The Dynamic Relative Strength Page is constructed by comparing each sector or index in our database against the ``benchmark'' S&P 500 Index over a given period of days. The number of days to use in the comparison is given by the ``relstr=number'' in the Location field in your browser (this can be changed manually). The results of this comparison operation are sorted and displayed as a table. Here's what each line within the table contain:

• X-Day Relative Strength vs. S&P 500 Index (%)

  This field shows the relative percentage difference between the index and the S&P 500 Index over the given number of days (X is replaced by the number specified by the relstr= parameter in the URL). Note that the S&P 500 Index should always show a value of 0.00 in this field.

• Sector Links (Breakdown: Charts)

  This field shows the ticker symbol and name of the sector or index. The ticker symbol is a link to a breakdown of the stocks which make up this sector (warning: breakdowns are not available for all sector indices). The full name of the sector is a link to the chart for the sector or index.

• Change (%)

  This field shows how much the sector or index has changed, absolutely, in percent, over the period being examined.

• Quote Age

  This field shows approximately how long ago our computer received a quote on the sector, in seconds, minutes, hours or days (indicated by the superscript letter to the right of the number). If the market is open and we haven't received a quote for a particular sector or index, the table may not be accurate.

And, of course, since the source of our quotes does not guarantee their accuracy, we cannot be held liable for the accuracy of our tables.

The ETF Heat Map is similar to the ETF Dynamic Relative Strength Page. However, it measures a fixed-length relative strength comparison of the last 20 trading days. The main feature of this table, however, is that it displays in graphic form the prior 20 days (4 weeks) relative strength ranking for each ETF as a row of various shades of colored rectangles. The color codes are, in general:

• green indicates the ETF is in the top third of the rankings,
• blue indicates the ETF is in the middle third of the rankings,
• red indicates the ETF is in the bottom third of the rankings.

Within each third, lighter shades indicate a higher ranking. The order of the colors within each row's heatmap are left-to-right, earliest to latest. Therefore, the rightmost color rectangle in each row indicates the latest ranking and corresponds to the rank order of that row within the table (thus, you can look down the rightmost column of the set of heatmaps to determine the color that corresponds to that ranking, which is why there's no legend for the table — it's the rightmost color rectangles in order from top to bottom).