StockCharts Blogs - MailBag

How Can I Compare Performance using Intraday Charts?

Performance charts can be created with SharpCharts using “Performance” as the chart type and “Price Performance” as an indicator. For the first steps, enter a symbol, select the periods and then choose “Performance” under chart attributes/type. In the example below, I entered SPY and it will show in the main window. Second, go to “Chart Attributes” and choose the intraday period of choice, the date “Range” and the “Type”. In this example, I choose a 30 minute line chart that shows the year-to-date performance, which is the percentage change since December 31st.


Click this image for a live chart.

The remaining securities can be entered as indicators by choosing “Price Performance” and positioning them “Behind Price”, which is behind the SPY plot. I changed the “Style” to solid and the “Color” to differentiate the lines for each plot. Notice that the Gold SPDR (GLD) is the top performer year-to-date. Stocks are also doing well as SPY is up over 5% year-to-date. The rest of the intermarket ETFs are down for the year. 

How can I plot the yield curve?

The yield curve is available at StockCharts.com with the Dynamic Yield Curve tool. This nifty Java application not only shows the current yield curve, but it can also be animated to show changes in the yield curve over time. Notice the options just below the yield curve plot. Click “animate” to see the yield curve change over time.


Click this image for a live chart.

The chart on the right shows the S&P 500 over the last eight years. The vertical red bar shows the current position (date). Users can click on the S&P 500 line chart to move the red line (date) and see the yield curve at a specific point in time. Hint: click in the middle of 2006 to see a flat yield curve.

Click this image for a live chart.

How can I narrow the focus when searching StockCharts.com?

Users can search StockCharts.com for any word or symbol and then narrow their focus to a specific area of the website. There is a search box on the right side of most web pages at StockCharts. When working on a chart, users can search the site by using the dropdown list in the “create a new chart” box at the top of the page. Choose “site search” and then enter the search term.



Users can search for references to a particular symbol, company name, ETF name, chart pattern, indicator or support issue. The example below shows some results when searching the term “energy”. By default, everything with the term “energy” appears in the results. Users can further focus their search by clicking the various headings at the top. Each heading also comes with an associated icon. For example, the “CS” icon refers to the ChartSchool and the “MM” icon refers to the Market Message, which is premium content ($).

Click this image to start a search.

Where can I find most actives, percent up/down and biggest SCTR movers?

The bottom half of the home page features six windows with an array of top ten lists. The top three windows show the most active and biggest movers for the NYSE, Nasdaq and Toronto Stock Exchange. The bottom three windows show securities with the highest and lowest SCTR as well as those with the biggest changes in their SCTR (StockChart Technical Rank). The image below shows four of the six windows available.


Click this image to see the home page.

These lists are full of hyperlinks for easy access to various charts. First, users can click the tabs at the top to see the different top ten lists. Second, users can click the “PerfChart” link to see all ten as a performance chart or the “CandleGlance” link to see all ten as 40-day candlestick charts. Third, each symbol is linked and users can simply click on the symbol to see a chart. Fourth, users can choose to see a SharpChart, P&F Chart or Gallery chart. Click here to read more about the StockCharts Technical Rank. 

How Can I Chart Relative Performance?

StockCharts.com users can chart relative performance using ratio charts. In the symbol box, enter the first symbol, a colon and the second symbol (e.g. QQQ:SPY). The ensuing price plot shows the performance of the first symbol (QQQ) relative to the second symbol (SPY). QQQ is outperforming SPY when the ratio rises and underperforming SPY when the ratio falls. The chart below shows the QQQ:SPY ratio in the main window and the middle indicator window. As with any price plot, chartists can draw trendlines and mark support or resistance levels. It is even possible to apply an indicator, such as RSI, to this ratio plot.


Click this image for a live chart.

The Price Relative, as this ratio plot is referred, is often used to find securities that are outperforming. Think of the second symbol as a benchmark of sorts. Chartists can compare the performance of a stock against the broader market (IBM:SPY), a sector against the broader market (XLK:SPY) or a stock against its sector (AAPL:XLK). Chartists can also compare two stocks, such as Apple against Google (AAPL:GOOG). Want to know who is winning war? Check out a ratio chart.

Where can I Find Hot Stocks, ETFs and More?

StockCharts.com tracks chart requests with the Ticker Cloud and Ticker Rain tools. The first example below shows the Ticker Cloud with the 200 most popular tickers. Each ticker is a hyperlink that can be clicked to see the chart. A simple left click opens the chart in the same window, while a click of the mouse wheel opens the chart in a new tab. Tickers with the biggest letters are the most popular. This snapshot was taken at 7:29 AM ET, which tells us the hot stocks before the open. Apple (AAPL), Seagate Technology (STX), Societe Generale SA (GLE.EU) and Renault (RNO.EU) are currently hot. Societe Generale SA is a big French bank and Renault is a French car manufacturer.


Click this image for a live Ticker Cloud

Ticket Rain is an animated tracker that shows chart requests as they hit our servers. Vertical bars appear as the requests mount and tickers with the tallest bars have the most requests. The Dow Industrials ($INDU) and the German DAX Index ($DAX) are often near the top of the list. Hover over the vertical bars to see a specific symbol or move the mouse just under the X axis to see 2-3 at a time.


Click this image to view Ticker Rain live.

How can I find stocks with big changes in their StockCharts Technical Rank (SCTR)?

The StockCharts Technical Rank (SCTR) pages can be sorted by column, of which there are seven. Chartists can sort by “name” to quickly find a stock. Sort can be by “sector” or “industry” to group stocks. Chartists can find the strongest or weakest stocks by sorting with the “SCTR” column. Those interested in the closing price of a stock can sort by “price”. The final column, “change”, is perhaps the most powerful. A sort by this column shows the stocks with the biggest changes, both up and down, in the SCTR. These are the movers and shakers on the day. The image below shows part of the S&P 500 SCTR table sorted by change with the biggest gainers at the top.


Click this image for a live chart.

Want to see a chart for an individual stock? The “name” column contains the stock name with a link. There are three ways to open this chart. First, users can click the left mouse button (normal click) to open the chart in the same window. You can return to the table by using the back arrow on your browser or clicking the right mouse button. Second, click the link using the mouse wheel to open in a new tab. This makes it possible to open several charts in several tabs. Third, users can click the right mouse button for options to open in a new window or a new tab. You can read more on the StockCharts Technical Rank (SCTR) in our ChartSchool. 

What does the MACD-Histogram Measure?

The MACD-Histogram measures the difference between MACD and the 9-day EMA of MACD. This makes it an indicator of an indicator. MACD is a basic momentum indicator that measures the difference between two moving averages. Typically, MACD equals the 12-day EMA less the 26-day EMA. MACD turns positive when the 12-day EMA crosses above the 26-day EMA and turns negative when the 12-day crosses below the 26-day EMA. A 9-day EMA is applied to MACD to act as the signal line for upturns and downturns. MACD is moving higher when it breaks above its 9-day EMA and moving lower when it breaks below its 9-day EMA. The chart below shows the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) with the two exponential moving averages in the main window and MACD in the indicator window.


Click this image for a live chart.

As a moving average based indicator, positive/negative crossovers in MACD can lag turns in the underlying security. MACD-Histogram was created to speed up MACD. The MACD-Histogram measures the difference between MACD and its 9-day EMA. The histogram is positive when MACD is above its signal line and negative when MACD is below its signal line. Basically, MACD measures momentum, while the MACD-Histogram measures the momentum of momentum, which can be thought of as acceleration. The red arrows show the MACD-Histogram moving closer to the zero line, which means MACD is moving closer to its signal line. These moves can be used to anticipate a signal line crossover. The green arrows show MACD-Histogram moving away from the zero line, which means MACD is moving further from its signal line. These moves show that directional momentum is strengthening. You can read more on MACD in our ChartSchool article.


Click this image for a live chart.

What is an island reversal?

An island reversal forms with a gap, consolidation and then a gap in the opposite direction. The opposing gaps form an area without any price data that isolates the consolidation. In this regard, the consolidation becomes an island that is separated form the rest of the price action. There is some debate on the length of the consolidation and the form its should take. It can be a little as one day or as long as two weeks. The important thing is that both gaps create an island.


Click this image for a live chart.

The first chart shows the XLK with a bearish island reversal in late October and a bullish island reversal in early December. The bearish island reversal did not workout, while the bullish island reversal is holding so far. Notice how XLK gapped down below 25 on November 21st, consolidated and then gapped above 25 on November 30th. These opposing gaps created an area without any trades to isolate the consolidation.


Click this image for a live chart.

The second chart shows E*Trade (ETFC) with a bearish island reversal in late October. The stock gapped above 10.75, stalled for three days and then gapped below 10.75 on November 1st. There was a throwback to the gap with a rising wedge and the stock broke wedge support with another gap.

How can I follow European interest rates at StockCharts.com?

European interest rates can be tracked the Italian Treasury Bond Futures ETN (ITLY) and the German Bund Futures ETN (BUNL). Note that interest rates and bond prices move in opposite directions. Interest rates rise when bond prices fall and interest rates fall when bond prices rise. With this inverse correlation, we can determine the direction for interest rates in Italy and Germany.

The first chart shows the Italian Treasury Bond Futures ETN (ITLY) with the Italian Milan Index ($MIB) in the indicator window. ITLY fell sharply from mid August to late November. This infers a sharp rise in interest rates on Italian Treasuries. ITLY surged this week, which mean the interest rate fell.


Click this image for a live chart.

The second chart shows the German Bund Futures ETN (BUNL) with the German DAX Index ($DAX). BUNL rose from April to September and German interest rates fell. The bund flattened from September to November, which means interest rates moved sideways. A break below the October low would signal an upside breakout in German interest rates.


Click this image for a live chart.