TradeStation Help

Creating and Formatting a Candlestick Chart

You are able to create a Candlestick chart when you first create a chart for a selected symbol, or you can convert an existing bar chart to a Candlestick chart. We recommend you first plot your symbol as a bar chart, and then convert it. For instructions on creating a bar chart, see Creating a Chart Analysis Window. After following these instructions, you can easily create a Candlestick chart.

1. Activate a Chart Analysis window containing a bar chart symbol.
2. From the Menu bar, click Format > Symbol. The Format Symbol [symbol] dialog is displayed.
3. Click the Style tab.
4. Under Bar type, select Candlestick with Trend for bars that are displayed as hollow/filled where the bar color is used to indicate the trend direction. Select Candlestick for bars that as always filled where the bar color is used to show the hollow or filled bar state.

 See Candlestick Chart for more information about candlesticks.

5. With a candlestick bar type selected, under Bar components select an item to change the color and weight of each component. Each component has a pair of color/weight settings based on the session. A check box allows you to use the selected bar component color/weight for all components.
6. To display all the components of the candlestick in the same color and weight, select the Use same color/weight for all components check box. Clearing this check box allows you to choose different colors and component weights for each bar component.
7. To change the color and weight of a bar component for the regular session, select a bar component (for example, Up, Down, or Wick) from the Bar components list. Under Regular Session, select a color from the Color drop-down list and a weight from the Weight drop-down list.
8. To change the color and weight of a bar component for outside of the regular session, select a bar component from the Bar components list. Under Outside Regular Session, select a color from the Color drop-down list and a weight from the Weight drop-down list.
9. Check Display Update Indication to show the last price on the matching axis.
10. Check Make price data invisible to remove the display of data for the selected symbol. Although not displayed, the data is still loaded into the chart and may be referenced by analysis techniques and strategies.
11. Click Set as Default to use these color and weight settings as the default for all future candlestick charts of the selected bar type.
12. Click OK when finished.

 You can also use the Format menu to quickly change your chart to a candlestick chart or any other chart type including a Percent Change chart. Options on the Format menu also enable you to change your chart from Semi-Log to Linear scaling as well as center the price scale to the last price on the chart. You can also quickly toggle on and off the display of the right and left price axes, add space to the right of the chart, and display a grid.