Drawing tools: more than 90 tools and how to use them

AlertaChart has more than 90 drawing tools, arranged in the same groups on desktop and mobile. On desktop they sit in the toolbar on the left of the chart; on mobile, open them from the chart's bottom bar.

The groups

• Lines: trend line, ray, info line, extended line, trend angle, horizontal and vertical lines, horizontal ray, cross line, parallel, regression, flat top/bottom and disjoint channels, plus four pitchforks (Andrews, Schiff, modified Schiff and inside).
• Gann and Fibonacci: retracement, trend-based extension, extension, channel, time zones, speed-resistance fan and arcs, circles, spiral, wedge, pitchfan, Gann fan, box and squares, and speed lines.
• Patterns: XABCD, Cypher, head and shoulders, ABCD, triangle, three drives, five Elliott wave tools, cyclic lines, time cycles and sine line.
• Forecasting and measuring: long and short positions, forecast, bars pattern, ghost feed, sector, anchored VWAP, fixed-range and anchored volume profiles, price range, date range, date-and-price range and measure.
• Shapes: brush, highlighter, arrows and arrow marks, rectangle, rotated rectangle, path, circle, ellipse, polyline, triangle, arc, curve, double curve and wedge.
• Text and notes: text, note, pin, table, price note, callout, comment, price label, signpost, flag mark, anchored text, image and a community post card.
• Icons: emojis, symbols and stickers, Alerta's own illustrated badges in two packs, from Bull and Bear to HODL and GM. Place one anywhere on the chart and resize it from its handle.

Each group button remembers the last tool you used from it. On a phone the drawing menu has a tab for each group; you can search tools by name and hold a tool to add it to your favourites.

On a phone, the "Show favorites on chart" switch at the bottom of the drawing menu's Favorites tab keeps your favorite tools in a bar on the chart that you can drag where you like.

While a drawing tool is on, a small hint at the top of the chart says what to tap next, with the step for tools of several points, and the bottom bar shows the tool, magnet, lock, undo, redo, the object tree, remove and more. The object tree, also in the analysis centre, lists the chart's drawings and indicators: tap one to lock, hide or remove it, or to go to it. The time axis shows one date, where the pen is; a selected brush stroke shows the dates it starts and ends.

How to draw

1. Choose a tool.
2. Click or tap the points it needs: two for a trend line, three for a pitchfork, five for an XABCD pattern. A hint on the chart tells you what comes next.
3. Press Esc, or pick the cursor again, to stop.

Turn on "Keep drawing mode" to draw several objects in a row without choosing the tool again.

Hold Shift while you place the second point to keep a line horizontal, vertical or at 45°, or to draw a perfect square or circle. While you draw, the preview already looks like the finished drawing.

The magnet

The magnet snaps your points to the open, high, low or close of the nearest bar. The weak magnet only snaps when you are close; the strong magnet always snaps. You can also let it snap to indicator lines. Hold Ctrl (⌘ on a Mac) while you draw to turn the magnet on — or off, if it is on — for as long as you hold it; the crosshair shows where the point will land.

Editing a drawing

Click a drawing to select it. A small toolbar appears for colour, line width and style, locking and deleting. Double-click the drawing, or choose Settings, for everything else:

• Style: colours, lines, fills and levels
• Text: a label and its font
• Coordinates: exact prices and times
• Visibility: the timeframes where the drawing appears. For example, show a weekly level on the daily and 4-hour charts but hide it on the 1-minute chart.

Managing many drawings

The bottom of the drawing toolbar lets you lock every drawing so nothing moves by accident, hide them all for a clean view, or remove them. You can choose whether removing everything should also delete locked drawings.

Drawing on indicator panels

You can draw on indicator panels too. A trend line on RSI or a level on MACD stays in that panel and moves with it.

Several charts on one screen

Drawings belong to their symbol. When several charts show the same symbol, a line drawn on one appears on the others; charts showing a different symbol are left alone.

Keeping your drawings

Drawings are kept on the device you use. From the Trader plan they are also saved to your account and follow you to your other devices.