Educational reference. Measured from 1379 recorded 1m bars of ES (E-mini S&P 500) on Tuesday, September 8, 2026.
RSI crossed above 70 17 separate times during the session, and the typical visit lasted 1 minutes. Across the whole session it sat above 70 for 2.8% of the time, between 30 and 70 for 91.9%, and below 30 for 5.3%.
| Band | Share of session | Bars | Separate visits | Median visit | Longest visit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Above 70 | 2.8% | 39 | 17 | 1 min | 6 min | |
| Between 30 and 70 | 91.9% | 1267 | 45 | 9 min | 150 min | |
| Below 30 | 5.3% | 73 | 27 | 2 min | 9 min |
RSI compares the size of recent gains with recent losses, so a reading above 70 says buying has dominated the last 14 bars — not that price is high. A long stay above 70 is a market trending up, which is the opposite of the reversal the word 'overbought' suggests.
Here the reading entered overbought territory 17 times, with a median stay of 1 minutes and a longest of 6. A brief excursion above 70 that resolves in minutes is noise on this timeframe. A sustained one is the signature of a trend that is still running, and selling into it is how traders get run over.