GET Financial Education Series - Stocks and CFDs
Charting Basics – Lesson 5
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Charts are a stock and CFD trader's best friend. You will most likely spend more time using your price charts as a stock and CFD trader than you will any other trading tool. Since your charts are going to play such a large part in your trading, it is imperative you become familiar with them. The more comfortable you are with your charts, the easier it will be to become a successful stock and CFD trader.
To help you become familiar with your charts and how you can affectively use them, we will cover the following concepts:
- Chart setup
- Chart time-frames
- Chart types
We will discuss the incredible technical indicators you can add to your charts to improve your trading results in a later section. Take the time now to learn the so you will be ready for more advanced material later.
Chart Setup
Let's start from the very beginning and take a look at how a stock price chart is set up. Once you understand the basics, you will be much more successful applying more advanced concepts to your technical analysis.
Stock price charts (see Figure 1) are built on two axes - the X axis (the horizontal axis) and the Y axis (the vertical axis).
Figure 1 - Basic Chart Setup
The X axis runs horizontally along the bottom of the chart providing a timeline for everything that has happened on the chart. The most recent price movements are shown on the right of the chart and the most historic price action is shown on the left side of the chart.
The Y axis runs vertically along the right side of the chart providing a scale on which to measure price movement on the chart. Lower prices are shown towards the bottom of the chart and higher prices are shown towards the top of the chart.
When you put the two axes together, you can see at what price a stock was trading at a particular time in the past. For example, you can see that the S&P 500 was trading at 13,675 on 14 March 2007 (see Figure 2).
Figure 2 - Identifying the Date and Price
Chart Time - frames
Get Financial Forex charts give you the ability to analyse the price movement of a stock or CFD anywhere from a minute-by-minute basis to a month-by-month basis. You have the flexibility to choose which time-frame is best for you.
If you are a short-term trader, you will want to use shorter time-frames for your charts. If you are a long-term trader, you will want to use longer time-frames for your charts. For example, a trader who is looking to quickly jump in and out of investments for 10- to 20-cent profits would most likely want to be watching a 1-minute or a 5-minute chart. A trader who is looking to hold onto investments for a longer period of time to take advantage of larger price moves would most likely want to be watching an hourly or a daily chart.
Some traders even choose to use multiple time-frames so that they can see how the movement of a stock or CFD looks from various points of view. We will discuss this concept in detail in a later section.
To change the time-frame on your chart to best match your trading style, click on the button at the top of the chart. A drop-down menu will appear, and you can select your preferred time-frame (see Figure 3).
Figure 3 - Chart Time-frames
Chart types
GET Financial Forex charts give you the ability to analyse the price movement of any stock or CFD in various formats, from line charts to candlestick charts. You have the flexibility to choose which format is best for you.
Technical analysis is a visual, almost artistic, skill that traders develop, and different traders like to practice their art on different types of charts. Some traders feel they can see and analyse support and resistance levels better on a line chart, while other traders feel they get more information on price movement on a bar chart or a candlestick chart.
Technical analysts tend to gravitate toward the following three chart types:
Line Charts
Line charts are the most basic type of chart. Technical analysts often use line charts to easily identify support and resistance levels. Line charts only have basic information plotted on the chart, which means there is not a lot of other clutter to get in the way of analysis.
You create a line chart by plotting the closing price of each trading period on a chart and then connecting each closing price with a line. You can see an example of a line chart below (see Figure 4).
Figure 4 - Line Chart
Bar Charts
Bar charts provide more information than line charts. Technical analysts often use bar charts to access more information about how a stock's price moved up and down during trading periods. Whereas line charts only plot the closing price from each trading period, bar charts plot the opening, high, low and closing prices from each period.
You create a bar chart by plotting a series of bars across the chart. Each bar represents one trading period. To create a bar you plot the high and low price of a trading period and connect them with a vertical line. Next you plot the opening price to the left of the vertical line you have just drawn and connect that point to the vertical line with a horizontal line. Lastly you plot the closing price to the right of the vertical line you have just drawn, and then connect that point to the vertical line with a horizontal line (see Figure 5).
Figure 5 - Price Bar
Seeing where a stock or CFD started the trading period compared to where it ended the trading period can help you better identify trends. If the price closes higher than it opened you know investors were bullish on the stock or CFD during the trading period. If the price closes lower than it opened you know investors were bearish on the stock or CFD during the trading period.
You can see an example of a bar chart below (see Figure 6).
Figure 6 - Bar Chart
Candlestick Charts
Candlestick charts provide the same information as bar charts but in a slightly different format. Technical analysts often use candlestick charts instead of bar charts because it is easier to see and identify various trading patterns using candlestick charts. In fact, a complete line of technical analysis, known as Japanese candlestick-chart analysis, was developed around these easy-to-use charts.
Candlestick analysis was developed in the 1700s in Japan. Traders in the Japanese rice markets would use candlestick analysis to help them make more profitable rice trades.
You create a candlestick chart by plotting a series of candlesticks across the chart. Each candlestick represents one trading period. To create a candlestick you plot the high and low prices for a trading period and connect them with a vertical line. This line is called the wick of the candle. Next you plot the opening price by drawing a horizontal line through the vertical line or wick. After you have plotted the opening price you plot the closing price by drawing another horizontal line through the vertical line. Lastly you fill in the area between the opening price and the closing price. This area is called the body of the candlestick (see Figure 7).
Figure 7 - Price Candlestick
Seeing where a stock or CFD started the trading period compared to where it ended the trading period can help you better identify trends. If the price closes higher than it opened you know investors were bullish on the stock or CFD during the trading period. If the price closes lower than it opened then you know investors were bearish on the stock or CFD during the trading period.
You can see an example of a candlestick chart below (see Figure 8).
Figure 8 - Candlestick Chart
Chart Setup
