The Minervini Trend Template, Applied to ASX Stocks

The trend template is a checklist, not a pattern. Before a stock's base or entry point is worth a second look, the template asks a simpler question first: is this stock even in a confirmed uptrend? In stage-analysis terms, that means confirming the stock is in Stage 2 — trending up, above its major moving averages, with those averages themselves stacked and rising — before any time is spent analysing the shape of its base.

Most published versions of the template, and most of the free screeners built around it, assume a US market: US moving-average conventions, US relative strength versus US indices, and US-style liquidity. Applying the same checklist to ASX-listed stocks raises a few practical questions those tools don't answer. This guide sets out the published criteria as they were originally described, then works through what changes — and what doesn't — when the template is pointed at the ASX.

The published criteria

The trend template, as popularised by Mark Minervini and widely reproduced since, is eight conditions a stock's price and moving averages should satisfy simultaneously. All eight are long-published and public domain — here they are, faithfully:

1. Price above its 150-day and 200-day moving averages — the stock trades above both longer-term averages, not just poking above one of them intermittently.
2. The 150-day average above the 200-day average — the intermediate trend is already ahead of the long-term trend.
3. The 200-day average trending up — for at least a month, ideally longer, showing the long-term trend has genuinely turned.
4. The 50-day average above both the 150-day and 200-day averages — short, intermediate and long-term trends are stacked in the bullish order.
5. Price at least ~30% above its 52-week low — many of the biggest winners are nowhere near their lows when they break out.
6. Price within ~25% of its 52-week high — the stock is trading near strength, not deep in a recovery from a beaten-down level.
7. Relative strength leadership versus the broader market — the stock is outperforming, not merely participating.
8. Price above its 50-day average — the shortest-term trend confirms the longer-term picture, rather than diverging from it.

Applying it to the ASX

The eight criteria above are index-agnostic — moving averages and 52-week ranges work the same way whatever the market. Three things are worth adjusting when the template is pointed at the ASX rather than a US universe:

• Liquidity thins out fast outside the top few hundred names. A stock can technically satisfy every moving-average condition on paper while trading too little volume to enter or exit a real position without moving the price. A turnover floor is worth adding as a practical filter alongside the template itself, particularly outside the S&P/ASX 300.
• The index is heavily concentrated in materials and financials. A template pass in a resources stock riding a commodity cycle carries different context to one in a bank or a smaller industrial name — sector context matters more on the ASX than on a broader, more evenly spread US market, and it's worth checking what else in the same sector is doing before treating a single pass in isolation.
• Relative strength should be measured against the ASX, not a US index. A stock can show leadership against the S&P 500 while merely tracking the pack locally, or vice versa. Comparing against the local benchmark and the full ASX universe, rather than a US one, is what makes the leadership check on the ASX meaningful.

Template passed — now what?

A trend template pass narrows a universe of thousands of ASX stocks down to the handful genuinely trending. It isn't itself an entry signal — the template confirms the trend is right, but the entry still comes from a proper base forming within it. Seeour guide to the volatility contraction pattern for how a base and pivot point are identified, and theVCP scanner for the live screen of current candidates already trending by this template.