Share Performance Chart example - easily understand share performance and holdings changes

Topshare's Share Performance Chart has two panels. The first displays the "per share" data for price and dividends:

 

Note that special dividends, where there is generally a lower expectation of recurrence, are shown in yellow to distinguish them from normal dividends.

The lower panel shows your overall holding in the stock, and illustrates the influence of various events on its value:

The overall value of the holding is shown in red. Blue histogram bars indicate purchase events - the height of the bar is read against the Y-axis to show the value of the purchase.

Your overall net investment in the stock is shown as the blue line. You can instantly see your profit / loss situation - if the blue line is below the red, you're showing a profit!

If you participate in a Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRP) the shares issued with each dividend are shown as yellow histograms (below):

And when you sell some shares, the amount received is shown as a green histogram: