Stock FAQs

stock bar chart how to read

by Prof. Neal Bailey I Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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How to Read a Stock Chart?

  1. Identify the Trend Line. It is the orange line that is seen every time on the stock chart that goes up or downright. ...
  2. Look for Lines of Resistance and Support. The next step is to read a chart that is the lines of resistance and support. ...
  3. Know when the Dividend and Stock split occurs. ...
  4. Understand Historic Trading Volumes. At the bottom of the chart, multiple small and vertical lines show the trend of stock traded volume.

Each bar has a vertical line that shows the highest and lowest price reached during the period. The opening price is marked by a small horizontal line on the left of the vertical line, and the closing price is marked by a small horizontal line on the right of the vertical line.

Full Answer

How to read and interpret trading charts for beginners?

Method 1 of 3: Candlestick Charts

  1. Pick the currency pairing you want to evaluate. Currencies are always traded in pairs on Forex. ...
  2. Determine the time period you want to be displayed. Your chart shows how the exchange rate between the two currencies changed over time.
  3. Distinguish bullish candles from bearish candles. ...
  4. Identify the parts of the candlestick. ...

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How to read a bar chart for day trading?

  • In this chart we are using a moving average in technical analysis.
  • Moving resistance is a form of technical analysis that helps you identify the trend direction.
  • On the chart the red line is the 200 days moving average and blue is the 50-day moving average, a crossover of 200, and 50 MA is called golden crossover.

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How do you read the stock market chart?

The Stock Market’s lucky elements are fire and wood, so wood’s abundance in the Water Tiger’s destiny chart bodes well for the Stock Market ... acceptance of our user agreement. Please read our privacy policy and legal disclaimer.

How do you read a stock graph?

Let me break down the image above with each of the trend lines:

  • Line A is the very first line of support shown. ...
  • Line B is my first line of resistance. ...
  • As you can see with Line C, the stock has bottomed out again, thus creating a new line of support.
  • Line D shows the stock price has increased significantly and I’m comfortable establishing this as a new line of resistance.

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How do you read bar chart results?

Interpret the key results for Bar ChartStep 1: Compare groups. Look for differences in the heights of the bars. The bars show the value for the groups. ... Step 2: Compare groups within groups. Compare bars within the clusters to understand the proportions of subcategories within each main group.

How do you read a trade bar?

How to Read an Investment Trading Price BarOpen: The horizontal line on the left is the opening price.High: The top of the vertical line defines the high of the day.Low: The bottom of the vertical line defines the low of the day.Close: The horizontal line on the right is the closing price.

How do you read a stock chart for beginners?

Key concepts when learning how to read a stock chartIdentify the trendline. 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 do you read stock performance?

Open, high, low and previous close. The open is the first price at which a stock trades during regular market hours, while high and low reflect the highest and lowest prices the stock reaches during those hours, respectively. Previous close is the closing price of the previous trading day.

What is a bar in trading?

A bar chart is a graph characterized by a vertical bar and it's used by technical analysts to learn more about trends. In trading, a single bar is used to represent a single day of trading. As one of the most popular chart type aside from candlesticks, it represents price activity within a given period of time.

What do the bars at the bottom of a stock chart mean?

The top of the bar corresponds to the highest price paid for the stock during that period, and the bottom of the bar corresponds to the lowest price paid.

What is the most traded currency pair?

EUR/USDEUR/USD. The Euro to US Dollar currency pair is the single most widely-traded Forex pair on the market and comprises the currencies of two of the world's biggest economies: Europe and the U.S. Essentially, when trading EUR/USD, traders trade the euro against the U.S. dollar.

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.

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 the red bar mean in a 15 minute interval?

The bar is red, which means the price at the end of the 15-minute interval was lower than the price at the beginning. Notice that the beginning and ending prices for this interval, represented by the left and right dashes, are very close together.

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 the line on a candlestick called?

The lines sticking out above and below the body are called “shadows” (or sometimes “wicks” and “tails”). These show the range of the highest and lowest prices during that interval.

Can a single player buy and sell a stock?

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. Avoid buying at a bad time — You can use stock charts to try to avoid buying or selling at ...

Where can I find stock charts?

Stock charts are freely available on websites such as Google Finance and Yahoo Finance , and stock brokerages always make stock charts available for their clients. In short, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding stock charts to examine.

What does it mean when a stock crosses above the 200 day moving average?

When the 50-day moving average crosses from below to above the 200-day moving average, this event is referred to by technical analysts as a “golden cross”. A golden cross is basically an indication that the stock is “gold”, set for substantially higher prices.

Why do investors use technical indicators?

In analyzing stock charts for stock market investing, investors use a variety of technical indicators to help them more precisely probable price movement, to identify trends, and to anticipate market reversals from bullish trends to bearish trends and vice-versa.

What are technical indicators?

There is virtually an endless list of technical indicators for traders to choose from in analyzing a chart. Experiment with various indicators to discover the ones that work best for your particular style of trading, and as applied to the specific stocks that you trade. You’ll likely find that some indicators work very well for you in forecasting price movement for some stocks but not for others.

What does YY mean in financial analysis?

YoY (Year over Year) YoY stands for Year over Year and is a type of financial analysis used for comparing time series data.

What is equity trader?

Equity Trader An equity trader is someone who participates in the buying and selling of company shares on the equity market. Similar to someone who would invest in the debt capital markets, an equity trader invests in the equity capital markets and exchanges their money for company stocks instead of bonds.

What is technical analysis?

Technical Analysis - A Beginner's Guide Technical analysis is a form of investment valuation that analyses past prices to predict future price action.

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.

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.

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 is the orange line on a stock chart?

It is the orange line that is seen every time on the stock chart that goes up or downright. A stock may take huge dives and/ or make huge climbs. An investor or trader should not react to large drops or huge gains in negative or positive ways. Rather, this trend of the line should be used just to understand what is going on in the market regarding a particular stock. This trend line helps one to analyze further. Any news related to stock will come and go, but when news coincides, there is a dramatic shift in the trend line which needs to be paid attention. Therefore, the trend line should be used as a high line of indicator to invest in stocks.

What is a stock split?

A stock split is a move strategically done by the board of directors of the company to issue additional shares to the public.

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 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.

What is a bar chart?

A bar chart consists of a horizontal series of vertical lines, or bars, that each show a stock’s range of prices for a certain time period. Bar charts are widely available for almost any stock on financial websites or in your broker’s trading software. With a quick glance at a bar chart, you can see how a stock’s price has recently behaved ...

What is the closing price of the stock on July 10?

This means the stock closed at $25 on July 10, the same as its high for the day. Because the closing price was higher than the opening price and at the top of the range, this suggests that investors grew optimistic on the stock during the day. Step 6.

What is a bar chart?

Technical analysts use bar charts—or other chart types such as candlestick or line charts—to monitor price action, which aids in trading decisions. Bar charts allow traders to analyze trends, spot potential trend reversals, and monitor volatility and price movements.

What is a 1-minute bar chart?

A 1-minute bar chart, which shows a new price bar each minute, would be useful for a day trader but not an investor. A weekly bar chart, which shows a new bar for each week of price movement, may be appropriate for a long-term investor, but not so much for a day trader.

How do price bars move?

This is how prices move. In order for the price to move higher within an uptrend, the price bars will need to reflect that by moving higher as well, on average. If the price starts moving lower, on average, by creating more red bars, then the price is moving into a pullback or a trend reversal.

What do the left and right horizontal lines on the price bar represent?

The left and right horizontal lines on each price bar represent the open and closing prices. Bar charts can be colored coded. If the close is above the open it may be colored black or green, and if the close is below the open the bar may be colored red.

What does it mean when a bar has a small vertical bar?

That means volatility increased during that period. When a bar has very small vertical bars, it means there was little volatility. If there is a large distance between the open and close it means the price made a significant move.

What is the difference between a candlestick and a bar chart?

Candlesticks also have a vertical line showing the high and low of the period (called a shadow or wick), but the difference between the open and close is represented by a thicker portion called a real body.

What color is the body of a chart?

The body is shaded in or colored red if the close is below the open and shaded in or colored white or green if the close is above the open. While the information is the same, the visual look of the two chart types is different.

What is the line behind a candlestick chart?

Like a bar chart, candlestick charts show the open, highs, lows, and close for a particular stock. The thin black line behind each colored box is called the “shadow” and shows the range of the stock price over the day.

Who performs the majority of stock market transactions?

The majority of stock market transactions are performed by big investment firms like investment banks, mutual fund managers, ETF fund managers, and other large institutional traders. These investors tend to make very large purchases of sales of stock.

What is relative strength index?

Originally introduced in 1978 by J. Welles Wilder Jr., the RSI is used to tell you if a particular asset is being overbought or oversold. RSI is usually measured as an oscillating line that hovers between two extremes of 0-100.

What is a point and figure chart?

Point and figure charts are a separate kind of chart meant to plot price movements of securities. Unlike line, bar, and candlestick charts, point and figure charts do not plot an asset’s movement with respect to a time axis. Instead, P&F charts use Xs and Os to represent price movements.

Can you use just one technical indicator?

First and foremost, you should never rely on just one technical indicator. On its own, an individual indicator does not really tell you that much. At the same time, using too many indicators can muddy the data and make it impossible to find reliable signals.

Can you use technical indicators to chart stocks?

Having a stock chart is pretty useful on its own but even more useful if you know how to use technical indicators. In the past, using technical indicators would require you to go in and crunch the numbers yourself. You would have to gather pricing data, perform the calculations by hand, and then interpret your results.

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.

What does beta mean in stock market?

Beta shows how volatile a stock’s price is compared with the stock market, which may be an indicator of how risky the stock is. If beta is greater than one, the stock has historically been more volatile than the stock market (typically represented by either the S&P 500 or a total stock market index) for the specified period. If beta is less than one but greater than zero, it’s been less volatile than the overall market for that period. As always, though, past performance isn’t indicative of future performance.

What is the spread on a $124.65 ask?

If you see an ask of $124.65, sellers are currently selling for $124.65 per share. Note there’s a $0.04 difference between the two — this is called the bid-ask spread. Generally, when there’s high trading activity with lots of willing buyers and sellers, spreads will be smaller.

Do you get dividends if you buy stock before the ex-dividend date?

In order to receive the company’s dividend for the next period, you’ll have to become a shareholder (that is, buy its stock) before the ex-dividend date. If you buy the stock on or after the ex-dividend date, you won’t get the dividend for that period.

Stock Chart Types

Once investors understand the terms found on most stock charts, they have an easier time reading the charts and interpreting the data, trend lines, and chart patterns. Investors can choose from several different chart types to gather the insights you need.

Finding Support and Resistance

For many investors, charting is a way to predict a stock's price movement between support and resistance levels. The support level acts as a barrier that prevents a stock from declining below that. The resistance level is an upper price level which a stock has difficulty climbing through.

Stock Statistics

Several basic stock statistics often accompany charts, or appear on a nearby page. Some of these basic stock statistics are presented below.

What is stock chart?

stock charts come in a variety of formats and have a whole investing technique based around them. They all track pricing data, usually the OHLC (open, high, low close), but they can display this information in different styles (lines, bars, candlesticks), different date ranges (day, week, month, year, 5 years, 10 years) and other information like volume, moving averages and dozens of other indicators.

What does it mean when you look up a stock quote?

When you look up a stock quote, there a variety of numbers, prices and diagrams that will appear. Understanding what they all mean will help you make an informed decision when purchasing a stock.

What does volume mean in stocks?

Volume. This indicates the number of shares that have traded hands today. Some stocks may trade millions of shares each day, and others only trade a few hundred or even zero (the higher the volume, the more liquid the stock is).

What is market cap?

Is the total dollar market value of all of a company's outstanding shares. Market cap is calculated by multiplying a company's shares outstanding by the current market price of one share. This figure determines the company's relative size.

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Stock Chart Construction – Lines, Bars, Candlesticks

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Bar charts are often called "OHLC bar charts" as well as "HLC bar" charts. The former is more popular and includes information on the open (O), high (H), low (L), and close (C) price, whereas the HLC chart just includes information on high, low, and close.
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Looking at A Stock Chart

The Importance of Volume

Basic Volume Patterns

Using Technical Indicators

The Importance of The 200-Day Moving Average

Trend and Momentum Indicators

Analyzing Trends

Identifying Support and Resistance Levels

Conclusion – Using Stock Chart Analysis

Step 1 – Identify The Trend Line

Step 2 – Look For Lines of Resistance and Support

  • Stock charts can be particularly helpful in identifying support and resistance levels for stocks. Support levels are price levels where you usually seeing fresh buying coming in to support a stock’s price and turn it back to the upside. Conversely, resistance levels represent prices at which a stock has shown a tendency to fail in attempting to mov...
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Step 3 – Know When The Dividend and Stock Split occurs.

Step 4 – Understand Historic Trading Volumes

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The orange line seen every time on the stock chart goes up or downright. A stock may take huge dives and/ or do huge climbs. An investor or trader should not react to large drops or huge gains in negative or positive ways. Rather, one should use this line trend to understand what is going on in the market regarding a particular …
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