We are going to look at some of the different varieties of charts used in Forex technical analysis and provide some useful guidelines for readings such charts.
Price Charts contain information regarding FOREX prices at specific time intervals. Intervals range anywhere from one minute to several years. Prices are usually displayed in the form of line graphs, and occasionally the change over each given time period is depicted in the form of a bar graph or candlestick graph.
Line graphs are useful for providing a broad overview of price fluctuations over time. They display the closing price at the end of the given time period. Line graphs possess several advantages when compared to other types of graphs: they are are quite easy to understand and they are useful for finding patterns over a long period of time. However, a key disadvantage is that they lack the degree of detail possessed by bar and candlestick graphs.
In contrast, bar graphs provide a greater amount of information than line graphs. The length of each bar demonstrates the price difference for the specific time interval – a longer bar indicates a bigger separation between high prices and low ones. Furthermore, each bar contains two tabs. The left tab on a given bar displays the price at the beginning of an interval, while the right tab demonstrates the price at the end of an interval. Using this system, it is easy to see price fluctuations over a given time interval, and to understand specifics of the variation in price. At times, it can be difficult to read bar graphs which have been condensed and printed on paper, but most computerized graphs usually possess a zoom feature, which makes it easy to see the specifics.