Chart drawing tools

The rail down the left side of a chart holds 87 drawing tools. Use them to mark support and resistance, measure a move, plan a trade with long and short position boxes, or leave a note for yourself. Drawings are saved on the device you drew them on, one set for each symbol.

How to draw a trendline

1. Click Trend Line on the rail. Hover over any rail button to see its name and keyboard shortcut. Trend Line is Alt+T.
2. Click once on the chart where the line should start.
3. Move the pointer and click again where it should end.
4. The line stays selected with a round handle at each end. Drag a handle to change the angle, or drag the line to move it.

Click empty space to deselect. To get back to normal pointer mode, click Cursor at the top of the rail.

How to draw Fibonacci retracements

1. Click Fib Retracement on the rail.
2. Click the swing low or swing high where the move started.
3. Click the point where the move ended. The chart draws the levels between the two points, from 0% to 100%, with the price at each level.
4. Drag either handle to re-measure.

How to find the other tools

Some rail buttons show a small chevron in the corner. That means a group of related tools sits behind it. Click the chevron to open the group.

• Lines: trend line, ray, extended line, arrow, horizontal and vertical lines, cross line.
• Channels and pitchforks: parallel channel, regression channel, four pitchfork types.
• Fibonacci and Gann: retracement, extension, channel, time zones, fan, circles, arcs, wedge, spiral, Gann fan, box and square.
• Patterns: XABCD and ABCD, Gartley, bat, butterfly, crab, shark, cypher, Elliott waves, head and shoulders.
• Positions and measuring: long and short position boxes, forecast, price range, date range, measure.
• Shapes and notes: rectangle, ellipse, triangle, arrow markers, text, callouts, notes, price labels, tables.
• Freehand: brush and highlighter.
• Volume tools: anchored VWAP and fixed-range volume profile.

How to keep drawing without re-picking the tool

1. Double-click a tool on the rail, or click Keep tool armed near the bottom of the rail.
2. Draw as many as you like. The tool stays selected after each one.
3. Click Cursor to stop.

How to snap to candles

1. Click the magnet button on the rail. Each click steps through Magnet: off, Magnet: weak and Magnet: strong.
2. With the magnet on, points you place jump to the nearest candle price instead of landing wherever you clicked.

How to edit, copy and delete a drawing

1. Right-click a drawing to open its menu.
2. Choose Properties to change how the drawing looks. Choose Copy drawing, Cut drawing or Duplicate to reuse it, and Paste to drop a copy on the chart.
3. Lock stops a drawing from being moved by accident. Hide removes it from view without deleting it.
4. Under Order, use Bring to front and Send to back when drawings overlap.
5. Delete removes the selected drawing. The rail also has Lock drawing, Hide drawing and Delete drawing buttons, plus Undo and Redo.

How to set an alert from a drawing

Right-click a drawing and choose Create drawing alert to be told when price reaches it. This works on stock charts. See Chart alerts.

Good to know

• Drawings belong to a symbol. Switching from AAPL to MSFT shows the MSFT drawings.
• On a phone, tap Draw at the bottom of the chart to open the tools.
• The right-click menu lists a keyboard shortcut next to copy, cut, duplicate, paste and delete.

If something doesn't work

• A drawing vanished: you may have hidden it. Use the eye button on the rail to show it again, and check you are on the same symbol and in the same browser.
• A line will not move: it is locked. Right-click it and choose the lock option again.
• Points land in the wrong place: turn the magnet off for free placement.
• The rail is missing: on a small window the tools fold into the Draw bar. Make the chart taller or wider.