Relative price change chart (Underperforming? Outperforming?)

What can we see on the chart?

relative price change chart example

The chart shows by how many percents the price of shares has increased or decreased, as compared to the point on the left side of the screen.

  • If there is no change compared to the price of shares indicated on the left side, the chart will be on 100%,

  • if there is a 2% increase compared to the price of shares on the left side, the chart will be on 102%.

(e.g.: the price of Apple shares has increased nearly thirty-folds according to the chart.)

By default, the chart displays the price of all loaded shares. Only the common time window of the displayed rates is visible.

What is this chart useful for?

Let us take a few investment funds or companies, which operate within the same country and in the same business sector. By plotting the relative price changes of these companies, it can be observed, that they do not perform equally during the same time period [refer to the figure above].

Differences can be rather significant, thus proper selection is essential. *

Which tech stocks would you choose?

  • The tech stocks, the curve of which is persistently above the other curves is probably a better performer and not only for the last 1 year for example.

  • It’s useful to prepare a similar figure* comparing the performance of the securities with other indexes. (Dow Jones, S&P500 etc.).

How can the chart be used?

  • The display of each graph can be switched on or off using the ticks above the chart. (This function is useful, when the price of a given share varies to a great degree, as a result of which, the price changes of other shares cannot be seen.)

Let’s suppose having loaded 3 shares. One of the companies started operation in 2002, the other in 2004, and the third in 1986. If the graph is enabled for all three companies, the graph will show price changes starting from year 2004. If we switch off the graph display of the company that was founded in 2004, the chart will show data starting from year 2002, and the respective time range is expanded.

time axis control

If for example: we wish to find out how the above 4 shares in the area of technology have responded to the recession, set the left side of the time range to the Autumn of year 2007.

*The chart is based on the data of the past and it represents no guarantee for the future performance.

Tech stocks (MSFT, AAPL, GOOG, YHOO) in the financial crisis
Tech stocks (MSFT, AAPL, GOOG, YHOO) in the financial crisis