Pro-tip: always use a logarithmic scale

tl;dr: everybody should use a logarithmic scale, all the time

I know some people do not like it, and some of them probably do not like it enough to answer this post and criticize it. Some applications do not even support it.

However, the logarithmic scale is the only scale that shows distances properly. The distance between 1 and 10 is the same as the distance between 10 and 100:

• 1 to 10 means 10x, or 1000% up. Exactly like 10 to 100.
• 100 to 10 means 1/10, or 90% down. Exactly like 10 to 1.

Log scale helps against FOMO. With linear scale, when something goes parabolic, the gains seem to accelerate (the distance between 10 and 100 seems 10 times bigger than the distance between 1 and 10). However, they may be decelerating, according to log scale, or just be comparable to previous dates.

Similarly, with linear scale dips seem very big when close to the top. A dip (e.g. a red candle) from 100 to 90 seems the same size in linear scale as a drop from 20 to 10, but the former is 10%, and the latter is 50%. With log scale you cannot miss the difference.

I know that if you have been using linear scale for a long time then log scale may seem counterintuitive or confusing. You may try switching between both of them for a while. In any case, try to get used to log scale, it is only good in the long run.

Hope that helps.