Charting the Stock Market

• 1). Enter the ticker symbol your service uses for the DJIA. If you do not know the ticker symbol, entering "DJIA" into your service's search function will always show you the ticker symbol. The ticker symbol for the DJIA on StockCharts.com is INDU. Entering this symbol will display a chart of the DJIA. You can also enter any ticker symbol for an individual stock to view the chart of that stock.
  
  
• 2). Enter the ticker symbol for the S&P 500. Like the DJIA, the ticker symbol for the S&P 500 can vary, but entering "S&P" into the search function will always give you the ticker symbol. The ticker symbol for the S&P 500 on StockCharts.com is SPX. Entering this symbol will display a chart of the S&P 500.
  
  
• 3). Adjust the time frame. Charting services offer default views of one-year, two-year, three-year or year-to-date charts. All services also offer a "Select Start/End" view, in which case you must enter the start and end date in the form of YYYY-MM-DD. For example, if you wanted to view a chart of the S&P 500 from January 1, 1988 to August 5, 2010, the format would be as follows: 1988-01-01 to 2010-08-05.