The S&P 500 has a 'breadth' problem. Crypto doesn’t.

Wall Street’s benchmark equity index S&P 500 is near record highs, but the index's internals look weak. The crypto market, meanwhile, looks relatively better.

The internals here are represented by breadth, or the number of index stocks trading above a specific level, in this case the 200-day average, a widely followed measure of long-term momentum. As CNBC noted recently, a growing share of stocks falling below that level can signal that strength in the headline index is deteriorating.

As of Wednesday, 257 out of the 500 stocks traded below their 200-day MAs. In other words, breadth was bearish.

Compared with that, the crypto market looks healthier. Out of the top 100 tokens by market value, 88, including bitcoin and ether, trade above their 200-day SMAs. Most trade above their 50-, 100- and 200-day averages, a bullish configuration. (We're focusing only on the top 100 because coins beyond that list tend to have smaller market caps, low liquidity and erratic price moves.)

And the icing on the cake: Bitcoin, ether, XRP, SOL and most others are still well below their record highs. In other words, they look inexpensive relative to stocks.