Bar Chart

Bar charts provide a visual representation of the price activity in a financial instrument over a given period of time. On a daily bar chart, for example, a vertical bar connects the highest price reached by the financial instrument on a given day and the lowest. Small lines on either side of the vertical bar serve to mark the opening and closing prices. The opening price is marked by a small tick to the left of the bar; the closing price is shown by a similar tick to the right of the bar. Although daily bar charts are best known, bar charts can be created for any time period - weekly and monthly, for example. Many investors work with bar charts created over a matter of minutes during a day's trading.