How far is a typical share below its best? Nearly half.

What the chart shows

How far below its best is a typical share? 47%. Of 2,506 shares with at least a year of prices, the middle one closed on 6 Oct 2026 47.2% below its highest closing price.

Only 77 shares closed at or within 1% of their best. 1,172 are at half their best price or less. For 603 shares the best came in the last year; the year with the most bests is 2024 (859 shares).

What this is: today's closing price against the highest closing price in our records, adjusted for share splits and most bonus issues. When a share's price falls by more than 40% in a single day, it is almost always a bonus issue or a company splitting in two, so its best is counted only from that day on. Our records go back to 2000 at the earliest (2003 for most older shares), so "best" means best since then. What it is not: a forecast, or a sign that a share is cheap or dear. Dividends paid along the way are not counted.

How it is measured

For every ordinary share with a closing price on 6 Oct 2026, we compare that price with the highest closing price in its history. Our price records are adjusted for share splits and for most bonus issues; a recent bonus issue or a company splitting in two can still show up as one big one-day drop, which is handled below. Our price records begin in 2000 at the earliest and in 2003 for most older shares, so "best" means the best since then, or since listing for younger shares; it is not always the best ever.

Dividends are not counted. A one-day fall of more than 40% or rise of more than 50% is almost always a company splitting in two, a bonus issue, a share split or a bad price in the data, not a real day of trading, so for 343 shares with such a day the best is counted only from the last one onward. A share needs about a year of prices (250 trading days) to be counted: 529 newer listings and 19 shares with too little history after such a day are set aside.

Funds that trade like shares (ETFs and index funds, 351) and a few special share types (partly paid shares, rights entitlements, 6) are not counted. The typical (middle) share is 47.2% below its best: half the shares are further below, half are closer. Counting the 343 shares with a big one-day move from their full history gives 48.5%; leaving them out gives 46.7%.

How far a price is below its old best says nothing about whether a share is cheap, dear, good or bad, or where it goes next.

How this chart has read

The finding in one sentence, on each day its numbers changed.

1. 8 Oct 2026How far below its best is a typical share? 47%. Of 2,506 shares with at least a year of prices, the middle one closed on 6 Oct 2026 47.2% below its highest closing price.
2. 7 Oct 2026How far below its best is a typical share? 48%. Of 2,491 shares with at least a year of prices, the middle one closed on 5 Oct 2026 47.9% below its highest closing price.
3. 6 Oct 2026How far below its best is a typical share? 48%. Of 2,506 shares with at least a year of prices, the middle one closed on 1 Oct 2026 47.9% below its highest closing price.
4. 2 Oct 2026How far below its best is a typical share? 47%. Of 2,505 shares with at least a year of prices, the middle one closed on 30 Sep 2026 46.9% below its highest closing price.
5. 1 Oct 2026How far below its best is a typical share? 47%. Of 2,498 shares with at least a year of prices, the middle one closed on 29 Sep 2026 47.4% below its highest closing price.
6. 30 Sept 2026How far below its best is a typical share? 47%. Of 2,487 shares with at least a year of prices, the middle one closed on 28 Sep 2026 47.2% below its highest closing price.

Using this chart