Barchart Opinions show traders what a variety of popular trading systems are suggesting in terms of going long or short the market. The Opinions takes up to 5 years' worth of historical data and runs these prices through thirteen different technical indicators. After each calculation, the program assigns a buy, sell or hold value for each study, depending on where the price lies in reference to the common interpretation of the study. For example, if the price is above the moving average of the security then this is generally considered an upward trend or a buy.

Note: A security needs to have more than 200 active trading days in order to generate an Opinion reading; for futures, the contract must have more than 100 active trading days.

Opinions are updated every 20 minutes throughout the day, using delayed data from the exchanges.

The Overall Average Signal, Strength and Direction is shown at the top of the page. This represents the average of the 13 popular indicators detailed in the table below.

The table groups the 13 indicators based on Short, Medium, and Long Term time frames.

Indicators in the Short Term group generally are used to interpret price movement that happens over the last 20 days.

group generally are used to interpret price movement that happens over the last 20 days. Medium Term indicators interpret price movement that happens over the last 50 days.

indicators interpret price movement that happens over the last 50 days. Long Term indicators interpret price movement that happens over the last 100-200 days.

indicators interpret price movement that happens over the last 100-200 days. TrendSpotter is in its own group and represents a composite look at price movement.

Calculations

The Short, Medium and Long term indicators are grouped together and calculated separately for their groups. The overall indicator is a composite of all 13 studies listed on the page.

A Buy is assigned 1 point

is assigned 1 point A Sell is assigned -1 point

is assigned -1 point A Hold is assigned 0 points

The indicator value is determined by adding up the totals for the different groups and dividing this sum by the number of studies in the group. The indicator is expressed in terms of a percentage. If the total is greater than zero, then this is a "Buy". If the total is zero, then this is a "Hold". If the total is less than zero, then this is a "Sell".

To keep the results in a more logical format, we factor the overall opinion by 1.04 to keep the end result in multiples of 8 percentage points, with the exception of a 100% buy or sell. This is why the opinion indicators will be displayed as 8%, 16%, ... 88%, 96% and 100%, for example, rather the exact percentage value.

Support and Resistance

This section shows a snapshot view of the Trader's Cheat Sheet with the Last Price, and four separate pivot points (2 Support Levels, and 2 Resistance Points). The Last Price shown is the last trade price at the time the quote page was displayed, and will not update every 10 seconds (as the Last Price at the top of the Quote page does). The Last Price will update only when the page is refreshed.

Pivot points are used to identify intraday support, resistance and target levels. The pivot point and its support and resistance pairs are defined as follows, where H, L, C are the current day's high, low and close, respectively. Support and Resistance points are based on end-of-day prices and are intended for the current trading session if the market is open, or the next trading session if the market is closed.

Pivot Point : (P) = (H + L + C) / 3

: (P) = (H + L + C) / 3 First Resistance Level : (R1) = (2 * P) - L

: (R1) = (2 * P) - L First Support Level : (S1) = (2 * P) - H

: (S1) = (2 * P) - H Second Resistance Level : (R2) = P + (R1 - S1)

: (R2) = P + (R1 - S1) Second Support Level: (S2) = P - (R1 - S1)

Signal Strength

The signal strength is a long-term measurement of the strength of the signal compared to the strength of the signal over the past 200-trading sessions. For futures contracts, the measurement uses the past 100-trading sessions.

The Overall Opinion Strength can be one of the following readings:

Maximum

Strong

Good

Average

Soft

Weak

Minimum

Maximum is the strongest this signal has been in the historical period, and minimum is the weakest the signal has been in the historical period. The stronger a signal strength, the less volatile the signal. For example, a maximum buy signal is less likely to change to a hold or a sell signal than a weak buy signal.

Each of the 13 indicators also have a Strength reading, and can be one of the following:

Maximum

Strong

Average

Soft

Weak

A hold signal does not have any strength.

Signal Direction

Buy/Sell Signal Direction

The signal direction is a short-term (3-day) measurement of the current movement of the signal. Direction is a short indication of how the signal is performing based on most recent available data.

It compares the current divergence of the signal against the divergence of the nearest 3 trading sessions, and if the divergence is increasing this signifies a strengthening of the trend, whereas if the divergence is decreasing this signifies the trend is weakening.

The buy/sell direction can be one of the following five readings:

Strongest

Strengthening

Average

Weakening

Weakest

A buy signal with a "strongest" direction means a buy signal which is becoming stronger. Similarly, a sell signal with a "strongest" direction is becoming stronger. The direction goes with the signal.

Hold Signal Direction

The signal direction of a hold signal is a short-term (3-day) measurement of where the signal is heading, be it toward a buy signal or a sell signal. The hold direction can be one of the following five readings:

Bullish

Rising

Steady

Falling

Bearish

A bullish hold signal indicates that the signal is heading toward a buy configuration, and a bearish hold signal indicates that the signal is heading toward a sell configuration.

Barchart Opinion & Trading Performance

Barchart Opinions add market-timing information by calculating and interpreting signal strength and direction. Unique to Barchart.com, Opinions analyzes a stock or commodity using 13 popular analytics in short-, medium- and long-term periods. Results are interpreted as buy, sell or hold signals, each with numeric ratings and summarized with an overall percentage buy or sell rating. For example, a price above its moving average is generally considered an upward trend or a buy.

Each Opinion requires six months' worth of trading activity and run the prices through 13 different technical indicators.

Composite Indicators : Shows the signal for TrendSpotter, a proprietary Barchart indicator.

: Shows the signal for TrendSpotter, a proprietary Barchart indicator. Short Term Indicators : Shows signals for the 5 short-term indicators, with an overall short-term average signal. Also includes a 20-day Average Volume.

: Shows signals for the 5 short-term indicators, with an overall short-term average signal. Also includes a 20-day Average Volume. Medium Term Indicators : Shows signals for the 4 medium-term indicators, with an overall medium-term average signal. Also includes a 50-day Average Volume.

: Shows signals for the 4 medium-term indicators, with an overall medium-term average signal. Also includes a 50-day Average Volume. Long-Term Indicators : Shows signals for the 3 long-term indicators, with a overall long-term average signal. Also includes a 100-day Average Volume.

: Shows signals for the 3 long-term indicators, with a overall long-term average signal. Also includes a 100-day Average Volume. Overall Average: Shows the overall average signal for all indicators, with Support, Resistance and Pivot Point.

Snapshot Opinion

This widget shows how the overall Barchart Opinion has changed over the last 3 periods (yesterday, last week and last month).