Write the question in one sentence
Start with the decision, not the chart menu. ‘What is price doing?’ is too vague. ‘Did the closing price broadly rise over two years?’ needs one value per period. ‘Did today open above yesterday’s range?’ needs yesterday’s high and today’s open.
List the required fields next: close only; actual OHLC; equal time periods; or a defined price-movement threshold. Then choose the least transformed view that retains those fields.
A chart earns its place by answering the written question. More detail is not automatically better, and a smoother view is not automatically more truthful.
Choose by evidence, not habit
Select a question. The guide names the chart, the fields it needs and the trap to avoid.
If two charts can answer, begin with the less transformed one and add detail only when the question requires it.
Which chart should you start with?
Complete beginner: start with a closing line to learn direction and comparison. Then open a standard candlestick beside it and identify the same closes plus each period’s open, high and low. This sequence adds information without changing the history underneath.
Intraday reader: start with standard candlesticks or OHLC bars when exact session prices, gaps and completed intervals matter. A line can still provide quick orientation. Heikin-Ashi or Renko may be a secondary filter, but their synthetic values should not replace actual prices for orders, stops or fills.
Long-term reader: a daily, weekly or monthly closing line is often sufficient for broad direction and normalized performance comparison. Use standard weekly or monthly candles when the range, opening gap or close location is part of the question. The holding period alone does not select the chart; the required fields do.
Should timeframe come before chart type?
Yes. First define the question and decision horizon. Then choose the timeframe, because it decides what one period contains. Only then choose line, OHLC, candlestick or a specialised transformation. A five-minute candle and a weekly candle share a shape but answer different questions.
Can one question need more than one chart?
Yes. Use one chart as the primary evidence and another as a check. You might use normalized closing lines to compare two long-term paths, then standard candles to inspect the exact period where they separated.
Keep the symbol, source, adjustment, session and relevant timeframe consistent while comparing views. Otherwise you may attribute a data difference to the chart type.
Add volume when the question includes participation: how much traded during a move, whether activity expanded, or whether an apparently large move occurred in a thin market. Volume does not repair a chart that lacks a required price field, and price alone does not reveal participation. Part 08 teaches how to interpret volume; here the decision is simply whether the question requires it.
Why two websites can draw different bars
First check that both charts use the same instrument and exchange. Then check whether the feed is real-time or delayed, which sessions are included, how the official open and close are sourced, whether prices are adjusted for corporate actions, and how missing or corrected data is handled.
On intraday charts, also check the time zone and bar boundary. A thirty-minute bar starting at 09:15 groups trades differently from one starting at 09:00. A displayed time zone may only relabel a fixed exchange bar on one platform, while a custom session or aggregation rule can change which trades enter each bar on another.
For NSE equities, pre-open, normal-market and closing activities are separate sessions. The normal market currently runs from 09:15 to 15:30, while pre-open starts earlier. A chart that includes a different session set can therefore produce different intraday bars. Verify current exchange timings rather than memorising them.
A live bar is unfinished until its interval closes. Its high, low, close and volume can change with each update. Use a completed bar when your rule requires final OHLC. Use the live bar only when your written method explicitly accepts intrabar changes and possible signal disappearance.
When to return to standard prices
Return from Heikin-Ashi, Renko or point & figure to standard OHLC before reading an exact opening gap, order level, stop, target, session high or low, or before judging whether a historical fill was possible.
Also return when the specialised chart and the broker disagree. The specialised view is an analytical transformation. The order is executed in the underlying market, using real quotes and trades—not a synthetic candle, brick or box.
A practical workflow is: specialised chart for the filtered question, standard chart for price verification, and broker or exchange data for execution.
Before you choose this chart
- Why use it?
- To prevent habit, colour or visual appeal from deciding which evidence you inspect.
- Who is it for?
- Every chart reader, especially anyone comparing assets, checking a setup, documenting research or explaining a conclusion.
- When should you use it?
- Use this selection process before opening a chart and again whenever the question, timeframe, session or data source changes.
- Why should you not use it?
- Do not force one favourite chart onto every task. A chart that discards a required field cannot answer the question, however familiar it looks.
- What will you miss?
- Any field excluded by the chosen view, plus any distortion introduced by scale, adjustment, session alignment, data source or specialised-chart settings.
The five checks
Question: state exactly what you want to learn. Fields: name the inputs required to answer it. Clock: choose the timeframe and decide whether equal time intervals matter.
Data: verify symbol, exchange, session, source and raw versus adjusted prices. Align calendars and normalize to percentage change when comparing assets that begin at different prices.
Display: record the chart type, linear or logarithmic scale, and any calculation settings. Scale and aspect ratio are studied next; for now, remember that presentation can change apparent steepness without changing the observations.
For a broad comparison, ask: did the share’s closing path outperform the index? Use two normalized closing lines. For session structure, ask: did today close near the top of its full range? Use actual OHLC bars or candles. The question determines the evidence.
You need to know whether today opened above yesterday’s high. Which is the minimum sufficient chart?
Match the question to sufficient evidence
Before acting on any chart conclusion, finish this sentence: ‘This view cannot tell me …’ If the missing fact could change the conclusion, change the chart or obtain the underlying data.
A repeatable selection rule
Use a line for a broad closing path or normalized comparison. Use an OHLC bar when all four prices matter and density helps. Use a candlestick when the same actual OHLC is needed and the open-to-close body should stand out.
Use Heikin-Ashi only when a calculated, smoothed time-based view answers the question. Use Renko or point & figure only when a documented price threshold matters more than equal clock time. Return to standard prices before reading exact levels, gaps or fills.
Finally, state what the picture supports and what it does not. That one boundary turns chart reading from decoration into a usable method.
Chapter 03.01 ends here. You can now choose a chart by its retained evidence. The next chapter tests another source of distortion: the axis and scale on which that evidence is drawn.