Every chart has a private Chart Properties file. The reason for this is so every chart reopens in the same state as it was when last viewed. If you adjust bar spacing and then close the chart, the properties file is updated. The chart when reopened will display using the adjusted bar spacing. The workspaces save all chart properties in the workspace file when the workspace is saved.
The Chart Properties form is displayed by double clicking on the chart background or by pressing CTRL-P, or select Properties from the chart pop-up menu. The chart properties window is used to customize an individual chart. The individual chart properties will override the chart Default settings. The individual chart will display with its own customized colors, grid lines, chart type, and values.
Show
Bars - Place a check mark in the box to display the Chart Bars. Uncheck to hide the bars.
Bar Data Panel - Show or hide the Bar Data Panel on the top row of the chart.
Study Data Panel - Show or hide the Study Data Panel on the left edge of the chart.
Volume - Show or hide the Volume window at the bottom of the chart.
Open Interest - Show or hide an Open Interest line in the Volume window.
Grid Lines
The ‘Grid Lines’ panel is used to specify the chart grid line type. The grid lines on a chart can be drawn as Dots, Horizontal lines, Vertical lines, or both Horizontal and Vertical lines. Grid lines can also be displayed for the Volume bars.
Properties
Optimize Speed - Streamline the CPU processing required to update the chart and its studies. Studies will not be recalculated on equal price ticks.
Chart Colors
The ‘Chart Colors' panel is used to specify colors for the chart Background, Grid lines, Big cross, Open Interest, Normal Bar color, Bullish bar color, Bearish bar color, and the Volume color. To change a color, click the color box next to each item and select a new color from the color selection window. NOTE: The chart background color can also be changed by selecting Window | Set Window Color from the menu. If the background color is changed from a dark background to a white background, then the font color should also be changed. Otherwise the screen will print white letters on a white background and the letters will not be visible.
Font
Click the Font button in the Chart Properties window to change the font, font size, font color, and font style. Changing the font size will increase or decrease the size of all the prices, times, and values printed on the chart. This can make the prices easier to see.
Bar Spacing, Right Margin, Color Bar
Enter a value in the 'Bar Spacing' box to specify the number of pixels between each bar. Example, a value of 10 will open a chart with 10 pixel spacing between each bar. Enter a value in the 'Right Margin' box to specify the right margin of the chart. Example, a value of 20 will create a 20 pixel blank space on the right edge of the chart.
A Color Bar study can be applied to the chart by making a selection in the Color Bar drop down list. read more» Color Bars
Bar Style
The ‘Bar Style' list box is used to specify a chart type. The available chart types include Bar Chart, Line Chart, Candlesticks, Close Ticks, Ensign Rockets, etc. read more» Bar Styles
Scale
The ‘Scale’ panel is used to customize the grid line scaling for the selected chart. Chart scaling affects the grid lines and the grid line distances. A specific High and Low range can be applied to the chart. An Interval distance between each grid line can also be specified. The scale can be set to ‘
Automatic’, ‘Data Set’, ‘Use Range’, ‘Use Interval’, and 'Square Chart'.
Place a check mark in the ‘Percent’ box to display the chart in a Percentile mode. The Percentile mode will cause the Closing price of the first bar on the left edge of the chart to be equal to 100%. Any movement in the chart prices from this starting point will increase or decrease in Percent. This lets you quickly determine how far a chart has moved in a percentage basis (from a given start point).
Place a check mark in the 'Log' box to display the bars in a Log scale. A log scale will use the same vertical space for the range 1 to 10, as it does for the range from 10 to 100, and for the range from 100 to 1000. A log scale would be appropriate for charts with a huge change in price. Example
Automatic: Calculates an automatic high and low range and grid distance based on the visible bars.
Data Set: Calculates a scale range based on the entire chart data set, including bars that are not displayed on the screen. The scale range is usually very large in order to encompass the entire range that the chart data set has ever traded to.
Use Range: Enter a High and Low price in the entry boxes. The distance between the High and Low prices will be maintained as the market moves up or down.
Use Interval: Enter a grid distance in the 'Interval' entry box. The distance between the grid lines will use the entered price value, or a multiple thereof as needed to create the required scale range.
Square Chart: Enter a value in the Points per Bar (Pts/Bar) entry box. The chart will be rescaled (squared) based on the entered value. For each bar on the chart, the scale range will increase by the Points per Bar entry. The scale will be effected by the number of visible bars on the chart and the Pts/Bar entry. This scale mode is used by traders using Gann Lines or other Line tools, who want to place tools on the chart at a particular angle.
NOTE: The grid line scale can be manually adjusted on a chart by holding down the left mouse button and then dragging the mouse up or down on the grid line numbers (on the right-side of the chart).
Chart Position
The ‘Chart Position’ panel is used to specify where a chart should open on the screen. Select Default to allow Ensign Windows to open a chart at a default window position. Select Remember to specify that a chart should open in the exact same position on the screen each time that it is displayed. NOTE: The chart position is only remembered (saved) when the chart properties window is displayed (and then closed). Opening at a remembered position is not the same as using a workspace to open a chart and position it.
Load/Save Default
Click the Load Default button in the Chart Properties window to reset the chart properties for the individual chart to the default file that was created by the Save Default button. The Save Default file is also used by all new charts to initialize their properties.
The Symbol tab shows the Market Hours used by the chart. read more» Symbol Properties
Day Session Only - Plot only Day Session Bars, or include all trading Sessions on the chart. Check the box to exclude evening session data from the chart.
The Data panel displays the quote Market Group, Symbol, and Time Frame for the selected chart (as well as the following).
Layout - Indicates whether this chart is part of a Workspace or not. If the chart is not part of an active Workspace then ‘No’ will be displayed.
Chart Flag - Displays ‘Set’ if the chart is linked to a live quote record on a quote page. Displays ‘Cleared’ if the chart is not linked to live quotes.
Drive/Path - The ‘Drive’ and ‘Path’ labels display where the chart file was loaded from.
Bars in File - Displays how many bars are currently on the chart.
Save/Resize Bars - Enter the number of bars to resize the chart file to when it reaches the Maximum Bars count.
Maximum Bars - Enter a value in the 'Maximum Bars' box to specify a maximum number of bars allowed for the chart. Example, a value of 5000 will limit the chart to 5000 bars. Ensign Windows charts can hold as many as 65500 bars, however, a smaller maximum is recommended. The Maximum Bars box is used to increase the number of bars that will be stored in the data file for this chart. read more » Tune-up Ensign
Spike Filter - Place a check mark in this box to activate a bad tick filter on this chart.
Filter Size - Specify the bad tick filter size in this box. For example, an entry of 0.50 would cause any tick greater than 0.50 to be ignored by the chart.
Refresh Source - This panel is used to refresh a source, when necessary. Ensign Windows refreshes chart data by downloading chart information from various data sources. There are certain cases where you must specify which refresh source to use (in order to refresh a chart). Select a source, and specify the ‘Source Symbol’ that should be used to refresh from (from that source). If necessary, a ‘Price Adjustment’ can be activated to move the decimal places in the in-coming refresh data.
Last modified 9/8/09 11:39 AM
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