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Comment of the Day

April 23 2013

Commentary by Eoin Treacy

Email of the day

on point & figure charting
“I have tried using your point & figure charts to get another view of what is happening.However you keep changing the box sizes.I know certain people do this for various reasons, but what is your thinking on this matter? For instant SEAGATE has changed from .37 to .36 to .34 to .35 in the last 10 days. Your thoughts please”

Eoin Treacy's view Thank you for this question which others may have an interest in. Point & Figure (p&f) charts require a certain amount of customisation depending on how sensitive a scale one wishes to use.

The Chart Library defaults to a 1% box size for the sake of expediency since this is often the most appropriate scale to view medium-term trends. In the case of Seagate Technologies, the share fell from an April 10 th peak of $38 to yesterday's low of $33.22. On a 1% scale the Chart Library would have adjusted the box size to the next round number on each new close.

If you would like to customise your box size follow these instructions.

1) Click on the Charting tab, located in the charcoal bar above the chart area.
2) Choose the p&f option from the top line of the popup window.
3) In the box size drop down menu, Customise.
4) Another box will appear where you can enter your box size. For the purposes of this example I chose .40.
5) Click on Apply.

The resulting chart should look like this.

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