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Charts: Controls Toolbar |
When a chart has focus, the buttons on the Chart Controls toolbar become enabled.
After opening a chart from a Quote page, click on the Up and Down arrow buttons
(Previous and Next buttons) to browse up and down through the Quote page symbols. The
Home and End keys on the keyboard can also be used to browse up and down the
Quote page symbols. For example, click the Down arrow button to display
the chart for the next symbol down the Quote page. The browsed charts
will be opened in the same order as the Quote symbols that are displayed in
the quote window. The Quote page must be open in order to browse charts in
the Quote page. Charts can also be browsed by selecting Charts | Previous Chart
or Charts | Next Chart from the menu.
Chart Auto Scroll
Ensign Windows also allows you to scroll through charts based on a timer. The
number of seconds to pause between each chart can be specified by selecting
Set-Up | Charts from the menu. Enter the number of seconds to pause between
each chart in the 'Scroll Speed' entry box. To scroll through several
charts, open a Quote page, display a chart from the quote page, then select
Charts | Auto Scroll from the menu. A chart for each symbol in the quote
page will be displayed. The system will pause for the specified number
of seconds between each chart display. This feature allows traders to
automate the viewing of their charts. The chart scroll feature can display
charts from an open quote page or trading account page. Select Charts
| Auto Scroll again from the menu to stop the chart scrolling based on the
timer.
Zoom In and Out
Click the Zoom-In button to activate the chart zoom feature. The chart
cursor will change to a pencil while in the zoom mode. Use the mouse
to drag a rectangle outline around an area of the chart to be zoomed. Zooming-in
on a chart area allows for magnified inspection of the selected area.
Click the Zoom-Out button to zoom back out to the previous chart view. The
chart view can be zoomed-in several times in a row. In this case, the
Zoom-out button will step back through the prior zoom levels.
Full Screen mode
Select Charts | Full Screen from the menu (or press Ctrl-F) to zoom the chart
to full screen size, or select Full Screen from the chart pop-up menu. When
a chart is zoomed to full screen, the menu will not be visible. T he entire
screen will be dedicated to the chart window. Uncheck Full Screen from
the chart pop-up menu, or press Ctrl-F, or press the ESC key to switch back
to a normal chart window size.
Erasing Bars
Occasionally it may become necessary to delete a group of bars on a chart. Click
on the Delete Area button to activate this feature. The chart cursor
will change to a pencil while in the delete mode. Use the mouse to drag
a rectangle outline around the chart bars to be deleted. After outlining
the bars, a window will prompt for a confirmation before deleting the bars.
Deleting Bars based on the Cursor Location
To delete all chart bars that are to the Left of the cursor position select
Delete | Delete Left from the pop-up menu. To delete all chart bars that
are to the Right of the cursor position select Delete | Delete Right from the
pop-up menu. To delete all chart bars that are Above the cursor position
select Delete | Delete Above from the pop-up menu. To delete all chart
bars that are Below the cursor position select Delete | Delete Below from the
pop-up menu. All of these delete commands are useful for quick removal
of unwanted bars from a chart.
Deleting One Bar
Point the mouse cursor to the bar to delete and then right click the mouse
to display the pop-up menu. Select Delete | Delete Bar from the pop-up menu.
A window will prompt for a confirmation before deleting the bar.
Deleting 1 Date from Many Charts
Select File | File Manager | Delete 1 Date from the menu to delete a specific
date from all daily chart files. Enter the date to delete in the displayed
entry window and then click OK. This feature will delete the indicated
date from daily charts only. Intraday, weekly, and monthly charts will
not be affected. This feature is most often used to delete a bar from all daily
charts after accidentally running the daily update process on a Saturday, Sunday,
or on a Holiday. The date specified will be purged from all daily charts. If
the specified date is found in the Holiday list, then dates will only be deleted
from Holiday symbols.
Select Charts | Types | Percent Scale from the menu, or click the Percent
Scale button on the Charts Toolbar to convert the chart price grid to a percentage
grid. The first bar on the left edge of the chart window will be referenced
as 100 percent. The remaining bars on the chart will be scaled either
above 100 or below 100. The Percent Scale chart is used to see how far
a market has risen or fallen by percent, based on the starting bar. Percent
Scale charts are also used with multiple overlay charts to compare relative
movements between the charts.
Log Scale Charts
Select Charts | Types | Log Scale from the menu, or click the Log Scale button
on the Charts Toolbar to change a chart's scaling to Log Scale.
Click the horizontal expand or compress buttons on the Chart Controls Toolbar
to change the bar spacing. You can also use the mouse or the keyboard
to expand and compress the bar spacing. To adjust the Horizontal bar
spacing, move the mouse to the bottom of the chart and drag left or right on
the Date and Time text. Drag the mouse to the left to expand the bar
spacing and view fewer bars. Drag the mouse to the right to compress the bar
spacing and view more bars. To use the keyboard, press the left square
bracket [ key to expand bar spacing, and the right square bracket key ] to
compress the bar spacing.
Click the vertical expand or compress buttons on the Chart Controls Toolbar
to change the bar height and scaling. You can also use the mouse or the
keyboard. Move the mouse to the right edge of the chart and drag up or
down on the price scaling numbers. Drag down to compress the bars vertically.
Drag up to expand the bars and price scaling vertically. To use the keyboard,
press SHIFT-{ or the Left Arrow key to expand the vertical bar height. Press
SHIFT-} or the Right Arrow key to compress the vertical bar height. NOTE:
The keyboard commands can be changed on the Set-Up | Charts 'Keyboard' tab
settings screen.
Click the Arrow buttons on the Chart Controls Toolbar to slide the chart right, left, up, or down. You can also use the mouse or the keyboard. Click and hold down the mouse inside a chart window and drag right, left, up, or down to slide the chart view. The chart will maintain its price scaling and bar spacing. This is useful for sliding the chart up, down, forwards or backwards while looking at studies or chart bars. This can also be helpful to see where projection lines or studies extend into the future. Click the Default Scale reset button on the Controls Toolbar to return the chart view to the original position. The chart view can also be changed by pressing the following keys on the keyboard. NOTE: The keyboard commands can be changed on the Set-Up | Charts 'Keyboard' tab settings screen.
Page Up or Up Arrow - Slide the Chart view up
Page Down or Down Arrow - Slide the Chart view down
Equal (=) - Return the chart to the Default Scale and bar position.
Period Key (.) - Shift the Chart to the right 1 bar
Comma Key (,) - Shift the Chart to the left 1 bar
Shift-Period (<) - Shift the Chart view left
Shift-Comma (>) - Shift the Chart view right
Select Set-Up | Charts from the main menu and edit the 'L/R Bar Shift' box
to specify a left or right bar shift amount. The chart will be shifted
left or right by the specified bar amount.
Jumping to First or Last Chart Bar
Hold the SHIFT key down while clicking the Default Scale reset button (or press
SHIFT '=' on the keyboard) to jump to the first (earliest) bar of the chart.
Click the Default Scale reset button (or press '=' on the keyboard) to jump
to the last (most recent) bar of the chart.
Default Scale Button
Click the Default Scale reset button on the Chart Controls Toolbar, or press
the '=' key to auto-scale a chart. Clicking this button will auto-scale
a chart if the chart bars have gone off the screen or are too compressed. If
a chart has been compressed or moved right, left, up, or down it will return
the chart view to its original position. If the last bar of the chart
is not currently displayed (ex. the chart has been dragged to the right),
clicking the Default Scale button will return the chart view back to the
current bar.
Hold the SHIFT key down while clicking the Default Scale reset button (or press
SHIFT '=' on the keyboard) to jump to the first (earliest) bar of the chart. Click
the Default Scale reset button (or press '=' on the keyboard) to jump to the
last (most recent) bar of the chart.
Editing Chart Data
Editing chart data is necessary if a chart has become corrupted by a spike
or bad tick. Stock splits and price decimal shifts can also make it
necessary to edit the chart data. Chart bars can be edited directly
on the chart with the mouse or with the keyboard.
Editing and Inserting Chart Bars with the Mouse
Move the mouse cursor to the bar that needs to be corrected. Slide the mouse
cursor up or down the bar until the cursor is at the price level of the high
or low that needs to be adjusted. Right-click the mouse to view the pop-up
menu and then select Edit.
Select High to adjust the high of the bar to the indicated mouse cursor position
(Ctrl-H).
Select Low to adjust the low of the bar to the indicated mouse cursor position
(Ctrl-L).
Select Open or Close to adjust the open and close prices if necessary.
Select Insert Bar to insert a new bar at the chart cursor location.
To insert a new chart bar, you can also point to a bar and then press Ctrl-I
on the keyboard.
Note: The exact price of a bar's high or low are not always known. In these
cases an estimation must be used to correct the bar.
Note: Graphically editing the current bar on a Daily chart will also change
the corresponding prices for the affected symbol, in the quote page. Therefore,
fixing a bad price on the Daily chart will correct the bad price in the quote
page too.
Editing a Chart Data-Set
Select Charts | Edit Data Set from the menu to view a grid containing all price
data for a chart. The grid will include the Date, Open, High, Low, Close,
Volume, and Open Interest. For intraday charts, the bar Time is displayed
instead of the Open Interest value. Move the grid cursor to the row and
column that requires editing, and then make the desired changes. Use
the Tab key, Arrow keys, and the Page Up and Page Down keys to move the cursor
around the grid. Click Close to save the changes and close the window. Click
Insert Row to insert a new row below the selected row. Click Delete Row
to delete the selected row from the data set. Click Cancel to abort any
changes and close the window. Click the Duplicate Row button to duplicate the
currently selected row.
Stock Splits and Decimal Shifts
Occasionally a chart will have a dramatic change in price caused by a Stock
Split or by a Decimal Shift in the chart price. Select Adjust for Split
from the chart pop-up menu to correct the chart data . The software will
automatically determine the type of price split that occurred and adjust
the chart data accordingly. Press Ctrl-Z while viewing a chart to automatically
adjust for a Stock Split.