Notes on reading market dashboards
Read the panel before the panel reads you.
Gauge House is a reading room for people who look at market dashboards and want to understand what each panel says, what it leaves out, and whether its colors are doing honest work. We explain how information is shown. We do not say what to buy, sell, or hold.
Choose the panel that fits your situation
Each panel opens on its own. Read one, several, or all of them, in any order. Every panel names the page to visit next.
I am new to market dashboards, and the panels feel crowded
Route A · Start with the field guide
Begin with the anatomy of a single panel: its title, its unit, its time window, its baseline, its source and time stamp, and its legend. Once you can name each part, the rest of the screen becomes quieter.
The field guide also explains why the same line can look steep or flat depending on the axis, and why a percentage change depends on the value it started from. Those two ideas account for most of the confusion new readers run into.
I build or review dashboards for a team
Route B · Test colors before they reach a screen
Check every pair of text and background colors before it ships. The contrast lab reports the measured ratio against the thresholds that matter in practice: normal text, large text, and the outlines and marks that carry meaning in a chart.
Color should never be the only signal. A rising trend should also differ in shape, position, or label, so a reader with a color-vision difference can still follow it.
Open the contrast lab or read the color section of the field guide.
The colors look clear to me, but I am not sure they will look clear to everyone
Route C · Measure what you see
Color perception varies. Some readers cannot separate certain reds from certain greens, some use high-contrast or custom display settings, and many read on bright screens in bright rooms. A measured contrast ratio is a floor rather than a guarantee, but it is a fair place to start.
I want to know what this site will and will not do
Route D · Scope and method
Gauge House has no live market feed, no price forecasts, and no personal recommendations. The examples are illustrations, and each one is labeled as such. What you will find here are definitions, reading methods, and accessibility checks.
The about page explains how we handle numbers and how we write.
I have a question, a correction, or a term I want explained
Route E · Write to us
Corrections to a definition are especially welcome, because a small error in a glossary can travel a long way. The contact page lists what we can answer and what we cannot.
Three habits that catch most misreadings
-
Read the label before the number
A figure without a unit, a period, or a source is a sentence with its verb missing. Find those three things first, and the number will mean something.
-
Ask what the change is measured from
A change is always a difference against something. Before you compare two moves, check the starting point, the window, and whether the scale begins at zero.
-
Check that color is not the only signal
If a warning depends only on red, it will fail for some readers and under some lighting. Look for a label, a shape, or a position that says the same thing.
Not financial, legal, or medical advice. Gauge House describes how market information is presented and how to read it. It does not evaluate any security or asset, does not forecast prices, and does not recommend a course of action.