About Charts
- Chris Harrison
- Brendan Hebert (Unlicensed)
A Chart is a common panel that you will frequently add to your workspace. There are a number of sections on a chart that you need to be familiar with:
Search For Symbol - Allows you to change the symbol on the chart
Compare - You can add up to three other symbols for price comparison directly on the chart.
Expressions - By clicking on the f(x) button, you can insert your own custom expression or use a preconfigured one.
Time Interval (Daily above) - Sets the chart aggregation (period) that each bar on the chart represents
Plot Type (Candlestick) - Change the type of bar
Studies - Add a study / technical indicator to the chart
Events - Add dividends, splits and earnings data to equity instruments
Share chart (camera) - Download or share the chart image via Twitter
Date Range(calendar icon) - Sets a custom date range
Print (printer icon) - print the viewable chart
Settings (Cog Wheel) - Opens up the Settings window
Tools Panel - Add drawing tools such as trendlines, lock chart, remove all drawings, and zoom in
Symbol Search and Expression Entry
Type in a futures symbol, futures root symbol, keyword, ticker, or instrument name and you will see a list of suggested symbols.
Use the arrow icons to expand and collapse different asset classes and symbol groupings.
By clicking on the f(x) button, you can insert your own custom expression or use a preconfigured one.
Below are some helpful rules when creating your own custom expression:
symbols - must be enclosed in "curly brackets". Examples: {ZC*1} {ESU17} {IBM} {^EURUSD}
constants: any floating point number like 2.35; note that we don't support "scientific" notation (for example 1.72E5)
operators:
unary operator - (negation) so you may enter -2 + 1 and are not forced to type 1 - 2
binary operators:
+ (addition)
- (subtraction)
* (multiplication)
/ (division)
^(power)
These are listed in order from lowest to highest precedence (multiplication and division will always happen before addition and subtraction, unless grouped by parentheses).to make sure precedence is correct, parentheses ( and ) can be used; for example 2 ^ 2 + 3 = 7 but 2 ^ (2 + 3) = 32
Events
When selected, the chart will show dividends, earnings or splits on the applicable date.
When hovering over the bar of the even, the data view will display that event’s value.
Time Interval
The Interval (sometimes referred to as the period) defines the amount of data represented by each bar. For example, selecting a Time Interval of "15 minutes" results in a chart with a bar drawn at every 15 minute interval. lick the Interval drop-down list at the top of the chart (this appears just to the left of the Study button) and select from an option shown.
When setting the Interval for a commodity or futures symbol, be aware of the options available for long-range charts:
For Daily / Weekly / Monthly / Quarterly / Yearly: Shows the historical trading activity only for the contract specified.
For Daily Nearest / Weekly Nearest / Monthly Nearest / Quarterly Nearest / Yearly Nearest: Builds a historical chart using the nearest contract. The nearest contract is the closest unexpired contract for the underlying commodity, where every chart bar represents the front month at that point in history.
For Daily Continue / Weekly Continue / Monthly Continue / Quarterly Continue / Yearly Continue: Builds a historical chart using the same month specified for the original contract. For example, if the symbol is ZSX13 (Soybeans November 2013), the chart is built using all previous November contracts for Soybeans (ZSX13, ZSX12, ZSX11, ZSX10 etc).
Range Bars: custom bars available include ticks (trades), custom intraday (custom periods per bar), seconds per bar (user defined seconds per bar), custom ticks (user defined amount of ticks per bar), custom volume (user defined amount of volume per bar), custom range (user defined range per bar)
Date Range
Quickly plot pre-set time frames or create a custom date range for a specific aggregation by clicking the Calendar icon. First, choose whether you want to see Intraday, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Quarterly, then choose "Date" from the period drop-down list. You can then enter a beginning and ending date range.
Studies
cmdtyView allows you to add an unlimited number of studies on a chart. Studies are classified as either Overlay studies (plotted in the same pane as the symbol data) or Stand-alone studies (a study that uses a different price scale than that of the underlying symbol). When you add a study to a chart, It is added using default parameter and color settings. You may change these settings by editing the study. After clicking on the Studies button, overlay studies will appear first and you can scroll through the list using the scroll bar. You can search for s specific study by using the search for study box.
When you add a study to a chart, It is applied using default parameter and color settings. Once a study is applied, you can change the settings by clicking on the Study name in the upper right corner of the chart (for overlaid studies) and below the chart for standalone studies. You may change these settings by clicking on the applied study and editing the parameters.
For more info on the studies available, please click here.
Drawing Tools
Apply a number of different tools to the chart including trendlines, fibonaccis, shapes, arrows, and calculations by clicking on any of the icons in Tools panel.
Left click on a applied tool to move adjust the location and right click to edit the tool’s coloration or range and count.
You can remove a tool by left clicking on the Tool and then hitting the delete button on your keyboard.
Note: Once left clicked on, “handles” will appear on either end of the tool.
Plot Type
By default, charts in cmdtyView are set to candlestick. Click on ‘Candlestick’ to view the bay types available.
Below is information on the plot types available in cmdtyView:
Colored OHLC Bars and HLC Bars show the price bars in either green or red, depending on the bar's close price relates to the previous close. When green, the close is greater than the previous close; when red, the close is less than the previous close.
Candlestick Hollow:
If Close is greater than previous close, the bar is outlined in black.
If Close is less than previous close, the bar is outlined in red.
When close is above the open price, the candle is hollow.
When close is below the open price, the candle is filled.
Candlestick Open-to-Close plot the difference between the close of the current bar and the open price of the current bar.
If Close is greater than Open, the bar is colored green.
If Close is less than Open, the bar is colored red.
Candlestick Close-to-Close plot the difference between the close of the current bar and the closing price of the previous bar (price change)
If today's close is greater than the previous close, the bar is colored green.
If today's close is less than the previous close, the bar is colored red.
Heikin-Ashi, which means average bar in Japanese, is a distinct type of Candlestick charts. They use average ranges to calculate the points of the Candle, which smooths out the chart and in turn provides a clearer view of the trend of the market. Heikin-Ashi are also different from traditional Candlestick charts, in that they take the prior session open and close into account for the open, which in turn removes any gaps between bars on the chart.
The Heikin-Ashi chart is plotted as a candlestick chart, where the down days are represented by filled bars, while the up days are represented by hollow bars.
Calculation:
Open = (Open of previous bar+Close of previous bar) / 2
High = maximum of High, Open, or Close (whichever is highest)
Low = minimum of Low, Open, or Close (whichever is lowest)
Close = (Open+High+Low+Close)/4
Interpretation:
Hollow candles represent an uptrend, with larger hollow bars indicating a stronger uptrend.
Filled candles represent a downtrend, with larger filled bars indicating a stronger downtrend.
Elder-Impulse System: The Elder Impulse System was designed by Alexander Elder and featured in his book, Come Into My Trading Room. According to Elder, “the system identifies inflection points where a trend speeds up or slows down.”
The Impulse System is based on two indicators, a 13-day exponential moving average and the MACD-Histogram. The moving average identifies the trend, while the MACD-Histogram measures momentum. As a result, the Impulse System combines trend following and momentum to identify trading impulses. This unique indicator combination is color coded into the price bars for easy reference.
Green price bars show that the bulls are in control of both trend and momentum as both the 13-day EMA and MACD-Histogram are rising. A red price bar indicates that the bears have taken control because the 13-day EMA and MACD-Histogram are falling. A blue price bar indicates mixed technical signals, with neither buying nor selling pressure predominating.
Read more here.Line and Area charts plot only the close for a given bar.
Renko charts are built using price movement vs. traditional price movement, where one bar is plotted for a specific time period. The chart resembles a series of "bricks", where a new brick is generated when the price moves a specific price amount. By default, Barchart calculates the brick size based on a 14 period Average True Range (ATR), using the Close for brick construction.Renko charts have additional parameters you can set by opening the Settings menu and going to the SYMBOL tab. Besides setting color options for the up/down bricks, you may also set
Method (ATR) - Choose from Traditional or ATR. Traditional uses the constant Brick Size, where ATR values result in fluctuating brick sizes.
Period (14) - the period used to calculate the ATR.
Source (Close) - Valid options are Close and High/Low. For more sensitivity, choose the High/Low range. When looking to focus on end-of-day price data, choose Close.
BrickSize (10) - Used with the Traditional Method. The number of points the security must move before a new brick is formed.
Column: Much like Line and Area charts, a Column chart plots a vertical bar for the close.
Base Line: A Base Line chart shows price movements above and below the average price range for the period displayed on the chart. This bar type uses a default setting of 50% (accessible in the Chart Settings by the Bar Type). Values for the base level can be set from 0% (the lowest price shown on the chart) to 100% (the highest price shown on the chart).
Line Break: Similar to Renko and Kagi charts, a Line Break chart is not based on time, but instead they focus exclusively on price movement. They are intended to highlight price movements, and can be helpful in spotting breakouts or finding support and resistance. Using up and down bars (which are referred to as lines), green lines are drawn as long as price continues to rise, and red lines are drawn as long as prices continue to fall. A reversal in line color only occurs when the closing price exceeds the high or low price of the previous two lines.
By default, a Line Break chart is set to use a Line Count of 3 (accessible in the Chart Settings by the Bar Type). A Line Break chart with a Line Count of 3 compares the current closing price to the closing price of the line from 2 period's ago. If the current price is higher, it draws a green (up) line. If the current price is lower, it draws a red (down) line. If the current closing price is the same, no new line is drawn.
Compare
A Comparison chart allows you to enter up to four different symbols to overlay onto the chart's base symbol for price and trend comparisons. The result is one chart with the price data of all the symbols represented.
Comparison charts can display the price scales of each symbol, , different plot types or you can choose to produce a chart of percent changes between symbols. Each symbol is represented by a different color on the chart. When comparing expired futures contracts, you can ‘align on expiration’ to sync the dates for the compared instruments.
Share Chart
Copy or download the chart’s URL or tweet the chart using the ‘Camera’ icon.
Print Chart
Use the ‘Printer’ icon to print. Complete the information in the Print dialog box, and click Print.
Percent Change
Use the ‘%' button to change the chart’s scale to percent change.
Update the scaale type from linear (default) to logarithmic by clicking on the ‘Log’ button.
Settings
Click on the ‘cogwheel’ icon to pull up the chart settings dialogue.
On the main dialogue, you change the plot type, bar coloring rule (close to close or open to close), bar color selection, and contract roll method. Opt to roll based on volume and open interest from month to month or on a set days to expiration for futures.
Under the Display section, update font size, axis settings and opt to remove the chart legend (current session’s data)
Chart Template creation can be found in the settings. After configuring a chart to desired specifications, you can create a saved template that can be then applied to other charts across the platform by setting it as a Default Template.
When a standalone study is applied, you can customize the study by clicking on Pane 2. Pane 1 will take you back to the Global display for chart.
Right Click Options
Many of the features avialine in the main toolbar and settings can used via the right click context menu. A menu will display that will allow customization of the chart after right clicking anywhere inside the chart.