Log scale in charts

Hi,

I don't remember if this existed in Q-Charts or not. InTOS I see a setting that I can check that says "Log Scale". Does anyone recommend using that? Does anyone remember if GW said to use it or not? I've been thru the CDs and all my notes. I can't ever remember him discussing it or even if he had an opinion on it.

Richie,
QCharts has "Log Scale", "Auto Scale Price and Studies", and "Auto Scale Price". It should be set to "Auto Scale Price and Studies" although "Log Scale" isn't different enough to worry about.... all it does in qcharts is reset the chart to a default setting... so if you expand the price settings to zoom in on something, it will go back to normal

I use TOS and SD, and it doesn't make that much difference. I do not use it.

Log scale is supposed to show prices in a more realistic proportion over longer periods of time. On a log scale, price differences are based on multiplicative increments rather than additive increments. For example take the prices 25, 50 and 100. On a regular scale the price difference from 50 to 100 will be twice as far apart as the price difference from 25 to 50. On a log scale, however, both price differences will show up as the same increment because 100 is twice 50 and 50 is twice 25. The thinking is that people perceive a 100% price increase from 25 to 50 as the same relative increase as the 100% increase from 50 to 100.

To really see the difference take a stock like AAPL and display it in Yahoo Finance. Now select the max time frame and look at it. Next, go to the chart settings and change the chart scale setting from linear to log. Notice how the chart changes. Over long periods of time, the log scale is supposed to give a better relative representation of price moves. Try it again with GOOG using the max time frame. The change between log and linear scales will be most noticeable with a stock that has moved a great deal over the years.

I don't use it.

Too much info tends to cause a slower reaction in my trading.

I