Chart Types — Complete Guide

TradingView's charting library is categorized into two fundamental data models: Time-Based charts and Price-Based charts.

Time-Based charts (like Candlesticks and Bars) print a new data point at a fixed time interval, regardless of whether the price moved. Price-Based charts (like Renko and Point & Figure) ignore time completely, printing a new data point only when the asset moves a specific distance.

Understanding this distinction is the first step in moving beyond basic technical analysis and into advanced market geometry.

Japanese Candlesticks are the undisputed global standard for modern trading. They pack the maximum amount of information—Open, High, Low, and Close (OHLC)—into an intuitively readable format that immediately conveys the session's battle between buyers and sellers.

Hollow Candles offer a slight variation: they use solid vs. hollow bodies to differentiate between sessions where the close was higher than the open, versus sessions where the close was higher than the previous day's close. This nuanced difference helps traders identify weak rallies.

Traditional Bars contain the exact same OHLC data as candlesticks but emphasize the closing price (the right tick) over the body. Institutional traders often prefer Bars because they strip away the emotional bias created by large colored candlestick bodies.

When analyzing massive historic trends on a Weekly or Monthly timeframe, Candlesticks can actually provide too much information, causing 'analysis paralysis' from intraday volatility wicks.

Line and Area charts solve this by plotting only the closing prices. Because closing prices are the most important data point of the day (representing the final consensus of market participants), Line charts offer the purest visualization of the underlying macro trend.

Baseline charts take this a step further by allowing you to define a specific anchor price (e.g., the pre-COVID high). The chart will color the area green when trading above the baseline, and red when trading below it, providing instant visual context of relative performance.

This category contains advanced chart types designed specifically to filter out 'market noise'—meaningless sideways chop that triggers false breakouts.

Heikin Ashi (Japanese for 'average bar') modifies traditional candlesticks by averaging the current and prior session's data. The result is a profoundly smooth chart where strong uptrends are painted as a continuous series of green candles with no lower wicks, making it incredibly easy to ride a trend without getting shaken out.

Renko, Kagi, and Point & Figure charts go a step further: they completely eliminate Time from the X-axis. A new Renko 'brick' is only drawn when the price moves a predefined amount (e.g., 10 points). If the price chops sideways for 5 hours within a 9-point range, the Renko chart will not draw anything, effectively deleting the chop from your screen.

The highest echelon of TradingView chart types is reserved for Premium and Expert users. These charts integrate Order Flow and Volume Distribution directly into the price structure, revealing the 'why' behind the price movement.

A Volume Footprint chart physically cracks open a candlestick to show you exactly how many contracts were bought at the Ask (aggressive buyers) vs sold at the Bid (aggressive sellers) at every single price tick inside that candle. This allows scalpers to spot 'imbalances' and trapped traders in real-time.

Time Price Opportunity (TPO), also known as Market Profile, generates a statistical bell curve of where price spent the most time during a session. It highlights the Point of Control (POC) and Value Areas—critical zones where institutional players are accumulating or distributing inventory.

Just like timeframes, you don't need to constantly open the Chart Type dropdown menu. You can pin your most frequently used chart types directly to your top toolbar for one-click access.

Simply open the Chart Type selector, hover over your preferred styles (e.g., Candles, Line, Heikin Ashi), and click the Star (★) icon next to them.