Chart Terminology
A/D Line: The Advance/Decline (A/D) Line is used to indicate market breadth. It represents a cumulative total of the number of stocks advancing (increasing in value), less the number of stocks declining (decreasing in value). When the A/D Line rises it means that more stocks are rising than declining (and vice versa). The steeper the A/D line, the stronger the bull market (rising line) or bear market (falling line).
A/D Line (Breadth): The Breadth Advance/Decline (A/D) Indicator is the number of advancing issues (stocks that have increased in value) divided by the total number of both advancing and declining issues. Readings above 0.5 are sometimes considered "bullish," while readings below 0.5 are sometimes considered "bearish."
A/D Line (Daily): The non-cumulative Advance/Decline (A/D) Daily Line is calculated by subtracting the number of declining issues (stocks that have decreased in value) from the number of advancing issues (stocks that have increased in value). That number is divided by the total number of issues traded. Generally, values above 0.25 are considered "bullish," while values below -0.25 are considered "bearish."
Arms Index (TRIN): The Arms Index (developed by Richard Arms) shows the relationship between stocks that are advancing (increasing) or declining (decreasing) in price, and their trading volumes. It is calculated by dividing the Advance/Decline Ratio by the Up/Down Ratio. The indicator is intended to show whether volume is flowing into advancing or declining stocks and by what magnitude. A ratio of 1 suggests the market is in balance. A ratio greater than 1 suggests that more volume is moving into declining stocks. A ratio of less than 1 suggests that more volume is moving into advancing stocks.
Bollinger Bands: Bollinger Bands are a charting technique in which lines are drawn two standard deviation levels above and below a moving average (trading bands). Because standard deviation measures volatility, the bands widen during volatile markets and contract during calmer periods. According to this technique, the closer a stock price moves to the upper band, the more overbought the stock (which may therefore be prone to a downward correction). The closer the prices move to the lower band, the more oversold the stock (which may therefore be prone to a corrective price increase).
DMI: The Directional Movement Indicator helps provide an indication of how strong the trend (up or down) is for a stock. The scale of the DMI is 0-100.
Fast Stochastic: Compares where a security's price closed relative to its price range over a given time period - the implication being that in an upward-trending market, prices tend to close near their high, and during a downward-trending market, prices tend to close near their low.
Frequency: An Intraday Chart is displayed by default. You may select a different frequency by making a selection from the Frequency menu. In order for the chart information to be properly displayed, the selected frequency should not be larger than the selected time frame. For example, a 6-month chart cannot be displayed with a yearly frequency.
Lower Indicator: The first lower indicator can be found below the main chart, and displays Volume as a default. The time period and frequency for the lower indicator display is the same as for the main chart. You may select up to two additional lower indicators, which will display below the first lower indicator.
MACD: Moving Average Convergence/Divergence
MA Envelopes: A Moving Average shows the average value of a security's price over a period of time. The value is calculated by totaling all the previous closing prices over a time period and dividing them by the number of bars in that time period. The Moving Average Envelopes indicator references the following fixed parameters: SMA: 9 Bars and Deviance: 2%
Momentum: The perceived strength behind the movement of the price of a stock.
Money Flow: Change in share price multiplied by trading volume. Money flow is positive when a stock rises and negative when it declines.
Moving Average: The default setting for Moving Average is "None." You may display a moving average by making a selection from the Moving Average menu and entering the number of days (bars to display) in the adjacent text field.
OBV: The On-Balance Volume momentum indicator relates volume to price change. OBV is a running total of volume calculated by adding the day's volume to a cumulative total when the security's price closes up - and subtracting the day's volume when the price closes down. It attempts to detect when stock is being purchased by a large number of buyers, or sold by many sellers.
Parabolic SAR: The Parabolic Time/Price System developed by Welles Wilder is used to set price stops and it is usually referred to as the stop-and-reversal (SAR) indicator.
P/E Ranges: The price to earnings (P/E) ratio ranges display the range of the stock's P/E ratio over a specified time period.
P/E Ratio: Price/Earnings Ratio (P/E) is the market cap of a stock divided by the company's after-tax earnings over a 12-month period. Companies with negative earnings do not have a P/E ratio.
Actual P/E is calculated using a stock's current price divided by the last year's stated earnings
Estimated P/E is calculated using a stock's current price divided by the estimated earnings for the current or future year
% Compare: The % Compare Indicator shows the relative performance of symbols vs. the primary symbol you are researching. If you entered Stock XYZ in the first Symbol field, then added symbol WXY in the Compare to Symbol field, the % Compare Indicator will display XYZ as a flat line. Results for WXY will be plotted relative to XYZ so that if WXY's line falls below that of XYZ, the stock WXY is underperforming XYZ.
% Short Interest: % Short Interest is updated monthly and is only available on NYSE-listed stocks. A stock's % short interest is determined by dividing the number of shares sold short (as reported by the NYSE exchange) by the number of shares outstanding multiplied by 100.
Price Channel: Price Channel is a trend-following model. Its logic suggests: Buy when the weekly closing price moves up to a new 20-period high; sell and sell short when the weekly closing price moves down to a new 20-period low. In other words, when the price moves out if its n-period range, go in the direction of this new trend.
Price Display: Closing price information is displayed by default. You may choose one of the following price displays from the Price Display chart:
Close: Price at market close for each trading day is displayed.
High/Low/Close: High price, low price, and closing price for each trading day is displayed.
Open/High/Low/Close: Opening price, high price, low price, and closing price for each trading day is displayed.
All price types (except logarithmic) are charted using a linear display. Linear charts display absolute change in price.
ROC: Return on Capital is a measure of how effectively a company uses money it invests in its operations.
Rolling Dividend: Rolling Dividend plots a stock's rolling 52-week dividend as dollars per share. It reflects when a company raises or lowers the dividends it pays its shareholders.
Rolling EPS: The Rolling Earnings Per Share indicates the stock's 12-month rolling earnings over a specified time period.
RSI: Relative Strength Index measures the size of gains over a given time period against the size of losses over the same period. The RSI ranges from 0 to 100. If a stock reaches the 70 level, some analysts feel it could potentially be overbought (overpriced). Likewise, an RSI of approximately 30 or lower suggests the stock may be oversold (under priced).
Slow Stochastic: Slow Stochastic compares a security's closing price relative to its price range over a given time period.
Time Period: A 1-year historical chart is displayed by default. You may select a different time frame by making a selection from the Time Period menu. If you select a time frame that is longer than the amount of time for which there is data available for symbol, all data that is available will be displayed.
True Range: High and low share price during a particular time period.
Ultimate Oscillator: Indicator that fluctuates up and down in a wavelike fashion within a price range. The scale of the ultimate oscillator is 0 - 100. Similar to the RSI, levels below 30 are considered by some to be potentially oversold (under priced), and levels above 70 to be overbought (overpriced).
Up/Down Ratio: The Upside/Downside Ratio shows the relationship between the volume of advancing issues (stocks that have increased in value) and the volume of declining issues (stocks that have declined in value). The upside volume is the total volume of all stocks that closed up in price, while downside volume is the total volume of all stocks that closed down in price. An upside/downside ratio in excess of 9 may signal an advancing market.
Upper Indicators: Upper Indicators are the technical indicators that can be displayed on the main chart only. (The default setting is none.)
Volatility: Volatility is the percentage price change over a given time period. It can also be defined as the widening of the range between the high and low prices.
Volume: The total number of a company's shares traded in a given period. Volume is reported daily by the exchanges - both for individual securities trading on that exchange and for the total amount of trading executed on the exchange.
Volume Accumulation: The Volume Accumulation indicator is a modification of the On Balance Volume (OBV) indicator. Movement above the zero line measures buying pressure, while movement below the zero line measures selling pressure
Volume by Price: The Volume By Price indicator shows the level of trading volume relative to stock price of a security.
Williams %R: Williams %R is a momentum indicator that attempts to demonstrate whether shares of a stock are overbought (bearish) and oversold (bullish). The range for this indicator is 0 - 100.
Yield: Annual rate of return on an investment in a particular security.
Events: Splits, earnings releases and dividend declarations will be shown on the chart display on the dates each even occurs. Only events that occur within the selected chart time period will be displayed.
Historical Quotes and Headlines: Mouse over the main chart display to update the price and volume information immediately above the chart. Click any point along the chart line using the hand icon to display up to ten historical news headlines and a closing quote for the selected date. Clicking a news headline will display the full news story in a child window.
A/D Line: The Advance/Decline (A/D) Line is used to indicate market breadth. It represents a cumulative total of the number of stocks advancing (increasing in value), less the number of stocks declining (decreasing in value). When the A/D Line rises it means that more stocks are rising than declining (and vice versa). The steeper the A/D line, the stronger the bull market (rising line) or bear market (falling line).
A/D Line (Breadth): The Breadth Advance/Decline (A/D) Indicator is the number of advancing issues (stocks that have increased in value) divided by the total number of both advancing and declining issues. Readings above 0.5 are sometimes considered "bullish," while readings below 0.5 are sometimes considered "bearish."
A/D Line (Daily): The non-cumulative Advance/Decline (A/D) Daily Line is calculated by subtracting the number of declining issues (stocks that have decreased in value) from the number of advancing issues (stocks that have increased in value). That number is divided by the total number of issues traded. Generally, values above 0.25 are considered "bullish," while values below -0.25 are considered "bearish."
Arms Index (TRIN): The Arms Index (developed by Richard Arms) shows the relationship between stocks that are advancing (increasing) or declining (decreasing) in price, and their trading volumes. It is calculated by dividing the Advance/Decline Ratio by the Up/Down Ratio. The indicator is intended to show whether volume is flowing into advancing or declining stocks and by what magnitude. A ratio of 1 suggests the market is in balance. A ratio greater than 1 suggests that more volume is moving into declining stocks. A ratio of less than 1 suggests that more volume is moving into advancing stocks.
Bollinger Bands: Bollinger Bands are a charting technique in which lines are drawn two standard deviation levels above and below a moving average (trading bands). Because standard deviation measures volatility, the bands widen during volatile markets and contract during calmer periods. According to this technique, the closer a stock price moves to the upper band, the more overbought the stock (which may therefore be prone to a downward correction). The closer the prices move to the lower band, the more oversold the stock (which may therefore be prone to a corrective price increase).
DMI: The Directional Movement Indicator helps provide an indication of how strong the trend (up or down) is for a stock. The scale of the DMI is 0-100.
Fast Stochastic: Compares where a security's price closed relative to its price range over a given time period - the implication being that in an upward-trending market, prices tend to close near their high, and during a downward-trending market, prices tend to close near their low.
Frequency: An Intraday Chart is displayed by default. You may select a different frequency by making a selection from the Frequency menu. In order for the chart information to be properly displayed, the selected frequency should not be larger than the selected time frame. For example, a 6-month chart cannot be displayed with a yearly frequency.
Lower Indicator: The first lower indicator can be found below the main chart, and displays Volume as a default. The time period and frequency for the lower indicator display is the same as for the main chart. You may select up to two additional lower indicators, which will display below the first lower indicator.
MACD: Moving Average Convergence/Divergence
MA Envelopes: A Moving Average shows the average value of a security's price over a period of time. The value is calculated by totaling all the previous closing prices over a time period and dividing them by the number of bars in that time period. The Moving Average Envelopes indicator references the following fixed parameters: SMA: 9 Bars and Deviance: 2%
Momentum: The perceived strength behind the movement of the price of a stock.
Money Flow: Change in share price multiplied by trading volume. Money flow is positive when a stock rises and negative when it declines.
Moving Average: The default setting for Moving Average is "None." You may display a moving average by making a selection from the Moving Average menu and entering the number of days (bars to display) in the adjacent text field.
OBV: The On-Balance Volume momentum indicator relates volume to price change. OBV is a running total of volume calculated by adding the day's volume to a cumulative total when the security's price closes up - and subtracting the day's volume when the price closes down. It attempts to detect when stock is being purchased by a large number of buyers, or sold by many sellers.
Parabolic SAR: The Parabolic Time/Price System developed by Welles Wilder is used to set price stops and it is usually referred to as the stop-and-reversal (SAR) indicator.
P/E Ranges: The price to earnings (P/E) ratio ranges display the range of the stock's P/E ratio over a specified time period.
P/E Ratio: Price/Earnings Ratio (P/E) is the market cap of a stock divided by the company's after-tax earnings over a 12-month period. Companies with negative earnings do not have a P/E ratio.
Actual P/E is calculated using a stock's current price divided by the last year's stated earnings
Estimated P/E is calculated using a stock's current price divided by the estimated earnings for the current or future year
% Compare: The % Compare Indicator shows the relative performance of symbols vs. the primary symbol you are researching. If you entered Stock XYZ in the first Symbol field, then added symbol WXY in the Compare to Symbol field, the % Compare Indicator will display XYZ as a flat line. Results for WXY will be plotted relative to XYZ so that if WXY's line falls below that of XYZ, the stock WXY is underperforming XYZ.
% Short Interest: % Short Interest is updated monthly and is only available on NYSE-listed stocks. A stock's % short interest is determined by dividing the number of shares sold short (as reported by the NYSE exchange) by the number of shares outstanding multiplied by 100.
Price Channel: Price Channel is a trend-following model. Its logic suggests: Buy when the weekly closing price moves up to a new 20-period high; sell and sell short when the weekly closing price moves down to a new 20-period low. In other words, when the price moves out if its n-period range, go in the direction of this new trend.
Price Display: Closing price information is displayed by default. You may choose one of the following price displays from the Price Display chart:
Close: Price at market close for each trading day is displayed.
High/Low/Close: High price, low price, and closing price for each trading day is displayed.
Open/High/Low/Close: Opening price, high price, low price, and closing price for each trading day is displayed.
All price types (except logarithmic) are charted using a linear display. Linear charts display absolute change in price.
ROC: Return on Capital is a measure of how effectively a company uses money it invests in its operations.
Rolling Dividend: Rolling Dividend plots a stock's rolling 52-week dividend as dollars per share. It reflects when a company raises or lowers the dividends it pays its shareholders.
Rolling EPS: The Rolling Earnings Per Share indicates the stock's 12-month rolling earnings over a specified time period.
RSI: Relative Strength Index measures the size of gains over a given time period against the size of losses over the same period. The RSI ranges from 0 to 100. If a stock reaches the 70 level, some analysts feel it could potentially be overbought (overpriced). Likewise, an RSI of approximately 30 or lower suggests the stock may be oversold (under priced).
Slow Stochastic: Slow Stochastic compares a security's closing price relative to its price range over a given time period.
Time Period: A 1-year historical chart is displayed by default. You may select a different time frame by making a selection from the Time Period menu. If you select a time frame that is longer than the amount of time for which there is data available for symbol, all data that is available will be displayed.
True Range: High and low share price during a particular time period.
Ultimate Oscillator: Indicator that fluctuates up and down in a wavelike fashion within a price range. The scale of the ultimate oscillator is 0 - 100. Similar to the RSI, levels below 30 are considered by some to be potentially oversold (under priced), and levels above 70 to be overbought (overpriced).
Up/Down Ratio: The Upside/Downside Ratio shows the relationship between the volume of advancing issues (stocks that have increased in value) and the volume of declining issues (stocks that have declined in value). The upside volume is the total volume of all stocks that closed up in price, while downside volume is the total volume of all stocks that closed down in price. An upside/downside ratio in excess of 9 may signal an advancing market.
Upper Indicators: Upper Indicators are the technical indicators that can be displayed on the main chart only. (The default setting is none.)
Volatility: Volatility is the percentage price change over a given time period. It can also be defined as the widening of the range between the high and low prices.
Volume: The total number of a company's shares traded in a given period. Volume is reported daily by the exchanges - both for individual securities trading on that exchange and for the total amount of trading executed on the exchange.
Volume Accumulation: The Volume Accumulation indicator is a modification of the On Balance Volume (OBV) indicator. Movement above the zero line measures buying pressure, while movement below the zero line measures selling pressure
Volume by Price: The Volume By Price indicator shows the level of trading volume relative to stock price of a security.
Williams %R: Williams %R is a momentum indicator that attempts to demonstrate whether shares of a stock are overbought (bearish) and oversold (bullish). The range for this indicator is 0 - 100.
Yield: Annual rate of return on an investment in a particular security.
Events: Splits, earnings releases and dividend declarations will be shown on the chart display on the dates each even occurs. Only events that occur within the selected chart time period will be displayed.
Historical Quotes and Headlines: Mouse over the main chart display to update the price and volume information immediately above the chart. Click any point along the chart line using the hand icon to display up to ten historical news headlines and a closing quote for the selected date. Clicking a news headline will display the full news story in a child window.
