The Bullish Percent Index (BPI) is the percentage of stocks in an index on a point-and-figure buy signal. If 30 of 50 stocks are on a buy signal, the BPI is 60. It runs from 0 to 100 and counts stocks, not their size.
What is a point-and-figure buy signal?
A point-and-figure chart ignores time and plots only meaningful moves. Rising prices stack Xs in a column; falling prices stack Os. A new column starts only when price turns by a set number of boxes, called the reversal.
- Buy signal: a column of Xs rises above the top of the previous X column.
- Sell signal: a column of Os falls below the bottom of the previous O column.
A signal stays until the opposite one appears. A buy signal from 3 months ago still counts today unless a sell signal came since.
Illustrative: the third column rises one box above the first column’s top, which turns the stock’s signal to buy.
How does Chart in Motion build the BPI?
- Box size 2%: boxes sit on a percentage scale, so a box is a 2% move at any share price.
- Reversal 3 boxes: a new column needs a move of about 6% the other way.
- Highs and lows: in a rising column the day’s high is checked first for a new box; only if there is none is the low checked for a reversal. A falling column flips the order.
- 10 days of history: a stock counts only after 10 trading days of prices.
The BPI is members on a buy signal ÷ members with enough history × 100. Members on a sell signal, or with no signal yet, stay in that total.
How do you read the BPI?
Level. Above 70, most members are already on buy signals and few are left to join. Below 30, fewer than 3 in 10 members are on buy signals and falling patterns are common. In between, the picture is mixed.
Direction. Chartists watch turns more than levels. A BPI rising from below 30 shows buy signals spreading from a low base. One falling from above 70 shows them turning down from a high base.
Agreement with the index. An example with made-up numbers: an index of 50 starts a quarter with 12 members on buy signals, a BPI of 24. Over the next 2 months, buy signals spread to 35 members, a BPI of 70. The index then makes a new high, but only 29 members are on buy signals, a BPI of 58. Fewer stocks are confirming the move.
What are its limits?
- It is slow by design. A 6% reversal filters out small swings, and a stock drifting after an old breakout still counts as a buy.
- Settings change the number. Another source’s BPI for the same index can differ.
- Small indices jump. In a 30-stock index each member is worth more than 3 points.
- It counts; it does not weigh. The largest company counts the same as the smallest.
See it in the app
The BPI is a column on the Market breadth board, one value per index for India or the US, beside the other breadth measures. The board is rebuilt every hour. Readings of 70 or higher show in green and 30 or lower in red; they mark extremes, not instructions. More on the features page.