TA: Chart (图表)

很多人都觉得TA就完全相等于看图表的，哈哈。所以了解图表自然是基本功之一了。

定义(Definition)

Chart: a graphical representation of a series of prices over a set time frame.
(很简单而且笼统的定义吧？哈哈，其实真是如此，股市图表跟其他图表在基本性质上没什么不同的。)

Figure above provides an example of a basic chart. It is a representation of the price movements of a stock over a 1.5 year period. The bottom of the graph, running horizontally (x-axis，即x-轴), is the date or time scale. On the right hand side, running vertically (y-axis，即y-轴), the price of the security is shown.

图表的性质(Properties of chart)

1. Time scale
Time scale就是x-axis, which can vary from decades to seconds. The most frequently used time scales are intraday, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually. The shorter the time frame, the more detailed the chart. Each data point can represent the closing price of the period or show the open, the high, the low and the close depending on the chart used.

Intraday charts: price movement of one day. Therefore, time scale could be as short as five minutes or could cover the whole trading day from the opening bell to the closing bell. (Intraday chart是当天的价格的图表，x-axis的scale可以是5分钟，或者一整天。)

Daily charts: a series of price movements in which each price point on the chart is a full day's trading condensed into one point. Each point on the graph can be simply the closing price or can entail the open, high, low and close for the stock over the day. These data points are spread out over weekly, monthly and even yearly time scales to monitor both short-term and intermediate trends in price movement. (Daily chart里的每个point都是一天的数据的代表，可以是当天最高、最低、开市或者闭市的价格。)

Weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly charts are used to analyze longer term trends in the movement of a stock's price. Each data point in these graphs will be a condensed version of what happened over the specified period. So for a weekly chart, each data point will be a representation of the price movement of the week. For example, if you are looking at a chart of weekly data spread over a five-year period and each data point is the closing price for the week, the price that is plotted will be the closing price on the last trading day of the week, which is usually a Friday. (举例一个weekly chart of 5 years，每个point就是5年里每个星期的价格总结。)

2. Price scale

Price scale就是y-axis。
A scale can either be constructed in a linear (arithmetic) or logarithmic way, and both of these options are available on most charting services.

If a price scale is constructed using a linear scale, the space between each price point (10, 20, 30, 40) is separated by an equal amount. A price move from 10 to 20 on a linear scale is the same distance on the chart as a move from 40 to 50. In other words, the price scale measures moves in absolute terms and does not show the effects of percent change.

If a price scale is in logarithmic terms, then the distance between points will be equal in terms of percent change. A price change from 10 to 20 is a 100% increase in the price while a move from 40 to 50 is only a 25% change, even though they are represented by the same distance on a linear scale. On a logarithmic scale, the distance of the 100% price change from 10 to 20 will not be the same as the 25% change from 40 to 50. In this case, the move from 10 to 20 is represented by a larger space one the chart, while the move from 40 to 50, is represented by a smaller space because, percentage-wise, it indicates a smaller move.

The logarithmic price scale on the right leaves the same amount of space between 10 and 20 as it does between 20 and 40 because these both represent 100% increases.

总结

了解了图表的基本性质之后，就可以来看，股市之中，到底有哪些基本图表了~



Venus

ps: Content and pictures in this article are excerpted from Investopedia.