Bar chart
Also written Bar chart (OHLC) · OHLC chart
A technical-analysis chart showing each period's Open, High, Low and Close as a single vertical bar with side ticks — used to study price range and volatility.
In plain language
A bar chart packs four prices into one mark: the open, the high, the low and the close for each period.
A vertical line spans from the low to the high. A small tick on the left marks the open; a small tick on the right marks the close. The workbook says this is best suited to detailed price-action analysis and to spotting volatility.
How it works
The workbook: "The bar chart shows Open, High, Low, Close prices for the given time. It is best suited for detailed price action analysis and identifying volatility. It highlights the price range and directional bias."
It sits alongside other chart types the workbook covers: the line chart, which uses only closing prices and is best for a quick, long-term view but misses intraday movement; the candlestick chart, which plots the same OHLC data as a bar chart but with colour-coded bodies, making it easier to spot named patterns like Doji or Hammer; and specialised charts such as point-and-figure and Renko, which strip out time altogether to focus purely on price movement.
A worked example
A stock opens at Rs 240, trades up to a high of Rs 248, dips to a low of Rs 236, and closes at Rs 246.
On a bar chart, this is a single tall bar spanning Rs 236 to Rs 248 — a Rs 12 range — with the close tick sitting near the top of that range. A close near the top of a wide daily range like this signals strong buying interest into the close, exactly the kind of read the workbook says a bar chart is suited for.
Why NISM asks about it
Chapter 15.2.2 (Bar Chart) sets out the chart type alongside line, candlestick, point-and-figure, Renko and Heikin-Ashi charts in the same section. Expect a question distinguishing what data each chart type captures and what it is best suited for.
Common exam traps
- A bar chart and a candlestick chart plot the same underlying data (OHLC) but present it differently — bars use tick marks, candlesticks use coloured bodies specifically built for spotting reversal patterns. Do not treat them as capturing different information.
Check yourself
1.Which chart type focuses only on price movements and ignores both time and volume?
- a)Line chart
- b)Bar (OHLC) chart
- c)Point and Figure chart
- d)Heikin-Ashi chart
Show the answer
Answer: (c) Point and Figure chart
The Point and Figure chart "only focuses on the price movements and ignores time and volume". Discarding both is exactly how it filters out noise, which is why the workbook recommends it for identifying breakout levels and support/resistance zones and for long-term trend analysis.
A line chart ignores intraday open, high and low but still plots against time. A bar chart carries all four prices against time. Heikin-Ashi averages price data to reduce noise but remains a time-based candlestick chart. The Renko chart is the other one that replaces time — with fixed price bricks — but it is not offered here.
Where this is taught
Free preparation for NISM Series XVRelated terms
- ChartistA trader who bases buy and sell decisions on historical price and volume patterns and their tendency to repeat, rather than on a company's underlying financial performance.
- Moving averageThe average price of a share over a rolling window, recalculated each session — it smooths away daily noise so that the underlying trend, and changes in it, become visible.
- Support and resistancePrice levels where a move tends to pause or reverse — support where demand concentrates and forms a floor, resistance where supply concentrates and forms a ceiling.
- Ascending triangleA chart pattern of rising swing lows against one flat resistance level — a bullish continuation pattern signalling that buyers are gradually overpowering sellers before a breakout.
- Point and Figure chartA chart that plots only price movement using columns of X and O marks, ignoring both time and volume entirely — used to filter noise and spot breakout, support and resistance levels.
- Renko chartA chart built from fixed-size price "bricks" instead of time intervals, used to filter out minor price noise and make the underlying trend easier to read.
- Line chartThe simplest price chart: a single continuous line joining closing prices over time, good for reading a trend quickly but blind to the open, high and low.
- Heikin-Ashi chartA chart of adjusted candlesticks that average price data to reduce noise, giving a clearer view of the trend and helping a trader stay in a position through whipsaws.
- Engulfing patternA two-candle reversal pattern in which the second candle's real body completely swallows the first candle's body — green over red is bullish, red over green is bearish.
- Day traderA trader whose entire investment and disinvestment cycle is completed within a single day, taking no position home overnight.