Introduction to studies

The prices of securities are constantly changing during market hours. You can track price changes at any point in time using real-time market data, but that can only tell you where the price has been and where it is at any point in time. In order to try and predict where the price of a security may be moving, you can look at a number of different factors which are grouped together in the discipline of stock analysis.

Technical analysis looks at the historic and current price movement and trends in a security. By comparing movements in price, volume, and demand & supply factors, technical traders can estimate where the price could move in the future. One of the most commonly used ways to compare these movements is by using a study.

Studies can be a key tool for individuals who use technical analysis as part of their stock investing strategy. They are simply ways of viewing different technical data - however, to make your life as an investor easier, many of these common data views have been automated, so that you can add them to a chart view on a security with a click of your mouse.

Questrade offers the Volume study for free to all customers, and a wide selection of studies through Questrade Plus. If you’re new to the use of studies, these ones might be the easiest to start with.

• Volume: Shows the trading volume for a given instrument in a selected price period. Volume studies are available for all customers.
• Moving average convergence/divergence (MACD): A calculation of the difference between two moving averages of different periods that shows potential overbought/oversold phases of market fluctuation. 
• Moving average: The average value of price over a certain number of time periods. The moving average smooths a data series and makes it easier to spot trends and smooth out price fluctuations or noise that can confuse interpretation.
• Relative strength index: The relative strength index (RSI) is a technical momentum indicator that compares the magnitude of recent gains to recent losses in an attempt to determine overbought and oversold conditions of an asset.
  

If you’re looking for more options, or are already an experienced user of studies, you can learn more about all of the studies offered at Questrade and what they can be used for in our article on Advanced Charting and Studies.

If you’ve already developed some familiarity with studies and research via other platforms, you might be in luck - we’ve been working hard to help you keep using the tools you’re familiar with, to help make trading with Questrade even easier.

Questrade offers a secure API to connect industry leading tools such as TradingView, VectorVest, and Medved to your account without ever exposing your login information.

To learn more about Questrade’s API and the partners we work with, check out our API Centre.

Note: The information in this blog is for educational purposes only and should not be used or construed as financial or investment advice by any individual. Information obtained from third parties is believed to be reliable, but no representations or warranty, expressed or implied, is made by Questrade, Inc., its affiliates or any other person to its accuracy.