Checks the tape

WideRadar for tape and breadth

By WideRadar · Published August 17, 2026

A leader in a thrusting tape is a different trade than the same leader when participation is quietly dying. Indexes are cap-weighted and late. By the time the headline average breaks, most stocks have already done the damage. WideRadar’s breadth desk counts the whole US tape so you can see whether the market can carry the names you just found on Leaders — before you size.

Why the index is not the tape

A handful of mega-caps can hold an index up while the median stock is already in a drawdown. That is not a trivia fact; it is how growth books get sliced. Breadth reverse-engineers the average by counting what individual stocks are doing — large daily moves, new highs versus new lows, how many names sit above their moving averages.

When hundreds of names surge 4% or more in a day, money is broadly committed. When the index is green and only a thin cohort is moving, the “strength” you are buying may be the last bid. The heatmap exists so you see that without waiting for the index to confirm it the hard way.

What we count (and what we ignore)

Coverage starts from 5,000+ US listed stocks. Before a name counts in breadth, it must close above $3 with average daily volume of at least 100,000 shares (the active universe is about 4,500 names). The price gate uses the pre-move close, so a $2 to $3 pop does not pollute a 4% column. Cheap pumps and illiquid noise stay out of the regime read.

The columns that matter first

• Up / down 4%+. The daily pulse. High up-counts are broad buying; high down-counts are distribution. The ratio (up divided by down) is the fast balance-of-power read: above about 1.5 favours buyers, below about 0.67 favours sellers.
• New highs versus new lows. Across 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, and 52-week windows. A market making more highs than lows at each horizon is in sustained rotation higher. Highs drying up while the index holds is a warning.
• Percent above 50-day and 200-day. Share of the universe still above those averages. Roughly: 50-day below 40% is a broad correction; 200-day below 30% is bear-market behaviour. These are environment gauges, not trade triggers.
• Secondary burst measures. Things like 20% in five days, monthly 25% thrusts, and intermediate 13% in 34 days show whether momentum is igniting or exhausting beneath the daily noise.

Market Tone (bullish, bearish, mixed, caution) summarises the regime across timeframes. Use it as a shortcut, then read the columns so you know why the tone is what it is. Click a column header for the full trend of that metric — including history that goes back through prior cycles, not just this month.

How tape-checkers should use the rest of the desk

Do not live on Breadth and skip Leaders. A healthy tape with no leaders is an environment; it is not a trade. Do not live on Breadth and skip the chart. Participation does not replace structure on the name you are about to buy. The order stays: find strength, confirm the name, then ask the tape whether to size.

1. After you have a candidate. You already liked sector RS, the stock’s Leadership Score, and the daily chart.
2. Open Breadth. 4% up/down and the ratio first, then new highs/lows, then % above 50-day if you need trend context.
3. Decide size, not personality. Thrusting tape: you may take the setup at planned size. Mixed: cut size or demand a better entry. Thinning or risk-off tone: stand aside even if the name looks clean.

Mistakes tape-focused traders make

• Turning breadth into the whole product. You will overfit columns and under-trade leaders. WideRadar’s edge is still RS first.
• Waiting for every column to be perfect. Markets are mixed more often than not. You need a bias and a size, not a unanimous committee.
• Ignoring the $3 + 100k filter. If you mentally include penny pumps, your “breadth” will look more exciting than the real book.
• Using VIX or the S&P print instead. Those are on the desk as context. They are not a substitute for counting stocks.