An index like the Nifty 50 shows what its biggest companies did. Breadth counts what all the stocks did: how many are rising, making new highs or trending up. This page uses the 1,000 most-traded stocks on India's National Stock Exchange (NSE) each day, counted equally, so it mostly reflects mid-sized and small companies. The two can disagree for months, and that disagreement is often the message.

A study of 2015–2026 found that breadth helps judge risk. When it is weak or fading, the next month's falls in mid-sized and small companies have been deeper, and breakouts to new highs have failed more often. At big market tops, breadth usually peaked two to six months before the mid and small company indices.

It did not predict whether the market would rise or fall over the next few weeks. Read it as a tilt, not a switch, and watch the trend of the lines, not single days.

The full study: what was tested and what it found

• Today so far: while the market is open, the day's figures from the latest prices, every 20 minutes.
• What changed: lines crossed and new extremes in the last 5 sessions.
• The cards: the latest close's readings, with their history.
• Charts: the same readings over time; drag or pinch to move through the years.
• Sectors: which industries are strongest; tap one for its stocks.
• The last 30 days: background.

A ? beside a heading or label explains it.

Tested on 2015–2026 and left off the page:

• Breadth of large, mid-sized and small companies separately: the three move together.
• Signals for selling short: none was reliable.
• Timing option purchases with VIX: nothing worked.
• Switching to gold, silver, US or Hong Kong stocks, or bonds when breadth is weak: no reliable timing, though gold tended to rise in sharp Indian falls.
• A single "market state" label: it flipped about every two weeks and turned only after falls had begun.

More on each test

5-day and 50-day average (5 DMA, 50 DMA)

A stock's daily moving average: its average closing price over the last 5 or 50 trading days (about one or ten weeks). Above it counts as an uptrend over that span.

52-week (one-year) high or low

A close above the highest (or below the lowest) close of the previous 252 trading days, about a year. Only stocks with a year of history count.

Out of 1,000

Every count is a number of stocks out of the day's 1,000 most-traded.

Today and the two-week average

The large numbers are today's counts; the table shows the average day over the last two weeks (10 trading days). A single day swings a lot; the two-week average is steadier and has been the better guide to risk.

"Only N in 100 days since 2015…"

How unusual today's reading is against every trading day since 2015: "Only 5 in 100 days were lower" means today is lower than 95 days in 100. The gauge shows the same, lowest on the left.

Nifty 50, Midcap 150, Smallcap 250

NSE's indices of India's largest companies by size: the top 50; those ranked 101 to 250; and those ranked 251 to 500. Each is weighted by company size.

India VIX

How much Nifty option prices expect the index to swing over the next 30 days, as a yearly percentage. Higher: options price in bigger moves.

Actual swings

How much the Nifty really moved over the last 20 trading days (the yearly standard deviation of its daily changes), on the same scale as VIX.

Stocks over the last month (up or down 25%+, 50%+)

Stocks up or down 25% (or 50%) over the last 20 trading days. A count, not a forecast.

Sectors in uptrends

Sectors where more than half of their stocks among the 1,000 are above their 50-day average, out of the sectors with 10 or more such stocks. Compared with the past year only, using today's sector list.

3M or 1M chg vs avg stock (sectors)

A sector's change over 3 months (or 1), its stocks counted equally, minus the average stock's among all stocks with a sector.

NSE's free daily price and index files, adjusted for stock splits and bonus issues. The 1,000 stocks are each day's most-traded by average value over the previous 20 trading days. Sectors: NSE's Nifty Total Market list. Final figures each weekday at about 7:30 pm IST. While the market is open (every 20 minutes from 9:20 am to 3:40 pm IST, the last after the closing auction), today's figures come from the latest traded prices on Zerodha's Kite Connect and are provisional until the evening. Downloads (closes only): the full daily history (CSV; counts per 100 stocks) · today's sector table (CSV).

Holidays and MCX sessions: NSE and Zerodha. Scheduled announcements: the US Federal Reserve, the Reserve Bank of India and FRED (St. Louis Fed). A holiday announced at short notice may appear a day late.

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The day's change and the price

The large number is the day's change: today's while MCX is open, else the last session's. Prices are in rupees per MCX's quoting unit: gold per 10 g, silver and copper per kg, crude oil per barrel, natural gas per mmBtu (million British thermal units).

Price vs 50 DMA

Today's price against its average close over the last 50 trading days (about ten weeks). Above zero: uptrend; below: downtrend.

1M chg

The change over the last 20 trading days, about a month.

The bar

Where the price sits between its lowest (left) and highest (right) close of the past year.

Each price is the nearest-month contract. When it expires, the next month usually trades at a different price; those jumps are removed so the readings show the trend, not the switch.

Every 20 minutes from 9 am IST until MCX closes (11:30 pm while US clocks are on summer time, 11:55 pm otherwise), and once more just after midnight. The rupee has under a year of history here, so no bar yet.

Zerodha's Kite Connect.