A picture is worth a thousand words...and this is true of any chart.
This is the most basic chart. Take the following chart of SESAGOA. A simple look reveals that the stock has been in an uptrend and has minor corrections from time to time.
Line charts are plotted using the "closing" price of the stock.
The red line represents the 50 day moving average (DMA). More on this later.
Bar charts provide more information than line charts as one can see the open, high and low for the day (apart from the close).
The red bar means stock closed lower relative to the previous close. The blue bar means stock closed higher relative to the previous close. The "tick" on the left side is the open and the tick on the right side is the close.
Candle sticks (a 300 year old Japanese technique) give the same information as a bar but are visually more easy to read.
Red candles means stock closed lower relative to the previous close. Blue candles means stock closed higher relative to the previous close.
Learn more about candle sticks and patterns
