InternalsUpdated daily after close
Bullish Percent Index: % of Stocks on Point & Figure Buy Signals
The Bullish Percent Index condenses ~5,600 Point & Figure charts (1% box, 3-box reversal) into one 0–100 gauge: the share of stocks whose standing structural signal is a buy. Slower and less whipsaw-prone than price-based breadth — when this line reverses from the 70/30 extreme zones, something structural changed.
Today's reading
As of market close on July 21, 2026, the Bullish Percent Index is 50.9% — 2,452 of 4,818 US stocks with standing Point & Figure signals are on a buy signal, putting the index in the bull field (50–70%). The index fell 0.0 percentage points on the session. Computed with a 1% box, 3-box-reversal P&F state machine per stock; the series runs from 2010 to present.
Sources, methodology & freshnessLast updated 2026-07-21 · Open ↓Close ↑
Source
Daily OHLCV for ~5,600 US equities (2010–present)
Methodology
Per-stock Point & Figure (1% box, 3-box reversal); BPI = % of stocks on a Double-Top-Breakout buy signal
Updates
Daily after market close (~1:30 PM PT)Last: 2026-07-21
Maintained & reviewed by Yuriy Matso — methodology shown on the page.
Bullish percent index2026-07-21 · close
BULL FIELD
50.9%
50.9% of stocks are on a Point & Figure buy signal (-0.0pp vs the prior session).
On Buy Signal
2,452
On Sell Signal
2,366
With Signals
4,818
SPY closed at $748.28. Above 70% is overbought; below 30% is oversold; reversals out of the zones are the classic signals.
Range:
01
Bullish percent index
Bullish Percent Index with Overbought / Oversold Zones
% of stocks on a P&F buy signal, SPY overlaid. Shaded zones above 70% (overbought) and below 30% (oversold).
BPI (% on buy signal)SPY price (right)70 / 50 / 30% references
Reading the current tape
As of 2026-07-21, the Bullish Percent Index is 50.9% — 2,452 of 4,818 stocks with standing Point & Figure signals are on a buy (bull field), with SPY at $748.28. The index fell 0.0pp on the session.
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How Bullish Percent Index Works
- 1Run a Point & Figure chart for every stockEach stock's full daily history is converted into a Point & Figure chart using a 1% box size and the standard 3-box reversal — columns of X (rising) and O (falling) that filter out time and small noise, leaving only meaningful price movement.
- 2Detect buy and sell signalsThe classic signals: a Double Top Breakout (a rising X column exceeding the previous X column's high) flips the stock to a buy signal; a Double Bottom Breakdown (a falling O column undercutting the previous O column's low) flips it to a sell signal. A signal persists until the opposite one fires.
- 3BPI = % of stocks on a buy signalEach day we count the share of stocks whose standing P&F signal is a buy, across every stock with at least one signal on record. 50% is neutral; the information is at the extremes and in the reversals.
- 4Read it like a field-position gaugeAbove 70% = overbought territory (offense has been working, risk of exhaustion); below 30% = oversold (washout territory where durable lows form). Reversals OUT of the extreme zones are the classic P&F-style signals.
Who Uses Bullish Percent Index
Swing Traders
The classic BPI play: a reversal up from below 30% ("bull alert") historically marks high-probability long entries; a reversal down from above 70% ("bear alert") warns risk/reward has flipped.
Trend Followers
Above 50% and rising = offense; below 50% and falling = defense. The simplest possible regime overlay built from structural signals rather than price level.
Contrarians
Sub-30 readings are rare (a handful of episodes per decade) and historically cluster at major lows — 2011, 2015-16, 2018, 2020, 2022.
Portfolio Managers
Use BPI direction as a tiebreaker for gross exposure: structural buy signals expanding (BPI rising) supports adding; contracting supports trimming.
Pro Tips
01
BPI moves slowly — that's the feature
P&F signals require real price structure to flip, so BPI filters out chop that whipsaws faster breadth gauges. When BPI actually reverses direction, something structural changed.
02
The reversal beats the level
A BPI sitting at 75% says "extended"; a BPI FALLING from 75% says "exit signals are firing en masse". Direction changes from the extreme zones are the actionable events.
03
Combine with MA breadth for confirmation
BPI measures structural signals; % above 50-day MA measures trend position. When both reverse from washout levels together, the bottoming signal is much stronger than either alone.
04
Don't short a high BPI alone
Strong bull markets can hold BPI above 70% for months. Overbought is a condition; the warning is the reversal down combined with deteriorating A-D and NH-NL.
Common Issues & Solutions
My charting platform shows a different BPI value▾
Universe and box-size differences. The classic StockCharts BPI uses NYSE-listed stocks with traditional box scaling; ours uses ~5,600 US equities with a 1% box and 3-box reversal applied uniformly. Levels differ slightly; zones and reversals read the same way.
BPI barely moved on a big market day▾
By design. A single-day move only flips a stock's P&F signal if it completes a breakout/breakdown pattern. Big index days driven by mega-caps often flip very few structural signals — which is itself information.
What happened before 2010?▾
Our daily universe history begins 2010-01-04, and each stock's P&F state machine starts accumulating from its first bar — so the earliest months warm up as signals build. From late 2010 onward the index is fully formed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Bullish Percent Index?▾
The Bullish Percent Index (BPI) is the percentage of stocks whose Point & Figure chart is currently on a buy signal. Developed at A.W. Cohen's Chartcraft in the 1950s, it condenses thousands of structural chart patterns into one 0–100 number. Above 70% is considered overbought, below 30% oversold.
What is a Point & Figure buy signal?▾
P&F charts plot columns of X (rising) and O (falling) using a fixed box size (1% here) and a 3-box reversal rule, ignoring time entirely. A buy signal is a Double Top Breakout — the current X column exceeding the prior X column's high. A sell signal is the mirror-image Double Bottom Breakdown. Signals persist until the opposite pattern completes.
How do I read BPI levels?▾
Above 70%: overbought — most stocks already on buy signals, fuel limited. 30–70%: the neutral field, where direction matters more than level. Below 30%: oversold washout, historically near major lows. The strongest classic signals are reversals out of the extreme zones, not the zone entries themselves.
Why use P&F signals instead of moving averages?▾
P&F signals are structural: they require an actual breakout or breakdown pattern to flip, making BPI slower and less whipsaw-prone than MA-based breadth. The two together (BPI + % above 50-day MA) separate "trend position" from "structural damage/repair".
What universe and parameters does this use?▾
Approximately 5,600 US equities from our daily OHLCV database (2010–present), each run through a 1% box size, 3-box reversal P&F state machine over its full history, recomputed after every close. The denominator counts every stock with at least one standing signal.
Why does BPI differ from the StockCharts NYSE BPI?▾
Different universe (all US equities vs NYSE-listed) and box scaling (uniform 1% vs traditional fixed-dollar boxes by price band). The absolute level can differ several points, but zones, direction, and reversal signals behave the same way.
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Last updated: 2026-07-21