investment

Why Use Stock Charts
Whether you use fundamental analysis, technical analysis, astrology, or just darts on a board, every investor needs to use stock charts. Stock charts provide you, the investor, a visual depiction of a stock over "x" period of time. This allows you to assess if a stock is in an uptrend or downtrend, which levels are providing support and resistance, and a multitude of other on screen factors. In this article, I will provide you information on the Top 10 sites where you can get free stock charts. Remember, these sites provide free stock charts and the data is often delayed and may not provide all of the tools required to be a successful trader. These sites are simply intended to get you acclimated to the game, prior to taking the plunge.

#10 - Prophet.com
Prophet.net has a hip website design. You almost feel like you've landed on the homepage of a major broker. While Prophet's web page is attractive, the stock charts need work. The stock charts are small and often times you will find yourself squinting to see the price labels. The major positive with Prophet is the intra-day data (i.e. 1 minute, 5 minute, etc.) data going back a few weeks.

#9 - Google Finance
Google has designed a cool charting application in AJAX. The one thing that sets Google's stock charts apart form other charting applications is they have combined news events with the stock chart. So, when you scroll over the chart, you will see an associated news event labeled with a letter. This way you can quickly see how a news event affected the price.

#8 - Yahoo Finance
Like Google, Yahoo Finance has an AJAX application for their charts. But, Yahoo has a leg up on Google in the size of their message board community. Yahoo Finance has had the largest stock message board community on the web for as long as I can remember. Now, do not get carried away reading these posts, they are high in quantity, but low in quality.

#7 - StockCharts.com
StockCharts.com is primarily a paid service; however, they do have free stock charts. You have the ability to place up to three indicators above or below the stock chart. Charts can also be displayed as point and figure charts. There is an interactive stock chart feature that displays the charts in java, but the mouse over features are somewhat slow and choppy.

#6 - Marketwatch.com
Marketwatch.com has had the same stock charting service for the last 5. You can use basic charts, interactive and advanced. In order to use the java charts, it requires you to register with the site. The downside to Marketwatch is you are constantly bombarded with news, commentary, and paid advertisements. So, if you like news with your stock charts, Marketwatch is right for you; however, if you just want to look at stock charts, go elsewhere.

#5 - BigCharts.com
BigCharts.com is a true success story. BigCharts started out as a small company focusing on providing users with free stock charts. A few years later, BigCharts was acquired by Marketwatch and through this acquisition a ton of new features have been added to the site. For starters users are able to use three types of charts.

Basic Charts - displays a simple price chart with volume below

Advanced Charts - displays price chart, and allows users to select indicators, chart style and ability to compare symbols

Interactive Charting - has everything in Basic and Advanced, but also allows users to draw trend lines directly on the chart

BigCharts provides up to 10 years of data. Since BigCharts is now a part of Marketwatch, there is tons of free market information and news to go with the charts. Each sector is broken out separately under their markets tab, providing users the ability to quickly zone in a particular industry.

Big Charts is so popular is because it does not require you to provide any information about yourself, nor try and lure you into paying for a premium charting service. It is truly free.

#4 - BullChart.com
BullChart.com does not have all the free technical indicators and java images for you to scroll over. But, what they do have is a tool that allows you to type in a stock symbol and then a chart will display showing the critical support and resistance levels. This is great for folks just starting in technical analysis, as it will show you the level of focus and accuracy required to analyze a stock chart.

#3 - ADVFN.com
Once you get pass the fact you have to register for the site, you will quickly see ADVFN is a powerful stock charting service. ADVFN is in another league, because they provide free streaming charts. This allows you to see how price action works on a stock chart, versus simply looking back at end of day data.

#2 - StockConsultant.com
StockConsultant.com has a
unique stock charting service. Once you hit the homepage, you see a box to enter a ticker symbol; however, instead of seeing lookup next to the lookup box, it says "consult". StockConsultant then presents you a detailed diagnosis of the stock in question.

Price & Volume

Overall Summary - displays if the stock is bullish or bearish and the percent likely it will continue in that direction.

Position Indicators

Timing Indicators

Resistance & Support Lines

Upside Trade

Downside Trade

#1 - Quote.com
Quote.com has a quick registration form that should take about two minutes to complete and then you can begin using the platform. Quote provides free streaming quotes and time & sales for stocks. If you don't know, this is kind of a big deal. The time & sales window shows a trader the types of orders that have been executed on a stock and their size. Time & sales is one, of if not the most critical indicators when swing or day trading. The item which separates Quote from the rest is free charts of not only the US markets, but Futures, Forex, ETFs, Mutual Funds, and the world stock exchanges. Normally this amount of data is restricted to traders with direct access brokers. Well, this rule no longer applies. You can now user your free stock charts to compete with the pros.

See You at the Top,

Al Hill

About the Author
Al Hill is the co-founder of mysmp.com (My Stock Market Power) which provides free trading articles to investors. Please visit http://mysmp.com/trading-articles.html for more free articles. Link to original article: http://www.mysmp.com/free-stock-charts.html