In this exercise, you’re going to get to grips with the various pieces of a stock chart. Building a stock portfolio is pretty much impossible unless you understand the elements involved in reading a stock chart. For beginners, when you first come across a stock chart it can be overwhelming. This will make it simple.

‍

Instructions

‍

First, pick a stock of a publicly traded company using a tool like Google Stocks or Yahoo Finance. Then, take a screenshot of that stock so that you have it as an image file that you can annotate over.

‍

Next, either print off the stock chart or use a whiteboard tool like Miro, Powerpoint, Google Slides or Figjam to put your stock chart in a format that means you’re able to annotate over it. 

‍

Once you’ve got your stock chart, have a read through it and first add annotations to the bits you do understand. Mark these in green. Then, in a different color (suggest red), add annotations to the bits that you don’t understand.

‍

Once you’ve got a list of the bits of the chart you don’t understand, you can use this reference table to help you to understand them in more depth. Revisit the stock chart and update the annotations to reflect your current understanding.

‍

‍

Stock chart annotation references

Header

• Apple Inc. (AAPL): The name of the company and its stock ticker symbol. When a company lists on an exchange, it does so using a unique symbol or ticker which allows investors to quickly find them.
• NasdaqGS: Indicates that Apple is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
• Real-time price. Currency in USD: Shows that the stock price is provided in real-time and in US dollars.

Stock Price Information

• 212.49 -1.75 (-0.82%): The last trading price at the close of the market on June 14 at 4:00 PM EDT. The stock decreased by $1.75 or 0.82% from the previous trading day.
• 212.45 -0.04 (-0.02%): The after-hours trading price as of 7:59 PM EDT on June 14. The stock decreased by $0.04 or 0.02% from the closing price.

Summary Table

• Previous Close: 214.24. The stock's closing price on the previous trading day.
• Open: 213.81. The price at which the stock started trading at the opening of the market.
• Bid: 203.11 x 100. The highest price a buyer is willing to pay for 100 shares.
• Ask: 212.66 x 500. The lowest price a seller is willing to accept for 500 shares.
• Day's Range: 211.30 - 215.17. The lowest and highest prices the stock traded at during the day.
• 52-week Range: 164.08 - 220.20. The lowest and highest prices the stock traded at over the past 52 weeks.
• Volume: 69,104,366. The total number of shares traded during the day.
• Avg. Volume: 64,479,526. The average number of shares traded per day over a specific period, usually 30 days.
• Market Cap: 3.258T. The total market value of Apple's outstanding shares, in trillions of dollars.
• Beta (5Y monthly): 1.25. A measure of the stock's volatility compared to the market. A beta of 1.25 means the stock is 25% more volatile than the market.
• PE Ratio (TTM): 33.00. The price-to-earnings ratio based on the trailing twelve months. It indicates how much investors are willing to pay per dollar of earnings.
• EPS (TTM): 6.44. Earnings per share over the trailing twelve months.
• Earnings Date: 01 Aug 2024 - 05 Aug 2024. The expected dates for Apple's next earnings report.
• Forward Dividend & Yield: 1.00 (0.47%). The expected annual dividend per share and its yield percentage.
• Ex-Dividend Date: 10 May 2024. The date on which one must own the stock to be eligible for the next dividend payment.
• 1y Target Est: 206.18. The average target price set by analysts for the next year.

Graph

• Shows the stock price movement over a one-year period.
• Includes key price points and volume bars, indicating the trading volume on specific days.