A stock chart shows how a share price has moved over time. You don't need to be a trader to get value from one: a chart quickly tells you whether a stock has been rising or falling, how volatile it is and how today's price compares with the past year.
Line charts
The simplest chart connects each day's closing price. It's the best way to see the overall trend over months or years. Switch between ranges such as 1 month, 1 year and 5 years to see both the short-term moves and the bigger picture.
Candlestick charts
Each candlestick shows four prices for one period, usually a day:
- Open and close form the thick body. A green (or hollow) body means the stock closed higher than it opened; red means it closed lower.
- High and low are the thin lines, called wicks, above and below the body.
A long body shows a strong move in one direction. Long wicks show that prices swung widely during the day but were pushed back. Candlesticks pack more information into the same space than a line chart, which is why traders favor them. Every StockEngine stock page offers both views under the Chart tab.
Volume
Volume is the number of shares traded, usually shown as bars below the price. Big price moves on heavy volume are generally considered more meaningful than moves on light volume, because more investors took part. Unusual volume spikes often accompany earnings reports and news.
Moving averages
A moving average smooths out daily noise by averaging the closing price over a set number of days. Two are widely watched:
- 50-day moving average: the medium-term trend.
- 200-day moving average: the long-term trend. A stock trading above its 200-day average is often described as being in an uptrend.
When the 50-day crosses above the 200-day, it's called a "golden cross"; the reverse is a "death cross." These are popular signals, but they lag the price and give plenty of false alarms.
Support, resistance and the 52-week range
Support is a price level where a falling stock has repeatedly stopped dropping; resistance is a level where a rising stock has repeatedly stalled. The 52-week high and low, shown in every stock page's key statistics, tell you where today's price sits within the past year's range.
Charts are only half the story
A chart shows what the price has done, not why, and past patterns don't predict the future reliably. Use charts alongside the business fundamentals: financial statements, valuation such as the P/E ratio, and the StockEngine Score's Momentum pillar in AI Insights, which already combines the trend, the 50- and 200-day averages and the 52-week range.
This article is educational and not investment advice.
StockEngine articles are for education only and are not investment advice. Some links may be affiliate links.