Concept
Point & Figure
Point & Figure is a Meta & Composition concept. The Library holds 3 implementations, each one a working definition you can pull into Quant.
Top Point & Figure indicators
3 total
What is Point & Figure?
Point & Figure is a time-independent charting method that records price in alternating columns of X's (rising) and O's (falling). Two settings define the chart. The box size is the minimum move required to add a mark to the current column; the reversal count, classically three boxes, is how far price must retrace before a new column starts in the opposite direction. Moves smaller than a box never print, so a single column can span an hour or a month, and the chart only advances when price actually goes somewhere.
The method is one of the oldest in Western technical analysis, rooted in the figure charts of late-1800s tape readers and codified by Victor de Villiers in the 1930s. Because the reversal filter strips small fluctuations, support and resistance appear as flat rows of column tops and bottoms, and signals are defined mechanically rather than by eye: a double top buy prints when an X column rises one box above the previous X column's high, with mirrored sell logic in O columns. Vertical and horizontal counts project objectives from column length and congestion width, projection logic in the spirit of the measure rule, and like all measured objectives they are estimates, not promises.
How traders use it
- As a trend filter: the current column's direction is a simple regime read, since a column only flips after a reversal-sized retracement; the 45-degree trendlines conventional on three-box charts extend the same idea across columns.
- As a mechanical signal set: double and triple top and bottom breakouts give unambiguous, backtestable entries, because a box either printed or it did not.
- As a noise filter for other tools: familiar oscillators and averages can be recomputed on the box series instead of raw bars, inheriting the reversal filter so they update only when price makes filtered progress.
Point & Figure vs related chart transforms
Renko: Both discard time, but Renko prints uniform bricks one move at a time and typically needs a two-brick move to reverse. Point & Figure stacks boxes into columns, separates box size from reversal count, and carries a signal vocabulary (double tops, counts, 45-degree lines) that Renko lacks.
Alternative Bar Types: Tick, volume, and range bars change when a bar closes but still draw ordinary OHLC bars, so standard tools carry over. Point & Figure abandons bar anatomy altogether; only filtered directional movement remains.
Related concepts · Chart transforms
Concept family
Meta & Composition
28 concepts mapped · 23 in the Library
Point & Figure FAQ
What does the 3-box reversal mean on a Point & Figure chart?
It means price must retrace at least three boxes' worth from the current column's extreme before the chart starts a new column in the opposite direction. Smaller pullbacks are ignored entirely. Raising the reversal count filters more noise and produces slower, longer columns; lowering it makes the chart more sensitive. Three boxes is the common convention, not a law, and the right setting depends on box size and the instrument.
Can you use Point & Figure charts intraday?
Yes. The method only needs a price stream, so it works on intraday data with appropriately small or volatility-scaled (ATR-based) box sizes. Two details matter: whether boxes are built from closes or from highs and lows, which changes what prints, and the fact that identical settings behave very differently across instruments. Time still never appears on the axis, so session context has to come from elsewhere.
Build Point & Figure your way.
Quant writes, tests, and refines it with you — then it runs on LuxAlgo charting or ports to TradingView.