Drawing ToolsFAQ

Open the drawing toolbar on the left side of the chart, pick a tool and click on the chart to place it. Most tools need two or three clicks, for example a start and end point for a trend line. Once it's drawn, click it again to move, resize or restyle it.

A trend line connects two or more highs or lows to show the direction price is moving. Draw it under rising lows in an uptrend or over falling highs in a downtrend. When price breaks through a well-tested trend line, it's often an early sign the trend is changing.

A trend line stops at the two points you click. A ray starts at your first point and keeps going in one direction, which is handy for projecting support or resistance into the future. An extended line runs off the chart in both directions.

Use a horizontal line to mark a price level that matters, like yesterday's high, a round number or a breakout level. A horizontal ray does the same but starts from a specific candle, so it only covers the part of the chart after that point.

A parallel channel is two parallel lines drawn around price, one along the highs and one along the lows. It shows the range a stock is trending within. Traders buy near the lower line, take profits near the upper line, and watch closely when price breaks out of either side.

A regression trend channel draws a best-fit line through price over the period you select, with bands above and below it. Unlike a parallel channel you draw by eye, it's calculated from the data, so it shows the average path of price and how far price usually strays from it.

A pitchfork, also called Andrews' Pitchfork, is three parallel lines drawn from three swing points. The middle line acts like a magnet that price often returns to, and the outer lines act as support and resistance. Schiff, Modified Schiff and Inside pitchforks shift the starting point for steeper or flatter trends.

Draw Fibonacci retracement from the start of a move to its end, swing low to swing high in an uptrend. The tool marks the 23.6%, 38.2%, 50%, 61.8% and 78.6% levels, where pullbacks often pause. Many traders look for entries near the 50% and 61.8% levels.

Retracement shows how far a pullback might go within a move. Extension projects how far the next move might run beyond the previous high or low, with levels like 127.2%, 161.8% and 261.8%. Traders often use retracement for entries and extension for profit targets.

Besides retracement and extension, you get trend-based versions of both, plus Fib Channel, Fib Time Zone, Fib Wedge and Pitchfan. Fib Time Zone is the odd one out: it marks vertical lines at Fibonacci intervals to suggest when a turn might happen, not at what price.

Gann tools are based on W.D. Gann's idea that price and time move in proportion. The Gann Fan draws angled lines from a key high or low, while Gann Box, Gann Square and Gann Square Fixed divide price and time into grids, which helps you spot where support, resistance and turning points might line up.

Harmonic patterns are price shapes built on Fibonacci ratios between swing points. TradingCharts has the ABCD, Gartley, Bat, Butterfly, Crab and Cypher patterns. You click each swing point and the tool shows the ratios, so you can check whether the pattern actually fits before you trade the reversal zone.

Pick the Elliott Wave tool and click on each swing to label it 1 to 5 for impulse waves. For corrections, use the WXY, WXYXZ, Double Combo or Triple Combo tools. The labels stay attached to the chart, so you can revise your wave count as price develops.

Cycle tools mark repeating time intervals on the chart. Cyclic Lines and Time Cycles space out vertical markers at a gap you set, and the Sine Line draws a wave. Traders use them to test whether a stock tends to turn at regular intervals, like every few weeks.

They plan a trade before you take it. Click your entry, then drag the stop-loss and target, and the tool shows your risk, reward and risk-to-reward ratio. It's a quick way to check whether a setup is worth taking before you put money on it.

Use the Price Range tool to see how far price moved, in points and percent. Date Range measures time and number of bars, and Date and Price Range shows both together. The Measure tool gives a quick reading between any two points without leaving a drawing behind.

The magnet snaps your drawings to the nearest open, high, low or close of a candle. Turn it on when you want trend lines and Fibonacci levels to start exactly on a swing high or low, rather than a few paise off.

Yes. You can add plain text, notes, callouts, comments, price labels, price notes, signposts, flag marks and even tables. They're useful for recording why you took a trade, marking an earnings date or leaving yourself a reminder for tomorrow's session.

Anchored text and notes are pinned to a specific price and time on the chart. When you scroll or zoom, they move with the candle they're attached to instead of floating on the screen, so your notes always point at the right bar.

You get rectangles, rotated rectangles, circles, ellipses, triangles, arcs, polylines and curves, plus arrows pointing up, down, left and right. The brush and highlighter let you draw freehand. Rectangles are the most used: traders draw them around supply and demand zones or consolidation ranges.

Yes. Your drawings stay in place when you switch chart type, so a support line you drew on candles is still there on Heikin Ashi or Renko. That makes it easy to check the same level across different views.

Yes, every drawing tool is free, including Fibonacci, Gann, harmonic patterns and Elliott wave tools.