Stock Charts For Dummies
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Volume, which measures the number of stock trades in a day, tends to be a supportive indicator. High volume at certain times can be critical for helping with price discovery. How volume is displayed is unique and not the same as other charting information.

Volume can be toggled on or off by using the volume drop-down menu on the left side of the check-mark toggles. The options are

  • Off: No volume is displayed.
  • Overlay: The volume is displayed inside the price panel.
  • Separate: The volume is displayed below the price panel.
volume and toggles stock charts Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com
Volume and toggles.

The volume is set in the overlay position. If price is in the bottom corner of the chart, seeing the price or the volume can be problematic because they overlap. Using the drop-down menu to choose Separate moves the volume bars below the price panel into a separate display.

Eight toggles are listed across the bottom of the chart:

  • Full Quote: Adds the Text panel on the top of the chart.
  • Price Labels: Puts the price label on the price bars at highs and lows.
  • Log Scale: Uses a percentage grid for long time periods where the price has moved substantially.
  • Solid Candles: Fills in hollow candles like the big one next to the “4.” This is strictly a matter of user preference.
  • Color Volume: Shades the up days different from the down days.
  • Smoothed Lines: Makes the lines on line charts look smoother.
  • Y-Axis Labels: Adds the current price label onto the vertical axis on the far-right edge of the chart.
  • Zoom Thumbnail: Adds the box on the right with the last 18 price bars.

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book authors:

Greg Schnell, CMT, MFTA, specializes in intermarket and commodities analysis for StockCharts.com. He contributes market analysis commentary to several blogs that garner between 5,000 and 10,000 readers weekly.

Lita Epstein, MBA, has written more than 40 books, including Trading For Dummies, Bookkeeping For Dummies, and Reading Financial Reports For Dummies.

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