Introduction to StockCharts.com

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Introduction to StockCharts.com

Overview

StockCharts.com is the industry’s leading provider of online financial charting tools and analysis resources. Our mission is to help individual investors make smarter financial decisions.

Our website is focused on technical analysis, a branch of investment analysis that studies price history via charts. We provide award-winning analysis tools, market commentary from respected analysts like John Murphy and Martin Pring, and a huge collection of educational resources that can help anyone become a better and more informed investor.

Many of the features of our website can be used for free by anyone from any device that has a modern web browser. No additional plugins or software downloads are necessary to view our charts. Some of the more advanced features and functionality may require membership. Visit our home page to find out more about the additional value you get by subscribing to our service.

Getting Started

If you're brand-new to StockCharts.com, you've come to the right place. In this article, we will introduce you to some of our most popular features, as well as links to help you learn more. Additionally, we recommend you checking out our Getting Started series of articles and watching our accompanying instructional video below.

Analysis Tools

StockCharts provides a wide variety of technical analysis tools, including ones for creating and customizing charts, analyzing markets and finding securities worth investing in.

Charting Tools

Our flagship charting tool, SharpCharts, allows you to quickly create bar and candlestick charts for any of the thousands of ticker symbols in our system. Using the SharpCharts Workbench, you can customize your charts, adjust the style and add technical indicators and overlays. Favorite customizations can be saved and reused with our ChartStyles feature.

We also offer tools for creating several types of specialty charts. These include P&F charts, which use X's and O's to display price action; PerfCharts, which allow you to compare the performance of several different stocks on one chart; Seasonality Charts, which show the months that are best for a given stock; and RRG Charts, which give an interactive, non-traditional look at a stock's relative strength.

Learn More: SharpCharts | ChartStyles | Other Charting Tools

Chart Annotation Tools

Members can also add annotations to their SharpCharts, using our ChartNotes tool. The trendlines, notes, and technical line studies you add to your chart move automatically as more data is added to the chart.

Annotated charts can be saved into a ChartList - an online “folder” where a member can store up to 500 charts. ChartLists make it easy to save your favorite charts and reuse them in the future.

Learn More: ChartNotes | ChartLists

Market Analysis Tools

For a high-level overview of the markets, we recommend using our market analysis tools. The Your Dashboard page gives you quick access to the latest market overview information, while our Reports allow for more in-depth analysis. Said reports include the Market Summary page (which shows the performance of many popular market indexes and ETFs), our Sector Summary (which allows you to drill down and quickly find the strongest stocks in the strongest industries) and our DecisionPoint Chart Gallery (which shows the state of the market using the DecisionPoint market analysis approach). In addition, our exclusive StockCharts Technical Rank (SCTR) Reports rank securities based on their relative performance.

Learn More: Dashboard | Reports | SCTR

Stock Scanning Tools

All Extra and Pro StockCharts members have access to our Scan Engine, which can be used to find any and all stocks that currently meet a given set of technical criteria. Scans with your custom criteria can be designed and run from the Advanced Scan Workbench. Additionally, you can set up Alerts in the Technical Alert Workbench to notify you as soon as stocks begin to meet your criteria.

Learn More: Scans | Alerts

All of our analysis tools are documented in our Support Center. We also have numerous Instructional Videos that demonstrate the use of these tools. Finally, our commentators frequently write about how they use our tools to create their commentary.

Market Commentary

In addition to charting services, StockCharts.com also provides expert market commentary from some of the biggest names in the industry.

We have a large collection of free technical market commentary in the Articles area of our site. In addition, members can read our paid market commentary from John Murphy, Martin Pring and Arthur Hill.

If video commentary is more your thing, be sure to check out StockCharts TV. Our 24/7 streaming video channel features several live web shows packed with market commentary. These include the MarketWatchers LIVE lunchtime web show, hosted by Tom Bowley and Erin Swenlin, which airs five days a week and provides up-to-the-minute commentary and analysis. In addition, several commentators include video features as part of their blogs.

We try to provide commentary that is both timely and educational. Many of our blog articles present an interesting chart, discuss why that chart is interesting, what it means for the market and how you can create the chart yourself. Our web shows are also chock full of tips on how to get the most out of the StockCharts website.

Learn More: Blogs | StockCharts TV

Educational Resources

We have a large collection of timeless educational articles and videos on our site, covering both technical analysis topics and how to use the StockCharts website.

ChartSchool is our ever-growing collection of articles on all aspects of technical analysis. You'll find articles there about every indicator, overlay and chart type that we support, with definitions, chart examples, interpretation guidelines, formulas and even spreadsheet examples. It is a comprehensive free resource for anyone interested in almost any aspect of technical analysis.

Our Instructional Videos can help you get up to speed quickly with StockCharts.com. Each video is 5-10 minutes long and covers a specific area or tool found on the website.

The Support Center contains in-depth documentation on StockCharts features, as well as ways for you to contact our Customer Support Team with questions or suggestions.

Studying for our Certified ChartWatchers Exam is a great way to become an expert on both technical analysis concepts and StockCharts features. Passing the exam also entitles you to 50% off all future purchases in the StockCharts Store.

Learn More: Educational Resources | Customer Support Resources

Next Steps

Now that you've got a better idea of what's available on StockCharts.com, you'll want to know where to find all those great tools and resources. Continue on with your learning and check out the Navigating the Website article in our Support Center.

Additional Resources

Articles

Videos