Page History: Point and Figure Charts
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Page Revision: 2012/06/04 16:50
Creating a Point and Figure Chart¶
There are two ways to switch to a Point and Figure chart. Either use the Chart Type drop down button on the toolbar, or change the chart type from the properties window.
(Note: When switching between Point and Figure and any other chart type, all studies and drawing tools are removed from the chart.)
Point and Figure Concepts¶
Point and Figure charts are built off of an "underlying" data set. By default, the Point and Figure charts are created off of 1 minute bar closing prices. There is a configuration option to change from using the 'close' value to using the 'high/low' values of the bars instead. The interval is also user-configurable (e.g. 15-minute, 1-hour, etc.)
The Point and Figure chart use a "pencil-in" feature when updating from live data. The chart updates real-time on every trade in the market. However, until the bar officially closes, the chart will only temporarily display this live data. If the next trade changes the current underlying bar, these temporary updates are erased and redrawn. Pencilled-in updates are displayed faded out so that they can be distinguished from the permanent data. Any studies displayed on the chart will also update on real time trades, however the studies will not be displayed faded out (only the point and figure boxes).
Subscribers of the Advanced charting package have the option of changing the underlying data set to '1 Trade'. This results in a tick-based point and figure chart which updates upon every trade in the market.
Box and Reversal sizes are configurable on the point and figure charts as well. These configurations are done in price increments. e.g. a 10x3 Point and Figure chart would be created by setting the Box Size to 10 and the Reversal Size to 3, meaning each box would cover ten price increments, and a reversal of 30 increments would be required to signal a reversal.
Studies on Point and Figure Charts¶
Point and Figure charts only support a subset of studies of regular charts. Some studies (such as volume or anything base on volume) do not make sense on point and figure charts. Others have not been updated to support the pencil-in feature of updating. If you require a particular study and do not see it listed in the available studies feel free to drop our support an email and we will look into getting it added.