Stochastic RSI
Stochastic RSI applies the stochastic formula to RSI itself rather than to price, measuring where RSI sits within its own recent range on a 0-100 scale — the most sensitive of the standard oscillators.
`stoch_rsi` is an oscillator of an oscillator: take RSI, then ask where today's RSI value sits within RSI's own recent range, scaled 0 to 100. A reading of 0 means RSI is at the bottom of its recent span, 100 the top. The double derivation is the point — RSI can spend a whole uptrend between 45 and 70 without touching its textbook extremes, while stochastic RSI still swings its full scale inside that band.
That makes it the fastest of the standard oscillators, reaching 20 or 80 on dips ordinary RSI barely registers. On daily NSE data the usual thresholds are below 20 for oversold and above 80 for overbought. Because it fires so often, it works as a shortlist builder rather than a signal: `stoch_rsi < 20 and close > sma(200)` points it at healthy stocks having a bad week, the one context where buying an oversold reading has historically had an edge.
Sensitivity is also the failure mode. Stochastic RSI whipsaws — it can print oversold, recover, and print oversold again within a couple of weeks, and it pins at 0 or 100 easily whenever RSI trends. It is two transformations away from price, so a stretched reading can accompany a barely-changed chart. Treat it as a timing refinement inside a structure defined by slower tools, not as a standalone condition; plain RSI or the stochastic on price are the calmer siblings when fewer, steadier signals are wanted.
In Sift
Written as stoch_rsi — an index, 0-100; below 20 oversold, above 80 overbought. A working scan — The fastest oscillator pinned low, in a stock still above its 200-day:
where stoch_rsi < 20 and close > sma(200)1
of the 500 most-traded NSE stocks match today, as of 20 Aug 2026
Scans that use it
Prebuilt scans in the library whose query reads this value — each with a hit-rate replay over the last 250 sessions.
Common questions
What is the difference between RSI and stochastic RSI?
RSI measures price momentum directly. Stochastic RSI measures where the current RSI value sits within RSI's own recent range. The result is far more sensitive: it reaches oversold and overbought on moves plain RSI shrugs off. That means earlier signals and considerably more false ones — a shortlist tool, not a trigger.
What does stochastic RSI below 20 mean?
RSI is near the bottom of its own recent range — momentum is as washed out as it has recently been, even if RSI's absolute value never went near 30. In a stock whose long-term trend is up, that profile often marks a pullback ending; in a downtrend it means very little, and it recurs often.