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How to Create Candlestick Visualizations in Reveal

Creating Candlestick Visualizations

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a Candlestick chart visualization using a sample spreadsheet.

A sample with different candlestick charts

Key Concepts

Like OHLC Charts, Candlestick charts are meant to show the opening, high, low and closing prices for any financial data. They are particularly useful for financial scenarios and stock movement analysis. This chart displays numerical values in vertical axes, with the two horizontal lines in each vertical axis representing the Open and Close values.

Candlestick charts, therefore, require:

  • One field to be dropped into the Label placeholder of the data editor, generally related to dates.

  • Four different fields in the Open, High, Low and Close categories of the data editor.

Candlestick chart visualization settings

There are also different options to add further information to your chart:

  • Axis Configuration: the axis configuration lets you configure the minimum and maximum values for your charts. The minimum value is set to 0 by default and the maximum calculated automatically depending on your values.

  • Logarithmic Axis Configuration: if you check the "Logarithmic" checkbox, the scale for your values will be calculated with a non-linear scale which takes magnitude into account instead of the usual linear scale.

Sample Data Source

For this tutorial, you will use the OHLC and Candlestick sheet in the Reveal Visualization Tutorials .

Creating a Candlestick Chart

  1. Choose Edit in overflow menu.

    Edit button in overflow menu

  2. Select the + Visualization button in the top right-hand corner.

    Add new visualization button

  3. Select your data source from the list of data sources.

    Selecting the data source from the list of data sources

  4. Choose the OHLC and Candlestick sheet.

    Selecting the OHLC and Candlesticks spreadsheet

  5. Open the Visualization Picker and select the Candlestick visualization. By default, the visualization type will be set to Column.

    List of chart types

  6. Drag and drop the Date field into Label and the Open, High, Low and Close fields in their corresponding placeholder.
    Organizing data fields

Changing your Axis Configuration

Like gauge bounds, chart axis configuration allows you to set the lowest and highest values in your chart. You can use this feature to include or exclude specific data.

In order to access the axis configuration menu:

1. Access the Settings MenuNavigating to SettingsGo to the Settings section in the Visualization Editor.
2. Navigate to the Axis Bounds sectionNavigating to Axis BoundsThe settings you will change will be the Axis Bounds.

Depending on whether you want to set the minimum or maximum value (or both), you will need to access one of the following options:

Changing the Minimum Bound

The default value is set to Auto. In order to set a different bound, enter the value you want the chart to start with.

Changing the Maximum Bound

For Maximum bounds, the default will be set to Automatic so that Reveal uses your original data. In order to set a different one, enter the value you want for the chart's top limit.

Setting your Axis Configuration as Logarithmic

1. Access the Settings MenuNavigating to SettingsGo to the Settings section of the Visualization Editor.
2. Change the Axis to LogarithmicAccessing Axis configurationOpen the Axis dropdown and select Logarithmic.