The Page Header

Most of the pages on our website have an area at the top called the page header that can help you navigate to anywhere you need to go. Each page header contains the following:

• StockCharts Logo

• Utility Links

• Main Menu

• Create-a-Chart Bar

The StockCharts Logo

You can always return to the StockCharts homepage by clicking on the StockCharts logo in the upper left corner of any of our pages. You will be redirected to Your Dashboard if you are a logged-in member.

The Utility Links

Our Utility links are located in the upper right corner of our pages. This area looks different depending on if you are logged in or logged out.

If you are logged out, you will see the following buttons in the upper right corner of our pages:

• Login. Members can click this button and enter their User ID and password to log in to their StockCharts.com account.

• Sign Up. Non-members can click this button to learn more about subscribing.

If you are logged in, you can click on your name or the “person” icon in the upper right corner to see a handy member menu:

• Your ChartLists. Click here for quick access to all your saved ChartLists.

• Your Scans. Click here to access the Advanced Scan Workbench.

• Your Alerts. Click here to go to the Alert Center and view all your saved alerts.

• Your Account. Click here to change/update your account settings.

• Support Center. Click here to go to our online Support area.

• Contact Us. Click here to contact us using our Support Request Form.

• Log Out. Click here to log out of your account. Typically, you would do this using a shared computer, such as those found at a public library.

Remember, if logged in, you will see the person icon and/or your name at the top of the page. Your name may not be displayed on smaller screens, but you can always access the menu by clicking on the person icon.

The Main Menu

Below the StockCharts logo at the top of the page are several navigation links that you can use to move into each of the main areas of the website. These include the following:

• Charts & Tools. Links and descriptions for all of our charting tools

• Articles. Current market commentary from our experts

• StockCharts TV. Tune in to our 24/7 technical analysis video streaming channel

• ChartSchool. Our comprehensive educational articles about technical analysis

• Your Dashboard. This members-only dashboard provides access to all of our most used tools, reports, and commentary, including members-only features

On the right side, you'll see links to the following:

• Store. Browse the StockCharts online store for books, ACP Plug-Ins, ChartPacks, logo merchandise, and more

• Help. Navigate our online support area for answers to any questions you may have or ask C.B., our Support ChatBot

• Search. Click on the magnifying glass icon and enter search terms into the search box

Note that these main menu links might be hidden in a dropdown menu on smaller screens. Select the three horizontal lines icon on the right side of the header to access this important menu.

The Create-a-Chart Bar

Above the main menu is our Create-a-Chart bar, which you can use to quickly access many charting tools from almost anywhere on the StockCharts website.

The Create-a-Chart bar's dropdown menu lets you select which one of our charting tools you want to use. The menu is initially set to “SharpCharts,” our standard bar/candlestick charts. The full list of tools available in the menu is below:

• Symbol Summary. A high-level summary with technicals, fundamentals, and more.

• SharpChart. Our main bar/candlestick charting tool.

• ACP. Our interactive Advanced Charting Platform.

• Point & Figure. Charts with columns of X's and O's.

• PerfChart. Overlaid performance lines for up to 10 different ticker symbols.

• CandleGlance. Up to 30 different mini-charts on one page.

• Seasonality. Average monthly returns for a ticker symbol.

• ​Gallery View. Four predefined charts for studying different periods.

• RRG. Charts showing relative strength and momentum for a group of symbols.

• Symbol Lookup. Search our symbol catalog for a specified phrase.

Next to the menu is a long text box where you can type in a phrase, typically one or more ticker symbols, that goes with your charting tool selection. You can use commas to separate multiple symbols if you enter more than one ticker symbol.

Note that the long text box has a built-in auto-complete feature. As you type the name of a stock, index, or mutual fund we support, the symbols that match what you have typed so far will be automatically displayed. This can be useful if you need help determining the ticker symbol you want.

You can select the symbol you want from the list or click More Results For at the bottom to see more ticker symbols matching your search. If you already know the ticker symbol you want, just type the symbol in this box and click Go (or press “Enter” on the keyboard) to create a chart for that symbol.

Selecting the Default Tool

If you often select a specific tool other than SharpCharts, you can specify that tool as the default to use on the Create-a-Chart bar. Click the star next to the tool you'd like to set as the default.

The default tool (indicated with a yellow star) will be pre-selected each time you use the Create-a-Chart bar in the future.

Breadcrumbs

All ChartSchool and Support Center pages also have a list of links just below the header called “Breadcrumbs.” These can also help you navigate pages within ChartSchool or the Support Center. Click any links in that line to return “up the chain” links.

The Page Footer

At the bottom of most pages on our site is a dark blue Page Footer, which has additional links to commonly used resources. You can find links to popular tools, educational resources, and more here.

The Page Footer also contains icon links to our social media pages: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

The Site Map

Site Search

Site Search allows you to find articles that contain specific keywords and phrases. It also lets members search their ChartLists for specific charts and ticker symbols.

The Site Search box is on the right side of the Page Header on most web pages. Just click the magnifying glass icon next to the main tabs in order to access the box. Then, simply add your search criteria and press Search.

Search Results

By default, searching in the Site Search box in the top right corner of our website will show you Support Center articles and other information about the StockCharts site. Click on the dropdown menu above the search results to select any of the following website sections to search through (the default selection is Support Articles).

• Blog Articles. Search all the blog articles on our site. Search results can be limited to articles by a specific author using the dropdown menu above the search results.

• ChartSchool Articles. Search all the educational articles in ChartSchool.

• My Saved Charts. Members can search all their ChartLists for charts of the specified symbol. Click the chart name to launch the chart, or click the list name to launch the ChartList in Summary View.

• Public ChartLists. Search all Public ChartLists.

• Support Articles. Search for information about how to use our website and more general information about StockCharts.

• Symbols. Search for ticker symbols available on our site.

In addition, buttons at the bottom of each search results page allow you to try your search on other website areas.

Symbol Mentions

When searching for symbols, you will be presented with basic information about each symbol and links to launch a SharpChart, GalleryView Chart, P&F Chart, or Seasonality Chart for the ticker symbol.

Click the “Symbol Mentions” icon on the right to get more detailed information about the symbol, along with links to anywhere that symbol is mentioned in blog articles, predefined scan results, Public ChartLists, your custom ChartLists, and more.

Now that you've created your StockCharts account, you're ready to join the StockCharts community. The first step is to log in.

Your User ID and Password

We recommend you change your initial password to a new one that is between 7 and 20 characters in length. It may contain letters, numbers, and/or hyphens.

Logging In

To log in to your account, click the Log In link in the upper right corner of any of our web pages (see image below). You will then be prompted to enter your User ID and password.

Your Dashboard

Once you log in, you will see Your Dashboard, the heart and soul of StockCharts.com. The page has several panels arranged in different ways, most of which can be customized to display what is important to you.

Underlying all of the tools on StockCharts.com is our extensive price database, which contains data for over 30,000 ticker symbols. After each trading day, over 1 million new data items are added to the database. This means you can access stock quotes and up-to-date information on the stock, bond, crypto, and currency markets. Read on to learn more about the price data we make available on our website.

When you log in to your StockCharts.com account, the first page you'll see is Your Dashboard. You can also access it at any time by clicking the Your Dashboard link at the top of any page.

Your Dashboard is your starting point and is designed to do the following:

• Provide easy access to the most important tools and features.

• Provide a brief overview of market action.

• Allow you to quickly access your saved scans, scheduled scans, and custom alerts.

• Allow you to quickly access your saved ChartLists.

Your Dashboard is broken up into several different panels. Let's look in more detail at the different panels.

Member Tools

You'll find the Member Tools in the top-left panel of Your Dashboard. From this panel you can quickly link to many of the top tools and features in StockCharts. Want to see your custom alerts, create an RRG chart, or dig into the Sector Summary? You'll find a link to it in Member Tools.

Market Overview

The Market Overview panel provides a quick snapshot of the stock market action. The mini-chart shows you the intraday price action for two full trading days. A dashed line on the chart shows you where the previous day's closing value occurred. You can compare the close to today's trading action.

By default, the chart shows you the action for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, but you can click on any of the indexes listed in the table next to the chart, to see the chart for that index. Use the tabs above the chart to change the display between equity indexes and other types of securities, including bonds, commodities, and cryptocurrencies.

The table next to the chart shows you gain/loss for each of the indexes and securities listed. When the market is open, the gain/loss is for the current day's price action. When the market is closed, it is for the price action on the most recent trading day.

Data Panels

You can have up to four data panels on Your Dashboard, which can be customized to show reports of stocks making a move in their respective markets, important technical signals covering entire markets, and more. The data on these panels is updated frequently when the markets are open.

One of these Data Panels is visible by default. You can add three additional Data Panels to your dashboard by clicking on the “gears” icon at the top right of the dashboard screen and ensuring the Additional Data Panels option is selected.

The More button at the top right of each data panel allows you to choose what data is shown in that panel. We have several different data panel widgets to choose from. Read on to learn more about each available widget.

Market Factors

The Market Factors widget displays a grid that shows how large, mid, and small-cap exchange-traded funds (ETFs) representing different market factors are performing. The Basic Factors setting shows value, core, and growth ETFs for each market cap. Switch to the Extended Factors setting to add columns for Revenue, Momentum, Low Volatility, and Quality.

Each square in the grid represents an ETF covering that market cap and market factor, and is color-coded according to its performance, with green representing an upward move and red representing a downside move. Click on a square to see a chart for that ETF.

Keller Market Model

The Keller Market Model widget gives you a quick view of the overall market. You can choose to view the Market or Stocks model. Selecting the Macro Model gives you an idea of how stocks, bonds, commodities, and the US dollar could perform in the short, medium, and long term. The Stocks Model shows you how large caps, mid caps, small caps, and technology stocks could perform in the short, medium, and long term. Note that ETFs are used as a proxy to represent the various asset classes.

Advancers & Decliners

The Advancers & Decliners widget shows you the percentage of stocks that have advanced, declined, or remain unchanged within key groups. The values are color-coded based on the percentages (green for larger percentages, red for lower ones, and yellow for values right in the middle).

By default, the widget shows advancers and decliners for key US indexes and exchanges (NYSE, Nasdaq, S&P 500, S&P 400, and S&P 600). The dropdown menu at the top of the widget allows you to switch between US Equity Indexes and US Sectors.

Sector Summary

The Sector Summary widget shows you the performance of all S&P 500 US sectors at a glance. Clicking on any sectors will display a SharpChart for that Sector SPDR. Links above the chart allow you to launch a CandleGlance, PerfChart, or RRG Chart showing all the sector SPDRs.

The dropdown menu at the top of the widget allows you to switch between Cap Weight US Sectors (the default), Equal Weight US sectors, Small Cap US sectors, and Canadian sectors.

Market Movers

The Market Movers widget shows stocks that are making a strong price move today. Use the dropdown menu at the top left of the panel to choose the universe represented; we currently offer the Dow, S&P 500, NYSE, NASDAQ, TSX, London (LSE), and India (NSE).

Once you have chosen your universe, the tabs above the report allow you to view the top stocks based on different criteria. The 10 most active stocks (“Most Active”) are shown by default, but you can also see the stocks with the biggest percentage gain or loss (“% Up” or “% Down”). Clicking on any of the ticker symbols in the report causes a SharpChart for that ticker symbol to appear.

Below the report are two links - one for “CandleGlance” and one for “RRG.” Clicking on the CandleGlance link will bring up 10 mini-charts for the 10 symbols displayed. Similarly, clicking on the RRG link will bring up an RRG chart for the 10 symbols displayed.

New Highs

The New Highs widget shows securities that are reaching new highs. Use the dropdown menu at the top left of the widget to choose the universe represented. We offer several key groups, including the S&P 100, S&P 500, S&P 400, S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, Dow Jones Industrials, Dow Jones Transports, Dow Jones Utilities, S&P/TSX Composite, and London stocks.

Once you have chosen your group, the tabs above the table allow you to view the timeframe for the new highs: 1 Month, 3 Months, 6 Months, 9 Months, 52 Weeks, or stocks reaching All-Time Highs.

Stocks in that group that are making new highs in that timeframe will be displayed in the widget. View and sort by symbol, name, price, change, or percent change. Click on any of the company names in the table to launch a SharpChart for that ticker symbol.

New Lows

Similar to the New Highs widget, the New Lows widget shows securities that are reaching new lows. Use the dropdown menu at the top left of the widget to choose the universe represented. We offer several key groups, including the S&P 100, S&P 500, S&P 400, S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, Dow Jones Industrials, Dow Jones Transports, Dow Jones Utilities, S&P/TSX Composite, and London stocks.

Once you have chosen your group, the tabs above the table allow you to view the timeframe for the new lows: 1 Month, 3 Months, 6 Months, 9 Months, or stocks reaching 52-Week Lows.

Stocks in that group that are making new lows in that timeframe will be displayed in the widget. View and sort by symbol, name, price, change, or percent change. Click on any of the company names in the table to launch a SharpChart for that ticker symbol.

SCTR Reports

The SCTR Reports widget shows securities with the strongest SCTR rankings. Use the dropdown menu at the top left of the panel to choose the universe represented. We currently offer US ETFs and US Large-Cap, US Mid-Cap, US Small-Cap, Toronto, London (LSE) and India (NSE) stocks.

Once you have chosen your universe, the tabs above the report allow you to view the top securities based on different criteria. Securities with the highest SCTR values (“Top 10”) are shown by default, but you can also see those with the lowest SCTR values (“Low 10”) or those that had the biggest gain or loss in SCTR value (“Top Up” or “Top Down”). Clicking on any of the ticker symbols in the report causes a SharpChart for that ticker symbol to appear.

Below the report are two links, one for “CandleGlance” and one for “RRG.” Clicking on the CandleGlance link will bring up 10 mini-charts for the 10 symbols displayed. Similarly, clicking on the RRG link will bring up an RRG chart for the 10 symbols displayed.

Ticker Cloud

The Ticker Cloud widget displays the ticker symbols that are currently popular among our members. The larger the symbol name, the more popular the ticker symbol is. Click on any of the ticker symbols in the report to see a SharpChart for that ticker symbol. Click the Popular Symbols link at the bottom of the panel to see the entire Ticker Cloud.

Predefined Alerts

The Predefined Alerts widget shows the 10 most recent major market signals from our Predefined Alerts page. Clicking on an alert causes a SharpChart for the relevant index or indicator to appear. Click the View All link at the top left to see all our Predefined Alerts.

DP Signals

The DP Signals widget summarizes DecisionPoint signals for key US indexes. Use the dropdown menu at the top left of the panel to choose the index. We currently offer DP Signals for the Dow, S&P 500, NASDAQ 100 and S&P 100.

Chaikin Power Gauge

The Chaikin Power Gauge widget lets you see an overall rating, financial metrics, earnings performance, price/volume activity, and expert activity for any stock. Type in the stock ticker symbol to view the ratings for the specific stock. You’ll also see a ratings overview which summarizes all the ratings for the stock you selected.

Earnings Calendar Panel

The Earnings Calendar panel is similar to the Data Panels, giving you an at-a-glance overview of recent and upcoming earnings information for US stocks, but there is so much data packed into this widget that we made it a full-width panel that can be added separately.

To add the Earnings Calendar panel to your dashboard, click the “gears” icon at the top right of the dashboard and make sure the “Earnings Calendar” option is selected.

Once you add the panel, the functionality is the same as on the regular Earnings Calendar:

• Reported and Upcoming buttons at top right allow you to toggle between earnings that have already been reported and those that will be reported soon.

• The earnings information can be filtered by the earnings date (Reported tab only) or a subset of US stocks, using the dropdown menus at top left.

• Clicking on a company name will launch a SharpChart for that ticker symbol.

To access the full Earnings Calendar, click the "View Full Calendar" button at the top of the panel.

ChartList Panels

You can have up to two ChartList Panels on your dashboard, showing mini summary views of your selected ChartLists.

No ChartList Panels are visible by default. You can add two ChartList Panels to your dashboard by clicking on the “gears” icon at the top right of the dashboard and making sure the “ChartList Panels” option is selected.

Once the ChartList panels are added, there is a gears icon at the top right of each ChartList panel, which allows you to choose which of your ChartLists should be shown in that panel.

The mini summary table in the panel shows the name, symbol, closing value and price change information for the symbols in your ChartList. Clicking on any of the column headers will allow you to sort the ChartList by that column. Hovering over a symbol will display a mini-chart for that symbol, while clicking on a name will launch a full chart for that symbol.

If there are more than 10 symbols on your ChartList, buttons below the table will allow you to move forward and backward through the ChartList. Use the “View As” dropdown menu at the top of the panel to view the ChartList in other formats, such as 10 Per Page or CandleGlance.

Click the Add button at the top of the panel to quickly add a new symbol to that ChartList.

Chart Panels

You can have up to three different charts displayed on your dashboard. These can be saved SharpCharts from your ChartLists or ad-hoc charts you create by specifying a ticker symbol and a ChartStyle.

By default, chart panels aren't visible on your dashboard. You can add up to three panels by clicking on the “gears” icon at the top right of the dashboard and ensuring the Chart Panels option is selected.

If you have not added a chart panel before, you will see the chart panel configuration options for your first panel. You can access these options for an existing chart panel by clicking the gears icon at the top right of the panel.

• To display a saved chart, click the Saved Chart tab, then select the desired ChartList and saved chart.

• To display an ad-hoc chart, click the New Chart tab, enter a ticker symbol, and select the desired ChartStyle.

• Once the chart is configured, click the Update Chart button to create the chart.

Additional chart panels (up to a maximum of three) can be added by clicking the plus button; a chart panel can be removed from the dashboard by clicking the minus button at the top of that panel. To access chart panel configuration options and change the chart displayed in the chart panel on the dashboard, click the gears icon at the top of that panel. To edit the chart itself, click on the chart to open it in the SharpCharts Workbench.

Scans & Alerts Panel

The Scans & Alerts panel includes three widgets providing access to your saved scans, scheduled scans, and alerts.

To add the Scans & Alerts panel to your dashboard, click the “gears” icon at the top right of the dashboard and make sure the “Scans & Alerts” option is selected.

Let's take a closer look at the three widgets on this panel.

Your Scans

The Your Scans widget, shown below, allows you to manage all your scans quickly.

Clicking the New button in the top right of the panel will take you to the Advanced Scan Workbench to create a new scan. Click the More button at the top of the panel for quick access to our scanning tools, including the Advanced Scan Workbench, Standard Scan Workbench, and Predefined Scans page.

The Select a Saved Scan dropdown menu lets you easily select one of your saved scans. You can run or edit the scan by choosing the appropriate button below the dropdown.

Scheduled Scans

The Scheduled Scans widget shows your five most recently-run scheduled scans at a glance. If you have more than five scheduled scans, the buttons below the table allow you to move forward and backward through your list of scheduled scans.

The results column shows the number of symbols returned the last time the scheduled scan was run. Click on the ChartList name to view the results, and click on the scan name to view/edit the scan itself. The View All button at the top of the widget will take you to the main scheduled scans page, where you can edit any of your scheduled scans.

Your Alerts

The Your Alerts panel shows you your top five custom alerts at a glance and the last time they were triggered. If you have more than five alerts, the buttons below the table allow you to move forward and backward through your list of alerts. Click the View All button at the top of the panel to go to the Alert Summary and see all your alerts on a single page.

To edit an alert, click the alert name in the list. This will open the selected alert in the Technical Alert Workbench, enabling you to edit it. To create a new Alert, click the New button at the top of the panel.

Commentary Panel

You can add a Commentary Panel to your dashboard by clicking on the “gears” icon at the top right of the dashboard and selecting the “Commentary” option.

The widget on the left side of the Commentary panel showcases our 10 most recent blog articles. Click on the article title or Read More link to view the full article. The View All button at the top of the widget takes you to our articles page for access to all our written commentary.

The widget on the right side of the Commentary panel showcases our StockCharts TV YouTube channel. Click the Play button in the middle of the widget to watch the latest video without even leaving the dashboard. The New Episodes button at the top of the widget gives you access to the latest episodes from each of our exclusive shows.

Your ChartLists

The Your ChartLists panel, located at the bottom of Your Dashboard, lets you view, access, and manage all your saved ChartLists from one place.

Use the “SharpCharts” and “ACP Charts” buttons at the top of this panel to switch between viewing SharpCharts lists and ACP lists.

Viewing SharpCharts ChartLists

When you click the “SharpCharts” button, your saved SharpCharts lists are shown here in alphabetical order, along with the number of charts and any list notes that have been added.

The “View As” dropdown next to each list allows you to open the ChartList in a number of different views, including 10 Per Page, CandleGlance and ChartBook view.

Clicking on the ChartList's name will show you the ChartList in Summary view by default. This default setting can be changed by clicking the Gears icon at the top right of the panel and selecting a new Default ChartList view.

Viewing ACP ChartLists

When you click the “ACP Lists” button, your saved ACP ChartLists are shown here in alphabetical order, along with the number of charts and any list notes that have been added.

Click on the ACP ChartList's name to view the list within StockChartsACP.

Deleting ChartLists

To delete one or more ChartLists, click the Edit button at the top right, then check the box to the left of each ChartList you want to delete. Once you have selected all the lists to delete, click the Delete Lists button at the bottom of the page.

Creating New ChartLists

You can create a new ChartList from this panel by choosing the “SharpCharts” or “ACP Charts” button, then clicking the “New” button at the top right or the “New List” button at the bottom of the page. To add pre-created SharpCharts ChartLists to your account, click the “Manage ChartPacks” button at the bottom of the page.

Feel free to browse through the articles below, or if you are short on time, use our AI-driven Search feature to find what you need quickly. You can also contact our human-driven Support Team for assistance.

Using StockCharts.com

These articles will help you better use, navigate, and understand the tools and features available on StockCharts.com.

Finding Your Way Around

Data and Ticker Symbols

Charts & Tools

These articles will provide helpful information and instructions for the various charting tools and resources on StockCharts.com.

SharpCharts

StockChartsACP

Other Charting Tools

Research Tools

Reports & Galleries

Scanning & Alerts

These articles will help you learn more about using our custom scans and alerts features to find stocks and funds that meet your specific technical criteria.

Technical Scans

Technical Alerts

• Get a sense of how you can use the StockCharts technical alerts

• Learn how to create custom technical alerts

• See a summary of all your alerts in one place

Your Account

Subscribing to StockCharts

• Learn more about becoming a StockCharts Member

• Compare our different service levels and optional data plans

Managing Your Account

• How to sign into your StockCharts account and manage your password

• How to update your account settings, payment info, and more

• How to make changes to your StockCharts subscription

Learning More

• Daily market analysis from expert chartists
• An extensive collection of educational resources to help you in your investment journey

• Additional resources for learning more

• Questions StockCharts users often ask

• Troubleshooting information for common issues

• Additional resources to help you use StockCharts

• Our privacy policy, terms of service, and more

Data Bar Periods

Our database has daily, weekly, and monthly data bars for each ticker symbol. For the stocks that we track, we also have intraday data bars available in 1-, 2-, 3-, 5-, 10-, 15-, 30-, 60-, and 120-minute durations, as well as increments that divide the day's trading into equal size bars: 39-minute (10 bars per day), 65-minute (6 bars per day), 78-minute (5 bars per day), 130-minute (3 bars per day), and 195-minute (2 bars per day).

Subscribers can create charts using any of the periods listed above. Non-members can only chart daily and weekly bars.

Mutual Funds only report one data point daily (after the market closes) and thus can only be charted as lines on daily charts.

Indexes that only have one data value per day are called “End-of-Day” indexes and have the phrase “(EOD)” at the end of their description. They are typically updated soon after the market closes. Indexes that have the phrase “(NBD)” are updated during the next business day (i.e., the next day that the market is open).

Data for 1-minute, 10-minute, 60-minute, and daily periods is pulled directly from our data feed. “Longer” bars are created by combining the appropriate shorter time-period bars. For instance, the bars used on weekly charts are created from daily data using the following technique:

• Weekly Open = Open of the first daily bar for the given week (typically Monday's open)

• Weekly High = Highest high for all the daily bars for that week

• Weekly Low = Lowest low for all the daily bars for that week

• Weekly Close = Close value for the last daily bar for that week (typically Friday's close)

Similar techniques are used to create 5-minute bars from 1-minute data, 30-minute bars from 10-minute data, monthly bars from daily data, etc.

Exchanges

Currently, StockCharts has access to data from the following markets:

• New York Stock Exchange (US)

• Nasdaq Stock Exchange (US)

• Amex Stock Exchange (US)

• BATS Exchange (US)

• TSX Stock Exchange (Canada)

• TSX-Venture Stock Exchange (Canada)

• Canadian Securities Exchange (Canada)

• NEO Exchange (Canada)

• London Stock Exchange (UK)

• National Stock Exchange of India (India)

We have datasets for most ticker symbols in each market we cover, but that doesn't necessarily mean we have all ticker symbols. We don't automatically provide quotes for extremely low-priced stocks since technical analysis techniques do not work with such stocks, and the charts for those stocks can be highly misleading.

Other Financial Data

If you'd like to chart your own data, our User-Defined Index feature allows you to create and chart your own symbols.

We offer extended-hours trading data for many US symbols. For US markets, after-hours trading data covers the 4 hours after market close (4:00 PM–8:00 PM Eastern time), and pre-market data covers the 5.5 hours before the market opening for the day (4:00 AM–9:30 AM Eastern time).

Note that securities are generally more thinly traded during pre-market and after-hours sessions than during regular market hours. Extended-hours price bars will only be shown if trading activity has occurred during that bar's timeframe. Volume data and volume-based indicators are not available for any extended hours bars.

Historical pre-market and after-hours data are available, going back approximately ten trading days.

At StockCharts, we adjust our historical price data to remove gaps caused by stock splits, dividends, and distributions. That may cause our charts to look different from other services that do not perform the same adjustments.

For example, if a stock splits 2-for-1, the price is suddenly half of what it used to be, creating a large gap down on the chart. If you were unaware of the split, the chart would give you the impression that something bearish happened to the underlying company. In addition, most of the technical indicators on that chart would give sell signals because of the significant price drop. Even though such a split is considered a neutral event, an unadjusted chart would contain many bearish signals.

We strive to adjust all the historical data before the event to prevent these misleading signals from appearing on our charts. In the case of a 2-for-1 split, we divide all of the historical prices for the stock by 2, then multiply all of the historical volumes by two so that the bars before the split match up smoothly with those that appear after the split.

Our charts, whether adjusted or unadjusted, are ALWAYS corrected for splits.

In addition to performing adjustments that remove large gaps caused by splits, we adjust our historical data to remove smaller gaps caused by dividends and distributions. By making these additional adjustments, we ensure that our adjusted charts show the real total return for the instrument instead of just price returns.

While these adjustments are important for an accurate representation of historical performance, they can cause problems in the following circumstances:

1. Our adjusted historical price data cannot be used to determine the actual buy or sell price for a stock at some point in the past.

2. Our adjusted historical price data may not match the unadjusted data from other sources.

3. Adjusting historical price data can cause P&F reversal points to change if “Traditional” box scaling is used (the default).

Dividend Adjustment Calculation Details

Historical prices are adjusted by a factor calculated when the stock begins trading ex-dividend. The dividend amount is subtracted from the prior day’s price; that result is then divided by the previous day’s price. Historical prices are subsequently multiplied by this factor.

Let's look at this example. A stock closes at $40.00 on Monday. On Tuesday, it begins trading ex-dividend based on a $2.00 dividend. If the stock opens unchanged, it will be trading at $38.00. Unless we adjust the prior prices, the chart will show a misleading $2.00 gap.

To calculate the adjustment factor, we subtract the $2.00 dividend from Monday's closing price ($40.00 - $2.00 = $38.00). Then, we divide 38.00 by 40.00 to determine the dividend adjustment in percentage terms. The result is 0.95.

Lastly, we multiply all historical prices before the dividend by a factor of 0.95. This adjusts historical prices proportionately to stay rationally aligned with current prices.

Split Adjustment Calculation Details

Adjustments for stock splits are similar, but to calculate the factor, you have to divide the number of shares after the split by the number of shares before the split. (Example: To adjust for a 2-for-1 split, divide 1 by 2. The factor is 0.5.)

Like dividend adjustments, we multiply all historical prices before the split by 0.5.

With splits, we adjust the volume in the opposite direction of prices to maintain the total liquidity. So, where we divided 1 by 2 to calculate the adjustment factor for prices, we now divide 2 by 1 to calculate the adjustment factor for volume. In this case, the adjustment factor for volume is 2.0, so we multiply all volume before the split by the adjustment factor of 2.0.

Reverse splits are calculated the same way as regular splits. For a 1-for-4 reverse split, for example, you would divide 4 by 1 to calculate the adjustment factor for prices (4.0) and divide 1 by 4 to calculate the adjustment factor for volume (0.25).

The availability of historical data on our site varies based on the specific symbol, the data bar period, your membership level, and how you want to use the data.

By Data Bar Period

Our database has:

• 1-, 2-, 3-, 5-, 15-, 39-, 65-, 78-, 130-, and 195-minute bars going back 20 days.

• 10- and 30-minute bars going back 40 days.

• 60-minute bars going back to 2004.

• Daily, weekly and monthly bars going back to 1990 for most stocks, indexes and mutual funds (assuming they have been around that long).

• Daily, weekly and monthly bars going back as far as 1900 for some indexes.

By Service Level

Your membership service level will determine how much historical data you can use in your charts and whether you can see historical data in tabular format.

• Non-members can only create charts of 5 years or less in length. They cannot see data in tabular format.

• Basic and Extra members can create charts that use data from as far back as 1980. They can also see data in tabular form going back to 1990.

• PRO members can use all of our historical data in their charts with some data going back to the 1940s or earlier. PRO members can see data in tabular form going back to 1970.

By Ticker Symbol

Do you need to download daily, weekly, or monthly data to Excel? PRO StockCharts subscribers can download data from as far back as 1970.

Downloading Data in the New SharpCharts Workbench

Follow these steps to download daily, weekly, or monthly data to a CSV file (Excel readable) when using the New SharpCharts Workbench:

1. Create a chart for the ticker symbol for which you want to download the data.

2. Click Historical Price Data (left menu bar), which displays historical data seen on the price chart.

3. Click View All Historical Price Data.

1. Click Download Data Set. By default, daily data will be downloaded. To download weekly or monthly data, select Weekly or Monthly from the Period dropdown menu and click Download Data Set.

Downloading Data in the Classic SharpCharts Workbench

Follow these steps to download daily, weekly, or monthly data to a CSV file (Excel readable) when using the Classic SharpCharts Workbench:

1. Create a chart for the ticker symbol for which you want to download the data.

2. Once the chart has been created, click the “Past Data” link located below the chart.

3. Download the data.

4. Click the Download Data Set link on the Past Data page to start downloading the data. By default, it will download daily data. If you want to download weekly or monthly data instead, click the “Select Period” dropdown menu, choose the option you want, and click Download Data Set.

Our site contains over 30,000 ticker symbols for stocks, indexes, market breadth indicators, economic indicators, commodities, and more. Understanding how these ticker symbols are named and organized makes navigating and taking full advantage of our website easier.

We use the following conventions with our ticker symbols, to indicate the exchanges that the symbols belong to, the asset types, and more.

Stock Exchanges

• US stocks have symbols that consist of letters without any other symbols - such symbols indicate that that stock is listed on either the NYSE, Nasdaq, or Amex Exchanges

• TSX-listed stocks have symbols that end with “.TO”

• TSX Venture-listed stocks have symbols that end with “.V”

• CSE-listed stocks have symbols that end with “.CA”

• NEO-listed stocks have symbols that end with “.NE”

• London-listed stocks have symbols that end with “.L”

• Indian-listed stocks have symbols that end with “.IN”

Other Financial Data

• Indexes and market indicators (i.e., non-trading datasets that do not contain price information) start with either a “$” or a “!” character

• Economic Indexes start with “$$”

• End-of-day Futures symbols start with “^”

Compound Symbols

• If two ticker symbols are joined together with a colon character, it represents the ratio of those two datasets, e.g., IBM:$SPX

• If two ticker symbols are joined together with a hyphen, it represents the difference of those two datasets

User-Defined Indexes

• User-defined indexes that have not been shared with others start with an “@” symbol

• User-defined indexes that have been shared publicly currently start with “!”

Miscellaneous Conventions

• Different stock classes are indicated with a forward slash (“/”) and one or more letters, e.g. BRK/A, RBN/UN.TO

• Unadjusted stock datasets have symbols that start with an underscore (“_”)

• Adding a hyphen before a single ticker symbol will show an inverse chart for that symbol (or use the $ONE pseudo-symbol)

Pseudo-Symbols

Several ticker symbols we recognize do not represent actual data in our database. Instead, these symbols contain data that is useful in very specific contexts. We call these ticker symbols “Pseudo-Symbols.” One prominent pseudo-symbol we have is:

• $ONE. This index always contains the value “1” for all its data fields. It is mainly used to generate the reciprocal of any other ticker symbol in our database by using it in the first position of a Ratio Symbol - e.g., $ONE:$VIX. This is one easy way to create an inverse chart.

We have three symbols that are useful in creating ChartStyles that focus on relative strength:

• $SYMBOL. This index equals the “main” ticker symbol in a SharpChart.

• ​$SECTOR. This index equals the sector ETF of the sector to which the main ticker symbol belongs.

• $INDUSTRY. This index equals the industry index for the industry to which the main ticker symbol belongs.

So, for example, you could use these symbols to create a ChartStyle with a “Price” Indicator of “$SYMBOL:$SECTOR” - then, regardless of the ticker symbol you apply the style to, we would then plot a sector-based relative strength line on the chart. These pseudo-symbols are available with US symbols with a sector and industry assigned to them.

We also have several “theoretical” pattern symbols that contain “perfect” versions of different price patterns for use in studying the behavior of technical indicators when such patterns appear on a chart. All such symbols have “$TH” at their start, as seen below:

• $THSAW. This index contains a “perfect” sawtooth pattern for studying 45-degree reversals.

• $THSINE. This index contains a “perfect” sine-wave pattern for studying rounded reversals.

• $THHS. This index contains “perfect” head-and-shoulders reversal patterns.

• $THEW. This index contains “perfect” Elliott Wave patterns.

• $THSS. This index contains a “perfect” set of sawtooth wave patterns that are themselves contained in a larger period sawtooth pattern.

Have you wondered what a particular index is or how it is calculated? Good news! You can use our Index Catalog to learn that information.

Accessing the Index Catalog

Using the Index Catalog

To start using the Index Catalog, scroll through the different pages or use the Search Indicators and Indexes tools to locate the symbol you're most interested in learning about.

Once you locate the symbol you want, select the Click for Details link to learn more about that symbol. Below is an example of the information provided.

The quickest and easiest way to search the StockCharts site for a ticker symbol is to use the Create-a-Chart bar at the top of any page.

We'll walk you through four symbol search scenarios, showing how the Create-a-Chart bar can help you find ticker symbols on the StockCharts website.

Finding the Ticker for Netflix

Scenario 1. You want to find the ticker symbol for Netflix and launch a SharpChart for that stock.

Step 1:

Begin typing the word “Netflix” in the Create-a-Chart bar. A dropdown list with possible ticker symbol matches will update as you type each letter.

Step 2:

Find Netflix on the list and click on it with your mouse.

When you click on the symbol, a SharpChart will be launched for Netflix.

Launch a Seasonality Chart for MSFT

You may already know a stock's ticker symbol, but you want to launch a different kind of chart.

Scenario 2. You want to launch a Seasonality chart for Microsoft.

Step 1:

Click on the dropdown menu on the left side of the Create-a-Chart bar, then click Seasonality.

Step 2:

Type “MSFT” in the search box and click “Go” (or press the Enter key on your keyboard).

When you click “Go,” a Seasonality chart will be launched for Microsoft.

Find Out Where General Motors is Mentioned on the Site

The Create-a-Chart bar can be used for more than just launching charts.

Scenario 3. You want to use the Create-a-Chart bar to find all the references to GM on the StockCharts website, including blog articles, Public ChartLists, etc.

Step 1:

Click on the dropdown menu on the left side of the Create-a-Chart bar and change it to Symbol Lookup.

Step 2:

Enter “GM” in the search box, then click Go to run a search for symbols that meet your criteria. GM should be near the top of the list.

Step 3:

Find GM on the list of symbol search results, then click on the Mentions icon to the right.

The Symbol Mentions page will display basic details about the ticker symbol, then show all the places on the site where it is mentioned, including Predefined Scans, Public ChartLists, your own ChartLists, and StockCharts commentary. This is a great way to get an overall picture of what's happening with a stock or security.

Find All Bullish Percent Indexes

Sometimes, you may want to search for a group of related symbols. Here's an example of how to search for all the Bullish Percent Indexes available in StockCharts.

Step 1:

Type bullish percent in the Create-a-Chart bar search box. Notice that there are more Bullish Percent Indexes than can be displayed on the dropdown list.

Step 2:

Click on More Results for BULLISH PERCENT at the bottom of the list.

The More Results link takes you to the same place as the Symbol Lookup technique used in the previous scenario, a handy shortcut for doing symbol lookups. This shows all symbols with “Bullish Percent” in their name.

It's All About Ticker Symbols

While the main function of the Create-a-Chart bar is to create charts, it can also help you find ticker symbols on the StockCharts website. This is especially handy when you need clarification of a stock's name or exact spelling or want to find a list of related symbols.

What Are User-Defined Indexes (UDIs)?

Have you ever wanted to create your own index? User-Defined Indexes (“UDIs” for short) are daily datasets you—not the StockCharts data team—can create and maintain. Extra and Pro service StockCharts members can store daily time-series data inside a UDI and use the SharpCharts charting tool to create charts of that data.

Examples of data that you might want to store in a UDI include:

• Stock prices for stocks that StockCharts doesn't cover

• Stock prices that you have edited

• Portfolio value over time

• Net worth over time

• A custom technical indicator calculated by a 3rd-party program

• The price of anything you can think of over time

• Your weight over time

• The possibilities are endless!

Extra members can create one User-Defined Index with “@MYINDEX” as its fixed ticker symbol. Pro members can create up to 30 different User-Defined Indexes and give each index its unique ticker symbol.

User-Defined indexes can store daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly data, but cannot store intraday data. Note that only dates from 01/01/1900 onward can be stored.

The UDI Workbench

The UDI Workbench is the place to create, edit and delete your UDIs. The workbench allows you to enter a long and short description of your index and, for Pro users, pick the ticker symbol. From the workbench, you can enter or upload the daily data for your index. You also can erase one row or all the data in your index.

Creating and Modifying UDIs

On the UDI Workbench, Extra members will see that they already have their one UDI created, with the ticker symbol “@MYINDEX.”

Pro users will need to add UDIs manually. To create a UDI, click the “New Index” button, enter the ticker symbol and long and short descriptions of your new UDI, and click “Create Index.”

To work with a different one of your UDIs, click on the blue “Select Your Index” dropdown menu and choose a different index.

To edit the long or short descriptions for the selected UDI, click on the “Edit Info” button. Make your changes and click the green “Save Changes” button.

If you no longer need one of your UDIs, click the “Delete Index” button to remove the selected UDI.

Adding Data to Your UDI

After setting up your UDI, you'll want to add data, which you can do either manually one row at a time or uploading several rows using a specially formatted spreadsheet.

To add an individual row, click anywhere in the row of the data table that says “New Row” and fill in the information for that data point:

• Enter the Date in the format mm-dd-yyyy.

• You can enter just the Close or all four values (Open, High, Low, and Close). These four fields should contain numbers with up to 4 decimal places.

• Volume is an optional field. If you fill it in, it should be a positive integer between 0 and 99,999,999.

Once the appropriate fields are filled in, click the “Save” button to add the new row.

Uploading Data from a Spreadsheet

If you have many rows of data to enter, you can save time by creating a spreadsheet on your computer and uploading all the data simultaneously.

The spreadsheet must be formatted a certain way in order to be uploaded into your UDI:

• Column A should have the date, in the format mm-dd-yyyy (or mm/dd/yyyy). This column is required.

• Column B, C, D and E hold the Open, High, Low and Close values, respectively. These should contain numbers with up to 4 decimal places. Either fill all four columns or have only the Close value in Column E. If the value is blank for a column, you can just enter 0.

• Column F is an optional column holding the volume. If you enter a volume, it should be a positive integer between 0 and 99,999,999.

• The spreadsheet must be saved as a CSV file.

Once your spreadsheet is ready, click the “Upload Data” button on the UDI Workbench. Next, click “Choose File” and locate the CSV file on your computer. Lastly, click “Upload."

Modifying Data in Your UDI

To edit an existing row, mouse over the row you want to change. Two small icons will appear to the right of the row. Clicking the pen and paper icon will allow you to edit the row. Click “Save” once you have made your changes.

To delete a single existing row, mouse over the row you want to change and click the trash can icon to the right of the row. To delete all the rows in your User-Defined Index, click the “Clear All Data” button above the table.

Charting Your UDI

Once you have data in your User-Defined Index, you'll want to chart that data. You can click the “View Chart” button on the UDI Workbench to launch a SharpChart of your UDI ticker symbol.

You can also add your UDI to any chart using the ticker symbol “@MYINDEX” (or for Pro users, whatever ticker symbol you specified for the UDI when you created it).

Additional Resources

Ratio Symbols (Relative Strength)

Often, it can be useful to study the ratio of two datasets to determine things like the relative strength of a stock compared to an index. StockCharts users can create ratios from two ticker symbols in our database. On our website, wherever you can enter a single ticker symbol, you can also enter two symbols joined together with a colon character (“:”), and we will use the ratio of those two symbols. We call such a combination of symbols a “Ratio Symbol.”

Here is an example of a ratio symbol in use:

People can use ratio symbols to create what is sometimes called the “Price Relative line,” the ratio of a stock against the S&P 500 Large Cap Index. For example, charting AAPL:$SPX will show you the Price Relative line for Apple Inc.

Ratio symbols are also used to create “Relative Strength” charts, which plot the ratio of two ticker symbols on a line chart. The following rules are used to interpret a relative strength chart:

• The actual values for each point on the relative strength line are not relevant. Instead, focus on the direction and shape of the line.

• If the line is rising, the first ticker symbol is outperforming the second ticker symbol.

• If the line is falling, the second ticker symbol is outperforming the first.

On a SharpChart, the “Price” indicator can be used to add a ratio symbol to an existing chart.

Calculation: For purposes of consistency and data integrity, we use the following formulas when calculating a ratio symbol:

1. Open = Open of the first symbol / Close of the second symbol

2. High = High of the first symbol / Close of the second symbol

3. Low = Low of the first symbol / Close of the second symbol

4. Close = Close of the first symbol / Close of the second symbol

5. Volume = Volume of the first symbol / Volume of the second symbol

These formulas ensure that the ratio symbol's High value is still the highest and its Low value is still the lowest in the resulting dataset.

Difference Symbols

Similar to ratio symbols (see above), you can join two ticker symbols with a hyphen to create a “Difference Symbol,” e.g., $TYX-$FVX.

On a SharpChart, the “Price” indicator can be used to add a Difference Symbol to an existing chart.

Calculation:

1. Open = Open of the first symbol - Close of the second symbol

2. High = High of the first symbol - Close of the second symbol

3. Low = Low of the first symbol - Close of the second symbol

4. Close = Close of the first symbol - Close of the second symbol

Additional Resources

Videos

What is a SharpChart?

SharpCharts are sent to your web browser as a regular Internet image file (in “png” format), meaning that you can treat a SharpChart exactly the same as you would treat any other Internet-based image. You can copy and paste it into other documents, save it to your hard disk or a photo-organizing program, email it to friends, draw on it with a drawing program, and much more.

Furthermore, you do not have to install any additional browser plug-ins or other software in order to view our charts; they can be viewed on any Internet-connected device that has a web browser.

Creating a SharpChart

SharpCharts can be created using the “Create-a-Chart Bar” found at the top of every page on the website. Simply enter the ticker symbol of the stock you are interested in (or part of its name if you don't know the symbol), select “SharpChart” from the left-side dropdown (if it isn't already selected), and press Enter (or click “Go”).

SharpCharts Format

All SharpCharts have several common visual elements regardless of their settings. The diagram below shows each of these features on a typical SharpChart.

The common elements in SharpCharts are as follows:

1— The Main Ticker symbol

2— The Chart Header area

3— The Price Plot area

4— The Horizontal Time axis

5— The Primary Vertical axis

6— (Optional) A Secondary Vertical axis

7— (Optional) One or more Technical Overlays

8— (Optional) One or more Technical Indicator panels

The information displayed in the Chart Header varies depending on the chart configuration, but, at a minimum, it includes the following:

• The Ticker Symbol of the dataset that is displayed in the Price Plot area

• The Date and Time of the latest data point (using the time zone of the exchange)

• Open, High, Low, and Close (OHLC) values of the latest data point

• Volume for the latest data point

The SharpCharts Workbench

The SharpCharts Workbench is our flagship charting tool, where you can create, view, share, modify, annotate, and save all your charts.

StockCharts Mobile App

For accessing SharpCharts on the go, we recommend our StockCharts Mobile App, available for iOS and Android devices.

This app allows you to quickly view your saved charts or create a new chart on the fly.

We offer many ways to share your SharpCharts with others, whether sending a link to the chart or sending the chart itself. The chart can be shared via email, social media, or inserted in a document. You can even print out the chart and hand it to someone in person.

Linking to a SharpChart

If you just copy and paste (or bookmark) the URL at the top of your browser, that link is just going to take you to the SharpCharts Workbench, not to the specific chart you are currently looking at in the SharpCharts Workbench. If you want a link to the specific chart, you must use our Permalink feature. When you're ready to link, simply click the link button below the chart.

Note: You can also right-click on the chart itself, and choose "Link to Chart" from the menu that appears.

A small window will open with a shortened version of the link.

You can choose "Copy Link" to put the link on your clipboard, ready for pasting elsewhere. If the StockCharts customer support team asks you to send a link to your chart, this is the link you need to send them, so they can see the specific chart you need help with.

If your ultimate goal is to bookmark the chart in your browser, choose "Reload with Link" instead. The browser will be reloaded with a special URL that includes all the info to call up that specific chart again. If you bookmark the page after you've reloaded with this link, you will be saving a link to view that specific chart in the workbench.

Printing a SharpChart

If you want a hard copy of your chart, without all the menus and banners included in the printout, there is an easy way to print only the chart on your printer. Simply click the Print button below the chart, choose your print settings, and send it to your printer.

Sharing a Chart on Social Media

Your SharpCharts can be shared on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), or LinkedIn, using the "Share" link below the chart on the Classic Workbench. You will be prompted to log in to the social media platform if you have not already logged in. You can post the chart alone or add your own comments to the post before you send it.

Emailing a SharpChart

You can also email a SharpChart to someone else. Simply click the Share menu below the chart and choose "Email Chart" from the menu.

You will be prompted to enter the recipient's email address and any additional comments you want included in the email. Once those are entered, preview the email and click the green Send Email button to send the email.

Inserting a SharpChart in a Document

Another great way to share your charts is by inserting them in a document or presentation slides. To copy the chart itself so that it can be pasted in a separate document, simply right-click on the chart itself and choose "Copy Chart Image" from the menu. The chart image will be copied to your clipboard, ready for pasting into Word documents, PowerPoint slides, or wherever else you'd like to share your chart.

• Clicking on a ticker symbol anywhere on the StockCharts website.

• Typing a ticker symbol into the Create a Chart box, then clicking Go.

• Typing a ticker symbol into the box in the SharpCharts section of the Charts & Tools page, then clicking Go.

• Clicking on many of the charts in our Articles and ChartSchool areas.

• Clicking on the SharpCharts icons on our various reports and scan results pages.

Creating and Viewing SharpCharts

The SharpCharts Workbench allows you to closely study the SharpCharts you have created. Use the Inspector tool to view price values for any bar on the chart. The Auto-Refresh feature periodically updates the chart with new data.

Printing and Sharing SharpCharts

Your SharpCharts can be easily shared with others. Use Permalinks to send a chart link, download an image file of a chart, or use our print functionality to create a paper copy.

Modifying SharpCharts in the Workbench

You can customize your SharpCharts to meet your investing needs. StockCharts offers three main types of customization:

• Editing individual chart settings.

• Using a ChartStyle for quickly configuring a chart.

• Adding custom annotations to the chart.

Editing SharpChart Settings

The SharpCharts Workbench allows you to customize your SharpChart settings, including the chart type, period, range, indicators and overlays, color scheme, and more.

Applying ChartStyles to SharpCharts

ChartStyles are collections of chart settings that can be used as “templates” for creating new charts or updating existing charts. A ChartStyle specifies the chart's period, date range, chart type, color scheme, overlays, indicators—everything except the chart's symbol.

ChartStyles can help streamline your chart-creation process if you repeatedly use the same chart settings.

Annotating SharpCharts

Our ChartNotes annotation tool is built right in to the SharpCharts Workbench. You can easily add annotations to your charts, including trendlines, shapes, text, and popular line studies such as Fibonacci retracement levels.

When you annotate a chart and save that chart to a ChartList, all your annotations are saved along with the chart.

Saving Charts in the SharpCharts Workbench

SharpCharts can be saved into ChartLists, online “folders” that allow you to store up to 1000 charts in a single list. ChartLists allow you to group and organize your collections of saved charts for easy access.

In this article, we'll go over creating a SharpChart on the workbench and then using the Inspector tool to view OHLC price and volume data for specific bars and to measure price change. We'll wrap up with an overview of the Auto-Refresh feature that keeps members' charts up-to-date during market hours.

Read on to learn more about the chart-viewing features available on the SharpCharts Workbench.

Creating a Chart

Before you can view a chart, you need to create it. Luckily, creating a SharpChart from the SharpCharts Workbench is as easy as entering a new ticker symbol in the Symbol Box above the chart.

When you begin to type in the Symbol Box, a dropdown menu will show available symbols that match what you've typed in. You can select from this list, or just finish typing in the ticker symbol and click the Go button on the right side of the Symbol Box.

There are also a number of ways to create a SharpChart from outside the SharpCharts Workbench:

• Clicking on a ticker symbol anywhere on the StockCharts website.

• Typing a ticker symbol into the Create a Chart box, then clicking Go.

• Typing a ticker symbol into the box in the SharpCharts section of the Charts & Tools page, then clicking Go.

• Clicking on many of the charts in our Articles and ChartSchool areas.

• Clicking on the SharpCharts icons on our various reports and scan results pages.

The Inspector

If you want to examine the data that makes up the bars on a SharpChart, you can check the Inspect button above the chart. When the Inspector is turned on, the button will be dark; when it is turned off, the button will be light.

When it is turned on, an interactive cursor will appear on the chart. This cursor has crosshairs showing you the exact date and price level where your mouse is positioned. In addition, it displays a small databox next to the cursor that shows data values for the price bar your mouse is currently hovered over.

The databox shows OHLC values, percent change, and volume, for the price bar in question. The “Y” data value is the mouse's vertical position inside the current panel. It can be used to see the values of indicators in panels above or below the price panel.

Measuring with the Inspector

In addition to showing price and volume data, the Inspector can be used to measure time/price distances between two points. While Inspector is turned on, click on the first location and drag your mouse to the second location on the chart. The price change (if you drag vertically) or the number of periods (if you drag horizontally) will be displayed on the left side of the chart until you let go of the mouse button.

In the example below, we can see that the price change for GE between the low of December 18th and the pre-gap high of January 22nd is approximately 18.88%.

Auto-Refresh

You can always update a SharpChart with the latest data by manually clicking the “Refresh” button at the right side of the Symbol Box on the SharpCharts Workbench.

In addition, when the markets are open, the chart will refresh automatically for StockCharts members. Charts will refresh as frequently as every 15 seconds for Basic and Extra members, and every 5 seconds for Pro members. Non-members will still need to press the Refresh button manually each time they want to refresh.

Once the market for that ticker symbol closes, the chart will no longer auto-refresh for members, but you can always manually refresh the chart using the Refresh button.

Note: If you'd like to turn off auto-refresh even during market hours, click the gears icon at the top right of the SharpCharts Workbench to open the Workbench Preferences, then toggle the Auto-Refresh setting and click the green Save Preferences button.

Chart Request Limits

Combining the auto-refresh feature with your browser's ability to open multiple tabs/windows allows it to create large collections of auto-updating charts. However, you must understand the “chart requests per second” limitation before doing that.

Basic and Extra members cannot automatically request more than one chart per second from our servers (on average over an extended period). Pro members cannot request more than two charts per second.

For example, if a Basic member opens 15 different browser tabs and has a SharpChart auto-refreshing every 15 seconds inside each tab, they would have hit the allowable limit, i.e., 15 charts (1 chart / 15 seconds) = 1 chart per second. If they opened up a 16th tab with another auto-refreshing chart in it, they would violate our policy.

The SharpCharts Workbench offers several different ways to set the date range for your SharpChart, but none provides more interactive functionality than the Date Slider. This feature allows you to “zoom in” on the dates you want to see on your chart, fine-tuning the size of the range and start and end dates.

Accessing the Date Slider

To access the Date Slider, first create a SharpChart. Then find the Range dropdown menu located below the chart and choose Select Start/End.

Once you select this setting, you should see a "Start” box, an “End” box, and the Date Slider.

Parts of the Date Slider

The Date Slider control consists of three elements:

• The Date Scale. A changeable set of months/years that make up the middle of the control. This shows you a range of dates that can be used for your chart. If you use all of the dates currently shown on the scale, the scale will automatically expand to include additional dates that you can use.

• The Thumb. The wider box that moves from side to side along the date scale is called the “thumb.” This box represents the current date range for your chart. The left edge of the slider's thumb corresponds to the left edge of your chart, and the right edge corresponds to the right edge of your chart. You can use the thumb to change the chart's date range, as described below.

• The Arrows. To the left and right of the date scale are two arrows. Clicking on the left arrow will move the slider backward by one period; clicking the right arrow will move the slider forward by one time period.

Changing the Date Range

You can use your mouse to adjust the slider in the following ways:

• Left-click on the middle of the slider's thumb and drag it left or right to change both the starting and ending dates. This allows you to “slide” your chart forward and backward through time.

• Left-click on the left arrow to move the slider's thumb backward by one time period.

• Left-click on the right arrow to move the slider's thumb forward by one time period.

• Right-click on the middle of the slider's thumb to choose from a menu of typical chart durations.

• To change the chart's starting date, left-click on the left edge of the slider's thumb and drag it left or right.

• To change the chart's ending date, left-click on the right edge of the slider's thumb and drag it left or right.

As you move the slider with your mouse, the dates in the “Start” and “End” boxes to the left are instantly updated. When you stop moving the slider, the chart then follows suit.

You can also use your keyboard to move the slider's thumb backward and forward by one period. Just click the left or right arrow keys on your keyboard. You may need to click on the Date Slider once with your mouse before the keyboard arrow keys will work.

Once you have set the Start and End dates that you want for your chart, remember to click the Update button to “finalize” those values, especially if you are saving the chart into a ChartList.

Note: The date range for an intraday chart can still only be set in daily increments. In other words, a chart cannot start or end in the middle of a day.

Changing the Date Scale

By default, the Date Scale shows approximately four years of dates that can be used in your chart. StockCharts members can create longer-term charts than this, so they may need to expand the date scale beyond the four-year default. To do this, drag the left edge of the slider's thumb to the left edge of the date scale. As soon as you get close to the left edge, the date scale will expand to include more dates.

In some situations, you may want to work with a much smaller date scale, perhaps a few months instead of a few years. To do this, drag the left edge of the slider's thumb over toward the right side of the scale. When you release your mouse button, you will see that the date range is much smaller, but the date scale is still just as big as before. Next, click on either the arrow button on the left or right side of the scale. Now you can see that the date scale has changed to measuring in months instead of years. You can repeat this process as many times as necessary to get the scale as small as you want.

Moving Through Time

While most people use the Date Slider to set the date range for their charts, one of the most exciting things about it is that you can use the arrow keys/buttons to move through a chart day by day and see how the chart patterns and indicator values develop over time.

Simply move your daily chart's date range back a few days or weeks, then click on the right arrow button (or use the right arrow key on your keyboard) to move forward one day. Then click it again to move forward another day. It's like stop-motion animation for your charts.

Final Thoughts

Remember, the Date Slider is optional. You can still type dates inside the “Start” and “End” boxes or use the calendar controls to set “Start” and “End” dates like you always have.

However, we think the Date Slider's interactive nature will make it a first choice when setting the date range of your chart.

The SharpCharts Workbench is the primary tool for editing your SharpCharts. From this workbench, you can change the chart's settings, add and configure indicators and overlays, and more.

There are a few core settings that can be changed above the chart, but most chart settings are in the Chart Settings panel below the chart. Let's go through a few core settings in more detail.

Changing the Chart's Symbol

To change the chart's ticker symbol, type the new symbol in the Symbol Box above the chart, then click Go or press the enter key. If you're unsure of the ticker symbol you want, you can start to type the company name and a list of suggested symbols will be shown below the Symbol Box. You can click a suggested symbol with your mouse to launch a chart for that symbol.

Changing the Chart's Period

The chart's period (the timeframe covered by a single bar/candlestick on the chart) can be set using the Period dropdown menu above the chart.

The Period can also be changed on the Chart Settings panel below the chart. The same options are available as in the Period menu above the chart.

Changing the Chart's Range

The chart's range (the timeframe covered by the entire chart, from the first bar/candlestick to the last) can also be changed both above and below the chart.

The Range setting in the Chart Settings panel below the chart offers three different modes for setting the start and end date of your chart:

• Fill the Chart: You would use this setting when you want to see the latest data clearly. Specify the bar width and bar gap (in pixels) and you'll get as many bars on the chart as space allows.

• Predefined Range: This mode can be used when you want to see a specific amount of recent data. Choose one of the commonly-used ranges (everything from 1 Day up to 100 Years), or select Predefined Range from the menu, then enter the specific number of years, months ,and days you want to show on your chart.

You can choose the various modes from the Range dropdown menu below the chart. The settings options to the right of this dropdown will change based on the Range setting you select. In the example below, we have chosen Predefined Range, so the Years, Months, and Days settings are available.

The Range setting above the chart allows for quick selection of "Fill the Chart" or commonly-used ranges, from 1 Day up to 100 Years:

Changing Chart Attributes

In addition to the core settings (Symbol, Period, and Range) available above the chart, many other chart attributes can be set in the Chart Settings panel below the chart. Chart Attributes are settings that affect the chart as a whole, and can be found in the Attributes section of the Chart Settings panel, as shown below.

The Period dropdown is the same as the Period dropdown above the chart.

The Period and Range dropdown menus allow you to set the timeframe for a single bar/candlestick and for the entire chart, respectively. These settings were discussed in more detail earlier in this article.

The Extra Bars box lets you specify the amount of additional blank space you want available on the right side of the chart. If you don't want any extra space, leave the box blank or enter “0” as the value.

The Chart Size dropdown lets you choose the overall width of your chart (in pixels). StockCharts members have different width choices depending on their service level.

The Color Scheme dropdown lets you change the colors that we use to create the chart. These color schemes set the default colors for the chart's background, border, bars/candlesticks, indicator/overlay lines, and more.

The Opacity dropdown lets you change how transparent the main price plot is in the main price plot panel.

The Legends dropdown lets you change how much information is displayed in the upper left corner of each panel in your chart.

• Off shows nothing in the legend for the main price plot or any indicator panels.

• Minimal shows the ticker symbol of the security but no other information.

• Default shows the ticker symbol of the security, plus information about the indicators and overlays.

• Verbose shows the full name of the security, plus information about the indicators and overlays.

The Grid Style dropdown lets you change how many grid lines appear in the background of your chart.

The Solid Candles setting fills in all candlesticks with solid colors, while the Hollow Candles setting uses the more traditional hollow candlesticks when prices increase. The color of the candlesticks is based on the relationship between the open and the close. If the close is above the open, the candle is colored with the Up Color; if the close is below the open, the candle is colored with the Down Color.

The Invert Main Price Scale checkbox displays the chart with the y-axis inverted. This is commonly used for indexes and market indicators that make more sense when charted in the inverse, such as the Volatility Index ($VIX).

The Full Quote checkbox adds an information box to the top of your chart that includes additional data about the main ticker symbol, including Bid/Ask data, P/E and EPS ratios, VWAP, SCTR, and the sector/industry that the stock belongs to (if available).

The Price Labels checkbox adds data labels at significant peaks and troughs on the chart, showing you the high and low price data for each of those points.

The Y-Axis Labels checkbox adds labels to the primary vertical axis, showing the final value for each indicator line on the chart.

The Zoom Thumbnail checkbox adds a narrow vertical column to the right side of the chart, showing the final 18 time periods for the chart - usually in more detail than on the regular chart.

The Color Volume checkbox causes the bars of the volume histogram to be colored so that they match the chart's price bars.

Adding Overlays

Technical Overlays are lines calculated from price and volume data and displayed on top of the main symbol's price bars. They are calculated using the same vertical scale as the price bars. Examples include moving average lines, Bollinger Bands, and Pivot Point lines.

The chart below includes a simple moving average, exponential moving averages, Bollinger Bands, and Parabolic SAR.

To add an overlay to a SharpChart, use the next available line in the Overlays section of the workbench (located just below the Chart Attributes section).

Each line in the Overlays section has a primary dropdown menu (for overlay selection), a Parameters box, and the optional advanced settings boxes.

The Parameters box allows you to enter whatever parameters the technical indicator needs. Some indicators do not need any parameters, while others support 5 or more different settings via the Parameters box. Individual settings within the box are separated from one another using commas. Many parameters are optional - if you do not specify a particular parameter, a commonly used default setting will be used instead.

The Reorder arrows allow you to change the order of the overlay lines displayed on the chart. Just click on an up or down arrow to move the entire overlay line up or down on the list.

The Style dropdown allows members to change the style of the overlay's line. Some of the style options are thin, thick, solid, dashed, area, dots, and histogram.

The Color dropdown allows members to change the color of the overlay's line.

The Opacity dropdown allows members to change the transparency of the overlay's line. A setting of 1.0 is completely opaque. A setting of 0.5 is somewhat transparent. A setting of 0.0 is completely transparent (invisible).

The Trash Can icon allows you to quickly delete that overlay from the chart.

The Info icon takes you to the ChartSchool article for the selected overlay.

Finally, there is a Clear All Overlays link at the right side of the Overlays section. Clicking that link will erase all of the overlays from your current chart. You will not be prompted to confirm the deletion, so use this link with caution.

Adding Indicators

Below is an example chart that contains several technical indicators:

To add an indicator to a SharpChart, use the next available line in the Indicators section of the workbench (located just below the Overlays section).

Each line in the Indicators section has a primary dropdown menu (for indicator type selection), a Parameters box, a Position dropdown menu, and the optional advanced settings boxes.

The Parameters box allows you to enter whatever parameters the technical indicator needs. Some indicators do not need any parameters, while others support 5 or more different settings via the Parameters box. Individual settings within the box are separated from one another using commas. Many parameters are optional - if you do not specify a particular parameter, a commonly used default setting will be used instead.

The Position dropdown allows you to specify whether the indicator appears in a panel above the price plot area, below the price plot area, behind price (i.e., overlaying the price bars inside the price plot area), or behind indicator (i.e., overlaying the indicator immediately above it on the indicator list).

The Reorder arrows allow you to change the order of the indicators displayed on the chart. Just click on an up or down arrow to move the entire indicator up or down on the list.

The Color dropdown allows members to change the color of the indicator's line.

The Height dropdown allows members to choose the height of the indicator panel. The setting defines the vertical size of the indicator panel as a percentage of the height of the main Price Panel.

The Opacity dropdown allows members to change the transparency of the indicator's line. A setting of 1.0 is completely opaque. A setting of 0.5 is somewhat transparent. A setting of 0.0 is completely transparent (invisible).

When an Overlay is chosen in the dropdown menu, a second Parameters box will appear, where members can add any necessary parameters for the chosen overlay. For some overlays, this box can be left empty.

The Trash Can icon allows you to quickly delete that indicator from the chart.

The Info icon takes you to the ChartSchool article for the selected indicator.

Finally, there is a Clear All Indicators link at the right side of the Indicators section. Clicking that link will erase all of the indicators from your current chart. You will not be prompted to confirm the deletion, so use this link with caution.

The Price Indicator

One unique indicator in the Indicator dropdown worth mentioning is the Price indicator. This indicator takes a single parameter - a ticker symbol - and adds that symbol's price data to the chart without making any calculations.

The Price indicator allows you to compare several ticker symbols - market indicators, indexes, or closely related stocks - on a single chart.

Below is an example of a chart that uses the Price indicator.

Because they can have a heavy impact on the performance of our servers, there is a limit on the number of ticker symbols (a.k.a. “datasets”) that each chart can have. Free users are limited to three, Basic and Extra members are limited to six, and Pro members are limited to ten.

Creating Overlaid Charts

The Price Indicator can be used with the Behind Price Position setting to create overlaid charts.

Below is an example of the Price indicator overlaid on a price chart.

In addition, two or more Price indicators can be overlaid on top of themselves using the “Behind Indicator” Position setting. Below is an example:

Performance Comparison SharpCharts

The Price Performance indicator is similar to the Price indicator, with one key difference - it plots the cumulative percent change in the given ticker symbol starting at the left edge of the chart. This indicator allows you to compare the performance of several different ticker symbols by plotting their Price Performance in an overlaid manner (i.e., using the Behind Price Position setting), just as our Interactive PerfChart tool does.

Below is an example of a Performance SharpChart.

The advantage of creating Performance Charts this way is that you can annotate the charts and/or store them in your account for later review.

Frequently Asked Questions

Additional Resources

Reference Guides

Videos

In addition to the chart editing functionality on the SharpCharts Workbench, other trading tools are built right into the workbench. Below your charts, you will find access to your ChartStyles, ChartLists, Alerts, and other tools and resources for researching the current chart's ticker symbol, such as options data and historical price data.

Saved Charts Section

The tools in the Saved Charts section allow you to view a ChartList in Summary View, view chart comments for the current chart, and browse through thumbnails of your saved charts in the ChartList Library, all without leaving the workbench.

Alerts Section

From the Alerts section of the workbenchh, you can view your saved price alerts, saved advanced alerts, and see the latest predefined alerts to fire.

Tools & Resources Section

In the Tools & Resources section, you can research the current chart's ticker symbol, including viewing options chain information and historical price data.

In the SharpCharts Workbench, you can access your ChartLists directly from the charting platform. On the left menu under Saved Charts, click ChartList Summary, select your ChartList from the Select ChartList dropdown menu, and then select how you wish to view your ChartList from the View List As dropdown menu. The list of stocks in your selected ChartList will be displayed in a tabular format, which you can sort alphabetically or, by any of the other columns.

As you scroll through your charts, you may observe notable price action. To note your observations, click Chart Comments, type in your comments, and save them. So, next time you bring up the chart, you'll see your comments.

In the SharpCharts Workbench, you can access your ChartLists directly from the charting platform. On the left menu under Saved Charts, click ChartList Summary, select your ChartList from the Select ChartList dropdown menu, and then select how you wish to view your ChartList from the View List As dropdown menu. The list of stocks in your selected ChartList will be displayed in a tabular format, which you can sort alphabetically.

As you scroll through your charts, you may observe notable price action. To note your observations, click Chart Comments, type in your comments, and save them. So, next time you bring up the chart, you'll see your comments. See below for an interactive demo.

Your customized SharpCharts can be saved into ChartLists - online "folders" that allow you to store up to 1000 charts in a single list. ChartLists allow you to group and organize your collections of saved charts for easy access. Read on to learn how to save your SharpCharts to ChartLists from the SharpCharts Workbench.

Saving a New SharpChart

To save a brand new, never-been-saved chart to a ChartList, click the green Save button above the chart on the SharpCharts Workbench.

Since the chart has never been saved, you will be prompted to choose which ChartList you'd like to add it to. A suggested Chart Name is provided, but you can change this name if desired. Toggle open the Advanced Options if you'd like to add comments to the saved chart. Click the "Save New Chart" button to save the chart.

Viewing Your Saved SharpChart

Once the chart has been saved, it will appear in the ChartList and Saved Chart dropdown menus above the chart. You can see the chart we just saved to the "* My Watch List *" ChartList with the custom name of "My Costco Chart" is shown in the dropdown menus. In addition, the Save button will change to grey, indicating the chart is saved and has no new changes to the chart settings since it was saved.

If you want to view the comments you saved with the chart, those can be seen on the Chart Comments panel below the chart:

Saving Changes to a Saved SharpChart

When you make a change to the chart settings of a saved chart, the Save button will change from grey back to green, to let you know there are unsaved chart settings for the chart. In the example below, we changed the chart to use the Spruce color scheme.

To save these changes to the chart in your ChartList, click the green Save button. A small window will pop up allowing you to optionally change the chart's name or comments, in addition to the chart settings changes. Click the green "Save Chart" button to save the changes.

This will overwrite the existing saved chart with the updated chart settings (in this case, the updated color scheme).

Copying a Saved SharpChart

Once you've saved the chart to a ChartList, you may have noticed a second "Save As" button appears above the chart. This button allows you to create a new copy of the chart in a new location, while leaving the original saved chart intact. To do this, click the "Save As" button above the chart.

In the small window that pops up, choose the ChartList where the new copy should be saved, enter a chart name, and optionally enter chart comments. Click the green Save New Chart button to create the copy.

Moving a Saved SharpChart

In some cases, you may want to move the original chart to a new location, rather than creating a copy and leaving the original chart in place. In this situation, you can click either the Save or Save As button, then switch to the "Move Chart" tab at the top of the small window that pops up. Choose the new ChartList you want to move the saved chart to, and optionally update the chart name or comments. Click the green Move Chart button to move the chart.

It’s impossible to view all your ChartLists at once, so it’s a good idea to set alerts so you don’t miss any critical price action. Whether it’s your favorite stock hitting a specific price level, if a sector is making a new high, or if a stock is crossing above a moving average, you’ll receive an alert notification depending on the alerts you set up.

In the SharpCharts Workbench, you can access your custom and predefined alerts directly from the workbench. The alerts are listed along the left menu under Alerts.

Price Alerts

Click Price Alerts to see all the price alerts you’ve created. If you want to modify your alert, just click on the alert and make your changes. The two right columns allow you to pause or delete a specific alert.

Advanced Alerts

If you’ve created any advanced alerts, they’ll appear if you click Advanced Alerts. They can be set up for technical developments such as price crossing a moving average, MACD crossovers, or any alert that involves more than a simple price alert.

Predefined Alerts

Sometimes, it’s nice to have someone else do the legwork. Predefined Alerts in StockCharts are already created and triggered when specific criteria are met. These alerts give you an idea of the overall market. For example, you’ll see if a broad market index such as the S&P 500 hits a record high, specific sectors have crossed a threshold level, or commodities such as oil and gold are undergoing notable price action. Viewing predefined alerts gives you an excellent big-picture view of the market.

You’re all set to be notified when your alerts are triggered. However, when an alert is triggered, you still have to analyze the stock or ETF. SharpCharts offers many tools and resources for analyzing charts.

Accessing ChartStyles

There are three main areas on the SharpCharts Workbench where you can find your ChartStyles.

ChartStyles Area

The ChartStyles area is below the chart in the SharpCharts Workbench. You can use the dropdown menu to select a ChartStyle to apply to the current chart.

StyleButtons Area

To the left of the chart, you will see the StyleButtons Area—a small gear icon, some small gray rectangles, and a small plus icon. These small grey rectangles are your StyleButtons, and the gear and plus sign icons allow you to manage your StyleButtons and ChartStyles.

Note: If you have no StyleButtons set up, only the plus sign icon will appear. You can select this icon to add your first StyleButton.

ChartStyle Library

The ChartStyles Library is located below the chart, in the tool options on the left side. In the "Settings" section, clicking "ChartStyle Library" opens a grid view of your available ChartStyles.

In this menu, the "Select Library" dropdown list will feature options for your saved ChartStyles as well as various collections of popular ChartStyles. These include styles designed for different charting types, such as OHLC bars, candlesticks, and line charts, as well as those favored by different charting experts like John Murphy, Larry Williams, and Martin Pring. If you know the specific style you're looking for, you can use the search bar on the right side to search the ChartStyle Library.

Creating ChartStyles

The first step in creating a ChartStyle is to generate a SharpChart and change its settings to match your requirements. Potential settings include period, range, chart type, and color scheme. You can configure any indicators or overlays you want on the chart.

Click Update when you've finished making changes.

When you've configured your chart, save those settings as a ChartStyle from the ChartStyles Area:

1. Click the green Save ChartStyle button next to the ChartStyles dropdown menu.

2. Enter a name for your new ChartStyle in the ChartStyle Name box.

3. Click the Save New ChartStyle button.

Applying ChartStyles

When you apply a ChartStyle to your chart, the settings of that ChartStyle will be applied to the current chart you are viewing on the workbench. You can then click the "Save" button if you wish to save the changes made to the chart.

It is essential to understand that there is no ongoing connection between the ChartStyle and the chart where it has been applied. For example, if you later change that ChartStyle to use the “Spruce” color scheme instead, no changes will be automatically made to the color scheme of your saved chart. You must re-apply the ChartStyle to your chart to update its style settings.

There are multiple ways to apply a ChartStyle to an existing SharpChart.

From the ChartStyles Area

In the ChartStyles area, choose the ChartStyle you want to apply from the dropdown menu. Your custom-created ChartStyles are listed first in the menu, followed by a few select Predefined ChartStyles provided by StockCharts.

Using the StyleButtons

For ChartStyles that have been assigned StyleButtons, you can click the StyleButton to the left of the chart that corresponds to the ChartStyle you want to apply.

From the ChartStyle Library

By default, the ChartStyle Library opens in "Grid" view, displaying your ChartStyles as small thumbnail images. Clicking on a thumbnail will instantly apply that style to your chart. Next to the search bar, there is a slider tool that allows you to adjust the size of the thumbnails.

Alternatively, you can view the menu as a list by clicking the "List" button. Unlike the Grid view, clicking on a style will not immediately change your chart. Instead, it will show a preview of that style on the right side of your chart. To apply the style to your chart, click the green Apply ChartStyle button beneath the preview image.

From the Edit View of a ChartList

You can also apply your ChartStyle to some or all charts in a ChartList at one time using the Edit View of one of your ChartLists.

Applying a Style to an Entire ChartList

In addition to applying saved ChartStyles to charts, you can also “apply” the current style from one chart in your ChartList to the other charts in that same ChartList.

Follow the steps below:

1. Select the ChartList you want to modify from the ChartList dropdown at the top of the SharpCharts Workbench.

2. Change the chart settings on the loaded chart until it looks the way you want the rest of the charts in the ChartList to look. Click Update after making the changes.

3. Click the Apply ChartStyle to All button at the bottom of the Chart Settings area of the workbench.

Editing ChartStyles

Changing Chart Settings

Updating chart settings used in a ChartStyle is as simple as changing a chart with that style and replacing the current ChartStyle with the settings in your updated chart.

The first step is to create a SharpChart and change its settings to match your requirements. We recommend applying the existing ChartStyle to your chart and then making changes from there.

Once your chart is configured as you want it, you can replace the existing ChartStyle with these new settings from the ChartStyles Area.

Follow the steps below:

1. Once the chart appears with the settings you wish to save, click the green Save ChartStyle link in the ChartStyles Area.

2. Click the Update Existing tab at the top of the popup box that appears.

3. From the dropdown menu, choose the ChartStyle you want to replace with these settings.

4. Click the Update Existing ChartStyle button.

Remember, changing the ChartStyle will not affect the settings for any charts that have previously had that ChartStyle applied.

Setting the Default ChartStyle

The Default ChartStyle will be used whenever you create a brand new SharpChart. It should include the settings and indicators you want to see when first viewing a new ticker symbol.

To create a Default ChartStyle, set the chart exactly as you would like it to appear every time a new chart is created. Once the settings are correct, click the Set As Default link in the ChartStyles Area.

Renaming or Deleting ChartStyles

If wish to rename your ChartStyle, or you no longer need a ChartStyle and wish to remove it from your account, you can do that from the ChartStyles dropdown menu beneath the chart.

Rename a ChartStyle

1. In the dropdown menu in the ChartStyles area, hover over the name of the ChartStyle you wish to rename.

2. Click on the pencil icon that appears next to the ChartStyle name.

3. Enter the new name for the ChartStyle and click the green Update ChartStyle Name button.

Delete a ChartStyle

1. In the dropdown menu in the ChartStyles area, hover over the name of the ChartStyle you wish to delete.

2. Click the red Trash Can icon that appears next to the ChartStyle name.

3. Confirm the deletion by clicking the red Delete Saved ChartStyle button.

Managing StyleButtons

You can create and manage your StyleButtons from the StyleButtons area on the left side of the chart. Click the plus icon to add a new StyleButton or the gear icon to edit or delete an existing StyleButton.

Add a StyleButton

To add a brand new StyleButton to your account and associate it with a specific ChartStyle, follow the steps below:

1. Click the plus sign icon at the bottom of the StyleButtons area on the left-hand side of the chart.

2. A popup window will appear where you can assign the settings for the StyleButton, including its position, label, and color.

3. Use the dropdown menu to select the ChartStyle that you would like to be applied when the StyleButton is clicked.

4. Once you have made all your selections, click the green Save StyleButton button.

Edit or Remove a StyleButton

To edit or delete an existing StyleButton in your account, follow the steps below.

1. Click the gear icon at the top of the StyleButtons area.

2. Click the pencil icon next to the name of the StyleButton you want to modify or remove.

3. A popup window will appear where you can edit the settings for the StyleButton, including its position, label, color, and even which ChartStyle will be applied when the button is clicked.

4. Once the changes are made, click the green Save StyleButton button.

5. To remove the StyleButton entirely, click the grey Clear StyleButton # button.

Overview of StockCharts.com

Many of the features in StockCharts can be used from any device with a web browser. You don't need additional plugins or software downloads to view charts.

Getting Started

Not sure about which features will help you with your investment strategy? The video below will help you get started with StockCharts. Please look over the information on the rest of this page to dive deeper into the analysis tools.

Our Analysis Tools

Charting Tools

Chart Annotations

Stock Scanning Tools

Other Charting Tools

Market Analysis Reports

Market Commentary

Educational Resources

Using different indicators and parameter settings when viewing a one-minute chart vs. a daily or monthly chart isn't unusual. ChartStyles and StyleButtons help to streamline the analysis process, allowing you to quickly switch between different chart styles for a single ticker symbol. Those charts might cover different time periods or be focused on different aspects of technical analysis. Once you've determined the important settings, indicators and overlays for each chart, you can quickly create a chart with that exact configuration for any ticker symbol you choose.

What are ChartStyles and StyleButtons?

A ChartStyle is a collection of SharpCharts settings that can be used as a template for creating new charts in the future. A ChartStyle encompasses all the settings visible below the chart on the SharpCharts Workbench page, including the chart's period, date range, size, type, colors, overlays, and indicators. Essentially, a ChartStyle contains everything about a SharpChart except its main ticker symbol.

If you find yourself setting up the same chart settings repeatedly with different ticker symbols, consider saving that configuration in a ChartStyle that you can reuse. StockCharts members can save up to 50 different ChartStyles in their account and apply them to any ticker symbol.

Additionally, you can assign up to 12 different ChartStyles to thin, gray StyleButtons on the left side of the chart on the SharpCharts Workbench. StyleButtons allow you to quickly apply your most commonly used ChartStyles with a single click.

Special ChartStyles

Most ChartStyles are custom templates you create, but some particular kinds of ChartStyles are worth mentioning.

Default ChartStyle

The Default ChartStyle is a unique collection of chart settings that will be used whenever you whenever you create a new chart using a ticker symbol. The following are a few examples of how to apply your default ChartStyle to a ticker symbol:

• Type a ticker symbol into the Create-a-Chart box and press Go.

• Click on a symbol in the Ticker Cloud.

• Click on a symbol in the Market Movers panel on Your Dashboard.

• Click on a symbol in one of the Summary reports.

• Click on a symbol in a Scan Results list.

Your Default ChartStyle should have the settings you find most useful when first looking at a chart.

Tool-Specific ChartStyles

You can create special ChartStyles to use with specific StockCharts tools. For example, you can create a ChartStyle named CandleGlance, which will be used whenever you display a CandleGlance chart. Effectively, this creates a default ChartStyle for that tool.

Tool-specific ChartStyles are available for CandleGlance and GalleryView (intraday, daily, and weekly only) charts.

Predefined ChartStyles

StockCharts offers a variety of Predefined ChartStyles. The first few Predefined ChartStyles are basic and intended as starting points for creating your own custom ChartStyles. The rest of the Predefined ChartStyles are associated with top analysts, reflecting their favorite indicators and chart settings. You can apply Predefined ChartStyles to your charts but cannot edit them.

ChartPack ChartStyles

Similar to Predefined ChartStyles, the ChartStyles included in certain ChartPacks are typically created by analysts to show their chart settings. These ChartStyles are installed in your account, much like custom ChartStyles, meaning you can modify them.

Additional Resources

We offer real-time data from two sources: exchange real-time data for NYSE/Nasdaq/TSX/LSE and BATS real-time data for NYSE/Nasdaq.

Exchange real-time data comes directly from the appropriate exchange. We consider data quotes from those exchanges to be the “official” quotes for each security, and they should be extremely close to real-time values found on other sources. In addition, exchange real-time data contains accurate volume data. We highlight exchange real-time data bars in green.

We currently offer exchange real-time data for the NYSE, Nasdaq, TSX, and LSE exchanges. There is an additional charge from the exchanges for their real-time data.

There are several technical indicators and overlays that you can add to your SharpChart. Most of these indicators and overlays can be customized by adding or changing their parameters in the SharpCharts Workbench. The following reference guide shows the required and optional parameters that are available for each indicator and overlay, along with the order they should be entered in the Parameters box.

Overlays

Below you will find detailed information about the parameters that are available for each overlay, as well as example charts.

Bollinger Bands

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used in the calculation of the moving average for the centerline.

• StdDev - Standard deviation distance of the bands from the centerline.

• Offset - (optional) Number of bars to shift the overlay to the left or right. A value of zero means no shifting of the overlay; negative numbers shift the overlay to the left/past; positive numbers shift the overlay to the right/future.

Default Parameter Values:

• 20,2

Example Charts:

Horizontal Line

Adds a horizontal line to the chart at the specified y-axis level. A horizontal line can be useful when you are watching for price to cross above or below a certain level.

Parameters:

• yAxisLevel - The level on the y-axis where you want the horizontal line to appear on your chart. Multiple horizontal lines can be added by separating multiple Y-axis values with commas (e.g. “50,100,150,200” would display four horizontal lines). To change the color of a specific line, follow the number with a colon and the color (e.g. “50:red,100:green”).

Default Parameter Values:

• (none entered by default)

Example Charts:

Ichimoku Cloud

Parameters:

• Conversion - Number of periods used in the calculation of the conversion line (Tenkan-Sen).

• Base - Number of periods used in the calculation of the base span line (Kijun-Sen). This parameter also indicates how many periods forward to shift the cloud plot.

• Span - Number of periods used in the calculation of the leading span line (Senkou).

Default Parameter Values:

• (none entered by default, but when the parameters box is left empty, the chart is drawn as though you entered 9,26,52)

Example Charts:

Ichimoku Cloud (Full)

Parameters:

• Conversion - Number of periods used in the calculation of the conversion line (Tenkan-Sen).

• Base - Number of periods used in the calculation of the base span line (Kijun-Sen). This parameter also indicates how many periods forward to shift the cloud plot.

• Span - Number of periods used in the calculation of the leading span line (Senkou).

Default Parameter Values:

• 9,26,52

Example Charts:

Keltner Channels

Parameters:

• EMA - Number of periods used in the calculation of the exponential moving average for the centerline.

• Multiplier - Multiplier to multiply the ATR value by to determine channel width.

• ATR Period - Number of periods for the ATR used in the calculation of the channel width.

• Offset - (optional) Number of bars to shift the overlay to the left or right. A value of zero means no shifting of the overlay; negative numbers shift the overlay to the left/past; positive numbers shift the overlay to the right/future.

Default Parameter Values:

• 20,2.0,10

Example Charts:

Simple Moving Average (SMA)

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used in the calculation of the simple moving average. To change the color of the line, follow the number with a colon and the color (e.g. “50:red” or “100:green”), or just change the color using the “Color” dropdown menu for the overlay.

• Exp - (optional) Price values to be used in the moving average calculation. This parameter can be set to O, H, L, or C to calculate the overlay using open, high, low, or closing price values. If this parameter is left blank, closing values are used.

• Offset - (optional) Number of bars to shift the overlay to the left or right. A value of zero means no shifting of the overlay; negative numbers shift the overlay to the left/past; positive numbers shift the overlay to the right/future.

Default Parameter Values:

• 50

Example Charts:

Exponential Moving Average (EMA)

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used in the calculation of the exponential moving average. To change the color of the line, follow the number with a colon and the color (e.g. “50:red” or “100:green”), or just change the color using the “Color” dropdown menu for the overlay.

• Exp - (optional) Price values to be used in the moving average calculation. This parameter can be set to O, H, L, or C to calculate the overlay using open, high, low, or closing price values. If this parameter is left blank, closing values are used.

• Offset - (optional) Number of bars to shift the overlay to the left or right. A value of zero means no shifting of the overlay; negative numbers shift the overlay to the left/past; positive numbers shift the overlay to the right/future.

Default Parameter Values:

• 20

Example Charts:

Kaufman's Adaptive Moving Average (KAMA)

Parameters:

• Ratio - Number of periods for the Efficiency Ratio (ER).

• Fast - Number of periods for the fast EMA constant.

• Slow - Number of periods for the slow EMA constant.

Default Parameter Values:

• 10,2,30

Example Charts:

SMA Envelopes

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used in the calculation of the simple moving average centerline.

• Percentage - Percentage offset of the bands from the centerline.

• Offset - (optional) Number of bars to shift the overlay to the left or right. A value of zero means no shifting of the overlay; negative numbers shift the overlay to the left/past; positive numbers shift the overlay to the right/future.

Default Parameter Values:

• 20,2.5

Example Charts:

EMA Envelopes

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used in the calculation of the exponential moving average centerline.

• Percentage - Percentage offset of the bands from the centerline.

• Offset - (optional) Number of bars to shift the overlay to the left or right. A value of zero means no shifting of the overlay; negative numbers shift the overlay to the left/past; positive numbers shift the overlay to the right/future.

Default Parameter Values:

• 20,2.5

Example Charts:

Events

Adds labels to the chart for specified events, including splits, dividends, and distributions.

Parameters:

• Type - The type of events to display on your chart. Options include “distributions”, “dividends”, and “splits”. Entering “all” will display all types of events on your chart.

Default Parameter Values:

• all

Example Charts:

Parabolic Stop and Reverse (Parabolic SAR)

Parameters:

• StartStep - The starting Acceleration Factor used to compute the SAR

• MaxStep - The maximum value allowed for the Acceleration Factor

• Increment - (optional) The amount to increment the Acceleration Factor by. If unspecified, the startStep value is used for the increment.

Default Parameter Values:

• 0.02,0.2

Example Charts:

Chandelier Exit

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used in the calculation of the indicator

• Multiplier - Multiplier to multiply the ATR value by to determine the exit's distance from the high or low.

• Long/Short - (optional) Indicates whether the indicator is calculated based on the trader exiting a short or long position. If unspecified, this value is set to “long”.

Default Parameter Values:

• 22,3.0

Example Charts:

Pivot Points

Parameters:

• Type - The type of Pivot Points to be used for the overlay. If left blank, Standard pivot points are used; if set to F, Fibonacci pivot points are used; if set to D, Demark pivot points are used. If you would like to use multiple types of pivot points on one chart, add multiple pivot point overlays to the chart, setting each one to a different pivot point type.

Default Parameter Values:

• (none entered by default, but when the parameters box is left empty, Standard pivot points are drawn on the chart)

Example Charts:

Price Channels

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used in the calculation of the upper and lower channel lines.

• Offset - (optional) Number of bars to shift the overlay to the left or right. A value of zero means no shifting of the overlay; negative numbers shift the overlay to the left/past; positive numbers shift the overlay to the right/future.

Default Parameter Values:

• 20

Example Charts:

Price (Same Scale)

Adds an overlaid price chart for a second symbol on the main price plot. Both ticker symbols use the same y-axis scale. By default, a line chart is shown for the specified second symbol, but other chart types (including area and histogram charts) can be displayed using the Style dropdown menu for that indicator.

Parameters:

• Symbol - Ticker symbol for which price data is shown

Default Parameter Values:

• $SPX

Example Charts:

Volume By Price

Parameters:

• Zones - The number of price zones to display on the chart; the high-low range of the chart is divided into the specified number of equal-sized zones. If left blank, the chart is drawn with 12 price zones.

Default Parameter Values:

• (none entered by default, but when the parameters box is left empty, 12 price zones are drawn on the chart)

Example Charts:

VWAP

Parameters:

• (no parameters allowed)

Default Parameter Values:

• (none entered by default)

Example Chart:

ZigZag

Parameters:

• Sensitivity - The price movement threshold of the ZigZag overlay. If set to 5, all price movements of less than 5% will be filtered out. If left blank, a suitable price movement threshold will be determined and used for the chart.

Default Parameter Values:

• (none entered by default, but when the parameters box is left empty, a suitable price movement threshold will be automatically determined)

Example Charts:

ZigZag (Retrace)

Parameters:

• Sensitivity - The price movement threshold of the ZigZag (Retrace) overlay. If set to 5, all price movements of less than 5% will be filtered out. If left blank, a suitable price movement threshold will be determined and used for the chart.

Default Parameter Values:

• (none entered by default, but when the parameters box is left empty, a suitable price movement threshold will be automatically determined)

Example Charts:

Indicators

Below you will find detailed information about the parameters that are available for each indicator, as well as example charts.

Accum/Distribution Line

Parameters:

• Periods - (optional) Number of periods used to calculate the simple moving average for the optional signal line; if this parameter is not entered, no signal line will be displayed.

Default Parameter Values:

• (none entered by default)

Example Charts:

Aroon

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used to calculate the highs and lows for the indicator. For example, a 25-day Aroon measures the number of days since the last 25-day high and 25-day low.

Default Parameter Values:

• 25

Example Chart:

Aroon Oscillator

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used to calculate the highs and lows for the indicator. For example, a 25-day Aroon measures the number of days since the last 25-day high and 25-day low.

Default Parameter Values:

• 25

Example Chart:

ADX Line

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used to calculate the underlying TR, +DM, and -DM values for this indicator.

• Smoothing - (optional) Number of periods used to smooth the ADX Line. If this parameter is left blank, the number of periods in the first parameter is used to smooth the line.

Default Parameter Values:

• 14

Example Charts:

ADX Line (w/+DI and -DI)

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used to calculate the underlying TR, +DM, and -DM values for this indicator.

• Smoothing - (optional) Number of periods used to smooth the ADX Line. If this parameter is left blank, the number of periods in the first parameter is used to smooth the line.

Default Parameter Values:

• 14

Example Charts:

Avg True Range (ATR)

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used in the calculation of the ATR indicator.

Default Parameter Values:

• 14

Example Chart:

Bollinger Band Width

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used in the calculation of the moving average for the centerline.

• StdDev - Standard deviation distance of the bands from the centerline.

Default Parameter Values:

• 20,2

Example Chart:

Bollinger %B

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used in the calculation of the moving average for the centerline.

• StdDev - Standard deviation distance of the bands from the centerline.

Default Parameter Values:

• 20,2

Example Chart:

Commodity Channel Index (CCI)

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used in the calculation of the CCI indicator.

Default Parameter Values:

• 20

Example Chart:

Correlation

Parameters:

• Symbol - Ticker symbol used as a comparison when calculating correlation values

• Symbol2 - (optional) If a second symbol parameter is entered, the comparison is between the two symbols in the parameters, and the main ticker symbol is not involved

• Periods - Number of periods over which the correlation is calculated

Default Parameter Values:

• $SPX, 20

Example Charts:

Chaikin Money Flow (CMF)

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used in the calculation of the CMF indicator.

Default Parameter Values:

• 20

Example Chart:

Chaikin Oscillator

Parameters:

• Short - Number of periods used in calculating the shorter EMA for the indicator

• Long - Number of periods used in calculating the longer EMA for the indicator

Default Parameter Values:

• 3,10

Example Chart:

Coppock Curve

Parameters:

• ROC1 - Rate of change periods to be used in WMA calculation

• ROC2 - Additive ROC periods

• WMA - Weighted Moving Average period

Default Parameter Values:

• 14,11,10

Example Chart:

Chande Trend Meter

Parameters:

• Symbol - (optional) If a symbol parameter is entered, the Chande Trend Meter indicator will be based on the parameter symbol instead of the main ticker symbol.

Default Parameter Values:

• (none entered by default)

Example Charts:

Date/Time Axis

Adds an extra date/time axis to the chart. This can be useful when you have a long chart with several indicator panels as, by default, the date/time axis only appears at the bottom of the main price panel and the bottom of the chart.

Parameters:

• (no parameters allowed)

Default Parameter Values:

• (none entered by default)

Example Chart:

Detrended Price Oscillator (DPO)

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used in the calculation of the DPO indicator.

• Offset - (optional) Number of bars to shift the indicator line to the left or right. A value of zero means no shifting of the indicator line; negative numbers shift the indicator to the left/past; positive numbers shift the indicator to the right/future.

Default Parameter Values:

• 20

Example Charts:

Dividends

Adds an indicator to the chart that shows the timing and amount of dividends for the main ticker symbol.

Parameters:

• (no parameters allowed)

Default Parameter Values:

• (none entered by default)

Example Chart:

Ease of Movement (EMV)

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used in the calculation of the EMV indicator.

Default Parameter Values:

• 14

Example Charts:

Force Index

Parameters:

• Periods - Number of periods used to smooth the indicator values.

Default Parameter Values:

• 13

Example Charts:

MACD

Parameters:

• Short - Number of periods for the short EMA.

• Long - Number of periods for the long EMA.

• Signal - Number of periods for the signal line. If this parameter is set to 1 or left blank, the indicator will be drawn without the signal line or the histogram.