Instructions: Map of the Market
 

Quick-start guide
The SmartMoney Map of the Market

The map is a powerful new tool for spotting investment trends and opportunities. This quick-start guide will show you how to interpret the map, drill down for detailed information and customize your view. For advanced tips, see our article, Secrets to Using the Map of the Market.
 


The market at a glance
The map lets you watch more than 500 stocks at once, with data updated every 15 minutes. Each colored rectangle in the map represents an individual company. The rectangle's size reflects the company's market cap and the color shows price performance. (Green means the stock price is up; red means it's down. Dark colors are neutral). Move the mouse over a company rectangle and a little panel will pop up with more information.
For example, the picture at left shows a group of technology companies. The mouse is pointing to a dark rectangle, representing Oracle. Notice that the green rectangle at the upper left is much bigger than the others. Exactly which Redmond-based software behemoth it represents is left as an exercise for the reader.
 

Click to drill down
 Want to know more about an individual company? Click on it to bring up a menu like this one. The first two options let you focus on a specific sector or industry. (In the menu at right you could choose a map of technology stocks in general, or software stocks in particular.) The other menu items will take you to our interactive research tools for news, detailed financial data and historical graphs.
 

You're at the controls
Customize the map with the control panel. If you've closed the panel, you can bring it back up by clicking on the "Controls" button in the upper left corner.
  • View other time periods
    The map starts off displaying price changes since the previous market close, but you can also view the change over three other time periods.
  • Pick out the market movers
    Highlight the top five gainers or losers.
  • Find a particular stock
    To spotlight a company, type its name or symbol.
  • Colorblind?
    Try the blue/yellow color scheme for a clearer view.

Want to know more? Read Secrets to Using the Map of the Market.

The visualization used in the Map of the Market derives from work done by Prof. Ben Shneiderman and students at the University of Maryland Human-Computer Interaction Lab on treemap displays.