Higher high and higher low (HH/HL)

By Andrew Gomes Updated Oct 15, 2026

The oldest definition of an uptrend, a higher high and a higher low bar over bar, and how Breakaway scores it.

What it is

Before there were indicators, an uptrend meant a series of higher highs and higher lows. Each bar pushes above the high of the bar before it and stays above its low. It is the market saying buyers will pay more than yesterday and sellers will not accept less.

How Breakaway uses it

HH/HL fires when the latest bar's high is above the prior bar's high and its low is above the prior bar's low. It counts on the finished day: during the session it keeps the last close's answer. It has a short memory, so it flips on and off often. That is on purpose. It tells you the trend is active today rather than in general.

HH/HL, on a stock's page
Lit on the Score tab beside the other 13 checks, its rule a tap away.
A month, bar by bar
Each day's high and low beside the day before.
Why a stock ranks
Its Quality Score, its rank, and the reasons behind it, on one card.
CEOs buying their own stock
Every CEO buy, biggest names first. Sort, filter, save the list, and set optional alerts.
Congress trades
A member's trades, newest first, each with its amount. Sort and filter the whole list.
The score, added up
Price action, the company, and signals, each with its points, summed into one number on every stock's page.
Earnings, week by week
Who reports each day, and how each stock took its last four reports.
FDA dates, counted down
Each date in the company's words, its cash against the date, and an optional alert before it.
The market map
Every stock a box, colored by its Quality Score.
Themes, ranked live
Each theme's stocks ranked by Quality Score, live. Here, AI chips.
The top 10, every day
The ten highest Quality Scores at each close, kept day by day, week by week.
Optional alerts, your way
Pick a stock, a score, a price, a filing, or a whole scan. It tells you by push or email.
Your watchlist, scored
Your stocks by Quality Score, today's move, or name.
On your phone and your laptop
The same account and watchlist on both, each laid out for its screen.

How to read it

Alone, it is ordinary. Lit alongside a tight-range check and heavy volume, it marks the first bar out of a base. That is the entry many breakout traders wait for. Dark on a stock that is otherwise strong usually means a normal pause.