Big Chart Tutorial

How to print out beautiful Big Charts.

1.- Visit Big Chart Interactive:

http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/advchart/frames/frames.asp

2.- Set up your defaults which you will save in a cookie. Here is what I like:

a.- Time frame: all data / monthly

As you do individual charts you might want to change the time frame from "all data" to "custom" to get rid of some of the very early data.

b.- Compare to: don't use it.

c.- Indicators:

- Moving average: none
- Upper indicator: none
- Lower indicator 1: Rolling EPS
- Lower indicator 2: P/E Ratio
- Lower indicator 3: None

d.- Chart Style:

- Price Display: OHLC
- Chart Background: Blue & White
- Chart Size: Large

Once you have set these values, display a chart and, if you like the settings, save them with "Store Chart Settings." They will be stored in a cookie and they can always be removed or changed.

3.- Draw a chart:

I'm going to use AMGN as an example. You'll notice that AMGN has totally erratic P/E ratios during the first few years and this screws up the P/E Ratio indicator for later years. The solution is to cut off the early years and here is where the custom time settings come into play. Set the starting date to 1/1/1992. The P/E Ratio indicator is much improved but cutting off a few more months will be even better. Let's set the starting date to 7/1/1992. PERFECT!

4.- Let's get ready to print:

a.- Click on "printer-friendly format"
b.- On a Mac, set the printer setup to US Legal/Portrait. I suppose Windows can do this too :)
c.- On a Mac, select print
d.- Set pages to be printed: From 1 to 1
e.- Select Save as PDF...

Result:

The above procedure produced the following chart:

AMGN.pdf