The basics
A price chart plots a security’s price on the vertical axis against time on the horizontal axis. Our charts show a line chart, which connects closing prices, and let you switch the range from one day to five years. A short range shows today’s swings; a long range shows the bigger trend.
Candlesticks
A candlestick packs four prices for each period into one shape: the open, high, low and close. The thick body spans the open to the close and thin “wicks” reach to the high and low. By convention a candle is colored one way when the price closed above its open and the other way when it closed lower. Candlestick charting came from Japanese rice traders and is a popular way to see how a session played out.
Volume
Volume is the number of shares traded in a period, usually drawn as bars under the chart. A big price move on heavy volume suggests broad participation; the same move on thin volume may be less meaningful.
Moving averages
A moving average smooths prices by averaging the last N days, for example 50 or 200. It filters the noise so you can see the direction. Price above a rising long-term average is often read as an uptrend; below a falling one, a downtrend. Because the average is built from past prices, it lags.
Support and resistance
Support is a price area where a stock has repeatedly stopped falling, and resistance is one where it has repeatedly stopped rising. Traders watch these levels, though they are loose guides and break often.
Keep perspective
Charts are a record of what buyers and sellers did, not a forecast. Technical analysis is a skill that some traders use all the time and others dismiss, and the evidence on how well it works is mixed. A sensible use for most long-term investors is context: how far has this fallen, how volatile is it, and is the story in the news already in the price? Try it on any stock page.