how to read stock charts

Trendlines are straight lines drawn on a chart by connecting a series of descending peaks or ascending troughs . Looking at a stock chart is one of the easiest ways to get a sense for how the stock’s price has performed over a certain period of time. With price per share on the y-axis and time on the x-axis, you can quickly see where the stock has been trading. The top of the chart lets you select different time periods to evaluate. Most stock charts are either for the past year or the year-to-date . Shorter-term traders often use charts that show daily or weekly movement, but, for long-term investors, there isn’t much to be gleaned from them. 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.

You can get this number by dividing the most recently reported company earnings by the number of the company’s shares available on the stock market. The earnings date is the publicly displayed window of time for when the company will announce its latest quarterly earnings. Stock chart how to read stock charts analysis is not infallible, not even in the hands of the most expert technical analyst. If it were, every stock investor would be a multi-millionaire. However, learning to read a stock chart will definitely help turn the odds of being a successful stock market investor in your favor.

What causes stock prices to change?

In the right environment, these chart patterns from newer stocks have the potential to launch impressive gains. But they can also be quite volatile, as many big-buzz IPO stocks, including Snap , have shown.

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Access to Electronic Services may be limited or unavailable during periods of peak demand, market volatility, systems upgrade, maintenance, or for other reasons. Learn https://www.bigshotrading.info/ how to interpret a stock chart to understand the movement of the stock market and an individual stock’s performance, as well as how to make sound financial decisions.

Spotting trends, support, and resistance

Conversely, resistance levels represent prices at which a stock has shown a tendency to fail in attempting to move higher, turning back to the downside. Careful analysis of stock price movement often reveals signs of potential trend reversals. Various candlestick or other chart patterns are also often used to identify major market reversals. The interplay between the 50-day and 200-day moving averages is also considered as a strong indicator for future price movement. 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.

What does a stock chart tell you?

Stock charts are graphs that show how a company's publicly traded shares are performing. These charts can show a company's stock performance over time periods ranging from several years to a few days. You can also even watch a company's stock change throughout the day while the market is open.

By the end of this useful guide, terms like “dividend,” “trendline,” and “lines of support” won’t sound so foreign. It is believed the EMAs give a more immediate picture of the market and simple moving averages are known to lag behind actual market activity.