The Breakout Readiness Score

Why a Score, Not Just Signals

Signals (S2, NH, HV, VCP) are binary — a stock either passes or it doesn’t. On a strong market day, 40 stocks can pass Stage 2 + Near High simultaneously. Their Score column reads 4 for all of them. But they are not equal. Some are within 1% of their 52-week high; others are 20% below it. Some outperform Nifty on all three timeframes; others are barely keeping pace. Some pass all 7 Minervini structural criteria; others barely pass Stage 2’s lenient filter. BRS converts the continuous underlying data into a comparable ranking.

The Breakout Readiness Score takes five dimensions that the signal columns either ignore or reduce to a binary, and combines them into a single 0–100 score. Every stock that appears in any of Finmagine Trader’s 8 scan tabs is scored on all five dimensions and ranked on the BRS tab. You see the full ranked universe, not just the stocks that passed today’s best scan.

The Five Components — Formula and Rationale

BRS is a composite score assembled from five independently measured components. Each component measures a specific dimension of setup quality. Together they cover the full analytical checklist a momentum trader should run through before any position decision.

Component 1 — Trend Template (25 points)

TT passes all 7 Minervini criteria → 25 pts. TT fails (even one criterion) → 0 pts.

The binary scoring is deliberate: the MA structure is either intact or it isn’t. No partial credit for 6 out of 7 — Minervini’s framework requires all 7 simultaneously. The logic is sound: a stock that passes 6 criteria has a structural flaw somewhere in the SMA stack, the annual-range position, or the 200-day trend direction. That flaw matters.

25 points (25% of BRS) because TT is the foundational prerequisite. Every other component means less if the trend structure is broken. Stage 2 showing S2 while TT fails means the Weinstein framework qualifies the stock but Minervini’s stricter test does not. That divergence is a caution signal, not a green light.

Component 2 — Relative Strength vs Nifty 50 (25 points)

12M outperform → +12 pts | 6M outperform → +8 pts | 3M outperform → +5 pts | max 25 pts

RS is weighted by timeframe because longer-period outperformance is a more reliable signal of sustained institutional preference. 12M RS is the most important: a stock that outperforms Nifty over 12 months is demonstrating persistent allocation by investors who have tracked it through multiple market conditions. 3M RS is noisier — a stock can outperform Nifty over 3 months due to sector rotation or a one-time event. 12M outperformance requires sustained buying pressure.

A dash (—) in the RS column means the stock has insufficient price history for that timeframe (e.g., listed less than 12 months). This is not penalised — stocks with — in a period do not lose points for that period; they simply score 0 for that component’s contribution.

RS is loaded lazily: cells show “...” initially and update per-stock as ChartInk returns results, to keep initial page load fast. BRS values will update automatically as RS data arrives.

Component 3 — Proximity to 52W High (20 points, graduated)

Proximity is the most directly actionable component: it tells you how close the stock is to its breakout point and how much overhead supply it faces.

Proximity is graduated because the risk/reward profile changes dramatically as a stock approaches its 52-week high. A stock within 2% of its 52W high has virtually no overhead supply — every price above the current level is new territory for recent holders, meaning there are no trapped buyers waiting to sell to break even. A stock 30% below its 52W high has a long wall of sellers to work through first.

The near10 band (within 10% of the 52W high): this is a proprietary intermediate tier. The NH scan fires only at stocks within 2% of their 52W high. Many great breakouts are set up when the stock is at 90–98% of its high — coiling before the final push. The near10 tier (14 pts) captures this “approaching zone” between VCP proximity and the actual pivot zone.

Note: NH takes priority over near10 (a stock within 2% is also within 10%) — first match in the priority chain wins.

Component 4 — Weinstein Stage (20 points)

Stage classification uses four parallel ChartInk scans. Priority: S4 wins if close < SMA200; then S3 if close < SMA50 AND close > SMA200 AND SMA50 < SMA150; then S2 from the existing Stage 2 scan; then S1. Stocks that pass none of the four scans show “—”.

Note on TT/S2 overlap: TT (25 pts) and Stage S2 (20 pts) both test the MA structure. This is intentional. A stock that passes both Minervini AND Weinstein simultaneously deserves to score higher than one that passes only one. The overlap is a feature — it rewards stocks confirmed by two independent structural frameworks at once. It is not double-counting; it is double-confirmation.

Component 5 — Breakout Quality Bonus (10 points)

Having the right proximity and stage is necessary but not sufficient. The Breakout Quality Bonus rewards stocks that are not just near their highs but are actively forming a clean, low-risk base. A stock in Stage 2 near its 52W high but with wild day-to-day swings scores 0 here. A stock coiling in a VCP pattern (tightening price contractions with declining volume) scores 8. A stock doing so on both daily (VCP) and weekly (3-Week Tight) timeframes simultaneously scores the maximum 10.

VCP + 3-Week Tight simultaneously (10 pts) is a rare setup: the stock is contracting on both timeframes at once. Daily volatility is shrinking (VCP) AND three consecutive weekly closes are within 1.5% of each other (3-Week Tight). This dual-timeframe compression is precisely the pattern Minervini identifies as the highest-quality pre-breakout coiling condition.

Worked Examples — The Math in Action

The clearest way to understand BRS is to trace the calculation for real stocks. Each example below shows how the 5 components combine and why BRS reveals things that Score alone does not.

The BRS Tab — Your Daily Decision Engine

The BRS tab (🏷, Tab 9) is the ninth and final tab in Finmagine Trader. It is not another scan — it is a synthesis view. All stocks from all 8 other scan tabs are collected, deduplicated (a stock appearing in Stage 2 AND Near High AND VCP is shown exactly once with all three signals merged), scored on all 5 BRS components, and displayed sorted by BRS descending.

The purpose of deduplication: without it, a stock in three scan categories would appear three times in a combined list, inflating its apparent prominence. The BRS tab shows each NSE stock exactly once, with the full picture of every scan signal it triggered, the merged Signal badge count, and its complete BRS breakdown.

Column layout on the BRS tab: all 16 columns are shown — Symbol, Company, Price, % Change, Turnover, Signals (all badges merged), Score, TT, SEPA, Stage, RS (lazy-loaded), BRS, Tag. Note that TT, SEPA, Stage, RS, BRS, and Tag columns appear ONLY on the BRS tab. All other 8 scan tabs show a simplified 10-column view for clarity and faster scanning.

Five Tiers — What Each Tag Means

Every stock on the BRS tab is assigned one of five tags based on its BRS score. The tags are designed to give you an immediate action-readiness classification without needing to read the number.

RS — What ↑, ↓, and — Mean

The RS column shows three arrows (or dashes) for the three measurement periods: 12M, 6M, and 3M. Each arrow tells you whether the stock’s price change over that period outperformed or underperformed Nifty 50’s price change over the same period.

How it works technically: the extension fetches Nifty 50’s historical price returns from Yahoo Finance. For each period, it computes a threshold (e.g., “Nifty rose 12% over the past 12 months → threshold = 1.12”) then runs two parallel ChartInk scans: one for stocks whose price is above that threshold versus 252 trading days ago, and one for stocks below it.

• ↑ = outperform: the stock’s price change over that period exceeds Nifty 50’s change
• ↓ = underperform: the stock’s price change is below Nifty 50’s change
• — = insufficient history: the stock has been listed less than the period being measured (<252 days for 12M, <126 for 6M, <63 for 3M). Not penalised in BRS.

Lazy loading: RS appears as “...” initially because it is computed in a separate batch after the main scan data renders, to keep the initial BRS tab load fast. BRS scores will show with placeholder RS values and update automatically as the data arrives. The RS load typically completes within a few seconds.

Reading BRS Alongside Other Columns

BRS is most powerful when read in the context of the other BRS tab columns. The table below shows common TT / Stage / RS combinations and what each implies:

The most important column combination to check: when TT fails (—) but the stock has high proximity (NH) and RS ↑↑↑, BRS will be in the 45–60 range. This is the “CENTUM trap” — the surface looks great (near highs, outperforming, maybe with a VCP) but the MA structure is broken. BRS correctly demotes it. Investigate why TT fails before considering this stock.

Limitations and Known Gaps

BRS is a powerful ranking tool, but understanding its limitations makes you a better user of the data.

• RS binary limitation: ↑ and ↓ cannot distinguish magnitude. A stock beating Nifty by 0.5% and one beating it by 45% both show ↑ for that period. BRS scoring is directional, not magnitude-based. This is a known gap in the current implementation.
• TT/S2 overlap is intentional: Both test the MA structure. The overlap rewards stocks confirmed by two independent frameworks simultaneously. This is a feature, not double-counting.
• Stage classification is approximate: ChartInk’s data is end-of-day. Stocks in transition zones (e.g., just crossed their SMA200 today) may classify differently on different days. The 15-minute cache means BRS reflects the state at the time of the last fetch, not necessarily the real-time price.
• BRS is a ranking tool, not a buy signal: A BRS of 98 tells you the structural setup is excellent — not that the stock will go up. Always wait for a specific entry trigger: price breaking a well-defined pivot on above-average volume. BRS qualifies the stock for your watchlist; your entry criteria define the moment you act.
• BRS can change intraday: Stage, TT, proximity, and signal badges can all update as price moves during the day. The 15-minute cache refreshes BRS throughout the trading session. RS data is based on closing prices and does not change intraday.