A classic chart that throws away time and volume, recording price itself with columns of X (up) and O (down). A practical look at box size, reversals, double-top breaks, and price counts.
Point and Figure (P&F) predates the candlestick and the bar chart. It is one of the oldest charting methods in existence.
Its defining trait is that it records neither time nor volume.
The horizontal axis is not time. A column advances one step to the right only when price changes direction.
As long as price keeps climbing, an unbroken stack of X grows in the same column, however many days it takes. As long as price keeps falling, a column of O is drawn downward.
Whether a move happens in a single day or grinds out over a month, the picture on paper looks the same. All that is recorded is how far price traveled — when, and on what volume, is discarded entirely.
This deliberate sacrifice is what separates P&F from the candlestick.
Because candlesticks dutifully mark the passage of time, even a flat, going-nowhere market fills the screen with bars of noise. P&F writes nothing until price has covered a fixed amount of ground. While the market is stuck, the chart falls silent.
How to Read
NASDAQ:AAPL
The result is a high-purity map of price that distills support, resistance, and breakouts and little else. Most false moves never reach a box and are simply never recorded.
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