Skip to content

Important Notice: IG Markets South Africa will no longer provide Trading Accounts. This change does not affect existing International/offshore accounts. New applications will be supported by IG International, part of IG Group, via https://www.ig.com/en. Important Notice: IG Markets South Africa will no longer provide Trading Accounts. This change does not affect existing International/offshore accounts. New applications will be supported by IG International, part of IG Group, via https://www.ig.com/en.

Chartist definition

A chartist is a trader who relies predominantly on charts to help them understand a financial instrument’s historical price movements, in order to better predict and to speculate on its future performance. They are also commonly known as technical analysts, or technical traders.

There are several patterns that chartists will look out for as an indication of the future direction of an instrument. They will ascertain support and resistance levels – or the maximum the markets appear to be willing to let an asset move in a certain direction – in order to spot the best times to buy and sell assets including shares, indices, forex and much more.

Chartists differ from fundamental analysts, who look at an asset’s current fundamentals in order to decide on the best time to buy and sell. Many traders will use both fundamental and technical analysis when planning a trading strategy.

Visit our trading platform section

See our range of charts and charting tools here.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - Y

See all glossary trading terms

Help and support

Get answers about your account or our services.

Get answers

Call 010 500 8626

Or ask about opening an account on 010 500 8624 or newaccounts.za@ig.com.

We're here 24hrs a day from 9am Saturday to 11pm Friday.