The Importance of Forex Charts

An Understanding Of Forex Charts Is Essential To The Successful Trader

by Don Saunders

Although fundamental analysis formed the basis of trading decisions for many years, today most traders rely far more heavily on technical analysis and this means that they must also have the ability to read Forex charts.

There are several different price charts available to traders but they all essentially convey information about Forex prices for a specific time period which can range from just a matter of minutes to many years. Charts can be plotted in different formats ranging from simple line charts to more complex candlestick charts, plotting price variations for particular time intervals.

Most traders will be familiar with line charts as this is a very common format for plotting a range of financial data and most of us have grown up with line graphs. Here closing prices are normally plotted for a particular time period and such charts give a very clear and easy to read picture of movements in prices over that time period.

Bar charts are generally more difficult to read, but have the advantage of being able to convey much more information. For example, the length of a bar can indicate the price spread for a given period of time, so that the longer the bar the greater the difference between the high and low price. Bars can also be annotated to show the opening price on the left of the bar and the closing price to the right, enabling you to see at a glance whether the price has risen or fallen. One disadvantage with many bar charts is that they often put so much information onto a chart that it can be difficult to read, although modern software enables you to adjust a chart to focus in on the specific information you require.

A very popular charting technique today is known as candlestick charting, which was originally invented by the Japanese for analyzing rice contracts and is essentially a color coded variation of standard bar charting, with red candlestick bars indicating falling prices and green candlestick bars representing rising prices.

Reading candlestick charts takes a bit of getting used to but the various candlestick shapes when viewed in relation to neighboring shapes form a number of classical patterns. Nor surprisingly, many of the patterns have acquired names over the years and these include such delights as ‘Dark Cloud Cover’ and ‘Morning Star’. Although it takes a bit of time to master the art of reading candlestick charts, once you become familiar with the different patterns it is fairly easy to see just what is happening in the market and to pick out particular market trends.

Of course charts by themselves, while extremely helpful, do not tell the whole picture and so it is necessary to supplement the information provided by the various different charts with a combination of different technical indicators such as relative strength indicators (RSI), Bollinger bands, average directional movement (ADM) to name just three. Nevertheless, there are fewer and fewer traders today who do not rely to a very large degree on charting for their trading decisions.

LearningForexTradingOnline.com is the ideal place to learn Forex trading and covers everything from the history of the Forex market to understanding Forex charting

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Disclaimer(s) – Trading and investing involves a high degree of financial risk. There is risk of significant financial loss when investing and trading in stocks, futures, options, mutual funds, indices, index options, and other types of financial instruments including but not limited to foreign exchange (Forex) and currency trading. Investing and trading has large potential rewards, but also large potential risks. You must be aware of the risks and be willing to accept them in order to invest or trade in any financial markets. Don’t trade or invest with money you can’t afford to lose. Use risk capital only. Nothing on this website is either a solicitation nor an offer to Buy or Sell stocks, securities, futures, options, indices, mutual funds or any other types of financial instruments. No representations or implications are being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those shown. Past performances either actual or hypothetical of any trading system or methodology are not necessarily indicative of future results. The bottom line is that there are no guarantees in trading and investing – it involves financial risk. Leveraged instruments such as futures contracts and selling naked options, and other strategies and financial instruments may involve even a higher degree of financial risk than initially anticipated. Consult with your broker or a professional financial advisor before you invest or trade. Invest and trade at your own risk. You are solely responsible for your investing and trading decisions.

CFTC RULE 4.41 – HYPOTHETICAL OR SIMULATED PERFORMANCE RESULTS HAVE CERTAIN LIMITATIONS. UNLIKE AN ACTUAL PERFORMANCE RECORD, SIMULATED RESULTS DO NOT REPRESENT ACTUAL TRADING. ALSO, SINCE THE TRADES HAVE NOT BEEN EXECUTED, THE RESULTS MAY HAVE UNDER-OR-OVER COMPENSATED FOR THE IMPACT, IF ANY, OF CERTAIN MARKET FACTORS, SUCH AS LACK OF LIQUIDITY. SIMULATED TRADING PROGRAMS IN GENERAL ARE ALSO SUBJECT TO THE FACT THAT THEY ARE DESIGNED WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT. NO REPRESENTATION IS BEING MADE THAT ANY ACCOUNT WILL OR IS LIKELY TO ACHIEVE PROFIT OR LOSSES SIMILAR TO THOSE SHOWN. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT NECESSARILY INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. NO FUTURES OR COMMODITY TRADING SYSTEM CAN GUARANTEE PROFITS. THE RISK OF LOSS EXISTS IN FUTURES TRADING.THE RISK OF FINANCIAL LOSS IS NOT LIMITED TO FUTURES TRADING, BUT ALSO INVOLVES ANY TRADING OR INVESTING IN OTHER FINANCIAL MARKETS SUCH AS STOCKS, STOCK OPTIONS, INDICES, INDEX OPTIONS. KNOW YOUR DEGREE OF RISK BEFORE INVESTING OR TRADING. ULTIMATELY, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY AND ALL OF YOUR FINANCIAL DECISIONS.

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