Calculation and mechanics
The basis is closing prices, not intraday highs. The 52-week high is the highest daily close of the past roughly 252 trading days including today. The value therefore cannot be above zero.
With every new trading day, the oldest day drops out of the window. If the previous high sits there and is no longer considered as a result, the distance can shrink even without a current price move.
The counterpart is the distance to the 52-week low. From high and low, the position within the 52-week range can additionally be calculated. The principle matches the basic idea of the IV rank, which places the current IV value between its high and low.
52WH % = (close today / highest close 52W - 1) x 100
Distinction
The EMA21 streak shows how long a price has been above or below its short-term average. The distance to the 52-week high shows instead how far it is from its highest close of the past year.
Both metrics look at one ETF on its own. The return relative to a benchmark, by contrast, compares it with another market. Return columns such as 1W or 1Y measure the change between two points in time, not the gap to an extreme.
Related terms
- EMA21 (Exponential moving average over 21 periods)
- IV Rank (IVR)
- Return Relative to a Benchmark (Relative performance, vs SPY, vs ACWI)
- Treemap (Tiles View) (Heatmap tiles, area chart)
All market and analytical information is provided for educational and analytical purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a trading recommendation.