This tab is used to customize the colors and other settings of the Intraday and/or Historical charts.

There are several tabs for the various options:

 

 

Clear all Chart Data will erase all data from the charts collected so far and start building the charts from this point forward.

 

Colors: This tab allows you to select the colors of the chart background, prices, etc. and the defaults for the various indicators using the color drop down selections:

 

 

The system comes predefined with a default Chart Color Scheme labeled as ***Default***. The colors as set for the default scheme will be used for Intraday and Historical charts.  You can create your own Chart Color Schemes. This is done by clicking the Add New button. Type the name you want for the scheme in the text box and set the colors. The new scheme will be added to the dropdown list (which can be recalled for changing or deleting).  To remove a color scheme shown, click the Delete button.

 

Note: This is not a selection screen for the color scheme to be used on the charts. It is only used to setup the color schemes.  The system default (***Default***) is the one that will be used for all new charts.  Each chart can have its own color scheme - this is selected directly on the chart.  You can also save it as part of a template for loading onto a chart.  Since intraday and historical charts have separate defaults, this method can be used to have different default color schemes for each.

 

 

The watermark option, if selected to show on the Miscellaneous tab of chart preferences displays the symbol and company name in the background.  The watermark color can be set automatically by the system based on the selected Background color or specifically selected from the Watermark colors.  The Reset button sets the watermark color back to the the automatic system color.

 

Indicators: Colors to be used for the top and bottom indicators on the charts.

 

Reset to Default Colors will discard all your customized color settings and reset them to the default system colors.

Cancel Changes will discard any changes made and revert back to the previous color settings.

 

Line Thick: This tab allows you to select the thickness of the various lines using spin controls:

 

You can overide the default thickness setting for trend lines and indicators directly on the charts,

 

Fibonacci: This tab allows you to select the percent values of the Fibonacci Retracement lines and Fan lines that are available on the Intraday and Historical Charts.  To the right of the pre-defined percent values are user defined percents that you can enter. 

 

To see the Retracements/Fans on the charts, draw a  trend line, connecting two points and right click on the trend line for Fibonacci drawing options.  Another way of drawing Fibonacci lines on the chart is by selecting the Shapes tool from the chart toolbar. The color of the Fibonacci lines will be as selected on the Colors tab in chart preferences and they will be the same as the color of the trend line.  You can have multiple Fibonacci's drawn on a single chart:

 

Retracements:

Select whether or not to Show Percentages and/or Price levels numbers on the chart at the retracement line levels.

 

Fans:

Select whether or not to Show Percentages numbers on the chart at the fan line levels.

 

Miscellaneous: This tab allows you to set various other options for the Intraday and/or Historical charts:

 

 

Candles:

Staircase: This will remove gaps when using a Candlestick chart.  This is done by making the previous close equal to the next open.

Thicker Wicks: When this box is checked, QT will draw thicker candle wicks on candlestick charts for candles that are fairly wide.  For very narrow candles the wicks will remain the standard pixel width.  This option when checked also effects the width of OHLC chart type candles as necessary.

No Outline:  Checking this box will eliminate the outline border for all candles whether they are narrow or wide.

Wicks Same Color: Checking this box will display the "wicks" the same color as the candle.  When this box is not checked or the candle has an outline, the wicks will display as the color selected for Last on the Colors tab.

Hollow: Checking this box will only show the outline of the candles. The candle body will not be color filled and remain hollow.

Outline Narrow: Checking this box will outline candles even when they are narrow.  When this box is not checked, narrow candles will be drawn without outlines (same as the fill color).

Color OHLC bars using Prev Close: For OHLC (Open/High/Low/Close) type charts, this option determines what to base the negative or positive coloring for the bar on the intraday and/or historical charts.  If the option is not checked, it is based on the open of the current bar.  If the option is checked, it is based on the close of the previous bar.

 

Cross-Hair:

Always Show: This allows you to trace and show you the data for any time period in the chart.  If checked, the cross-hair is always visible.  When this option is off, you can have the cross-hair display on the chart, if you hold down the Shift key.  Release the Shift key to hide the Cross-hair again.

Small: The Cross-hair spans the entire chart across and down.  When this box is  checked, only a small Cross-hair will be displayed in the upper chart.

Freestyle default: By default, the crosshair will automatically only move to a point where a price point intersects with a time period/frequency.  Hold down the Alt key to make the Cross-hair freestyle. To make the Freestyle Cross-hair the default, select this option.

Opaque: The box in the corner of the chart that displays the cross-hair values will be transparent (see-through so that the chart area beneath it is visible). Checking the Opaque box will make it non-transparent.

Always Show Data Box:  The default (checked) is to show the data box in the corner of the chart for the crosshair position. To have only the crosshair displayed without the data box in the corner, uncheck the option. To see the data box even with the option off, hold down the Control key.

 

 

Vertical Axis: Select whether you want the prices and indicator values scales to appear on the left or right side of the chart.

 

Grid:

Horizontal:  Checking this box will show dashed grid lines on the chart going across at the horizontal axis points.  Uncheck this box to remove the grid lines going horizontally (across).

Vertical:  Checking this box will show dashed grid lines on the chart going  down at the vertical axis points.  Uncheck this box to remove the grid lines going vertically (down).

Check both Grid boxes to display the full grid.  Uncheck both for no Grid lines to be displayed.

 

Trend Lines:

Extend: From the drop down list, select the default to be used to automatically extend the Trend Lines drawn on the charts. You can override this default for a single trend line from the right click menu on a trendline.  The available options are Don't Extend, extend to Right only, extend to Left only or extend in Both directions.

Unique Per Chart:  If you have multiple charts open for the same symbol and you draw a trend line on one of them, it will appear on the other charts as well if this box is not checked.  Checking the box, allows the trend lines to be unique to the specific chart and not shared for the others with the same symbol.

 

Show:

Price Tooltip: This will pop up a tooltip showing the current Last, Bid, Ask, High, Low Prices, Change and Volume for the stock when you place the cursor on an Intraday Chart.

Toolbar: If this option is selected, the Chart Toolbar and its functions will be available on the chart.  It will pop out when the mouse is placed in the corner of the toolbar location and then auto-hide when not in use.

Watermark: Checking this option will display the symbol and company name in the background of the chart as a watermark.  The watermark color can be set automatically by the system based on the selected background color of the chart or specifically selected on the Colors tab of chart preferences.

Bid/Ask over Price Line: When you have the bid/ask price lines set to show on a chart, checking this box will draw them on top of the (last) price line. The default is for the last price to be drawn on top.

Current Price/Indicators values: Checking this option will display the current last price (upper chart) and the current indicator values highlighted in their selected colors on the Y scale.

Color High/Low Price: Checking this option will display the current last price (upper chart) highlighted  in the price scale using the Candle Up color if at the high of the day and the Candle Down color if at the low of the day.

 

Scales:

When linking lower chart indicators into one window, QuoteTracker, by default will attempt as best as possible to display the scale(s) appropriately for the indicators in the same window using both the right and left sides of the indicator window as needed.  This, of course is not always possible depending on the selected linked indicators. The first selected linked indicator(s) will take precedence in displaying the scale(s).  Other options are available  to override this default:

 

Force to First Linked Ind. Scale:  Only the scale of the first selected linked indicator will be used.

Force Linked Ind. to one Scale:   The combined scales of all the selected indicators will be used to show all values.

 

Miscellaneous:

Weeding Points:  With fast moving stocks and a fast updating quote site, there could be many quotes coming in per second, each generating points for the chart.  Check this box to weed (or thin) the chart points in order to speed up the drawing of the chart and overall system performance by reducing the number of data points that need plotting without significantly affecting the visible attributes of the chart.  Uncheck this box to show all the points in the chart, at the expense of possible slowdown in speed.  This option is relevant only to Line Charts.

No Outline for Volume Bars: Checking this box will eliminate the outline on the volume bars indicator, if selected.  When this box is not checked, the outline will display as the color selected for Last on the Colors tab.

 

Allow to Scroll Charts: Selecting this option places a scroll bar at the bottom of the charts, allowing you to scroll left and right through specific periods on the chart.  If this option is not checked, only the selected chart period can be viewed.

Tiny Scrollers: If chart scrolling is enabled, this option will show a smaller scroll bar (vertically), saving screen space.

Scroll Increment = One Candle: This option sets the vertical scroll to always advance by one candle at a time with each click on the scroller arrows.

 

Template Load Resizes Chart: When loading a saved template to a chart, checking this box will resize the chart window as saved with the template.  To load all the characteristics of the template and leave the size of the chart window as is, uncheck this box.

Day OHLC - market hours only: When Open, High, Low and/or Close needs to be calculated for a chart indicator, this option, if checked, will only use the active market hours data as specified for the chart timeframe even if it is set to include pre/after market hours on the intraday chart display. Uncheck this box to include pre/after market hours data, if applicable.

 

Spike Filter (%): This setting (default  is 30) lets you filter out bad data points that may have been fetched from a site.  If a quote price is X% above or below the quote directly before it (where X is the Spike Filter value), the quote (or quotes) will be ignored for the purposes of drawing the chart until a quote is received that is in the allowable range.  The higher the number, the less filtering will occur (100 will turn it off completely).  If the number is too low, it may filter too many points.  For more precise manual filtering, you can select to view and adjust the Raw Data for a specific symbol from the Tools Menu on the main screen (or the right click menu).  Additional spike removal options are available from the right click menu on an Intraday Chart.

 

Volume Spike Cap x: The number x (default is 4) is the multiplier that is used to cap the volume chart display.  Volume chart cap is the average volume for the (visible) chart times the multiplier.  The x volume just looks at the volume at a given bar relative to other bars on the chart.  It will limit the volume spike display to the x average volume.

 

Max. Candle Width: This option sets the maximum width of a candle (in pixels) regardless of the chart contents or size. It may be used to control the spacing between candles.

 

Min. and Max. OHLC Thickness: In order to fit all the OHLC candles data in the chart space, the program needs to adjust their width so as to minimize the possibilty of them being overlaid on top of one another.  This option sets the mininum and maximum widths (in pixels) that it will adjust to. Set them both the same for a constant width.

 

Font Size: Select the size of the font to be used in displaying chart components, such as the prices, times, etc. for easier readability.

 

Min. Y Range (%): If the range of the Y axis (prices) is less than this percent of the mid price on the chart, the Y axis range is set to this level around the mid level price.  This is useful in increasing the price range of a slow moving stock (such as early in the trading day), so that it does not take up the entire Y axis.

For example, if the Y axis range is showing a stock at 30, and the prices show 30, 30.05 and 30.10, the range will be from 30 to 30.10 and taking up the entire height of the chart (Min. Y range at 0%).  If the Min. % is set at 2%, the percent of the mid level price is .6 (2% of 30.05).  Since the current range of 30 to 30.10 is less than .6, the Y axis range will be adjusted to 29.70 to 30.30 (set at .6 around the 30.05 level).

Max. Y Range (%): If the range of the Y axis (prices) is greater than this percent of the highest price on the chart, the Y axis range is set to this level around the highest price.  This is useful in eliminating spikes in the chart.

For example, if the high price of a stock is at 30, and a spike comes in at 3, the range will show 3 to 30 (Max. Y range at 100%).  If the Max. % is set at 20%, the percent of the highest price is 6 (20% of 30).  Since the current range of 3 to 30 is greater than 6, the Y axis range will be adjusted to 27 to 33 (set at 6 around the 30 level).

 

The Min. and Max. Y Range % settings are general settings applying to all charts. To directly adjust the price scale for a specific chart, refer to Price Scale Adjustments.

 

Chart Refresh Interval:  Select how often (in seconds), the intraday and the historical charts are to be updated with the new data points.  You may want to increase this value on a slower computer for better performance.  This setting only indicates how often the chart is updated (drawn).  No data is lost.  For historical charts,  this is only applicable if the option to Calculate last candle from L1 data is selected.

 

Snapshots:

The Snapshot function, available from the right click menu (or CTRL S keyboard shortcut) on Intraday and Historical charts allows you to save a chart as an picture (image) file for later review or for easy printing. This section is used to specify the options to be used for the Snapshot:

 

Acquisition:  Select the method to be used when taking a snapshot - Screen or Build. Each method has it's own advantage and disadvantage.  To see the difference between the acquisition methods, click on the ? button to the right of the options:

 

 

Auto-name snapshot file:  Checking this box will allow you to specify the preferences to be used when taking a snaphot to automate saving of the file without further user entry.  If this box is not checked, the rest of the snapshot options will be grayed out and a window will appear at the time of taking a snapshot to enter the file type and name.

 

Image File Type:  Select the type of file (format) to be used the save the image file - GIF or PNG. Both types are compressed, however PNG will generally yield a smaller size.

Snapshot directory:  Enter or select (using the --- browse button) the directory (folder) where to save the file.

Naming Template:  Enter the name/description of the filename to be used.  You can use keyword (enclosed by the #) placeholders that will be replaced appropriately at the time the snapshot is taken.  To see a list of the available keywords that can be used in the template, click on the ? button to the right of the entry box:

 

 

For example, if you are taking a snapshot of symbol ABC chart showing the last 2 days (chart period), the template, Chart of #S# for #P# - #Q#, would  create a file with the name Chart of ABC for Last 2 Days - 1. The #Q# (sequence number) would increase by 1 for each subsequent file saved for the same symbol.

 

Multi-Day Timeframes: This tab allows you to set the number of days and timing options on Multi-day charts for the Intraday Charts:

 

 

Max Days on Charts:  Select the number of days you want displayed on the Intraday Charts, provided that the data is available either from previous days that data was collected for or through a supported Backfill site.  Any data for days further in the past will be discarded.  The maximum number of days that QuoteTracker will preserve is 2 days in the unregistered version of the program. To get the maximum days on the charts as well as other benefits, QuoteTracker must be registered.  For the paid registration, the maximum number of days is 10.  When QuoteTracker is registered (free) through a funded TD AMERITRADE account, the maximum number of days can be set to 20.

 

Consolidate Charts Data after X days:  The more days you select above, the more memory will be required to keep the data and plot the charts.  In order to conserve memory usage and improve system performance (while still keeping the maximum number of days), this option will consolidate previous days data beyond the number of days specified to 1 minute OHLC (Open/High/Low/Close) format frequency.

 

The visual display below the selected days show the number of the total days to be kept in non-consolidated, original Tick format (Green) and the number of (previous) days in consolidated OHLC format (Yellow).  Setting the Consolidate days the same as the Max days will result in none of the days being consolidated.

 

Below is an Intraday Chart displaying multiple days.  The days are separated by vertical lines (same color as selected for the Grid Line in Chart Colors Preferences, showing day of week and date:

 

 

Default Show Pre/After Market:

Pre-market is the time before the active start time and After-market is after the active end time specified for a timeframe.  If the active times span the entire day, there is in effect no pre/after market for that time frame.  Available selections are Never Show (on all days), Always Show (on all days), Last Day Only or Last Day Only Until Market Opens (hidden once the Start active time for the Timeframe arrives).

This setting is a general setting to be used as the default for newly opened charts. You can override this setting for a specific chart symbol from the right click menu on the chart.  To reset the pre/after market setting on all symbols to this default, click on the Reset All Symbols to This Default button.

 

Timeframes:

The system assigns a timeframe for the chart based on the site/symbol from one of the defined timeframes in the Timeframes list.  This is not a settings screen and the system defined timeframes can not be edited (all entries will be grayed out). The Use as Global Default selected timeframe is used only for a site/symbol that the system does not have internally defined.

 

However, each symbol chart can have it's own timeframe assigned (overriding the assigned system timeframe) by either selecting another predefined system or user added timeframe. This is done directly on a chart using the timeframe (clock) icon button from the chart toolbar.  For example, if you have a Futures chart that the system assigned a timeframe to but you only want to see the standard US daily market times on the chart, select US Equities timeframe and set to not show pre/after aftermarket from the chart toolbar.

 

You can click the Add button to define your own timeframe. Use the Delete button to remove the highlighted user added timeframe (you can not delete a system defined timeframe). Use the Copy button to make a copy of an existing timeframe to use as a template to add your own requiring minimal changes.

 

Adding/Editing user defined Timeframes:

 

Timeframe Name: A descriptive name for the Timeframe.

 

Time Zone: Select the time zone of the timeframe from the dropdown list.

 

Active Market Time and Active Days:  These are the Start and End times and Days that represent the market hours to be displayed for the days on the chart.  The data shown on the charts will be between the start and end times specified except as specified by the Pre/Aftermarket selection.  Also see active times settings for data source.

 

Rollover Point: This specifies the time when one trading day ends and another begins.  When new data comes in beyond this rollover point, the data for the current day will clear (become the previous day) and will start at a new day.

 

Mid-day Break:  Some exchanges/symbols stop trading in mid day and resume at a later time.  If this is the case for this timeframe, check the Mid-day Break checkbox and specify the Start and End times of the break.

 

All entered times are based on your local offset settings as set in Preferences/Timing.  You can access the local timing settings screen by clicking on the More Timing Settings button.

 

The visual display below the timing settings shows the active times, the mid-day break, if any and the Rollover time (indicated by the letter R) set for this timeframe.

 

Market Holidays:  In addition to using the Active Days to exclude days of the week from the charts such as weekends for each timeframe, you can also exclude specific days and partial market days (such as those days that market closes early) by clicking on the Market Holidays button:

 

 

To start you off, a default template of Standard Holidays List (right pane) is provided that you can select from and drag to the Holidays list to be excluded from charting (left pane). 

 

To add a new holiday to the list, click the Add button.  To delete a holiday, click on the Delete button. To modify a holiday, select it in the list and make changes in the detail box below the list:

 

Name: The name of the holiday.

Date: Select the date of the holiday to be excluded.

Partial Day: Check this box if the holiday market open and/or close times are not standard.

Start/End:  Specify the open and close times of a partial market holiday.

 

Note that holidays preceded by * in the list can not be changed.

 

Click OK to add/change the holiday in the list or Cancel to cancel the entry.

 

When all done, Click to Save Group (or Cancel Changes to ignore any entries made) and Close the window.