating alone is not an entry point.
4. For China A-share and Hong Kong readers: RS Rating vs RPS
RPS Stock’s RPS (Relative Price Strength) is the percentile of a stock’s price performance over a given window among eligible stocks in the same market on the same observation date. Full definition: What is RPS?; calculation basis: RPS calculation methodology。
- Windows: RPS20 / RPS50 / RPS90 / RPS120 / RPS250 (about 20, 50, 90, 120 and 250 trading days).
- Market: four markets (Japan, US, Hong Kong and China A-shares), each ranked separately, never mixed across markets.
- Reading: RPS120 = 85 means that on that date and window the stock beat about 85% of eligible stocks in the same market, not that it rose 85%. For reading by period, see Multi-period resonance。
- Purpose: cross-sectional ranking and screening for research, not a rating, forecast or investment advice.
| Dimension | IBD RS Rating | RPS Stock RPS |
|---|---|---|
| Comparison range | All stocks in IBD’s database | Same market (China A-shares, Hong Kong, US and Japan ranked separately) |
| Time window | Past 12 months; weights not published | RPS20 / 50 / 90 / 120 / 250 computed separately |
| Output | A single 1–99 score | One percentile per period (about 0–100) |
| Closest equivalent | — | RPS250 (about 12 months); add RPS120 and RPS50 to see recent acceleration |
| Is the formula public? | Basis public, weights not published | Public: period returns ranked by percentile within the same market (Methodology） |
A practical reading: first check RPS250 ≥ 80 (strong over the long run), then check whether RPS120 and RPS50 are also high (not falling behind recently). Several periods ranking high together roughly corresponds to “a high RS Rating that is still accelerating”; a high RPS250 with a very low RPS50 means a big long-term gain but recent weakness. For multi-period reading, see multi-period RPS reading; the daily list of high-RPS stocks is in today’s strong stocks list.
5. Common mistakes
- Confusing the RS Rating with RSI: RSI is an overbought/oversold indicator for a single stock and has nothing to do with cross-sectional ranking; see RPS vs technical indicators。
- Comparing scores across markets directly: an A-share RPS90=95 and a US RS Rating of 95 are not on the same scale because the reference groups differ.
- Treating every site’s “RS” as the same number: stock universes, windows and weights differ, so values differ; cite the source and date.
- Assuming a 99 stays strong: rankings change every day, and past strength does not mean future strength.
6. Limitations
- Price only: no earnings, valuation, flows or industry information.
- Lagging: based on past returns, so it reacts late when a trend reverses.
- Small-cap and low-priced noise: thinly traded stocks jump around, so their percentiles swing widely.
- Not investment advice: this page only explains what the indicator means and how it is calculated.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
How is the RS Rating calculated?
IBD says it takes a stock’s price performance over the past 12 months and compares it with all other stocks, scoring from 1 (worst) to 99 (best). IBD does not publish the exact weights; a common online approximation is “0.4 × 63-trading-day return + 0.2 × 126-day + 0.2 × 189-day + 0.2 × 252-day”, after which the weighted scores are ranked by percentile across the market and mapped to 1–99.
What RS Rating counts as strong: 80 or 90?
In the “L (Leader)” part of CANSLIM, IBD suggests looking at stocks with an RS Rating of 80 or higher whose RS line is rising, ideally near a 52-week high. 80 means the 12-month gain beat about 80% of stocks; 90 means it beat about 90%. A threshold is only a filter, not an entry point.
Is the RS Rating the same as RSI?
No. The RS Rating is a cross-sectional ranking among many stocks; RSI (Relative Strength Index) is an overbought/oversold oscillator calculated from a single stock’s own gains and losses. The names are similar but the uses are completely different.
Where can I see an RS Rating for China A-shares and Hong Kong stocks?
IBD’s RS Rating mainly covers US stocks in its database. A-share and Hong Kong readers can use same-market relative-strength percentiles, such as RPS Stock’s RPS250 (about a 12-month window) with RPS120 and RPS50. They cannot be equated with IBD values, but the idea is the same: compare who rose more in the past within one market.
Are the RS Rating and RPS the same thing?
Same idea, different method. The RS Rating weights several periods into one 1–99 score; RPS Stock ranks 20, 50, 90, 120 and 250 trading-day returns separately and shows them side by side, so you can see whether short- and long-term strength agree.
Is the 0.4/0.2/0.2/0.2 formula found online IBD’s official formula?
No, it is a widely circulated approximation, not an officially published formula. IBD only publishes the basis (“past 12 months, compared with all stocks, 1–99 score”), and public discussions often relay that the most recent quarter gets more weight. Label it as an approximation when you cite it.
Can I simply buy stocks with a high RS Rating?
No. Both the RS Rating and RPS only describe relative gains over a past period. They do not include valuation, earnings, liquidity or market direction, and they do not forecast the future. This page is not investment advice.
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