How to analyze stock prices using Candlestick chart in Tableau – Skill Pill Video

Candlestick Chart in Tableau

Tableau Software provides users with a wide variety of chart types and analyzes suitable for any sector or activity field. Regardless of the needs of users and the answers they are looking for, Tableau always offers solutions for visualizing and exploring data with the help of several graphs. In today’s post, we will discuss about Candlestick chart and the situations in which it is most frequently used.

Activity areas such as retail, eCommerce, or stock market constantly requires a price evolution analysis and of other sectors of the economy. The price evolution, fluctuations and the trend of their change are the basis of strategic decisions with major impact in the activity of any organization. To have a clearer picture of all these aspects in a data analysis, it is important to identify the right graph. The graph that we choose to build must transpose the information we need in a simple, easy to follow and understand way. But how does Candlestick chart help us in this case?

Candlestick Chart in Tableau

Candlestick chart is known for his way to display prices in a certain period and in a certain economic market. The final visualization has the role of displaying the open and closing prices for the trading day, as well as the highest or lowest values during the trading. Also, Candlestick chart highlights the size of price fluctuations as they decrease or increase. This type of chart helps end users to understand the trend of price changes for certain stocks or economic sectors and to make informed decisions based on the analyzed data. At the same time, Candlestick chart can be used to build a short-term forecast of situations that may arise in the future.

To better understand how the information is displayed in a Candlestick chart we need to understand what are the components that make it up. The central part, and which is usually colored represents the “body”. It indicates the open and closing prices in a market. The vertical line passing through the “body” of the chart indicates the highest or lowest values of the prices on that day. In this way, users can visualize how prices in a particular market have changed in a trading period.

Candlestick chart is often used to understand price patterns. This chart highlights changes that occur over time and helps users make strategic decisions at key moments. Next, we will show you how to build a Candlestick chart and how it can be used in our activity.

Step 1: Connect to data

→ In Tableau Desktop, download data from Yahoo Finance.

Step 2: Create the visualization

→ Right-click and drag Date to the Columns

→ In the Drop Field dialog, select Date (Discrete)

→ Drag High to Text on the Marks

→ Double-click Low

→ Drag Measure Values from Text on the Marks to the Rows

→ Remove Measure Names from the Rows

→ Right-click and drag Date to the Columns

→ In the Drop Field dialog, select MDY(Date)

→ Drag Open and Close to Detail

→ Right-click the Value y-axis in the view and select Add Reference Line

→ In the Add Reference Line, Band, or Box, do the following:
o Select Band
o For Scope, select Per Cell
o For Band From Value:, select SUM(Open), Minimum
o For Band To Value:, select SUM(Close), Minimum
o Click OK

→ Select Analysis > Create Calculated Field

→ In the Calculated Field dialog box that opens, do the following:
IF sum([Open]) > sum([Close])
THEN “Bearish” ELSE “Bullish” END

→ Drag Bullish/Bearish to Color on the Marks card

By Eduard Arhire

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