Summary

This example shows a line chart plotted with over 8000 data points. The data itself is daily stock market information for Microsoft Corporation over a period of more than 30 years.  Only the closing price is plotted. When you first create a line chart with this much data, the x-axis will be crowded with labels. The key is to adjust the bounds and units for the in the Axis options area. In this case, the axis is formatted as a date axis. 

Data

Below is a small sample of the data used to plot this chart. This data can be downloaded from Yahoo Finance.

Sample data - daily stock data for more then 30 years

Steps to create

1. Create a Line Chart with Date and Close data only.

2. Remove extra data series, leaving only Date and Close.

3. Make sure x-axis is formatted as a Date axis.

4. Set Major units to 5 years, minor units to 1 year.

5. Set bounds to 1/1/1990 and 1/1/2020.

6. Apply number format to the axis ("yyyy") in this case.

6. Adjust upper bounds for y-axis as desired.

7. Add a title and apply text formatting as needed

Dave Bruns Profile Picture

AuthorMicrosoft Most Valuable Professional Award

Dave Bruns

Hi - I'm Dave Bruns, and I run Exceljet with my wife, Lisa. Our goal is to help you work faster in Excel. We create short videos, and clear examples of formulas, functions, pivot tables, conditional formatting, and charts.