Line Type:

This setting determines how the historical price data will be plotted for a given chart. The following options are available:

• Line – Line charts display closing price data for the selected time frame as a simple linear plot.
   
• Bar – Bar charts provide more data than line charts. Vector2000 uses OHLC bar charts, which stands for "Open High Low Close". Each bar represents price information for a discrete period of time. For shorter chart ranges, the recommended period (detail) is 1 day. For longer chart ranges the period might be 3 days (for 1-year charts), 1 week (for 2-year charts), or even 1 month (for 5-year charts). The bars also convey important price information. The left tick on each bar indicates the open price for the period. The right tick indicates the closing price for the period. The vertical length of the bar represents the price range for the period.
   
• Candlestick – Candlesticks are similar to bar charts in that they depict the open, high, low, and closing prices. Each candlestick represents one period (day, week, or month) and consists of an upper shadow, a lower shadow, and the body. The upper shadow (appearing as a vertical line at the top part of the candlestick) represents the highest price for the period, while the lower shadow indicates the low point for the period. The candlestick body (the "squarish" section of the candlestick) is solid when the close is less than the open and empty when the close is greater than the open. The top of the body indicates the opening price if the candle is solid or the closing price if the body is empty.

The Accumulation/Distribution Line was developed by Marc Chaikin to assess the cumulative flow of money into and out of a security. He decided to focus on the price action for a given period (day, week, month) and derived a formula to calculate a value based on the location of the close, relative to the range for the period. This is the "Close Location Value" or CLV. The CLV ranges from plus one to minus one with the center point at zero ....

The Aroon indicator system developed by Tushar Chande consists of two lines, 'Aroon(up)' and 'Aroon(down)'. It takes a single parameter which is the number of time periods to use in the calculation. Aroon(up) is the amount of time (on a percentage basis) that has elapsed between the start of the time period and the point at which the highest price during that time period occurred. If the stock closes at a new high for the given period, Aroon(up) will be +100. For each subsequent period that passes without another new high, Aroon(up) moves down by an amount equal to (1 / # of periods) x 100...

The Aroon Oscillator was constructed by subtracting Aroon(down) from Aroon(up). Since Aroon(up) and Aroon(down) oscillate between 0 and +100, the Aroon Oscillator oscillate between -100 and +100 with zero as the center crossover line...

Developed by J. Welles Wilder, the Average Directional Movement Index (ADX) is an indicator for use with the Directional Movement Index and quantifies the strength and direction of a trend. The ADX consists of three components: the plus Directional Indicator (+DI), the minus Directional Indicator (-DI) and the Average Directional Indicator. The ADX is simply a modified moving average of DX ....

Average True Range or ATR is a measurement of volatility. It measures the average of true price ranges over time. The True Range is the greatest distance between today's high to today's low, yesterday's close to today's high, or yesterday's close to today's low. The Average True Range is a moving average of the True Ranges ....

Similar to Moving Average Envelopes, Bollinger Bands are plotted at 2 standard deviations above and below a 20-day exponential moving average. As standard deviation is a measure of volatility, the bands are self-adjusting: widening during volatile markets and contracting during calmer periods ....

Bollinger Band Width is used to measure volatility by placing trading bands around a moving average. These bands are charted two standard deviations away from the average, so as the average changes, the value of two standard deviations also changes. This value comprises the Bollinger Band Width, representing the expanding and contracting of the bands based on recent volatility.

During a period of rising price volatility, the distance between the two bands will widen (BB Width will increase). Conversely, during a period of low market volatility, the distance between the two bands will contract (BB Width will decrease).

There is a tendency for bands to alternate between expansion and contraction. When the bands are unusually far apart, that is often a sign that the current trend may be ending. When the distance between the two bands has narrowed too far, that is often a sign that a market may be about to initiate a new trend ....

There are several Psychological Market Indicators investors use to help them determine when a Market Bottom or Top is nearing. One of the more important ones is the Bullish-Bearish Indicator which shows the % of Bullish and Bearish market components.

Generally when there is a large difference ( >30%) between the % of Bullish and Bearish components there is an excessive amount of Bullishness in the market which usually is indicative of a nearing top, and the reverse would hold true for Bearish - a nearing bottom ....

Developed by Marc Chaikin, the Chaikin Money Flow compares total volume to the closing price and the daily highs and lows to determine how many issues are bought and sold of a particular security. It is based upon the assumption that a bullish stock will have a relatively high close price within its daily range and have increasing volume. However, if a stock consistently closed with a relatively low close price within its daily range with high volume, this would be indicative of a weak security. There is pressure to buy when a stock closes in the upper half of a period's range and there is selling pressure when a stock closes in the lower half of the period's trading range. Of course, the exact number of periods for the indicator should be varied according to the sensitivity sought and the time horizon of individual investor ....

The Chaikin Volatility Indicator is the difference between two moving averages of a volume weighted accumulation-distribution line. By comparing the spread between a security's high and low prices, it quantifies volatility as a widening of the range between the high and the low price ....

The CCI or Commodity Channel Index is a means by which the variation of a security's price is calculated from its statistical mean.

Much like the Average Directional Movement Index, the CCI can help give a valuable measurement of the overall trendiness of a market. The faster the CCI is accelerating, the more strongly the market is trending. While it is perhaps mathematically possible for the CCI to move upward while the market does not, this is unlikely ....

The Detrended Price Oscillator is a tool that smoothes the trend in prices, allowing you to more easily identify cycles and overbought/oversold levels ....

Directional Movement helps determine if a security is "trending." Developed by Welles Wilder and explained in his book, New Concepts in Technical Trading Systems, it can be used either as a system on its own or as a filter on a trend-following system ....

Envelopes represent bands that are plotted in a certain, identical relationship above and below the Moving Average. Envelopes are a very complex theme with many interpretation and trading rules. Basically, envelopes capture a significant part of price movements. Concrete trading signals are released if prices approach or move away form their envelope. Professional plots envelopes around a Moving Average in a constant percentage distance. Hence they are added to or subtracted from this average. Both envelope lines thus define the prevailing trading range ....

The Fibonacci number sequence (1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89,...) is constructed by adding the first two numbers to arrive at the third. The ratio of any number to the next number is 61.8 percent, which is a popular Fibonacci retracement* number. The inverse of 61.8 percent is 38.2 percent, also used as a Fibonacci retracement number. It is the ratio of the Fibonacci sequence that is important and valuable, not the actual numbers in the sequence.

* A decline that retraces a portion of a previous advance, or an advance that retraces a portion of a previous decline, is a retracement. Retracements typically cover 1/3 to 2/3 of the previous move, and a retracement of more than 2/3 typically signals a trend reversal.

A technical indicator used to determine the trend a security is developing and the likely price range that will take place within that trend. The channel is created using a price history chart and consists of an upper line, a middle line, and a lower line. The upper channel line is created by connecting a series of recent high price points in a straight line, the middle line by connecting intermediate highs and lows, and the lower channel line by connecting a series of low price points ....

The MACD (Moving Average Convergence/Divergence) indicator shows the relationship between two moving averages of prices. MACD is derived by dividing one moving average by another. It is based on the point spread difference between two exponential moving averages (EMA) of the closing price.
Some analysts believe that they should sell when the MACD falls below its signal line and to buy when the MACD rises above its signal line ....

The Mass Index was developed by Donald Dorsey to identify trend reversals by using the changes of daily price ranges to identify reversals in trends. As the price ranges narrow, the Mass Index decreases. As the price ranges widen, the Mass Index increases ....

By measuring the amount that a security's price has changed over a given time span, the Momentum indicator provides an indication of a market's velocity and to some degree, a measure of the extent to which a trend still holds true. It can also be helpful in spotting likely reversal points ....

The Money Flow Index is a momentum indicator that measures the strength of money flowing in and out of a security. It is related to the Relative Strength Index, but where the RSI only incorporates prices, the Money Flow Index accounts for volume. The common interpretation of the MFI is similar to the RSI in that readings above 80 imply market tops while readings below 20 imply market bottoms.

MFI can also be used to imply reversals, when prices trend higher and the MFI trends lower (or vice versa), a reversal may be imminent.

Moving averages are among the most popular technical indicators. The traditional interpretation of moving averages focuses on price movement relative to the average itself. Investors are typically "bullish" when the price moves above its moving average and "bearish" when the price falls below its moving average. Moving averages are also very useful in smoothing noisy data. Applying a 200-bar moving average, for example, will give you a clear view of a security's long-term historical trend.

A Daily Moving Average (DMA) is calculated based on daily activity.

A Simple Moving Average (SMA) is calculated by adding the closing prices for the most recent n intervals of time (or "bars") and then dividing by n. For example, a 21-bar moving average references the closing price of a security over the past 21 bars. The indicator sums all 21 closing prices and divides by 21, which produces the average price over the past 21 bars. The SMA gives equal weight to each bar ....

The Exponential Moving Average (EMA) is preferred by some market technicians over the Simple Moving Average (SMA) as they believe more weight should be attributed to more recent price action, which is what the EMA does ....

On Balance Volume (OBV) is a momentum indicator that relates volume to price change. Joseph Granville presented the idea that volume will precede price in his 1963 book, "New Key to Stock Market Profits" ....

The Parabolic Time/Price System is used to set price stops and it is usually referred to as the stop-and-reversal (SAR) indicator.

The Parabolic SAR is designed to allow more leeway or tolerance for contra trend price fluctuation following a new trade, then to progressively tighten a protective trailing stop order as the trend matures. To accomplish this, it employs a series of progressively shorter, exponentially smoothed moving averages each period that price moves to a new extreme in the expected trend direction ....

The Percentage Price Oscillator is an indicator based on the difference between two moving averages, and is expressed as either a percentage or in absolute terms. The number of time periods can vary depending on user preference. For daily data, longer moving averages might be preferred to filter out some of the randomness associated with daily prices. For weekly data, which will have already filtered out some of the randomness, shorter moving averages may be deemed more appropriate. In addition, a moving average of the ensuing plot can be overlaid to act as a trigger line, much like is done with MACD ....

The Percentage Volume Oscillator (PVO) is the percentage difference between two moving averages of volume ....

The Price and Volume Trend (PVT) is similar to On Balance Volume (OBV) in that it is a cumulative total of volume that is adjusted depending on changes in closing prices. But where OBV adds all volume on days when prices close higher and subtracts all volume on days when prices close lower, the PVT adds/subtracts only a portion of the daily volume. The amount of volume added to the PVT is determined by the amount that prices rose or fell relative to the previous day's close ...

The Price Relative compares the performance of one security against that of another. It is often used to compare the performance of a particular stock to a market index, usually the S&P 500 ....

PSY is a Volatility Indicator based on the psychology that investors resist paying more for a stock than others unless the stock continues to move up, and conversely, investors will resist selling a stock for less than the price others have been getting for it unless the price continues to decline. Investors who purchase a stock at the top of a trading range have a strong inclination to wait until the price recovers before they get out ....

The Rate-of-Change (percent) is a very simple yet effective momentum oscillator that measures the percent change in price from one period to the next. ROC calculation compares the current price with the price n periods ago, where n is usually a 10 day period ....

Relative Strength Index (RSI) is a momentum indicator which measures a security's price relative to itself and its past performance, thereby indicating its internal strength.

RSI quantifies price momentum. It depends solely on the changes in closing prices. RSI is less affected by sharp rises or drops in a security's price performance and, therefore, may give a better velocity reading than other indicators ...

The Volume RSI Index (VRSI) is based on the same concepts as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) above.

Unlike the RSI, the VRSI uses volume in place of price.

Developed by George C. Lane in the late 1950s, the Stochastic Oscillator is a momentum indicator that shows the location of the current close relative to the high/low range over a set number of periods.

Closing levels that are consistently near the top of the range indicate accumulation (buying pressure) and those near the bottom of the range indicate distribution (selling pressure) ....

Both the Fast Stochastic and Slow Stochastic oscillators are used by market technicians as a timing indicator for signals of market reversal. The Fast Stochastic will provide more signals than the Slow Stochastic, although some analysts prefer the Slow Stochastic, believing it is less prone to whipsaws ....

See Stochastics Oscillator and Stochastics FAST above.

StochRSI is an oscillator that measures the level of RSI relative to its range, over a set period of time. The indicator uses RSI as the foundation and applies to it the formula behind Stochastics. The result is an oscillator that fluctuates between 0 and 1 ....

Support¹ and resistance² represent key junctures where the forces of supply and demand meet. In the financial markets, prices are driven by excessive supply (down) and demand (up). Supply is synonymous with bearish, bears and selling. Demand is synonymous with bullish, bulls and buying. As demand increases, prices advance and as supply increases, prices decline. When supply and demand are equal, prices move sideways as bulls and bears slug it out for control.

¹Support is the price level at which demand is thought to be strong enough to prevent the price from declining further. The logic dictates that as the price declines towards support and gets cheaper, buyers become more inclined to buy and sellers become less inclined to sell. By the time the price reaches the support level, it is believed that demand will overcome supply and prevent the price from falling below support.

²Resistance is the price level at which selling is thought to be strong enough to prevent the price from rising further. The logic dictates that as the price advances towards resistance, sellers become more inclined to sell and buyers become less inclined to buy. By the time the price reaches the resistance level, it is believed that supply will overcome demand and prevent the price from rising above resistance.

Pending ...

Pending ....

TRIX is a momentum indicator that displays the percent rate-of-change of a triple exponentially smoothed moving average of a security's closing price. It was developed in the early 1980's by Jack Hutson, an editor for Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities magazine. Oscillating around a zero line, TRIX is designed to filter out stock movements that are insignificant to the larger trend of the stock. The user selects a number of periods (such as 15) with which to create the moving average, and those cycles that are shorter than that period are filtered out ....

Developed by Larry Williams, the Ultimate Oscillator combines a stock's price action during three different time frames into one bounded oscillator. The three time frames represent short, intermediate, and long term market cycles (7, 14, & 28-period). Note that these time periods all overlap, the 28-period time frame includes both the 14-period time frame and the 7-period time frame. This means that the action of the shortest time frame is included in the calculation three times and has a magnified impact on the results ....

The Vertical Horizontal Filter determines whether prices are in a trending phase or a congestion phase.

Probably the biggest dilemma in technical analysis is determining if prices are trending or are in a trading-range. Trend-following indicators such as the MACD and moving averages are excellent in trending markets, but they usually generate multiple conflicting trades during trading-range (or "congestion") periods. On the other hand, oscillators such as the RSI and Stochastics work well when prices fluctuate within a trading range, but they almost always close positions prematurely during trending markets. The VHF indicator attempts to determine the "trendiness" of prices to help you decide which indicators to use ....

The Volatility Ratio identifies days with exceptionally wide trading ranges (the distance between High and Low) and is used to signal likely reversal days.

Wide ranging days are signaled by a Volatility Ratio greater than 2.0

The VMACD (Volume Moving Average Convergence/Divergence) indicator shows the relationship between two moving averages of volume. VMACD is derived by dividing one moving average by another. It is based on the point spread difference between two exponential moving averages (EMA) of a security's volume, similar to the MACD where the closing price is used.

The Volume Oscillator displays the difference between two moving averages of a security's volume . The difference between the moving averages can be expressed in either points or percentages.

The difference between two moving averages of volume can be used to determine if the overall volume trend is increasing or decreasing ....

The Volume Rate-of-Change (VROC) is calculated identically to the Price ROC , except it displays the ROC of the security's volume, rather than of its closing price ....

The Williams %R is a momentum indicator that attempts to measure overbought (bearish) and oversold (bullish) levels. According to some market analysts, when the indicator reaches levels of 80-100, it suggests the security is oversold, and readings in the 0-20 range signal overbought conditions ....

Williams %R is a momentum indicator that is designed to identify overbought and oversold areas in a nontrending market. Williams %R was developed by Larry Williams ....

The Zig Zag feature is not an indicator per se, but rather a means to filter out random noise and compare relative price movements. The Zig Zag can be set to acknowledge minimum price changes and ignore those that do not fit the criteria. The minimum price movements are set in percentage terms and can be based on either the close or high/low range ....