As of 12/06/2024
  Indus: 44,643 -123.19 -0.3%  
  Trans: 16,879 -97.04 -0.6%  
  Utils: 1,036 -11.79 -1.1%  
  Nasdaq: 19,860 +159.51 +0.8%  
  S&P 500: 6,090 +15.16 +0.2%  
YTD
 +18.4%  
 +6.2%  
 +17.4%  
 +32.3%  
 +27.7%  
  Targets    Overview: 12/02/2024  
  Down arrow44,000 or 46,000 by 12/15/2024
  Down arrow17,025 or 18,000 by 12/15/2024
  Down arrow1,025 or 1,100 by 12/15/2024
  Up arrow20,000 or 18,500 by 12/15/2024
  Up arrow6,200 or 5,900 by 12/15/2024
As of 12/06/2024
  Indus: 44,643 -123.19 -0.3%  
  Trans: 16,879 -97.04 -0.6%  
  Utils: 1,036 -11.79 -1.1%  
  Nasdaq: 19,860 +159.51 +0.8%  
  S&P 500: 6,090 +15.16 +0.2%  
YTD
 +18.4%  
 +6.2%  
 +17.4%  
 +32.3%  
 +27.7%  
  Targets    Overview: 12/02/2024  
  Down arrow44,000 or 46,000 by 12/15/2024
  Down arrow17,025 or 18,000 by 12/15/2024
  Down arrow1,025 or 1,100 by 12/15/2024
  Up arrow20,000 or 18,500 by 12/15/2024
  Up arrow6,200 or 5,900 by 12/15/2024

Bulkowski on Price Mountains

Updated: 3/11/2021.

My book, Trading BasicsTrading Basics: Evolution of a Trader book., discusses price mountains starting on page 112 in the section titled, "26. Avoid Price Mountains." I show a picture of the book on the left.

If you click on the above link and then buy the book (or anything) while at Amazon.com, the referral will help support this site. Thanks.

-- Tom Bulkowski

$ $ $

Price Mountain Summary
What is a Price Mountain?
2021 Price Mountain Update
2013 Price Mountain Update
Price Mountains: Time to Make a New High
Price Mountains: Bull Run
Price Mountains: Failure to Make New Highs
See Also

Price Mountains: Summary

Price Mountains: What Are They?

Picture of the micron technology on the monthly scale.

A price mountain is just like it sounds. Price makes a substantial rise and then reverses, leaving a peak on the price chart. This article describes statistics on the recovery after a price mountain.

Shown on the right is an example of a price mountain. The chart is on the monthly, linear/arithmetic (not semi-log) scale. Price forms a tall peak that the stock hasn't surpassed yet (as of 3/11/2021).

Price Mountains: 2021 Update

I performed the same test as I ran in 2013, using the same conditions (see 2013 Price Mountain Update).

In 731 samples, I found that the average time to rise above the top of a price mountain was 6.0 years (4.7 years median). That's for stocks which actually exceeded the peak.

For those still struggling to rise above the price mountain, the clock is still ticking, but it stands at 7.0 years (5.4 years median). That number includes stocks which did exceed the price mountain (that is, the prior test results are included). In 23% of the cases, the stock hasn't exceeded the peak yet.

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Price Mountains: 2013 Update

I ran another test on price mountains in August 2013. Here are the details of that test.

I programmed my computer to find price mountains under the following circumstances.

I found 415 stocks with price mountains which gave me 749 samples. The time for price to reach or exceed the top of the mountain was 6 years. However, 35% of the samples have not exceeded the top of the mountain. Thus, the six years understates the actual value.

This test is different from the ones that follow since it does not bracket time into yearly highs.

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Price Mountains: Time to Make a New High

For this study, I looked at 428 stocks from as early as 1981 to July 25, 2006, but few stocks covered that entire range. The data used a minimum of 5,598 samples. For each year, I found the yearly high (calendar year) and the date price exceeded that high. It took price 1.3 years (477 days) to exceed the calendar year high, on average.

If you include stocks not yet exceeding the yearly high (out of data), then the average time to exceed the yearly high reaches 1.6 years (598 days). The difference includes those stocks not making a higher high...yet.

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Price Mountains: Bull Run

What about stocks that trend up, as in the bull run to the peak in 2000? How long does it take a stock to recover and make a new high?

Up Trend
Length (years)
Recovery
Time (years)
Recovery Time (years) for All Stocks
Including Those not Making New Highs
22.63.1
32.83.3
42.93.6
53.03.7
63.34.0
73.54.5

The table shows that when price makes a higher high the following year and then drops (that is, no higher high a year later), it takes an average of 2.6 years before price reaches the old high. If the upward price trend lasts for 3 consecutively higher yearly highs, then it takes 2.8 years to post a new high, on average.

If you assume that the end of data signifies a new high (that is, it includes all stocks whether they made a new high or not), then it would take 3.1 years to post a new high after trending up for 2 years (as of the date of the original study).

This has a major assumption and that being price making a new high the following year represents a higher trend. Most often, that is the case. But I didn't check to see if a higher low was also made (the common definition of an up trend is a higher high and a higher low). Nor does this analysis assume a straight-line run up.

The longer price trends upward, the longer it will take to recover and post a new high after a decline, on average. For example, if price makes a higher yearly high two years in a row and then declines (fails to make a higher high during the third year), it will take an average of 3.1 years before price makes a higher high.

Price Mountains: Failure to Make New Highs

How many stocks fail to make a new high? The table on the right shows the answer.

Years to
New High
Fail to Make
a New High
138%
219
311
47
54
62

In words, 38% fail to make a higher high in 1 year. Nineteen percent fail to make a new high within 2 years. And so on.

-- Thomas Bulkowski

Top of page More

See Also

 

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