Start learning charts
From a single candle to a live chart, in four steps.
Patterns are right about half the time. How far they rose and fell matters more than how often they rose.
Learning to read charts starts with one bar. A single candle tells you what happened that day, those bars stack into chart patterns, and once you know the pattern names you can read where a stock sits right now. The four steps below are that order.
SQMATE puts chart study and chart analysis in one place. Starting out, it works as a textbook. If you already read charts, it works as a scanner that sweeps every ticker at each close.
Steps 1 and 2 open without an account.
Four steps
1Read one candle
A bar is drawn from four numbers: open, high, low, close. There are only 13 shapes it can take, and volume changes what each one means.
Five of the 13 — a body with an upper and lower wick.
Open candle anatomy →2Learn the pattern names
Double bottoms, cup and handle and the rest: 88 chart patterns and 34 candle signals, each with its textbook shape and a real detection.
Tap one to read it.
Open the pattern library →3Find them on a real chart
Spotting a textbook shape on a live chart is the hard part. SQMATE does it for you. Patterns come labelled, and the lines you need to read them are already drawn.
Open a chart and follow along →A window SQMATE's detectors actually flagged in past bars. It records a day that worked out — the same shape doesn't always resolve the same way.
4Drill it with replay and quizzes
Knowing a shape and catching it live are different skills. Replay walks old charts forward one bar at a time; the daily ten hide the ticker.
The chart stops at the bar where the shape completes. What comes next stays hidden.
Try today's 10 questions →
Common questions about learning charts
Where should I start learning chart analysis?
With a single candle. Once one bar makes sense, the patterns those bars build start to show. Then learn the pattern names, find the same shapes on a chart you care about, and drill them with replay and quizzes. The four steps above are that order.
Can I learn chart reading on my own?
That part, yes. What you need is an organised dictionary, real charts to check it against, and practice that tells you quickly when you were wrong. All three are here. No material can tell you what price does next, though, and the call is always yours.
How many chart patterns do I have to memorise?
None, really. SQMATE finds the patterns and labels them, so you can read one on the spot without knowing its name. They stick on their own once you see them often. If you want a starting set, take the common ones first: double bottom, double top, cup and handle.
Is this a chart analysis site or a chart education site?
Both, on purpose. The pattern library, candle anatomy and quizzes are the learning side; the ticker screens that draw patterns and lines are the analysis side. Being able to check what you just read on a live chart is why they sit together.
Is it free?
The pattern library, candle anatomy and today's ten questions are open without an account. Ticker charts start free with no card, and you decide whether to continue after using them.
Where you try it
The chart is open before you finish all four steps
Open any ticker and the patterns, support and trendlines are already drawn. Like the chart below, right down to the date each line was anchored.
- Lines are just the startChart patterns, candlestick signals and line events — all marked before you open the chart.
- What triggered todayEvery ticker, swept after every close — so you stop finding the setup a week late, on a chart you already scrolled past.
- Told the moment it touchesStop opening charts to check. Browser and email alerts fire when price actually reaches the line.
Opens right away — no signup, no login. Only alerts and saving need an account.