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Technical score vs fundamental score: what is the difference?

· 5 min read
In short

The technical score reads how the price behaves; the fundamental score reads the company's accounts. They are two different questions, and the score you see is a blend whose proportion you choose.

Two scores, two questions. The technical score asks: how is the price behaving right now? The fundamental score asks: what do the company's accounts say? A solid company can go through a bad market moment, and a stock can rise sharply without anything changing in its balance sheet.

What the site measures

The technical score reads prices and volumes:

  • trend (moving averages lined up upward): up to 25 points;
  • momentum (RSI in a favourable zone, positive MACD): up to 25 points;
  • volume and accumulation: up to 20 points;
  • position relative to the Ichimoku cloud: up to 15 points;
  • market regime: a bonus or a penalty depending on the strength of the trend.

The fundamental score reads the published accounts:

  • valuation, price relative to earnings (P/E): up to 30 points;
  • return on equity (ROE): up to 25 points;
  • price relative to book value (P/B): up to 20 points;
  • debt: up to 15 points;
  • revenue growth: up to 10 points.

The score shown blends the two, 65% technical and 35% fundamental by default. The proportion is set on the dashboard, from 100% technical to 100% fundamental:

The setting that weights the technical score against the fundamental score, on the dashboard.
Screenshot on the demonstration data: stocks, prices and scores are fictional.

For US stocks, the technical part is now rebuilt on the indicators that measurement showed to be useful; the Methodology page says since when, and what changed.

What the measurement does not say

  • Which one is right. They do not contradict each other: they answer two different questions. The setting says which one you are asking.
  • What the accounts will be worth tomorrow. The fundamental score reads the latest published figures. Between two publications it does not move, even when the company's situation changes.
  • That a low P/E is a bargain. A stock can be cheap because its earnings are about to fall. The scale awards points; it does not judge the business.
  • Anything at all on some assets. Cryptocurrencies, commodities and funds have no balance sheet to read: their score is the technical score alone, and the page says so rather than inventing a missing half.

The video tutorial

Tuning the dashboard your way 41s Filter a column, save a search, switch to the simple view.

See all the video tutorials

In the same section
Does a score of 80 mean I should buy?
No, it is a measurement. A score of 80 says the stock's current setup ticks many of the criteria we track, not what the price will do, nor whether the stock suits your situation.
Why does a stock's score change from one day to the next?
Because it is recalculated after every session on the latest prices. A score that moves does not mean the stock has changed in nature; it means its setup has changed since the day before.
Why do some stocks have no score?
Because a score computed on too little data, or on an asset whose price barely moves, would mean nothing. In those cases the site says so instead of showing a number.

Educational content: these articles explain what the site's measurements calculate, so that you can decide for yourself, knowing what they mean. Investing carries a risk of capital loss. See the legal notice.