How to Read a Stock Chart in Just Five Seconds
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/how-to-read-a-stock-chart-in-just-five-seconds/
First, look at the general trend over the last six months or so. This is usually a clue as to the general health of the company – no major news, just little signs of good health or poor health. If it’s a stock you own or might be interested in, you may want to take note of a steady rise or a steady fall and find out why it’s happening.
Second, look for recent spikes. A big spike upwards or downwards means something significant has happened to the company. These are usually game changers and are definitely worth noting.
Third, see if they throw up charts for similar companies. See if the general pattern of the stock in question matches the general patterns of the competitors. If they do, then it’s probably a broad market effect or a sector effect and not quite as worrisome as something drastically different than a competitor, which you should look into.
What these three things point you towards are signs that something has changed in the company – something that might violate the reasons you own the stock. As I’ve said many times, you should only own an individual stock if you have a specific reason for doing so. You trust the CEO. They deliver a stellar product. Their product has some sort of inherent advantage over the competition. Each of those changes, which you can quickly pull out of a chart, is simply a sign that you need to investigate the stock you hold in more detail to make sure the reason you have for owning the stock is still intact.
Unless you’re investing professionally or doing it as a serious and focused hobby, there’s not much else you can really get out of a glance at a graph, so don’t let yourself get overloaded with data. Just look for the important events, the ones that would change your opinion of the company or how it does business. Leave the rest to the people who do this eighty hours a week.