What Does Distance From 20-Day High Mean and How Do You Use It?
How far the current price sits below the highest price of the last 20 trading days. Near 0% means it is at recent highs; -15% means 15% below that high.
Contents (5 sections)
Distance from 20-day high (shown as vs 20d High on the card) tells you how far today's close sits below the highest price reached in the last 20 trading days, as a percentage. A reading near 0% means the stock is at or near its recent high; -15% means it has pulled back 15% from that high.
How it is calculated
Take the last 20 trading days, roughly one calendar month. Find the highest intraday high in that window. Then:
- Distance = (today's close minus the 20-day high) divided by the 20-day high, times 100.
Because the reference is an intraday high and the numerator uses the close, the result is zero or negative almost all the time: 0% means today closed exactly at the window's high, -3% means today's close is 3% below it. Stock Compass keeps the sign, so smaller (more negative) numbers mean a deeper pullback. The window rolls forward each day, so a spike 21 days ago simply drops out and the reading can jump without the price moving.
Rules of thumb
| vs 20d High | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| 0% to -2% | At or pressing against recent highs; momentum intact |
| -2% to -6% | Normal pullback within an uptrend |
| -6% to -15% | Meaningful correction; trend in question |
| Below -15% | Deep drawdown from the recent high; short-term trend weak |
These are conventions and depend on the stock's volatility. A -6% dip is routine for a small-cap biotech and dramatic for a utility. Check the stock's typical daily swing before deciding whether a number is large.
What it does not tell you
- Whether the high was meaningful. A single-day spike on news creates a high that the stock may never have "lost" in any real sense. One outlier sets the reference for 20 days.
- Absolute level or long-term trend. A stock can be -1% from its 20-day high while sitting 60% below its 52-week high. The window is short by design.
- What happens next. Being near the high is not a breakout, and being far below it is not a bottom. It is a position, not a forecast.
In Stock Compass
vs 20d High is the second cell in the metric strip on every stock card, between RSI and Vol Ratio, and is highlighted when the stock is within 1% of its high. In the card's data summary, the price-action section states the distance as a number, "x% below its 20-day high" or "at its 20-day high", with no positive or caution reading attached.
It is a rule indicator under Trend & Momentum with the id pct_from_high_20d. The default condition is pct_from_high_20d < -8, which describes a pullback of more than 8% from the recent high — the shape of a trailing-stop rule. The opposite direction is just as common: pct_from_high_20d >= -6 keeps you from entering far from the high, and the published guides pair it with a return_5d cap so that "near the high" does not also mean "up 10% in a week". The guide Turn your logic into buy rules shows both uses; Take-profit and stop-loss rules covers the trailing-stop version.
FAQ
Why is the number almost never positive?
The reference is the highest intraday price of the window, and today's close cannot exceed today's high. A 0% reading means today closed right at the 20-day high; anything positive would require a data quirk.
How is this different from distance from the 52-week high?
Same idea, different window. 20 days captures roughly one month and reacts quickly; the 52-week version tells you where the stock sits in its yearly range. The app tracks both; this page covers the 20-day one.
Can I use it as a trailing stop?
The shape fits: a condition like pct_from_high_20d < -8 becomes true when price has given back more than 8% from its recent high. Whether 8% is the right width for a given stock is something to backtest, since volatile names hit it on normal noise.
Does the reading change when nothing happens to the price?
Yes. The window rolls, so when a high from 20 days ago drops out, the reference high can fall and the reading jump closer to 0% without any price change today.
Definition only — not investment advice.