A Chart Style refers to the style of presentation of the price data on the chart.
It is first necessary to understand a few things about price charts:
Bar charts are charts in which the price information for a specific time period
(such as one day, one hour, one minute, etc.) is presented in a vertical bar on
the chart.
Line charts are lines which join a particular single piece of price information
between consecutive time periods (such as one day, one hour, one minute, etc.) These
charts are rather like join-the-dot puzzles, where the dots are the single
piece of price information for each time period.
What price information can be presented on a price chart?
Open price: this is the first price of the time
period, which is the first recorded trade for a day, hour, or minute period.
High price: this is the high price of the time
period, which is the highest recorded trade for a day, hour, or minute period.
Low price: this is the low price of the time period,
which is the lowest recorded trade for a day, hour, or minute period.
Median price: this is the price mid-way between the high and low
price for the time period. (Median price is important in cyclic analysis and so
this price value is often referred to)
Close price: this is the last price of the time
period, which is the last recorded trade for a day, hour, or minute period.
Sentient Trader can present this price information in six different styles:
Candlestick charts, which is a bar chart, in which a thin vertical
line (the shadow of the candle) joins the high and low prices, and a thicker line
(the body of the candle) joins the open and close price, colored differently depending
on whether the close is above or below the low. This is the default style used by
Sentient Trader because it presents the most information to the user at a glance.
OHLC Bar charts, which is a bar chart, in which a thin vertical
line joins the high and low prices, and a small tick to the left of the bar indicates
the open price, and a small tick to the right of the bar indicates the close price.
Line on Close charts, which is a line chart, connecting the close
prices of consecutive time periods.
Line on Median charts, which is a line chart, connecting the median
prices of consecutive time periods.
Hurst charts, which is a bar chart, in which a thin vertical line
joins the high and low prices, and a small cross bar indicates the median price,
which is an important price in cyclic analysis.
Swing charts, which is a type of line chart. In a swing chart the
line does not connect particular consecutive prices, but shows the swing of price
movements which are greater than a certain user-defined threshold. The lines of
the swing charts join extremes in price rather than consecutive prices.
For more information on chart styles, take a look at this video:
