Indicator 17

Concentration Jaws

How much of this market is really just ten stocks? A thermometer for concentration.

Own pane · Daily · Any chart; data comes from QQQ and RSP

Concentration Jaws measures how much of the market's move belongs to its ten largest names. When the cap-weighted index and the equal-weighted version pull apart, the jaws open, and the wider they open the more the index depends on a handful of decisions.

What it shows

One line: a 0-10 concentration score built from the QQQ/RSP ratio's five-year percentile.
Bands: quiet, forming, marked and extreme concentration.
Alerts when the score enters each band.

How it reads the market

When mega-cap tech runs while the average stock goes nowhere, the jaws open: the index looks healthy, the market underneath does not. This is a THERMOMETER, not a timing tool; concentration can stay extreme for months. Use it to know what kind of market you are in, not when to short it.

Settings

Setting	Default	What it does
Symbols	QQQ / RSP	Mega-cap growth versus the equal-weight market.
History window	5 years	The percentile lookback behind the score.
Band bounds	4 / 7 / 9	Where forming, marked and extreme start.

Everything is an input: colors, thresholds and time windows adjust from the indicator's settings panel, no code needed.

Built-in alerts

Concentration forming
Concentration marked
Concentration extreme

Set them once from TradingView's alert dialog and get notified on your phone, no chart-watching required.

Comes with the membership

The whole indicator suite is included with the paid plan, $20/month or $200/year. Subscribe, submit your TradingView username, and the scripts land in your TradingView library.

Get full access

How to add it to your chart

Request access above with your TradingView username (one request covers the whole suite).
We grant it on TradingView, usually within 24 hours; TradingView notifies you.
On your chart, open Indicators → Invite-only scripts and add Concentration Jaws.

When to use it, and when not to

It earns its place when

You want to know how much of an index rally is really ten stocks.
You hold index exposure and want to see the concentration risk you actually own.
You are comparing this cycle's narrowness to previous ones.

Leave it off the chart when

You want a timing tool. Jaws have stayed wide open for over a year at a time.
You trade a single name. This is a structural market measure.
One mega-cap just reported. A single earnings move opens the jaws for a week and means nothing.

Common questions

What is market concentration?

The share of an index's value and movement that comes from its largest members. When the top ten are a third of the index, the index is largely a bet on ten companies regardless of how many it holds.

Why compare cap-weighted to equal-weighted?

Because the gap between them is concentration made visible. Cap-weighted follows the giants. Equal-weighted treats every member the same. When one climbs and the other does not, you are watching a narrow market in real time.

Is high concentration dangerous?

It is fragility, not a forecast. A concentrated market has fewer places to hide if leadership breaks, and it can stay concentrated for years while making new highs. It changes what a drawdown would look like, not whether one is coming.

How does this differ from the Breadth Thermometer?

Breadth counts how many names are rising today. This measures how much weight sits in the top handful. Breadth is participation right now, concentration is structural dependency.