Scale and view

This page covers how the chart displays prices and time: which scale the price axis uses, which part of the chart you see and how you change it with mouse, keyboard or finger.

The scale modes

Percent and Log switch back to Normal on the second click. With Percent and Indexed, the axis refers to the first candle on the left of the view, taken at the moment you set the view: when you open the chart, with a time range in the footer bar, with another symbol or interval, when you reset the view and when you switch to Percent or Indexed. If you pan or zoom after that, this candle stays the reference. That way the grid and lines don't jump while you drag.

Invert scale (AltI) turns the price axis upside down, so the highs are at the bottom. The indicator panes stay as they are.

When you compare a symbol, a normal scale switches to Percent on its own. When you remove the last comparison, it goes back to Normal, unless you changed the mode yourself. See Compare and multi-chart.

Automatic scaling

While auto is lit in the footer bar, the price axis adapts to the visible candles. It turns off as soon as you take control of the scale yourself:

• you drag the price axis,
• you drag the chart up or down,
• you click auto.

If you dragged the price axis, or dragged the chart up or down, the scale keeps your stretch and offset and goes on adapting as you scroll. If you clicked auto, it stays where it is. To get automatic scaling back:

1. click auto in the footer bar,
2. double-click the price axis,
3. right-click the price axis → Reset price scale,
4. or press AltR for the whole view.

While scrolling

As you pan and zoom, automatic scaling keeps fitting the price axis to the candles you currently see; the candles get taller or flatter as it does. If you don't want that, turn off Fit scale while scrolling in the chart settings under Scales › Controls. The candles then keep their height as you pan and zoom. The scale is fitted again when you choose a time range in the footer bar, open another symbol or interval, reset the view, double-click the price axis or turn auto back on. The setting applies to all charts of your account.

Pan and zoom

With the mouse

With the keyboard

Click the chart once so it has focus. Then ← and → pan the view, ↑ zooms in and ↓ zooms out. AltR resets the view.

With your finger

On touchscreens, one finger pans the chart. If it stays still for a moment, the crosshair appears and follows it. Two fingers zoom; on the price axis they stretch or compress the scale. Two fingers held still open the context menu. More on using your phone under Mobile.

Smooth or classic

How the chart responds to the mouse wheel and arrow keys is set in the chart settings under Scales › Controls at Zoom. The setting applies to all charts of your account.

• Smooth (default): the chart glides to the new view. The mouse wheel zooms around the spot under the mouse pointer.
• Classic: the mouse wheel and arrow keys act immediately, without gliding, and each notch of the mouse wheel is a fixed step. The newest candle stays in place; if you've scrolled back, the right edge does. With Ctrl + mouse wheel or a two-finger pinch on the trackpad, the chart zooms around the spot under the mouse pointer.

When you drag, the chart follows your hand and in both cases stops where you let go, with the mouse as with a finger.

More history

If you pan the chart to the oldest candle or compress the time axis that far, the terminal loads older candles on its own. This applies to the candle and line types as well as Footprint and TPO; the non-time-based types don't load more. While older candles are on the way, a loading indicator spins at the left edge of the chart.

Time ranges in the footer bar

The buttons on the left of the footer bar frame the chart to a time range that ends with the newest candle:

1D (one day), 5D, 1M (one month), 3M, 6M, YTD (year to date), 1Y (one year), 5Y and All.

If the loaded candles don't go back that far, the terminal loads older ones until the range is filled or there are no older candles. The chosen range stays highlighted. If you change the interval, the chart frames it again, or clears the highlight if the new interval can't show it. As soon as you pan or zoom yourself, you take over the view.

Not every range fits every interval; those that don't are grayed out (“… isn't available on … candles”):

A new terminal starts with 1M.

Reset the view

What else the price axis shows

In the price axis's right-click menu under Labels and Lines, or in the chart settings under Scales, you turn on and off:

• Last price as a label on the axis and as a dashed line through the chart,
• Price labels, the numbers on the axis,
• Countdown to candle close below the last price label; it's missing in Replay and outside trading hours,
• High/low, labels at the highest and lowest price in the visible range,
• Alerts, as a label on the axis and as a line on the chart.

Compared symbols get a label in their color on the axis. Set the grid (Off, Vertical, Horizontal, Both) with a right-click on the chart under Grid or in the chart settings under Canvas.