Try out my new share chart tool for trend spotting!

Most stock charts allow you to specify a time period and some allow you to also plot a moving average line, but I wanted to easily spot trends (especially in ETFs).

For instance, is Copper on an upward trend? What about Gold or the S&P 500? What about Euro banks?

When plotted on a chart, I needed to smooth out the daily kinks but also easily change the time period. For instance, Copper may have come down recently, but has it gained over a whole year or five years?

So I got ChatGPT/Codex to write some code this morning which allows me to compare different stocks and use two sliders to see how their returns have changed over time. My tool allows me to save my own portfolio charts so I can easily compare country ETFs or value ETFs or commodity ETFs and identify trends. This will tell me what is trending up (and therefore a possible buy) and what is trending down (and thus a possible sell).

You can try it here - it saves your own portfolios locally in your browser's local storage. Most labels may be 'hot' and do something when clicked, so try clicking on various objects. You can create multiple portfolios and so quickly view hundreds of your favourite stocks.

Quickly create multiple portfolios

Look at these two charts, the first has no smoothing:

and this has 32 day smoothing...

By looking at this chart, it is easier to see the slope of the lines for IWVG, BNKE and SGLN all have steep, upward slopes. This is not very clear in the first chart.

Now let us look at a 3 month chart with 10 day smoothing...

Here we see BNKE is still sloping upwards and IWVG but SGLN (gold) is trending down.

A five year chart shows us the same three ETFs would still have done well...

IWVG (world value) has only recently started to climb, whereas SGLN and BNKE seem to have been consistent performers since around 2022/2024 onwards.

A 10 year time period shows that the S&P 500 CSPX and the NASDAQ EQGB ETFs were winners in a 10 year race. It seems the USA market is not as attractive as it once was!

If you find the tool useful, please let me know.

cheers,

Steve

Trend Chart Usage Guide

What The Trend Chart Tool Does

The Trend Chart tool helps compare the performance of multiple stocks, investment trusts, ETFs and funds on a single chart. Each item is plotted as percentage gain or loss over time, making it easier to compare investments that have different prices, currencies or starting values.

Instead of showing raw share prices, the chart rebases each selected investment to zero at the start of the displayed period. This shows how much each investment has gained or lost in percentage terms over the chosen time period.

Key Features

• Search for stocks, ETFs, funds and investment trusts by ticker or description.
• Add multiple investments to the same chart for side-by-side comparison.
• Display each investment as percentage gain from the first price in the selected period.
• Use the Period slider to change the chart range from short periods up to long-term views.
• Use the Smoothing slider to reduce day-to-day noise and reveal the broader trend.
• Show an equal-weighted Portfolio Avg line when more than one investment is displayed.
• Show current percentage gain figures in the Key beside each ticker.
• Sort Key items by performance, with the highest gain shown first.
• Use different colours and line styles so multiple investments can be distinguished.
• Save named portfolios in the local browser for future use.
• Reload the last selected portfolio automatically when returning to the page.
• Create, save, delete and switch between multiple saved portfolios.
• Remove an investment from the current chart without deleting it from the saved portfolio.
• Open external research links for each ticker from the Key section.
• Use example stocks to quickly populate the chart and test the tool.

How To Use The Tool

1. Type a ticker symbol or investment name into the Find a stock box.
2. Select a matching result from the drop-down list or use the Add Stock button.
3. Add more investments to compare them on the same chart.
4. Move the Period slider to choose the time range shown on the x-axis.
5. Move the Smoothing slider to control how much the chart lines are smoothed.
6. Use the Key to identify each chart line, see the latest percentage gain or remove a line from the chart.
7. Click a ticker in the Key to open research links for that investment.
8. Use Save Portfolio to save the current list of investments in your browser.
9. Use New Portfolio to create a blank named portfolio.
10. Use Delete Portfolio to remove the currently selected saved portfolio.
11. Use Clear Chart to remove all lines from the current chart view.

Using The Sliders

The Period slider controls how much history is shown. A short period is useful for recent performance, while a longer period is better for long-term trend comparison.

The Smoothing slider controls how much price noise is removed from the lines. A low value shows more short-term movement. A higher value shows a smoother trend and can make it easier to compare the underlying direction of each investment.

• Click the Period label to reset the period to the minimum.
• Click the Period value to increase the period by one month.
• Click the Smoothing label to reset smoothing to the minimum.
• Click the Smoothing value to increase smoothing by one day.

Using Portfolios

Portfolios are saved in the local browser, so they are available the next time the page is opened on the same device and browser. They are not stored on the website server.

• Create different portfolios for themes such as UK ETFs, energy, technology, income or watchlists.
• Click a portfolio button to load that saved set of investments.
• The active portfolio button is highlighted so you can see which portfolio is selected.
• After adding or changing investments, use Save Portfolio to save the updated portfolio.
• If you remove a line from the chart only, it is not removed from the saved portfolio unless you save the changed portfolio.

Research Uses

• Compare ETFs or funds that track similar markets to see which has performed better over the same period.
• Compare sectors, such as banks, energy, technology, commodities or UK mid-cap shares.
• Check whether a recent winner has also performed well over longer time periods.
• Look for investments with smoother, more consistent long-term trends.
• Compare individual shares against a group of ETFs or a model portfolio.
• Use the Portfolio Avg line to estimate the performance of an equal-weighted basket of selected investments.
• Change the smoothing level to separate short-term volatility from the underlying trend.
• Use saved portfolios as watchlists for repeat research.
• Use the external links to continue research on Yahoo Finance, StockAnalysis, MarketScreener, Investing.com UK, Google Finance, JustETF and Google Search.

Important Notes

• The chart is designed for research and comparison, not financial advice.
• Past performance does not guarantee future performance.
• Data availability depends on the ticker and the external data source.
• Percentage gain is calculated from the first available price in the selected chart period.
• Saved portfolios are stored only in the local browser and may be lost if browser data is cleared.