Charts
Charts
A chart displays historical data for a contract in graphical format. There are many ways in the representation of data. This is an example of a chart:
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There are a few actions in this window:
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- if you press the left mouse button while on the chart, you will see the value and the timestamp of the point where
the mouse pointer is. E.g.: value: 1347.53 and timestamp 01/24/2007 3:20:49 PM and in the info box, there will be
displayed information about the evolution of the contract at that position of the mouse pointer.
- if you click the left button on the Buy/Sell bar on the chart, you will be able to place a order at the price corresponding to the position of the mouse pointer. - if you scroll the mouse over the values scale, you can zoom in or zoom out the values on the values scale. - if you turn the mouse wheel over the time scale, you can zoom in or zoom out the time on the time scale. - you can navigate through the chart by pressing the arrow keys on the keyboard. - you can browse the chart by keeping the left mouse button pressed and moving up and down over the values scale. |
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From the chart, you can flatten the contract at the market price, cancel the buy orders for the contract, cancel all the orders for the contract or cancel the sell orders for the contract. The buttons are in the lower right part of the frame.
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If you start typing the symbol of a contract, the "New chart" dialog appears and you can choose a different contract. After this, you have three type of chart settings. The first (the type of the chart) is dependent on the last (the limit to control). There are seven chart types: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Intraday, Ticks and Volume. Each of this chart types have different limits which the user can set using the "Limit to" control below.
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In this module there are four types of data representation (data views):
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- line - area - bars - candles |
A line chart is the simplest chart type. It's created by drawing lines from one price to another during a time period. The prices used for the line chart are: close, low, high and open. By default the price used is close. You can change it from Lines Properties dialog. To open this dialog use double click on the status bar, "Lines section".
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Area chart is similar with line chart. The difference is that the area chart is filled. The prices used for the area chart are: close, low, high and open. By default the price used is close. You can change it from Area Properties dialog. To open this dialog use double click on the status bar, "Area section".
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A bar chart shows much data then a line chart. The open, high, low and close price for a chart point are shown all at the same time on a bar chart.
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When a chart point is created, the first line that is drawn is open price. Then the price is oscillating from one price to another, this will give the high and the low price for the chart point. The final price for the chart point is close price.
When you click the left mouse button, the bar at the same timestamp with the mouse pointer will be highlighted like in the example below. The same feature is available with the candles chart.
By default the size of a bar is small. You can change it from Bars Properties dialog. To open this dialog use double click on the status bar, "Bars section".
By a right click on a bar you can report it "bad bar" or you can edit it. "Bad bar" option send a warning for the server if the user considers that the bar represents wrong dates. To see more about these features, click here.
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A candle chart shows the same information as a bar chart: open, low, high and close price. In plus, the change in price is more evident on this type of chart because the difference between the open and close is shown in a graphical way. In the following example, the O<C color is white and the O>C color is red. The color of candles can be changed from the Candles Properties dialog. It can be opened by use double click on the status bar, "Candles section".
By a right click on a candle you can report it "bad bar" or you can edit it. "Bad bar" option send a warning for the server if the user considers that the candle represents wrong dates. To see more about these features, click here.
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