What is market breadth?
Market breadth tells you how many stocks are taking part in a move, not just how far the index moved. It is the difference between "NIFTY is up" and "most stocks are up".
Why the index alone can mislead
NIFTY, SENSEX and BANKNIFTY are weighted by company size, so the largest companies move the index far more than the rest. On some days a handful of heavyweights rise while most stocks fall, and the index still closes higher.
Looking only at the index, that day looks strong. Looking at breadth, you can see that the crowd was not behind it.
How breadth is measured
The idea is simple: count the stocks that are rising (advances) and the ones that are falling (declines). Traditional measures include the advance–decline ratio and the advance–decline line, which adds up the difference day after day.
AnkBodh shows breadth as a score from −100 to +100: the share of stocks rising minus the share falling, updated every minute through the session.
- +100: every stock is rising.
- 0: rising and falling stocks are evenly split.
- −100: every stock is falling.
Broad moves and thin moves
Comparing the index with breadth gives four common pictures. When the two agree, the move has the crowd behind it. When they disagree, a few large stocks are doing most of the work.
| Index | Breadth | What it describes |
|---|---|---|
| Up | Strongly positive | A broad rally: most stocks are rising together. |
| Up | Negative | A thin rally: a few heavyweights are lifting the index. |
| Down | Strongly negative | Broad selling: the weakness is spread out. |
| Down | Positive | Heavyweights are dragging the index while most stocks hold up. |
What breadth does not tell you
Breadth describes what the market is doing now. It does not forecast where prices will go next, how far a move will run, or when it will turn. A single reading can change within minutes.
It is most useful as one piece of context alongside the index itself, never as a buy or sell trigger on its own.
Educational content. It describes how to read market data; it is not investment advice or a recommendation to trade. AnkBodh is not registered with SEBI.