Princeton,NJ/ 360prwire/ December 6/
Studying a crypto or stock chart can feel daunting at first. Yet, it is vital in making accurate price predictions to win in fantasy trading contests. In this article, we will explain how to read stock charts in the simplest way possible to give you an advantage while trading fantasy stocks and crypto.
What Are Trading Charts Exactly?
Trading charts show the price history of a stock or crypto over a specific period of time. Most charts usually span five years with the option of viewing daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly stock price data.
Depending on your strategy, some charts are handy for short-term trading or day trading. These types of charts are called intraday charts. They show a stock’s price daily, hourly, 15-minute, 5-minute, and 1-minute data charts. The most popular chart used for short-term trading is the candlestick chart (also called the Japanese candlestick chart).
Trading charts feature other advanced trading tools like lines and graphs you can use to look closely at price trends. There are also other technical analysis tools you can use to help you to determine Price action.
All You Need to Know About Japanese Candlesticks
Japanese Candlesticks are a trading industry standard. They are widely used and easy to understand. Each candlestick shows us the high, open, and close price. It comes in different shapes and lengths and can be grouped into bullish and bearish candles.
A Bullish Candle shows the price has closed higher than it opened. It is displayed as a green candle on a chart, which is usually a good sign of profit and an indicator to sell if you are day trading.
Bearish candles are the complete opposite of bullish candles. They are red, which means the price closed lower than expected within a given time frame. Bearish signs are usually a good indicator of a buy point.
Together with other technical analysis tools, bullish and bearish candles can help you determine price action and predict price movements.
How to Read Trading Charts for Crypto or Stocks
First, prepare your mind. Trading seems difficult at first until you understand it. The same goes for analyzing graphs. It looks more overwhelming than it actually is.
- Select a trading chart provider.
There are many sources on the internet where you can access stock or crypto trading charts for free. The best charts are packed with advanced trading and technical analysis tools to apply different strategies while reading the graph of a particular stock. We’ve recommended a few of our favorite chart providers.
TradingView: TradingView offers charts for various markets like stock, Forex, Crypto, commodities, and future. They are a popular chart analysis provider used by reputable companies worldwide.
Yahoo Finance: Yahoo Finance is a great resource center for all things stocks and crypto. You can find news, updates, and more on a particular stock or company. They also have brilliant market chart data for stocks, crypto, currencies, and more.
Stockcharts: Stockcharts offers free chart analysis tools that are useful in studying charts of stock or crypto. Their traditional charting tool includes candlesticks, lines, bar charts, and more.
- Select your stock picks.
To read a graph you must first select your stock or crypto pick. For example, in a fantasy finance contest like on StockBattle, you will be expected to pick five stocks or cryptos to trade. Before trading, you will have to analyze the charts of each stock pick to earn more points and win the cash prize. Here’s how to do it easily and to develop a stock-picking routine.
For this example, we will be analyzing the Bitcoin chart. The first thing you’ll want to do with a chart is select the time frame you want to study.
Let’s assume you are looking to participate in a short 15-minute fantasy trading contest on StockBattle. You will need to look at the Bitcoin live chat within a 15-minutes time frame to speculate price action.
Next, select a 15-Minute time interval.
Zoom in on the chart. Each candlestick represents 15 minutes throughout the day. You can use this to predict the price of Bitcoin in the next 15 minutes. By looking at the bullish and bearish candles, we can speculate what the next candle may be. Green or red? Perhaps a price increase or price drop.
Understanding Dow’s Theory for Technical Analysis
These three Dow’s theories will guide every trader doing technical analysis on stocks or crypto in the financial market.
- Technical analysts believe that price fluctuations in the market reflect all the necessary information a trader needs to know about that security. Unexpected changes in how a stock trades often means major news from the company. Most times, this is true. Technical analysis does not concern itself with price-to-earnings ratio, return on equity, and other metrics used in fundamental analysis. For technical analysts, the market chart data holds all the information.
- Price movements can be predicted and identified. Technical analysts agree that there are times when the chart moves randomly; however, the trends can be recognized and spotted in time. Once trends are spotted, you can profit from buying low and selling high or shorting the market during a bearish season.
- The market repeats itself. A chart shows the interaction between buyers and sellers. The Dow theory explains that traders are very likely to react to current conditions as they did in the past. It says people are predictable, and traders can use this as an advantage to profit when the same market conditions happen again. For example, some traders already knew to sell during a bullish crypto season before the dips came about. Also, when the bear season came, they bought low all over again.
How to Identify Support and Resistance Levels
Support refers to the lowest price a stock or crypto reaches before more buyers come in to drive the price up. While resistance refers to the highest price a stock or crypto reaches before owners sell their shares and cause the price to dip again.
All through a trading chart, support and resistance levels fluctuate at different times. They are normal and bring balance to the market. On a chart with candlesticks, the bottom line is the support line, while the top line is the resistance line. We use support and resistance levels to confirm the existence of a trend.
A green candle indicates that people are buying, while a red candlestick indicates people are selling. The act of selling drags the price down, as the act of buying drives the price up.
To profit from day trading using support and resistance levels, you will want to buy-in exactly when you see the support level and sell when you see the resistance coming.
On a trading chart, a green candlestick is usually followed by a red to indicate resistance at the top line. A red candlestick followed by a green shows support at the bottom line.
Advantages of Reading Charts and How You Can Earn More On Fantasy Finance Contests
Trading thrives on predictions. The more accurate your predictions are the better your odds of profiting. Similarly, when participating in fantasy finance contests, forecasting is the name of the game! To do better than your competitors, you need to study the charts for more accurate predictions.
If you are uncertain about trading in the real financial markets or do not have sufficient capital to do so, fund and participate in a short fantasy crypto contest on StockBattle for just a fraction of a dollar. If your predictions are right, you can earn up to 2X on crypto in just 15 minutes! Keep in mind that fantasy finance contests are based on your skills, not chance.
Bottom Line
To succeed at trading or to win in fantasy trading contests, you cannot skip due diligence when it comes to reading charts and doing your technical analysis. They help you make more accurate predictions that will help you earn extra cash.
Apply our best practices when it comes to reading charts. Practice it over time and soon enough you will be able to spot the trends like a pro.