Bar Charts

Bar charts are the most widely used type of chart. Bar charts are popular because they are easy to construct and understand. These charts are constructed by representing each period's price range as a vertical bar on which the top of the vertical line indicates the highest price a security is traded at during the day, and the bottom represents the lowest price. Opening and closing prices are represented by horizontal marks to the left and right respectively. The time frame or period of a chart refers to the amount of time each horizontal movement represents, not the total time represented within the chart. So a daily chart means each bar represents one day and a weekly chart means each bar represents one week. Spotting patterns and the trend of a market, two of the essentials of chart reading, are often easiest using bar charts.

Daily bar chart of Apple Computer from 2009 supplied by Trendsetter Software, trendsoft.com

Daily bar chart of Apple Computer.
Chart created using Pro Analyst from Trendsetter Software.

 

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