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How can I Create Performance and Relative Performance SharpCharts?

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Chartists can quickly and easily create performance charts by entering up to six comma-separated symbols in any symbol entry box. There is a symbol entry box at the top of every webpage and above every SharpChart. The chart below shows one-year performance for six symbols over the past year. Note that QQQ is up around 26% and RSP is up around 20%. DIA is up only 11.38% and the laggard of the group.


Click this image for a live chart

Chartists can also create a relative performance chart with just two mouse clicks. First, click the check box at the top to "use the first symbol as the baseline". Second, click the update button to refresh the chart. Users can also change the date range by using the drop down menu just under the SharpChart. 


Click this image for a live chart

The example above shows year-to-date relative perforance for five major index ETFs. Each plot represents the performance of a ratio chart (e.g. DIA:SPY, IWM:SPY, MDY:SPY, QQQ:SPY, RSP:SPY). Year-to-date, the Equal-Weight S&P 500 ETF (RSP) is the strongest of the five and the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) is the weakest. I am not including SPY because it is used as the benchmark. 

Arthur Hill
About the author: , CMT, is a Senior Technical Analyst at StockCharts.com. He has written articles for numerous financial publications including Barrons and Stocks & Commodities magazine. Focusing predominantly on US equities and ETFs, his systematic approach of identifying trend, finding signals within the trend, and setting key price levels has made him an esteemed technician. In addition to his CMT designation, Arthur holds an MBA from the Cass Business School at City University in London. Learn More
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On the Relative Performance Chart (Ratios) above, we are taught that the slope of the ratio (price relative) is important - not the end value. However, on this chart, the end value is supposed to be important. Since the plot is a ratio chart, does the end value mean something now? If I plot a ratio on a price performance chart, does the end result like 1.1% mean it is outperforming by 1.1%?

Posted by: Kevin P June 17, 2014 at 22:07 PM

This is not a ratio plot. It shows one indicator up and the other down using the "Price Up/Down Pair" indicator. You are correct about a ratio plot or price relative. The direction of the line is most important because it tells us if a security is outperforming another or underperforming.

Posted by: Arthur Hill June 18, 2014 at 10:34 AM

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