Welcome to our first "Getting Started" article. In this introduction to the series, we'll give you an overview of the site and take a look at some key terms that you'll want to learn to maximize your use of StockCharts.
The blue navigation bar at the top of every page will be your guide around the StockCharts site. From here, you can create a chart, log in and out of your account, navigate to our main sections of the site and run a search for anything on StockCharts.
When you're logged in, you'll see your name in the top right corner of the page. Click your name to see the member menu with quick links to some of our members-only features, including your ChartLists, scans and alerts.
The heart and soul of your StockCharts account. It's the first page you see when you log in, and features a customizable layout that can be tailored to fit the way you watch the markets. Plus, access your ChartLists, custom scans, alerts and more.
When you first log in, you'll be directed over to Your Dashboard. Use the Member Tools menu in the top left to navigate between many of our most popular features. You can also scroll down to see your scans, alerts and ChartLists.
The Charts & Tools page allows you to quickly launch any of our charting tools using a ticker symbol (or symbols) of your choice. It also contains links to most of our other tools and educational content - it's one-stop shopping for all the great investing resources we offer on our website.
The stock market has its own unique language that you need to learn before you start investing. For example, if you don't know the difference between a market order and a limit order, you can get yourself in trouble.
Similarly, we have some important terminology here at StockCharts that you'll want to get to know as a new user. Learning these terms now will help you better navigate the site and can help you take full advantage of our most powerful tools and features.
So to help get you up and running, here are few of the most common terms you'll want to be familiar with:
Our original price charting tool, which allows you to quickly and easily create static financial charts, including classic types like line, candlestick and OHLC bar charts.
Our full-screen, interactive Advanced Charting Platform, featuring a dynamic technical analysis experience with real-time streaming data, dozens of indicators and overlays, powerful multi-chart layouts, exclusive plug-ins and much more.
A full quote summary page for stocks, ETFs, Mutual Funds, indexes, and cryptocurrencies, including technical stats, fundamentals, earnings, dividends, corporate info and more. From a single page, you can see the latest price info, view a chart in multiple timeframes, browse high-level summary stats, fundamentals and popular technicals, get earnings dates and dividend info, visualize the symbol's latest SCTR info, read full company or fund descriptions, and much more.
Think of ChartLists like online folders where you can store your saved charts in your account. ChartLists allow you to save your important charts and organize them by topic or purpose. For example, you can create a ChartList of major indexes for quickly assessing the market, one for your current portfolio, and one for possible investment opportunities you're watching.
When you customize the settings of any SharpChart, you can save those unique settings as a new "ChartStyle". When you want to re-create that chart again in the future, it's just one click away – simply select the saved ChartStyle. The type, period, duration, indicators, overlays and other settings will return.
Scans are our version of a stock screener; our technical scans search our entire database of tens of thousands of ticker symbols, returning only those that meet your exact technical criteria. Quickly find investment opportunities using our predefined scans (screening for popular technical criteria), or make your own custom scans based on your investing preferences.
From simple price alerts to more complex technical searches, our custom technical alerts helps you stay on top of key market moves. When a stock starts to meet your technical criteria, we make you aware via email, text, or site banner notifications on StockCharts.
Our CandleGlance view displays mini-charts side by side for a number of different ticker symbols, allowing you to review a larger group of securities in a single glance. You can use our predefined CandleGlance groups of symbols, or create your own custom CandleGlance of up to 12 ticker symbols.
GalleryView is a one-page, multi-chart summary of the short-, medium-, and long-term view of any security. This view is useful for in-depth analysis of a single ticker symbols' performance and potential for all types of traders.
The StockCharts Technical Rank (SCTR) is a numerical score from 0 to 100 that ranks a stock or ETF within a larger universe of related securities. Values are calculated based on six key indicators, covering different timeframes. Because the calculation is not tethered to one specific timeframe, a stock or fund must score well with all indicators in all timeframes to earn a top technical rank.
With that quick intro out of the way, the next step is to get you charting like a wizard with the SharpCharts workbench and saving those custom charts as new "ChartStyles".
Happy Charting!
Learn how to customize charts with your favorite indicators and then save those chart settings for future use