ES Journal - 2012

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Log scale basically is a way to transform data so it takes into account relative moves versus absolute moves. I.e. in log scale a move from 100 to 200 will take up the same vertical space as a move from 1000 to 2000 since both have the same percentage move . This is why the data doesn't look like a vertical wall up .
 
tortoise (or chay) you mentioned the log thing 6-9 months back,if that is a log chart why does it work so well,i am baffled..anyone
 
Quote from ammo:

tortoise (or chay) you mentioned the log thing 6-9 months back,if that is a log chart why does it work so well,i am baffled..anyone


With log charts, you're looking at relative, as opposed to absolute, moves. Why wouldn't trendlines work on such charts?

Linear charts can misrepresent the significance of a given price action sequence. For example, on a linear chart, Apple's move from $10 to $20 takes up the same space on the "y" axis as its move from $500 to $510. On a log chart, however, the "y" axis would make clear the proportional difference between that 100% pole vault and a two percent hiccup.

So trendlines on log charts track the proportional movement of a stock. On faster (e.g., intraday) charts this might not make much of a difference (depending on the symbol charted -- e.g., ES move from 1200-to-1210 vs. 1300-to-1310). But on big picture daily/weekly/monthly/annual charts, such "proportional tracking" might offer a more revealing glimpse of what's really going on.
 
I didn't mean to imply that a logarithmic scale was bad or anything. A normal trend line on 80 year old data may work, but not these "over the river and through the woods" kind that ammo drew, IMHO.
 
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