There is some expert advice available on reading charts and using them to try to predict the future movements of shares. The best of the experts can be found by exploring this site.

Yet there are some people who believe that reading the charts is as much use as reading the tea leaves. I happen not to agree with that. And Im not alone by a long chalk.

By rights, shares values should rise on clear profits. If theyre up, youd expect the share value to rise, and vice versa. But we all find out pretty quickly that in Crazyland that is not always the case.

There are far more forces at work than ordinary common sense. Greed and its opposite (in this game) fear have a major part to play.

My personal theory for the success of charts is this. That we fear what might happen to our shares, so we sell em. Then we realise we cant make money out of shares if we dont have them, so, even if the climate aint right, we buy em back. Maybe not the same companies, but we spend the cash on something.

So a downward path on the graph goes up. Now this doesnt happen just once. It happens countless times. So a pattern builds up. An expert graph reader uses these patterns, often obscure, to guess what is coming next.

The easiest way I know to read charts is to attach all the bottom points of a share graph and then look at the direction. If its up and the graph pattern shows that it has a bit to go before it falls again, then I might buy.

Look (Frankfurt: 867225 - news) at the graph for BG. at the moment. Tell me that it doesnt show looking at the bottom points, remember that it does not show BG shares could rise in the next few days.

Of course, if you dont believe in the power of charts, you might well disagree. Each to his own. But if you do think charts might play their part, you will need much more sophisticated examples of the art than Ive just given. Though you may have to pay for that expertise. But the rewards might far outweigh the small cost.

This is not a recommendation, Im not qualified. Its just a few thoughts. Rock on