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Fifty Two Week Low Drift

Updated dailyData needs: lowshort onlylong only

paper

2004

Source

George, T. J., Hwang, C. (2004). "The 52-Week High and Momentum Investing." Journal of Finance, 59(5), 2145-2176.

Read the paper →

In plain terms

Stocks near their 52-week high tend to keep winning; stocks far below it tend to keep losing.

How it works

Anchoring on the 52-week HIGH (George & Hwang 2004): traders under-react to news when price is near the 52-week high and over-react far below it, so stocks near their 52w high keep outperforming and stocks far below it keep underperforming for roughly 6 months.

Live results

7 times picked on its own · 190 times inside a blend (144 beat the stock) · updated 2026-07-06

This strategy is a frequent ingredient in blends that combine a few strategies on one stock. It has contributed to 190 such blended picks (144 of which beat simply holding the stock). Picking it on its own is only one of the ways it shows up.

How its picks scored vs. buy & hold

Each pick is graded on a recent year it was never tuned on, against simply owning the same stock

Where its edge concentrates

Share of picks in each company-size group that beat buy & hold

How often it trades

Active vs. patient. Bars on the left mean it waits for rare setups; bars on the right mean it trades often

Return vs. buy & hold

How much each pick beat or trailed simply owning the stock over the test year (extreme microcap moves trimmed)

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Data dependencies

Daily prices
Adjusted-close OHLCV for every US-listed ticker; primary price feed.

Expected edge

Reported return: ~0.45%/mo (long-short spread)
Tested over: 1963-2001

George-Hwang 2004: ~0.45%/month self-financing spread, long near-high winners / short far-below losers.

Example tickers where this is likely to fire

LCID RIVN CHWY NIO PARA

Illustrative only, the signal fires based on the live data, not a fixed list.

Related families

52-Week-High MomentumPrice & Market Behavior

Stocks within 5% of their 52-week high tend to keep going (anchoring effect). Conversely, stocks at very deep drawdowns (-40%+) often bounce.

Cross Sectional MomentumPrice & Market Behavior

Compare the stock to its sector peers on 12-month return (excluding last month). If it's in the top third of peers, go long.

Frog In Pan MomentumPrice & Market Behavior

A series of small same-signed daily moves (continuous info) creates stronger momentum drift than the same total return delivered as a few big jumps.

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