Compare: see how symbols perform side by side

The Compare symbols tool lets you add one or more symbols to your chart and see how they move together. It's a quick way to answer questions like "Which stock grew more this year?" or "Does this coin follow Bitcoin?"

CONTENTS:

Why compare symbols?
How to add a symbol
Three ways to show a symbol
Why the scale changes to percent
Tips

Why compare symbols?

Benchmark an asset: Compare a stock with an index like SPX to see if it does better or worse than the market.
Compare competitors: Put two companies from the same sector on one chart, for example General Motors (GM) and Ford (F), to see which one leads.
Check market health: Compare SPY, DIA, and QQQ to see how the S&P 500, the Dow Jones, and the Nasdaq-100 move together.
Spot correlations: See whether two assets usually rise and fall at the same time, like gold and silver.

How to add a symbol

Pick a symbol from the list of popular ones, or type any symbol in the search field.
Choose how to show it on the chart, as described below.

You can add as many symbols as you need. Each one gets its own color, and its name appears in the chart legend in the top-left corner.

Three ways to show a symbol

Same % scale: The symbol is drawn on the main chart, and both are shown in percent. This is the best option for comparing performance.
New price scale: The symbol is drawn on the main chart with its own price scale. Use it to see real prices of both symbols at once.
New pane: The symbol gets its own section below the main chart. Use it when lines overlap too much.

Why the scale changes to percent

When you add a symbol with the same % scale, the vertical axis switches from price to percent. Both lines start at 0% on the first bar you see on the chart, and then show how much each symbol has gone up or down from that point.

This matters because symbols often have very different prices. Imagine one stock costs $50 and another costs $500. On a price scale, the $50 stock would look like a flat line at the bottom of the chart. In percent, you can see that both stocks went up, say, 15% and 20%, and compare them fairly.

If you scroll or zoom the chart, the starting point changes, and the percentages update to match the period you're looking at.

Tips

Compare symbols in the same currency to keep things simple.
Use a longer time period to see the big picture, and a shorter one to see recent moves.
Want one line instead of two? Try a spread chart, for example NVDA/AMD.