What kind of charts should I use?

We all know charts are not the end all tell all, but we also can't deny they do help make sense of past trends and possibly predict future trends. I like to use charts to line up where I believe the market is going based on catalysts in the future.

For example we all know there is a huge potential issue in Bitcoin going on, but we also know it will resolve itself and long term will be stronger for it! We also happen to know that the next update for Ethereum is slated to begin at least some news (maybe an alpha/test release) around September. Using those dates/times I like to look at previous breakouts and ceilings to attempt to make some sense of what the near term is going to do.

Take a look at these 2 charts below, both taken at the same time (granted a few seconds apart to switch modes). They both are taken using 1 week ticks for Ether traded on GDAX.

Linear y-scale chart

Log y-scale chart

Why using Log scaling helps?

As you may have noticed, although both these charts display the same information, they do it in a visually different way. One of the best uses of log scaled y-axis charts is that instead of each 100% up/down getting larger exponentially, the log scaled chart makes each 100% increase/decrease the same visually.

For example, on the linear chart we see a movement from $200 to $400 as much larger than from $100 to $200 despite both being a 100% increase. That same time frame on the log scaled chart below shows it "to scale" and makes the chart look far more "tame" and more logical, at least in my opinion.

Summary

When looking at charts, it can help especially for very volatile assets such as crypto to view log scaled charts instead of linear (what most people use) since it helps you to visually see the % Return on Investment rather than huge fluxes in $ or what ever fiat you happen to use!

Hope this helps you all!