Welcome to the StockCharts.com "AskIt" FAQ page. Here you can find answers to hundreds of questions about our website - instantly! Here how...

Start by reviewing the list of popular questions that are listed underneath the "Ask a Question" box. If you see a question that look similar to your issue, click on the question mark icon that's next to it to see the answer.

Next, enter your question or concern in the "Ask a Question" box and click on the "AskIt!" button. You will then see a list of questions and answers in our system that are most likely to help you. Typically, one of the questions on that page will be very similar to yours. Simply click the question mark icon beside it to see your answer instantly.

• Keep your initial question brief - one or two sentences is ideal. If you can't find the answer in our KnowledgeBase, you'll be able to add additional details before sending the question to StockCharts.com.




• Include important "key words" in your question - things like the name of the page you are viewing, the kind of chart you are looking at, or the indicator you are using.




• Avoid non-standard abbreviations. When in doubt, spell things out.




• If you don't find an answer on the first attempt, try submitting a reworded version of your question.

If you want to report a technical problem such as your browser not displaying our web pages correctly, please use our Technical Support form.

We've put a lot of time, money, and energy into this KnowledgeBase in an effort to get your questions answered as quickly as possible. The KnowledgeBase will never be 100% complete however. We are constantly adding new information to it. Check back often for the latest answers!

More Information:

• Ask another question


• Email feedback@stockcharts.com if all else fails

A "URL" is a "Uniform Resource Locator" - a fancy name for the address of a web page. URLs usually appear at the top of your browser's window in the box labelled "Address" or "Location" and almost always start with the letters "http:\"

Side Note: Some people call them "Earls", other people say "You-Are-Els"

When reporting problems with our site, your should always try to include the URL of the page where the problem appears. Unfortunately, copying URLs down and then typing them back into an email message or feedback form can be difficult and prone to errors. Fortunately, you can use your computer's "Clipboard" to quickly and accurately cut-and-paste a URL into your message.

To cut-and-paste a URL into a message:

• While looking at the problem page, find the "Address" (MSIE) or "Location" (Netscape) box with the URL in it. Move your mouse over that box and then right-click once. A popup menu should appear.


• If it isn't grayed out, choose "Select All" from the menu, then right-click on the URL again.


• Now choose "Copy" to place the URL on your computer's internal clipboard.


• Finally, switch over to your message, right-click where you want the URL to appear and choose "Paste" from the popup menu. The URL should appear inside your message.

More Information:

• Our Technical Support Form

First off, try asking a question on our FAQ page that includes a description of the problem you are having. Chances are the problem you are seeing is already discussed somewhere in our FAQ Knowledgebase. If so, using our FAQ page is the fastest way to get the answers you need.

If you are still having problems, use our Technical Support Form to report technical problems with our website. Technical problems include things like:

• Persistant site slowness


• Accidentally deleted Favorite charts


• Charts that look strange


• Browser or computer problems


• New feature requests


• Broken link reports


• and anything else on our website that makes your computer misbehave.

Important Note: It may take a day or two before we can respond to a Technical Problem Report whereas our FAQ system may be able to answer your question immediately.

More Information:

• Q: How do I use this FAQ page?

Solid black candles and their less noticable counterparts - hollow red candles - come about because of subtle differences between the rules for filling candlesticks and the rules for coloring them.

Rules for Filling Candlesticks:

• If the current closing price is lower than the current opening price, create a solid (filled) candle.


• If the current closing price is higher than the current opening price, create a hollow candle.

Rules for Coloring Candlesticks:

• If the current closing price is lower than the previous closing price, draw the candle in red.


• If the current closing price is higher than the previous closing price, draw the candle in black.

The following chart contains examples of all four kinds of candlesticks:

Notice that filled, black candlesticks appear at several important peaks on the chart. They happened because GE opened significantly higher than the previous day's close, but then fell during the day, yet managed to still close above the previous day's closing price. Less obviously, on May 23rd, a hollow red candle appears because GE gapped down on the open, rose during the day, but didn't close above the closing price for May 22nd.

More Information:

• Mailbag Article from 09-August-2000


• "Chart Watchers Weekly" from 16-June-2001


• Stocks with Filled Black Candles or Hollow Red Candles

Unfortunately, there are several issues that make this simple question difficult to answer:

• There is no standard for the sectors make up the stock market. The names, definitions, and number of sectors needed can vary significantly depending on who you talk to.


• Some companies do significant business in several different sectors.


• Over time, companies can change the line-of-business they are in, changing their "industry" in the process.


• Companies in different sectors can merge.

The bottom line is that one person's "Technology stock" is another person's "HealthCare company" and another person's "Financial pick."

Here are some links that we use to keep up-to-date on sectors and industries:

• The S&P Select Sector SPDRs: Click here for the stocks that make up the major sectors we track.





• The Dow Jones Indices: Click here for the components of the major Dow indices





• The Major S&P Indices: S&P 500 Large Caps, S&P 400 Mid Caps, S&P 600 SmallCap





• Major Industry Indices: Amex Indices, Philadelphia Indices





• Russell Indices: Click here for the components of the Russell 1000, 2000, and 3000





• iShares and Holders: The Barclay iShare site

The numbers represent each month, and mark the day where the month begins in the chart. The letters represent all of the double-digit months (A-Oct B-Nov C-Dec). This is a more traditional way of showing the months on point and figure charts. Since the charts are column-based, a double-digit month would throw the columns off, which would make the chart useless

Our charts are updated continually throughout each trading day. If you are seeing outdated charts on your screen, try the following steps:

• Click your browser's "Refresh" button with your mouse. Typically, that button is near the top of the window and has one or two circular arrows on it.


• If that doesn't do it, try holding down the "Ctrl" key and then clicking the "Refresh" button again.


• Check another site like Yahoo Finance and make sure that the stock hasn't stopped trading for some reason like a merger or delisting.


• Still no luck? Try restarting your browser and/or your computer.


• As a last resort, try clearing your computer's "local cache". Under MS Internet Explorer, you do that by going to the "Tools" dropdown menu, selecting "Internet Options", and clicking on the "Delete Files" button.

More Information:

• Q: When do you update your charts?

The most important thing is to make sure that you have an up-to-date version of your web browser. People with browsers that are more than twelve months old should probably obtain a newer version to ensure that all of our tools work correctly. Netscape users should use the command Software Update under the Help menu to upgrade while Internet Explorer users can use the Windows Update command under the Tools menu.

If you are still seeing problems, try using our Java Troubleshooter to narrow things down.

More Information:

• Q: Which browser versions do you support?

Our SharpCharts are created in "Portable Network Graphics (PNG)" format. This format is a completely open standard that is up to 40% smaller than other formats. The PNG standard has been approved by the official Internet standards committee (W3C) and is supported by most modern browsers. You can learn more about the PNG standard at this website. Below is a PNG image from that website:

If you don't see this image, you'll have to upgrade your browser to a newer version.

Unfortunately, some older browsers - especially on the Macintosh - do not support PNG files properly. MS IE 4.5 for the Mac is a common culprit. Early version of Netscape 4.x under Windows also have trouble. The solution is simple - upgrade your browser to a newer version. Not only will you see our charts, but you'll have a faster, more secure web experience in general. Use the "Tools/Windows Update" command to upgrade IE. Use the "Help/Software Updates" command to upgrade Netscape.

A small number of Windows NT users have also reported problems seeing PNG files under IE. A couple of them have reported that the problem went away when they reinstalled IE 5.x on their machine.

Finally, if you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) under Windows and are having problems seeing our charts, try "Repairing" IE using the following steps: 1.) Press "Start/Settings/Control Panel" 2.) Double-click "Add/Remove Programs" 3.) Select "Microsoft Internet Explorer" from the list box that appears and then click the "Add/Remove" button 4.) Select "Repair Internet Explorer" and then click the "OK" button. After the repair process finishes, reboot and things should work better.

Our SharpCharts and P&F Charts are updated continually throughout each trading day. When the market is open, the rightmost bar/candle is highlighted in yellow indicating that it is still forming and could change. Our Market Carpets are also updated at 20-minute intervals throughout the trading day.

Also keep in mind that all intraday information is delayed 15 to 20 minutes on our charts. The time and date in the upper right corner of the price chart panel shows you exactly when the data for the last bar on the chart was received.

After the markets close, we do serveral "data dumps" from our data feed into our local databases. Most people don't realize that market data can change after the final bell as final adjustments are made. Our last data dump is usually completed by 8PM Eastern. That is when our pre-defined PerfCharts and our Stock Scan Results are updated. That is also when our Scan "Engine" - which drives the user-defined scans for subscribers - is updated.

More Information:

• Q: Why am I seeing outdated charts?

Just enter a ticker symbol in the box and press "Go!" to see a current chart for that stock. You can also just type a company name and press "Go!" to lookup that company's symbol.

More Information:

• Using StockCharts.com

Your User ID must be a verified email address which we can use to contact you. You cannot use an alias like "BullMan" as your User ID. As we state in our Privacy Policy, it will not be given out to anyone else without your permission.

More Information:

• Q: My email address changed. How do I update my User ID?

Here are some suggestions for getting up-to-speed quickly:

• Start by reading the instructions page. It will give you a good sense of how the scan form works.



• Next, study the examples in our "Scans Hall of Fame" page.



• Finally, use the box at the bottom of the scan page to insert the criteria from some of our Pre-defined scans. Studying how those scans work is very helpful.

More Information:

• Q: Why doesn't my new scan work correctly?

You can use the form on this page to report suspected data errors. We usually correct confirmed errors within 24 hours.

Data errors are the bane of technical analysis. With over 18,000 ticker symbols in our system, keeping everything up to date and accurate is a full-time job. Fortunately, we have Bob. Bob works tirelessly to find and fix data problems. Even so, things can slip through. Here are some of the common reasons behind the data error reports that we receive.

• Adjusted Data - We adjust our historic data to account for splits and distributions. This article explains why we do this. Confusion about adjusted mutual fund data is very common. You can use a financial news source like Yahoo to see if the ticker symbol in question has recently had a split or distribution.





• Disagreeing Data Sources - Sometimes different data source report different data for the same stock. Be sure to check several different online data sources to see if they all agree. Nasdaq.com, Yahoo, and Reuters are good places to compare quotes. Please let us know what you discover in your error report.





• Incomplete End-of-Day Update - It takes up to three hours after the markets close for the daily quotes to become "final". Things like cancelled trades and incomplete fills are discovered and fixed during that time. To deal with this, we take three different "dumps" from our data vendor: one at 4:45PM NYT, one at 5:30PM NYT, and one at 7:00PM NYT. Please wait until after 7PM to report errors in the current day's quote.





• Bad Intraday Data - Intraday data for the current day comes directly from our data vendor. We are not able to correct or adjust that data on our end. Fortunately, errors in intraday data are usually corrected automatically by the end of the day.

More Information:

• Why We Adjust Our Historic Data


• Learn more about our data vendor