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Investors will look for a new record high for Tesla stock by year-end. It just might get there.

Entering the week, Tesla stock is less than 5%, or $21, shy of its record closing high of $409.97 reached on Nov. 4, 2021. It's about 6%, or $25, away from its intraday high of $414.50 reached on the same day.

At the start of the year, with shares at less than $250, an record high looked unlikely, but then Tesla stock typically does the unexpected. Entering Monday trading, Tesla stock was up about 57% for the year.

Earnings haven't led to the gains. According to FactSet, at the start of the year, analysts expected Tesla to earn about $5 a share. That estimate is down to about $3.40 a share. Price competition in China, and slowing EV sales in Europe and the U.S. have weighed on estimates.

Instead, investors have focused on the potential for self-driving cars. They have arrived. Alphabet's Waymo completes more than 150,000 self-diving cab rides a week. Tesla expects to start a self-driving robotaxi service in late 2025.

The impact of self-driving cars on the stock is a topic for fundamental analysts. Technical stock market analysts looking at stock charts can also help handicap what's coming for Tesla stock over the coming few months. Things look good.

CappThesis founder and market technician Frank Cappelleri said that $400 was likely when the stock broke convincingly beyond $270 after the election. "Cleary short-term extended," said Cappelleri reflecting on the 50%-plus run since the election. "So, at any time, it could undergo a bout of profit-taking...t's all about how investors treat the next big drawdown. Since the low in April 2024, dips have been bought, whether those dips have lasted a few days or a few weeks."

How the stock reacts to dips is something to watch, but there doesn't seem to be much stopping Tesla from topping old highs. Fairlead Strategies founder and market technician Katie Stockton is looking at patterns that could see shares hit $429. The charts bode "well for new highs, above the 2021 high," she tells Barron's.

ChartSmarter founder and market technician Douglas Busch believes $480 is in play, adding that he's observed recent call buying in Tesla stock with a $710 strike price.

Call options give the holder the right to buy a stock at a fixed price in the future. Call buyers buying Tesla options at $710 are making a big bet on either the short-term stock move or volatility in Tesla stock -- or both. (Call buyers don't have to hold options to maturity. They can make money as stock prices gain or volatility picks up.)

"Too many [investors] are calling for a top," added Busch. It "won't happen until the chatter dies down."

Technical analysts aren't making fundamental calls on stock prices. They can help fundamentally minded investors understand what traders and other investors are thinking. Right now, the latter group is thinking Tesla stock can work higher.

Tesla stock gained 5.3% on Friday, closing just below $390 a share while the S&P 500 gained 0.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3%.