Create Chart

Brief

This section describes how to create a chart.

Details

To create a chart

1. Do one of the following:

• On the File menu, click Create Chart.
• Press CTRL + N.
  
  * In the E*TRADE FX platform, you can click Create Chart on the toolbar . The command is also available on the Charts menu.
2. The Create Chart dialog box appears.
   
   
3. In the Symbol box, select the symbol of your choice.
4. In the Period box, select or type the period of your choice. To type the period, do the following:

• Type the first letter of the time unit you want to use (m for minutes, h/H for hours, d/D for days, w/W for weeks, and M for months).
• Type the number of time units of your choice (for m – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20 or 30; for h/H – 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 or 12; for d/D, w/W, and M the standard value is 1. You can also use the following custom periods: from 1 to 365 for days, from 1 to 51 for weeks, and 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 for months.). For example, to set a two-minutes period, a three-hours period, a one-day period, or a one-month period, you should type m2, h/H3, d/D1, or M1 respectively.
5. In the Show Data Range box, select the data range of your choice or Other.
   If Other is selected, the Date to and Date from check boxes become available. Select the check boxes at your choice, and then in the box on its right, select or type the date and time of your choice.
   
   Notes:

• If the Date to check box is clear, all periods between Date from and the current period are displayed on the chart. If you create a tick chart and the number of ticks is more than 5,000, only 5,000 ticks before the current tick are displayed. If you create a bar chart and the number of periods in the selected data range is more than 15,000, only 15,000 periods before the current period are displayed.
• If the Date from check box is clear, 5,000 ticks before Date to are displayed on a tick chart and 15,000 periods before Date to are displayed on a Bar chart respectively.
• If the Date from and Date to check boxes are selected, all periods between Date from and Date to are displayed on the chart. If you create a tick chart and the number of ticks in the selected data range is more than 5,000, maximum 5,000 ticks before Date to are displayed. If you create a bar chart and the number of periods in the selected data range is more than 15,000, maximum 15,000 periods before Date to are displayed.
6. If you want to apply a certain template to the chart, select the Apply template check box, and then click the template of your choice in the list.
7. If you want the chart to be displayed within the new layout, select the Create in New Layout check box. Otherwise, the chart is displayed in the E*TRADE FX platform.
   
   Note: When a chart is displayed within the E*TRADE FX platform, the chart can be viewed in a separate window. For details, see Detach/Attach Chart.
8. Click OK.

* In the E*TRADE FX platform, you can also open a chart for the selected symbol by setting only the period. The other settings remain the same as they were in the previously created chart.

To open a chart for the selected symbol

• On the Charts menu, point to Open Chart, and then select the period of your choice from the list of the submenu.

Note: You can change the chart scale and move the chart to see current and historical data. For details, see Chart Navigation.

[History] Label

If you create a historical data chart (by choosing the past date and time in the Date to box of the Create Chart dialog box), you stop to receive price updates. Such charts are static, however, they look very much like charts that receive real-time prices. To avoid confusing the charts, historical data charts are marked with the [History] label in their upper-left corner. It is useful to know what chart you are looking at especially when you work with different chart elements that are recalculated with every new price.

You can hide the [History] label from the chart. For details, see Hide/Show Chart Legend.