Editing SharpCharts

Customize your charts with indicators and overlays that are important to you.

Editing on the SharpCharts Workbench

In general, you edit a chart on the workbench by changing one or more of the settings boxes on the page, then clicking one of the Update buttons to apply the new settings to your chart. (Note that all of the “Update” buttons do the same thing regardless of their position on the page.)

In the upper left corner of the workbench page is the main ticker symbol box. The symbol in that box is always plotted in the main price plot area of the chart. The quote at the top of the chart always corresponds to that main ticker symbol. If you haven't clicked anywhere else on the page, type in a new ticker symbol and press Enter. This will display a chart of the symbol you typed.

Next to the main symbol box is the Period dropdown menu. This lets you select the time duration (i.e. the period) for each bar/candlestick on the chart. Free users can choose between “Daily” and “Weekly” bars; members have access to many more choices, including 1-, 2-, 5-, 10-, 30-, 60- and 120-minute bars, as well as monthly or even yearly bars. For more specifics, please see our Support Center section on Data Bar Periods.

In the New SharpCharts Workbench there are various dropdown menus adjacent to the main symbol box that let you customize your charts. These include chart type, chart range, and other chart settings.

Chart Attributes

Chart Attributes are settings that affect the chart as a whole. These particular settings are contained in the Chart Attributes area, located below the chart. Here's what that area looks like:

The Period dropdown is the same as the Period dropdown above the chart.

The Range dropdown lets you specify the start and end dates for your chart (i.e., the horizontal axis). The three different modes for setting a chart's range are as follows:

Fill the Chart. You would use this when you want to see the latest data clearly. Specify the bar width and bar gap (in pixels) and you'll get as many bars on the chart as space allows.
Years/Months/Days. This mode can be used when you want to see a specific amount of recent data. Specify how much time you'd like to have displayed on the chart and you'll get that amount of data. And if there isn't enough room, bars will be compressed/eliminated bars.
Select Start/End. Want to view a specific time period in the past? Specify the start and end dates as calendar dates and you'll get a chart with all the data bars between those two dates—scrunching/eliminating bars if there isn't enough room. When you select this option, you'll see the Date Slider, which you can use to change the start and end dates interactively. Learn more in our Support Center article on Using the Date Slider.

The Extra Bars box lets you specify the amount of additional blank space you want available on the right side of the chart. If you don't want any extra space, leave the box blank or enter “0” as the value.

The Size dropdown lets you choose the overall width of your chart (in pixels). StockCharts members have different width choices depending on their service level.

The Color Scheme dropdown lets you change the colors that we use to create the chart. Certain color schemes also allow you to change the colors for the entire workbench (i.e., the workbench's “skin”). If one of those schemes is selected, a “Skin” checkbox will appear above the chart, allowing you to turn on that feature.

Up Color/Down Color dropdowns let you change the color of the price bars in the main price plot panel. By default, our candlesticks are colored, but you can set both up and down colors to black if you prefer more traditional uncolored candlesticks.

The Opacity dropdown lets you change how transparent the main price plot is in the main price plot panel.

The Grid dropdown lets you change how many grid lines appear in the background of your chart.

The Legends dropdown lets you change how much information is displayed in the upper left corner of each panel in your chart.

Off shows nothing in the legend for the main price plot or any indicator panels.
Minimal shows the ticker symbol of the security but no other information.
Default shows the ticker symbol of the security, plus information about the indicators and overlays.
Verbose shows the full name of the security, plus information about the indicators and overlays.

The Volume dropdown lets you easily specify where you want the volume histogram to appear on your chart. For more Volume configuration options, please see our step-by-step tutorial on using the Volume Indicator to display volume.

The Full Quote checkbox adds an information box to the top of your chart that includes additional data about the main ticker symbol, including Bid/Ask data, P/E and EPS ratios, VWAP, SCTR and the sector/industry that the stock belongs to (if available).

The Price Labels checkbox adds data labels at significant peaks and troughs on the chart, showing you the high and low price data for each of those points.

The Solid Candles checkbox fills in all candlesticks with solid colors instead of using the more traditional hollow candlesticks when prices increase. The color of the candlesticks is based on the relationship between the open and the close. If the close is above the open, the candle is colored with the Up Color; if the close is below the open, the candle is colored with the Down Color.

The Color Volume checkbox causes the bars of the volume histogram to be colored so that they match the chart's price bars.

The Smoothed Lines checkbox causes us to use anti-aliasing techniques to make curved lines appear smoother.

The Y-Axis Labels checkbox adds labels to the primary vertical axis, showing the final value for each indicator line on the chart.

The Zoom Thumbnail checkbox adds a narrow vertical column to the right side of the chart, showing the final 18 time periods for the chart - usually in more detail than on the regular chart.

The Extended Hours checkbox displays extended hours (pre- and post-market) bars on the chart, if available. Learn more about our Extended Hours Data in the Support Center.

Adding Overlays

Technical Overlays are lines calculated from price and volume data and displayed on top of the main symbol's price bars. They are calculated using the same vertical scale as the price bars. Examples include moving average lines, Bollinger Bands, and Pivot Point lines.

The chart below includes a simple moving average, exponential moving averages, Bollinger Bands, and Parabolic SAR.

To add an overlay to a SharpChart, use the next available line in the Overlays section of the workbench (located just below the Chart Attributes section).

Each line in the Overlays section has a primary dropdown menu (for overlay type selection), a Parameters box and the optional advanced settings boxes. Free users only have access to 3 overlays per chart and cannot use the advanced settings. Members can add up to 25 different overlays to their charts. As soon as the last available overlay line is used, a new line will appear beneath it, allowing you to add more.

The Parameters box allows you to enter whatever parameters the technical indicator needs. Some indicators do not need any parameters, while others support 5 or more different settings via the Parameters box. Individual settings within the box are separated from one another using commas. Many parameters are optional - if you do not specify a particular parameter, a commonly used default setting will be used instead.

Learn More. For more details about the available parameters for each overlay, please see the SharpCharts Indicators and Overlays Parameter Reference.

The Reorder arrows allow you to change the order of the overlay lines displayed on the chart. Just click on an up or down arrow to move the entire overlay line up or down on the list.

The Style dropdown allows members to change the style of the overlay's line. Some of the style options are thin, thick, solid, dashed, area, dots, and histogram.

The Color dropdown allows members to change the color of the overlay's line.

The Opacity dropdown allows members to change the transparency of the overlay's line. A setting of 1.0 is completely opaque. A setting of 0.5 is somewhat transparent. A setting of 0.0 is completely transparent (invisible).

Note: if you cannot see the advanced options (reorder arrows and style/color/opacity dropdowns) for overlays, click the green Advanced Options button next to the overlay settings to bring them up.

Finally, there is a Clear All link at the bottom of the Overlays section. Clicking that link (and then confirming your intentions in a message box that appears) will cause all of the overlay settings for your current chart to be erased.

Adding Indicators

Below is an example chart that contains several technical indicators:

To add an indicator to a SharpChart, use the next available line in the Indicators section of the workbench (located just below the Overlays section).

Each line in the Indicators section has a primary dropdown menu (for indicator type selection), a Parameters box, a Position dropdown menu, and the optional advanced settings boxes.

Note: Free users can only access three indicators per chart and cannot use the advanced settings. Members can add up to 25 different indicators to their charts. As soon as the last available indicator line is used, a new line will appear beneath it, allowing you to add more.

The Position dropdown allows you to specify whether the indicator appears in a panel above the price plot area, below the price plot area, behind price (i.e., overlaying the price bars inside the price plot area), or behind indicator (i.e., overlaying the indicator immediately above it on the indicator list).

The Reorder arrows allow you to change the order of the indicators displayed on the chart. Just click on an up or down arrow to move the entire indicator up or down on the list.

The Color dropdown allows members to change the color of the indicator's line.

The Height dropdown allows members to choose the height of the indicator panel. The setting defines the vertical size of the indicator panel as a percentage of the height of the main Price Panel.

The Opacity dropdown allows members to change the transparency of the indicator's line. A setting of 1.0 is completely opaque. A setting of 0.5 is somewhat transparent. A setting of 0.0 is completely transparent (invisible).

The Overlay dropdown allows members to add an overlay calculated from the indicator values and displayed directly on the indicator panel. Available overlays include horizontal lines, simple and exponential moving averages, Bollinger Bands, Rate of Change and more. For more information on using this feature, please see our step-by-step instructions for adding overlays to indicators.

The second Parameters box allows members to add any necessary parameters for the overlay chosen from the Overlay dropdown for this indicator. For some overlays, this box can be left empty.

Note: if you are not able to see the advanced options (reorder arrows, color/height/opacity dropdowns, overlay dropdown, and parameters box) for indicators, click the green Advanced Options button next to the indicator settings.

A Clear All link can be found at the bottom of the Indicators section. If you click the link (and then confirm your intentions in a message box that appears) it will clear all the indicator settings for your current chart.

The Price Indicator

One unique indicator in the Indicator dropdown worth mentioning is the Price indicator. This indicator takes a single parameter—a ticker symbol—and adds that symbol's price data to the chart without making any calculations.

The Price indicator allows you to compare several ticker symbols—market indicators, indexes, or closely related stocks—on a single chart.

Below is an example of a chart that uses the Price indicator.

Because they can have a heavy impact on the performance of our servers, there is a limit on the number of ticker symbols (a.k.a. “datasets”) that each chart can have. Free users are limited to three, Basic and Extra members are limited to six, and Pro members are limited to 10.

Step-By-Step Instructions: Displaying More Than One Stock on a Chart

Creating Overlaid Charts

The Price Indicator can be used with the Behind Price Position setting to create overlaid charts.

Below is an example of the Price indicator overlaid on a price chart.

In addition, two or more Price indicators can be overlaid on top of themselves using the “Behind Indicator” Position setting. Below is an example:

Step-By-Step Instructions: Creating Overlaid Charts

Performance Comparison SharpCharts

The Price Performance indicator is similar to the Price indicator, with one key difference—it plots the cumulative percent change in the given ticker symbol starting at the left edge of the chart. This indicator allows you to compare the performance of several different ticker symbols by plotting their Price Performance in an overlaid manner (i.e., using the Behind Price Position setting), just as our Interactive PerfChart tool does.

Note: You typically add Price Performance indicators to a chart with Type setting set to Performance.

Below is an example of a Performance SharpChart.

The advantage of creating Performance Charts in SharpCharts is that you can annotate them and/or store them in your account for later review.

Cool Tip. You can quickly create SharpChart-based Performance Charts by entering several ticker symbols (separated by commas) into the Create a Chart box at the top of any page and clicking Go. You can also use one of the ticker symbols as the “baseline” of your performance comparison by checking a checkbox. Here is an example of a Baseline Performance Chart.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I Specify a Start and End Date?

To see a chart with a custom period, you must adjust the “Range” setting to “Select Start/End.” Then, you can enter the beginning and end dates you want to see on the chart. This setting is located in the “Chart Attributes” area of the SharpCharts workbench.

After you select that option, you can use a horizontal “Date Slider” to control the beginning and end dates and duration. Just click on the middle of the slider and move your cursor to move back and forth in time. Click and hold on one of the ends, then drag your mouse in and out to adjust the duration.

Note that if you specify an end date, the chart will not be updated with any data beyond that date. If you want your chart to update with new data going forward, type (today) in the “End” box.