What is sector rotation?
Sector rotation is the shift in market leadership as investors move capital between technology, financials, energy, healthcare, consumer stocks, and other groups. Those shifts often reflect changing expectations for economic growth, inflation, interest rates, and risk appetite.
A rotation dashboard answers two fast questions: where is relative strength concentrated, and how broad is participation? A market led by one narrow group behaves differently from a session where most sectors advance together.
How to read this heatmap
- Relative-strength rank sorts sectors from the strongest intraday change to the weakest.
- Sector breadth counts how many tracked sectors are positive. Broad participation generally makes an index move more durable.
- Leader-laggard spread measures dispersion. A widening spread signals a more forceful rotation between groups.
- Top movers show whether a sector’s headline move is supported by its tracked constituents or dominated by one stock.
Price rotation is not the same as fund flow
This heatmap measures intraday price performance using liquid sector ETFs when available, with a market-cap-weighted constituent fallback. It does not claim that rising prices prove net fund inflows. Confirm a rotation with volume, ETF creations/redemptions, options flow, macro catalysts, and persistence across multiple sessions.
Using rotation in a trading process
Start with the strongest and weakest groups, then inspect their leading stocks. A bullish setup in a leading stock from a leading sector has a structural tailwind; the same chart pattern in a lagging group faces more friction. Rotation is context, not a standalone entry signal.
COMMON QUESTIONS
- What is sector rotation?
- Sector rotation is the movement of capital between groups of stocks as investors respond to changes in growth, inflation, interest rates, risk appetite, and the business cycle.
- How do you read a sector heatmap?
- Compare each sector’s percentage change and relative-strength rank. Broad gains across many sectors suggest healthier participation, while a wide leader-laggard spread can indicate active rotation.
- Does sector performance prove money is flowing into a sector?
- No. Price performance is a useful rotation proxy but is not the same as measured ETF fund flows. Volume, breadth, options activity, and macro catalysts provide additional context.
Learn more
- Sector Rotation Strategy: Following Institutional Money Flow, How to identify and trade sector rotation patterns as institutions move capital between market sectors.
- Sector ETF Rotation Signals for Sector Timing, How to use sector ETF flows and rotation patterns for trading decisions.
- Market Breadth Indicators: Measuring the Health of a Rally, Guide to advance/decline, new highs/lows, and other breadth measures.
- How Treasury Yields Impact Stock Prices, Understanding the relationship between interest rates and equity valuations.