Customize your charts to create a trading workspace that suits your preferences. This guide covers chart setup, line studies, technical indicators, and how to save and manage chart templates to improve trading efficiency.
Charts Setup
The appearance and properties of each chart in the terminal can be configured individually. To do so, one has to execute the "Charts — Properties..." menu command, the chart context menu command of the same name, or press F8. These actions result in the appearance of the "Properties" window that can be used for setting the color of various elements of the chart (the "Colors") tab:
Background — chart background color;
Foreground — color of axes, scales, OHLC line;
Grid — chart grid color;
Bar Up — bar up, shades and fringing of the Bull Candle body;
Bar Down — bar down, shades and fringing of the Bear Candle body;
Bull candle — color of the Bull Candle body;
Bear candle — color of the Bear Candle body;
Line graph — line chart and doji;
Volumes — volumes and levels of open positions;
Ask line — color of the Ask line;
Stop levels — levels of stop orders (Stop Loss and Take Profit).
The changes made are automatically shown in the left part of the window in the preview chart. Except for the manual setting of various color elements of the chart, one can choose pre-defined color diagrams in the field of the same name. There are three color diagrams available in the terminal: "Yellow on Black", "Green on Black", and "Black on White". After the color diagram is chosen, the chart elements described above will change in the chart in the left part of the window. Custom color diagrams can be stored in templates.
Line Studies
Line studies are lines and various geometrical shapes that can be imposed into a price or indicator chart. They include support/resistance lines, trend lines, as well as Fibonacci's, Gann's, and Andrews' tools, etc.
Line studies are collected in the "Insert" menu and in the "Line Studies" toolbar in the terminal. To impose an object, one has to press the corresponding toolbar button (the buttons are given in the leftmost column of the table) or execute a menu command.
Technical Indicators
Technical indicators are a mathematical manipulation of a security price and/or volumes aimed at forecasting future price changes. Decisions about how and when to open or close positions can be made on the basis of signals from technical indicators. According to their functionalities, indicators can be divided into two groups: trend indicators and oscillators. Trend indicators help to assess the price direction and detect the turning points synchronously or with a delay. Oscillators allow finding the turning moments ahead or synchronously.
Indicators are imposed into the chart from the "Navigator" window by means of the Drag'n'Drop technique, by execution of the "Insert — Indicators" menu command, or by pressing the
button of the "Charts" toolbar. A technical indicator can be drawn in a separate indicator window that has a specific vertical scale (for example, MACD).
Or, it can be imposed directly into the price chart (for example, Moving Average).
At that, indicators can be drawn not only for price data and derivatives thereof (Median Price, Typical Price, Weighted Close) but also for other indicators. For example, a Moving Average for Awesome Oscillator can be drawn, and a signal line can be obtained additionally to AO in this way. To do so, one has to draw the AO indicator first, and then, using the Drag'n'Drop technique, impose MA into AO and select the "Previous Indicator Data" option in its settings in the "Apply to" option. If the "First Indicator Data" option is selected, MA will be drawn on the basis of the data of the very first imposed indicator, which can be other than AO.
Besides analytical parameters, one can set colors for various elements, the thickness of lines, and sizes of signs used when setting up the indicator. Moreover, the visualization mode of the object for different timeframes can be changed in the "Visualization" tab. At that, indicators will be shown at the timeframes that have been selected. This function can be useful if the tool has different settings for different timeframes. Using the "Show in the Data Window" option in the same tab, one can control the visualization of information about indicators in the "Data Window".
All settings can be changed. To do so, one has to select the desired indicator in the "Indicators List" window and press the "Edit" button or execute the "Properties..." command of the indicator context menu.
The indicator context menu can be called by clicking with the right mouse button on a line, sign, or diagram of the desired indicator. To remove an indicator, one has to execute the "Delete Indicator" indicator context menu command or the "Delete Indicator Window" command in the chart or indicator context menus. The "Delete Indicator Window" command closes the indicator window.
Attention: Having placed the cursor near a line, a sign, or a column border of an indicator histogram, one can determine the precise value of this given indicator at this point.
Saving/editing a Template
Templates represent the chart window parameters stored in memory. The following is saved in a template: chart type, period, scale, all settings of line studies, technical and custom indicators, and experts. Templates allow unifying the appearance of many charts easily and quickly.
The menu that manages templates can be called by the "Charts — Template" menu command, the chart context menu command of the same name, and the
button of the "Charts" toolbar. The "Save Template..." menu command allows you to store a new template, and that of "Remove Template" — to delete an existing one.
More details can be found in the "Templates and Profiles" section.