Bar charts and OHLC charts are one step up from line charts, in that they offer more data about the price changes that happen during the bar, not just one point in time. Bar charts and OHLC are excellent, but are still one step lower than candlestick charts, which show all relevant data in graphical form and can be read more quickly, but we’ll get to candlesticks in the next tutorial
Bar Charts and OHLC, What Do You Mean?
Bar charts and OHLC are virtually the same. OHLC means Open, High, Low and Close, representing all the data that is shown in just one bar within the chart. A typical bar in an OHLC or Bar Chart looks like the image below:
Reading a Bar (OHLC) Chart
Just as you are reading this tutorial, bar charts are read left to right. As you can see, the stick coming off the left side of the bar is the open price, or the price at which the currency pair opened that bar. At the top of the bar is the highest price the currency pair reached during that time period, and likewise the bottom point on the line is the lowest price the currency pair hit. The right most stick coming off the bar is the price the currency pair closed that time period. As you can see, the price rose during the time period, with the open price lower than the close price, however, the price also dipped lower than the open and also, at one point, moved higher than the price at which it closed.
Bar Charts vs. Line Charts vs. Candlestick Charts
As you can see from the illustration above, there is simply no comparison between bar charts and line charts. The comparison between bar (OHLC) and candlestick charts is irrelevant, as both show the same data. However, all things considered the difference is staggering. Rather than have just one point in time reflect the overall strength or weakness of a currency pair, bar chart (OHLC) users have much more data to reflect upon before making a trade.