
- Identify the trend line. This is that blue line you see every time you hear about a stock – it's either going up or down right? ...
- Look for lines of support and resistance. ...
- Know when dividends and stock splits occur. ...
- Understand historic trading volumes.
How to learn stock charts?
One of the most convenient ways to learn about stock charts is through Google Finance. Just search a company’s ticker, and you’ll see a simple chart that’s the equivalent of the shallow end of the pool during a swim lesson. (Don’t know the company’s ticker symbol? You can search online for that.)
What is the y axis on a stock chart?
The y-axis (vertical axis) shows prices in dollars, while the x-axis (horizontal axis) shows how much time has passed in the chosen period. In this chart, the gray line shows how the stock is performing during after-hours trading.
What is the closing price of a stock?
to 4 p.m. Eastern Time. During regular trading hours, the price will likely fluctuate. The “after hours” price is $125.15, reflecting the price the stock was currently being traded for outside of regular hours.
Why are bid ask spreads wider?
And when spreads are wider, it may be more difficult for an investor’s trade to be executed, or for the trade to go through at the price they wanted.
What is the market cap of Apple?
In Apple’s case, your eyes do not deceive you: That’s a market cap of $2.1 trillion — one of the largest in the world. (Learn more about market capitalization.)
Is a stock price increase a blip?
Even if a stock price is rising in the short term, that increase may be a blip amid a prolonged decline. Look at longer time horizons (one, three and five years) for a more complete picture of trading activity.
Do stock market graphs have to be a mystery?
Stock market graphs don’t have to be a mystery. Here’s how to read them for any stock.
How to read stock price?
Reading stock prices is very simple. All you need to do is to open a chart and you will see the current price of the stock. However, this is not all. You can also see the historical data of the price movements of a certain stock using the stock trading charts. This way, you will be able to better analyze the market. By using technical indicators, you can go further into analysis and learn about the possible direction the prices could go.
What is the best thing about stock charts?
The best thing about stock trading charts is that most of them are easily customizable and offer you the ability to use them according to your needs. They offer you very versatile timeframes, which means that you can analyze the market using yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, and hourly timeframes, which can give you great control.
What type of chart gives you information about the open and close prices of the market?
Among the types of charts that give you information about the open and close prices of the charts are Heiken Ashi, regular bar chart, candlestick charts, and many others. By understanding how to read charts like these, you can better plan your positions in the market.
What are the indicators used to predict the future?
Among the indicators that you can use to determine potential support/resistance levels are Fibonacci retracement, volume indicators , and many others.
How to read a chart?
The simplest way to read the chart is to identify the cycles on the chart by finding its highs and lows. Depending on the type of trader you are, you will be looking for different types of highs and lows in the market.
Why is reading stock charts important?
Reading stock charts explained: Reading stock charts can help you understand the market a lot better
What is the most important thing to know about stock prices?
When learning how to read stock prices and how to understand them, one of the most important things to think about is the dividend yield . The dividend yield is expressed as a percentage and represents a financial ratio that shows how much dividends the company pays each year compared to its stock price.
What is stock chart?
In its most basic form, a stock chart is exactly what I said above – a chart with historic prices of a particular stock.
What is the best website to look at stock market?
One of the best websites to look at basic stock information is Google Finance. Yahoo! Finance is a close second.
What happens when a stock splits?
Many times when a stock split happens, more people invest (since the share price is often lower) which increases demand and, in many cases, the overall share price. 4. Understand historic trading volumes. At the very bottom of the chart, you can see many small, vertical lines.
Where to find dividends on stock chart?
At the bottom of the chart, you’ll see if and when the company issued a dividend, as well as if there was ever a stock split:
Is stock picking hard?
Stock picking is hard, and understanding stock charts is the first step toward success. Here's our beginner's guide on how to read a stock chart.
Do stocks take dives?
First, know that stocks will take huge dives and also make huge climbs. Don’t react to large drops or huge gains in a positive or negative way. You should be using this piece of the stock chart merely to see what’s going on.
Can I read stock charts?
A great starting point is being able to read and understand stock charts. Yes, that doesn’t sound all that exciting, but doing this gives you an advantage when you want to truly analyze a stock to buy. In the article, I’ll break down the essentials of a stock chart and explain the key things you need to focus on.
What is stock chart?
Stock chart can be defined as pictorial/ graphical representation of a price of stock plotted for a period of time i.e. either daily, weekly, monthly, yearly etc containing items like stock symbol, stock exchange details, price details like open, close, highest, lowest etc. and trade volume details i.e. quantity of stock bought and sold providing insights about the direction in which stock will be moving.
What are the different types of stock charts?
The following are the basic types of stock charts: 1 Line Stock Charts: One of the basic charts that give the least information. The line is drawn using the closing price for each unit#N#Price For Each Unit Unit Price is a measurement used for indicating the price of particular goods or services to be exchanged with customers or consumers for money. It includes fixed costs, variable costs, overheads, direct labour, and a profit margin for the organization. read more#N#of time. 2 High Low Close Bar Stock Charts: Each bar represents the trading period, with the price being high low and close represented. 3 Open High Low Close Bar Stock Chart: This represents a complete bar chart that includes the open price and close price in the day’s trading. 4 Japenese Candlestick Chart: It is widely used in Japan that gives an excellent insight into the current and future price movement. 5 Volume At Price Stock Chart: This is the new development in the stock chart that shows the volume of trades at a specific price level. 6 Equivolume Stock Charts: These charts provide the Volume at Price in a different manner.
What does the bottom of a stock chart show?
At the bottom of the chart, multiple small and vertical lines show the trend of stock traded volume. Any major news about the company, whether good or bad, increases the trading volume. An increase in volume may also shift the price of the stock quickly.
Why does the market capitalization of a company remain unchanged during a stock split?
The company's market capitalization remains unchanged during a stock split because, while the number of shares grows, the price per share decreases correspondingly. read more. ever. When the company’s board of directors opts to provide its earnings share to its shareholders in the form of dividends, the shareholder.
What does volume mean in stock chart?
Stock chart volume is the number of shares traded during a time period. It is plotted as a histogram under a chart where volume represents the level of interest in a stock. If a stock is trading low in volume, it means there is low interest in the stock market and vice versa.
What is equivolume stock chart?
Equivolume Stock Charts: These charts provide the Volume at Price in a different manner.
What is the resistance level in stock market?
The resistance level in stock charts is the price from which there is no further rise. It is always about the current market price#N#Market Price Market price refers to the current price prevailing in the market at which goods, services, or assets are purchased or sold. The price point at which the supply of a commodity matches its demand in the market becomes its market price. read more#N#. It is a point on the chart where the traders will expect maximum supply for the stock. It is a technical analysis tool that the market participants look at the time of the rising market. It is unlikely of the stock price to rise above the resistance level, consolidate, absorb all the supply, and then see a high decline.
How to read stock charts?
What Does Stock Charts Tell Us? 1 Planning Tool — When you know how to read a stock chart, you'll see things you otherwise wouldn't know about how other buyers and sellers have been trading that stock recently. This can be especially useful if you are planning to buy or sell that stock in the near future. 2 Decide whether it's a good time to get in or not — You can also chart the overall market using a market index instead of an individual stock. This can help you decide whether now is a good time to invest (or invest more) in a market index ETF or mutual fund. And it can give you something to talk about at parties. 3 Anticipate The impact of the Individual Investor — As an individual investor, it is very important to remember that institutional buyers — including mutual funds, pension funds, and other big pools of money — drive the behavior of stock prices throughout the day. A single big player can buy and sell a stock in such a large quantity that the pressure of its order alone, whether to buy or sell, can move the price. An individual investor who wants to buy or sell the same stock that day has to go along for the ride. 4 Avoid buying at a bad time — You can use stock charts to try to avoid buying or selling at the worst time. (No guarantees, though — this isn't an exact science!)
What do stock charts tell you?
Stock charts may not tell you which stocks to buy, but they can help you decide whether it's a good time to buy or sell those stocks . Planning Tool — When you know how to read a stock chart, you'll see things you otherwise wouldn't know about how other buyers and sellers have been trading that stock recently.
Why is the stock bar red?
The bar is red if the price was lower at the end of the interval than at the beginning. Green says the stock price went up over that period. Other sources use other colors (pink and purple are nice), but it's the same idea. See how much information you can glean from one vertical bar!
How many dashes are there in a bar?
Horizontal Dashes (“twigs”) Each bar has two little “twigs” (horizontal dashes) poking out, one to the left and one to the right. Some are near the top of the bar, some near the bottom, many are in between — there's no discernable pattern.
What does a weekly chart show?
If the interval is one day, the vertical bars show the stock's price range for the entire trading day. Weekly charts help you see longer-term trends, while intra-day charts help you spot specific buy and sell signals.
How to avoid buying at a bad time?
Avoid buying at a bad time — You can use stock charts to try to avoid buying or selling at the worst time. (No guarantees, though — this isn't an exact science!)
Why use daily and weekly charts?
Using daily and weekly charts together helps you distinguish between normal price changes and a true shift in trend. Intra-day (shortest interval) charts are helpful when it comes to deciding the best time to buy or to sell.
What is stock chart?
A stock chart or table is a set of information on a particular company's stock that generally shows information about price changes, current trading price, historical highs and lows, dividends, trading volume and other company financial information.
What is the importance of reading stock quotes?
Reading stock charts, or stock quotes, is a crucial skill in being able to understand how a stock is performing, what is happening in the broader market and how that stock is projected to perform. Knowing the basics can help investors make better decisions and are a vital first step in getting into and understanding investing.
How to calculate dividend yield?
The dividend yield, then, is the percentage return on that dividend, and is calculated by dividing the annual dividend by the current stock price.
What does it mean when a stock closes?
The close price is perhaps more significant than the open price for most stocks. The close is the price at which the stock stopped trading during normal trading hours (after-hours trading can impact the stock price as well). If a stock closes above the previous close, it is considered an upward movement for the stock (and will impact things like candlestick charts, which we'll get to later). Vice versa, if a stock's close price is below the previous day's close, the stock is showing a downward movement.
How to tell if a stock has a high volume?
The volume is generally indicated on the bottom of the stock chart in green and red bars (or sometimes blue or purple bars). The key thing to look out for when examining trading volume is spikes in trading volume, which can indicate the strength of a trend - whether it is high trading volume down or up. If a stock's price drops and the trading volume is high, it might mean that there is strength to the downward trend on the stock as opposed to a momentary blip (and vice versa if the price moves up).
What are the two axes on a stock chart?
Every stock chart has two axes - the price axis and the time axis. The horizontal (or bottom) axis shows the time period selected for the stock chart. This can generally be customized to show anything from a year time period (or even multiple years) to a day.
How to find P/E ratio?
The P/E ratio is found by dividing the current stock price by the earnings per share for the past year (four quarters).
How to find trend on stock chart?
You can find the trend on the chart by drawing trend lines. Don’t just draw them aimlessly. Find areas on the chart where significant volume entered the stock, and where price pivoted up or down in a meaningful way.
What is trend line?
Trend lines connect the prices together to show a direction for the stock, and many traders extend these trend lines ahead on their charts into the blank spacec to see where the future support or resistance may be.
What does the MACD show?
The RSI is going to show you if a stock is overbought or oversold. The MACD shows the trend . A lot of traders look to take a position as MACD begins to cross over to the upisde. Take our swing trading course to learn more about technical analysis and creating a trading plan that works for YOU!
Is a stock bullish or bearish?
If the trend line is going in an upward direction, the stock is bullish. If the trend line is going down, the stock is bearish. When the trend is sideways, the price action is in an indecision, or what we call a “trading range”. When it’s sideways, it hasn’t picked a direction, and is often being either accumulated by traders , or distributed to traders. Sometimes this is healthy consolidation for the next move up. Other times it’s simply preparing for a move lower. We will teach you the differences between this in our trade room.
Is it easier to see a trend or pattern?
The pattern and trend is always easier to see when you zoom out and look at different time frames. The longer the trend is up, the more probable the trend is likely to continue. The same is true for bearish trends and patterns.
Can MACD be added to a chart?
Other indicators as such moving averages, RSI and MACD can be added to the chart as additional confirmation to your trade, but don’ t overdue it when it comes to indicator s or tools. Over complicating your chart could hurt your trading. Food for thought as you develop your trading plan.
Why do we use stock charts?
Stock charts are used to quickly get an idea of what price has done in history and what it could do in the future. Many technical analysis and price action traders will use these sorts of charts to find patterns and trends to help them find their trades. As we discuss below, you can find many high-probability price patterns on your stock charts ...
What to consider when choosing a stock chart platform?
When choosing your stock chart platform, you will also need to consider the type of trading you are going to be doing and the type of broker you want.
Why do traders use indicators?
Stock traders will often use indicators in their chart analysis to get an idea of what price could potentially do in the future.
What is the most popular chart?
By far the most popular of all charts is the candlestick chart.
What does a bar chart show?
The bar chart shows you more information than a line chart as it also shows you the open, close, high, and low that price made for each session.
What can help you create an edge over the market?
Something that can help you create an edge over the market is reading and accurately analyzing stock charts.
What to do after choosing the type of chart you will use?
After choosing the type of chart you will use, you will then want to start analyzing these charts to find and manage trades.

Step 1 – Identify The Trend Line
Step 2 – Look For Lines of Resistance and Support
- The next step is to read a chart of the resistance and support lines. The levels are the price at which the stock remains for a particular time. The support level is a cost below which stock is improbable to fall, while the resistance level is the level or price above which a stock price is unlikely to go. The resistance and support level is unlikely to change unless there is a drastic shi…
Step 3 – Know When The Dividend and Stock Split occurs.
- At the bottom, in a stock chart, one can see if and when the company has issued a dividendDividendDividends refer to the portion of business earnings paid to the shareholders as gratitude for investing in the company’s equity.read more and a stock splitStock SplitStock splits refer to the process whereby a company increases its number of shares, reducing the per-share …
Step 4 – Understand Historic Trading Volumes
- At the bottom of the chart, multiple small and vertical lines show the trend of stock traded volume. Any major news about the company, whether good or bad, increases the trading volume. An increase in volume may also shift the price of the stock quickly. Chart 4 In the above example, the company announced a dividend, and accordingly, one can easily identify a spike in traded vol…