Stock Charts For Dummies

The easy way to get started in stock charts

Many trading and technical analysis books focus on how to use charts to make stock trading decisions, but what about how to actually build a chart? Stock Charts For Dummies reveals the important stories charts tell, and how different parameters can impact what you see on the screen. This book will explain some of the most powerful display settings that help traders understand the information in a chart to find outperformance as its beginning.

Stock Charts for Dummies will teach you how to build a visually appealing chart and add tools based on the type of trading or investing decision you're trying to make. It will also introduce you to the pros, cons, and best practices of using three key types of charts: Candlesticks, Bar Charts, and Line Charts.

• Build and use technical chart patterns

• Increase profits and minimize risk

• Track and identify specific trends within charts

A unique guide for beginning traders and investors, Stock Charts for Dummies will help you make sense of stock charts.

Auteur

Greg Schnell, CMT, MFTA, specializes in intermarket and commodities analysis for StockCharts.com. He contributes market analysis commentary to several blogs that garner between 5,000 and 10,000 readers weekly. Lita Epstein, MBA, has written more than 40 books, including Trading For Dummies, Bookkeeping For Dummies, and Reading Financial Reports For Dummies.

Résumé
The easy way to get started in stock charts Many trading and technical analysis books focus on how to use charts to make stock trading decisions, but what about how to actually build a chart? Stock Charts For Dummies reveals the important stories charts tell, and how different parameters can impact what you see on the screen. This book will explain some of the most powerful display settings that help traders understand the information in a chart to find outperformance as its beginning. Stock Charts for Dummies will teach you how to build a visually appealing chart and add tools based on the type of trading or investing decision you're trying to make. It will also introduce you to the pros, cons, and best practices of using three key types of charts: Candlesticks, Bar Charts, and Line Charts.

• Build and use technical chart patterns
• Increase profits and minimize risk
• Track and identify specific trends within charts A unique guide for beginning traders and investors, Stock Charts for Dummies will help you make sense of stock charts.

Contenu
Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 2

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 3

Part 1: Getting Started with Stock Charts 5

Chapter 1: Brushing Up on Stock Charting Basics 7

Minimizing the Emotional Roller Coaster of Investing 7

Viewing Stocks from Varying Perspectives 8

Discovering All the Tools You Can Use with Your Charts 8

Getting Organized with Your Charts 9

Customizing Your Charts 10

Putting Everything Together 10

Chapter 2: Using Charts to Minimize Your Emotional Roller Coaster 11

Getting Ready for the Emotions of Owning a Stock 11

Understanding a few market basics 12

Leveling the playing field 14

Building a Chart to Track and Control Emotions 15

Checking Out Index Charts 17

Indexes around the world 18

Commodity indexes 19

The S&P 500 20

Defining Trends 20

Part 2: Viewing the Money Trail Through Different Lenses 23

Chapter 3: Focusing on Chart Settings 25

Choosing Chart Attributes 26

Starting with the time period, range, and spacing 26

Defining the price display 29

Displaying volume and toggles 33

Setting Overlays 34

Selecting Indicators 36

Common indicators 36

Volume and price as indicators 37

Chapter 4: Burning the Candle at Both Ends with Candlestick Charts 39

Deciphering the Parts of a Candlestick Chart 40

The candle body 41

Shadows on a hollow candle 42

Shadows on a filled candle 43

Windows 44

Introducing Color onto a Candlestick Chart 45

Crafting Your Chart 46

Reading and Using Your Chart to Make Decisions 48

Knowing when candles matter 48

Buying based on bullish candlestick patterns 49

Chapter 5: Spotting Differences with Bar Charts 51

Beginning with Bar Chart Basics 51

Price bar components 51

Different types of bar charts 52

Building a Bar Chart from the Ground Up 54

Putting a Bar Chart to Work 55

Gaps 55

Short bars versus long bars 56

Trading ranges, support, resistance, and breakout 56

Chapter 6: Seeing What's Trending with Line Charts 59

What Is a Line Chart? 59

Making a Line Chart the Easy Way 61

Reading and Using Your Chart Line by Line 62

Adding support and resistance lines 63

Knowing when lines matter 64

Chapter 7: Getting the Lay of the Land with Area Charts 67

Comparing Area Charts to Line Charts 67

Making an Area Chart You Can Show Off 69

Strengthening or dimming the area display 69

Trying different colors 70

Adding color lines to emphasize change 70

Looking at legends and labels 71

Adding a Personal Touch with Styles 71

Knowing When Area Charts Matter 72

Part 3: Using Chart Tools for Decision Making 75

Chapter 8: Charting Different Time Periods 77

Converting Candlestick Charts to Different Periods 78

60-minute to daily candle display 78

Daily to weekly candle display 79

Daily to monthly candle display 79

Weekly to monthly candle display 80

Converting Bar Charts to Different Periods 81

60-minute to daily bar charts 81

Daily to weekly bar charts 81

Weekly to monthly bar charts 82

Converting Line and Area Charts to Different Periods 83 Taking It One Day at a Time with Daily Charts 84</p...