The Best Stock Charts

4 minutes read time

Ever get lost on a road trip because you thought you didn't need a map? Well "here's something, here's something", a map for the stock market!

What exactly does a map in the stock market look like? It's a (price) chart with the factual record of all buys and sells. It displays the road the market or security has taken and, when used appropriately, great insights on where it is most likely going next.

There are hundreds of websites providing free and premium services but in our experience there is one that stands out. Stockcharts.com wins the Cup! Other websites charts just don't have the clarity.

To get started with stockcharts.com make some modifications to their default chart settings. Once you have the settings established reload (by clicking permalink just under the chart) and reload with link. Then bookmark the saved settings so it is available permanently on your device. Use the settings set up step by step shown below.

Stockcharts settings

Go to stockcharts.com:

First, you do not have to pay for a subscription. Click on charts & tools in the main menu. Now alter chart settings for a more user friendly experience.

Enter a market average symbol in the stockcharts home page. Try the Nasdaq as it is the most representative equity market average, but you decide. The symbol is $compq. Click go. (For the Canadian market use $tsx and for all TSX listed stocks add .to at the end of the symbol.)

Click Go.

Under the chart make the following modifications.

1. Scroll down to Indicators and click Clear All - Ok.

2. Under Overlays click Clear All - Ok.

One more step. Scroll down under the chart again to the first section called Chart Attributes. Here are the changes to make. For each parameter open it by clicking on the arrow.

Type - HLC bars

Volume - Separate

Color scheme - Murphy. The page will reload after you set the color scheme).

Save it!

Stockcharts.com has changed how this is done. Now you open the "Select a ChartStyle".Save it.

This sets you up easily for efficient review.

Now you are set up to master the markets. The Crave Investor research screens build lists of the most likely higher performing higher quality stocks and market E.T.F.s with real time relevant developments and knowledge building.

Available to subscribers and on special request.

Bookmark it in your browser. In chrome, the star is in the URL (website address bar) to the right.

More investor info.

Wild stock market action on earnings shouldn't happen!

Tech company Nvidia NVDA surged over 15% February 22nd 2024 following the release of earnings. NVDA received a lot of attention for its stock market achievements but it wasn't alone. Wild price swings on earnings was a daily event through earnings season, some with big gains others with huge losses. On Feb. 29th OKTA, BYND, AI, CELH, PSTG and MEG all bolted higher by as much as 20%. Others weren't so fortunate as their stock prices saw massive losses on heavy selling by mutual and pension fund managers.

It's great news for accounts holding big winners but what about the extreme earnings casualties?

Random unpredictable action is an issue with navigating the stock market. While NVDA surged on earnings another tech industry leading stock Pan Alto Networks PANW plunged 28%. For those that recognize technical signals in the stock market it was just a few days earlier tech stocks, as a group, triggered sell signals. So how would you have known to hold NVDA but sell PANW?

After the internet bubble of the late 90's burst security regulators charged several organizations and individuals with criminal charges under existing security laws. Martha Stewart was one of them, eventually spending four months in jail. In the early 2000's a number of new laws were set in motion effectively blocking leaks on earnings between public earnings release dates. That seemed like good news at the time, but was it?

The underlying premise of public markets security legislation is transparency and disclosure. But ask yourself this question how do the laws serve the public when mutual fund and pension fund managers move stocks by extreme amounts immediately following earnings results and less so the rest of the time? How does the average person know where to position capital with the obvious unpredictable uncertainty that shows up every three months? 

This shouldn't happen!

The truth is it would be easier to recognize trends and make more timely buy and sell investment decisions if the stock price moved more gradually day after day based on what is being learned by all investors. Early birds would be rewarded!

The intent of security legislation in the public markets is to provide transparency and disclosure but the process isn't efficient. Private company investors can potentially know more about the company they invest in by doing their homework and getting the relevant information whenever they want it, but not in the stock market.

The earnings season is an investment environment that is far too speculative for intelligent successful investing. The crypto markets don't suffer the same fate.

Time the stock market: ignore the herd!

When a stock market up trend finally comes to an end it tends to fool just about everybody. But there are certain signs that may tip you off and reward you for being on top of it.

Contrarian indicators are indicators that point to the timing of a trend change when the general viewpoint is in opposition. Some of these work at market peaks and others work well when the stock market bottoms out.

The stock market is a strange thing for investor psychology and it's not just the general mindset of the market. It's also about how we as investment portfolio engineers handle it. See the following so you may build useful knowledge of how the stock market works.

Related: How to beat the markets.

Put-call ratio

The options market is notorious for demonstrating investor exuberance and, at the other extreme, fear. The put-call ratio for equities tends to spike sharply higher right near the low of large dramatic stock market declines. It shows how investors have loaded on put options in an attempt to hedge portfolios or attempt to profit from the market's decline. When fear takes over the number of puts purchased overwhelms call buys.

Historically the put-call ratio needs to be above 1.0 before selling in the market comes to an end. In the last several years this ratio has been 1.2 at its extremes. During the Covid 19 bear market the put-call jumped to 1.30.

Long term put-call performance

Stocks trading above moving average(s)

If you track the number of stocks above moving averages stat. you'll see how extremes on the upside coincide with market peaks. It works reasonably well at market lows too although only at the most extreme bear market declines.

While the swings may appear short term, many market consolidations are normal over the course of a longer term up trend. Day traders might be able to use this measure but for the average investor and fund manager watch this isn't over used.

Stocks above the 200 day moving average

Preferred Shares

You wouldn't think preferred shares would tell us anything but this area of the stock market was profoundly useful during the credit crisis. In fact preferred shares were the first detectable part of the market turn down and it was long before the stock market went into its historic nose dive.

CPD on the TSX (Canadian market) is an E.T.F. that may be used to detect a break down in conditions that can trigger a stock market decline. While its usefulness will likely diminish over time it can be added into the arsenal of contrarian indicator analysis.

Baltic Freight Index

The Baltic Freight index isn't going to be ranked as one of the better contrarian indicators but it can provide more evidence to identifying a down trend in the stock market.

How to time the market with sentiment indicators

A review of these sentiment indicators can be useful especially when the stock market has been trending higher for a while. They don't necessarily require daily review but when the market is approaching an extreme your awareness can pay off nicely.