The following page describes in detail all of the display elements available for the "Basic" and "Technical Analysis" charts.

Range:
This setting allows you to specify the time frame for the chart. Certain time frames are set to use varying default plot periods. The plot period for the selected chart is indicated in the chart key. But, as a general rule, the intermediate ranges (3 and 6 months) and long-term line charts use daily price plot periods, while long-term bar and candlestick charts (2 year and onward) typically use 1-week or even 1-month periods. The 1-year bar and candlestick charts use 3-day price plots.

Line Type:
This setting determines how the historical price data is plotted for a given chart. At present, three different options are available:

• Line: Line charts display closing price data for the selected time frame as a simple linear plot.
• Bar: Bar charts provide more data than line charts. Yahoo! Finance uses OHLC bar charts, which stands for "Open High Low Close." Each "bar" represents price information for a discrete period of time. For shorter chart ranges, the period is 1 day. For longer chart ranges the period might be 3 days (for 1-year charts), 1 week (for 2-year charts), or even 1 month (for 5-year charts). The chart key indicates the period represented by each OHLC bar. The bars also convey important price information. The left tick on each bar indicates the open price for the period. The right tick indicates the closing price for the period. The vertical length of the bar represents the price range for the period.
• Candlestick: Candlesticks are similar to bar charts in that they depict the open, high, low, and closing prices. Each candlestick represents one period (day, week, or month) and consists of an upper shadow, a lower shadow, and the body. The upper shadow (appearing as a vertical line at the top part of the candlestick) represents the highest price for the period, while the lower shadow indicates the low point for the period. The candlestick body (the "squarish" section of the candlestick) is solid when the close is less than the open and empty when the close is greater than the open. The top of the body indicates the opening price if the candle is solid or the closing price if the body is empty.

Scale:
This option allows you to select the type of y-axis used for a chart. The two options available at this time are linear and logarithmic. In a logarithmic scale, the distance between each unit of distance reflects an equal percentage change. Logarithmic scales usually allow for more meaningful comparisons over longer periods of time, whereas linear charts are preferable for shorter time frames.