Fundamentals of Chart Creation

Before delving into charts, one should understand some subtle differences that exist among different financial instruments that can be charted. Regardless of what a trader is charting, one other fact to understand is that each bar (or point) represents a specific segment in time. That segment could be as little as a single minute or as great as a year. One of the most important properties of a chart is whether it is arithmetically scaled or logarithmically scaled. This chapter includes basic chart properties, different kinds of financial instruments, viewing the data on a chart in detail, searching for symbols, streaming, and cloning.