An open-high-low-close chart (also OHLC chart, or simply bar chart) is a type of chart typically used to illustrate movements in the price of a financial instrument over time. Each vertical line on the chart shows the price range (the highest and lowest prices) over one unit of time, e.g., one day or one hour. Tick marks project from each side of the line indicating the opening price (e.g., for a daily bar chart this would be the starting price for that day) on the left, and the closing price for that time period on the right. The bars may be shown in different hues depending on whether prices rose or fell in that period.
The Japanese candlestick chart is another way of displaying market price data, with the opening and closing prices defining a rectangle within the range for each time unit. Both charts show exactly the same data, i.e., the opening, high, low, and closing prices during a particular time frame. Some traders find the candlestick chart easier to read.
A simple variant on the OHLC chart is the HLC high-low-close chart that identifies the range of the time unit's price action (high - low) and the end result of the time unit's price action (the close).
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“Perhaps in His wisdom the Almighty is trying to show us that a leader may chart the way, may point out the road to lasting peace, but that many leaders and many peoples must do the building.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)