Line Charts

A line chart is by far the simplest form of chart. It is constructed by plotting price points of a security over a period of time and can be drawn using either the high, low, open, or closing price of the security. Once these price points are plotted, they are connected using lines that will then form the chart. An example of a standard line chart for Microsoft (MSFT) is shown below.

Chart Provided By TC-Net

This example happens to be of a daily chart. As you can see, the prices have been plotted, the dates are listed along the bottom of the chart, and the closing prices are displayed along the right-hand side of the page. 

 

Because of the lack of data being displayed, all that can really be determined by looking at this style of chart is the direction of the stocks current or past trend. On this chart of Microsoft, we can see that it has been in a recent downtrend but reversed direction in mid-November and is now moving upward.

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