The Options menu is allows you to customize various aspects of the software globally. When you make changes here it will affect all charts and groups. Here is a list of the tabs and a breakdown of what each tab in the Options menu will allow you to do.

 

The General tab is broken down into 4 sections, General, Groups, IntelliScript™, and Charts. By clicking with your mouse in the boxes you can add/ remove the check mark to enable and disable the features. Here is a listing of all of the options you can adjust, enable/disable from this General tab, and below the list we have broken down what each feature does:

		General:	Auto Login Enable Group Auto Save
		Groups:	Enable Group Auto Save
		IntelliScript™:	Show Price Alert on Chart Price Alert: Set to Alert First Instance Only Auto Re-generate Historical Alerts Enable Popup Window for Custom Alert Only one Entry/Exit per Price bar Charts: Enable Y-Axis Fixed Scale Enable Grid Lines: Horizontal Enable Grid Lines: Vertical Extend Trend Line Hide Flat Data Line (Requires Restart) Enable Freeze Line Position when Adding Line Trend Line Markers: Show End Points Disable Display Data from left mouse click Disable Calendar Day Marker: Pivot Calculator: Show Mid-Point Lines Pivot Calculator: Show Pivot Line Trend Line: Auto-remove out of range line(s) Identify Bar Color by Close if close < or > (H +L)/2 Enable Extra Decimal Place on Prices (for fractional pips) Extend X-axis by :_____ Bar/Candle Day Marker Time:_____ :00:00
		General:	Auto Login: Next time you log out and then click on the icon to access the software, you will skip the login screen and instead the software will automatically launch. Disable Auto Login: In order to disable the Auto-Login feature, please login to the software then follow these instructions: Go to charting software's main menu and select "Settings". Then select "Options..." When the ˇ°Optionsˇ­ˇ± pop-window opens, be sure you are on the tab labeled "General" and un-check "Auto Login". This will disable auto login for the next time you access the charting software. Auto Start DDE: Next time you log out and then log in again, when all of your groups and settings are being loaded, the DDE tool will also launch, though be sure that you open Excel first so the DDE tool can correctly function.
		Groups:	Enable Group Auto Save: You no longer have to remember to save your Groups, with this enabled, all of your groups will be saved by default every 5 minutes and then again automatically when you log out of the software.
		IntelliScript™:	Show Price Alert on Chart: This will display arrows on the chart to indicate visually when a price alert is achieved. Price Alert: Set to Alert First Instance Only: Will only generate an alert the first time the criterion of the syntax is reached, but will still display each buy/sell on the chart. Auto Re-generate Historical Alerts: This option will automatically generate historical alerts for any syntax drafted and added to a chart. Enable Popup Window for Custom Alert: When your custom alerts criterion is met, a pop-up widow will appear on your computer's monitor. Only one Entry/Exit per Price bar: This will limit the alert you receive to only once per price bar if an entry or exit is met.
		Charts:	Enable Y-Axis Fixed Scale: When you enable this setting, the software will ˇ®mark' the chart's current price and use that as the fix point for the y-axis. This means as the price fluctuates up or down, the range of the chart will always include that initial price. Enable Grid Lines: Horizontal: You can add or take away horizontal gridlines within the chart by enabling/disabling this feature. Enable Grid Lines: Vertical: You can add or take away vertical gridlines within the chart by enabling/disabling this feature. Extend Trend Line: You can use this if you wish a trend line that you have drawn to extend beyond the initial two points you used to draw the line. To disable the extension of trendlines, please follow these steps: Open the Desktop charting's Main window. At the top, select, "Settings". Then choose "Options..." and select the tab labeled, "General". On the right side of this window, you will see that "Extend Trend Line" is enabled (should be a little check mark in the box). Simply remove that check mark and this will disable that feature. Click "OK" to save this setting adjustment. Hide Flat Data Line (Requires Restart): During the weekend hours, if the datafeed you use closes, then there will be a flat line on the charts to represent the lack of new data coming through to the charts. This allow s you to hide this flat-line data, so the charts will appear to go seamlessly from Friday's close to Sunday's open. Enable Freeze Line Position when Adding Line: By default any line you add to the charts can be moved and adjusted. If however you prefer to keep the lines stationary, especially when adding new lines, then you can use this feature to freeze all lines added to the charts. Trend Line Markers: Show End Points: Enable this in order to visually see the end points of the trendlines drawn on the charts. Disable Display Data from left mouse click: By default when you left click on the charts, the display data widow will appear, this will disable the Display Data window. Disable Calendar Day Marker: This will remove the daily markers from the X-axis. Pivot Calculator: Show Mid-Point Lines: Select this to show the Midpoint of the pivot lines on the charts. Pivot Calculator: Show Pivot Line Select this to show the Pivot lines on the charts. Trend Line: Auto-remove out of range line(s): Trend lines drawn on the charts have a start point and end point so they can be referenced easily. The start and end points are specific values (if you go to delete Trend Lines from the drawing menu, you will see the start and end point values of the lines). As new data comes in and the chart progresses forward, Trend Lines will eventually move out of range on the chart. By default, the feature to automatically remove the Trend Lines once out of range is enabled. If you need to reference these older lines again then you can disable this option. Identify Bar Color by Close if close < or > (H +L)/2: Enable this if you wish to change all charts such that they display the charts bars/candles based on if the close is greater then or less then the high plus the low divided by 2. Enable Extra Decimal Place on Prices (for fractional pips): Some datafeeds offer fractional pips. If the feed you are using offers fractional pips when this is enabled a 5th decimal place will appear as a fractional pip. Extend X-axis by: Bar/Candle: This allows you to extend the space on the right side of the chart. Simply extend the X-axis by selecting a number of bars/candles, then the chart will shift to the right. Day Marker Time: :00:00: The Day Marker on the X-axis is set to mark 00:00, however if you wish to change that, for example to 17:00, then enter 17 in the blank space. Once applied, the date that appears on the X-axis will shift to appear each day at 17:00.

 

On this screen you can:

• Adjust the retracement line color
• Change the default value settings
• Add more retracement lines to the default settings
• Add a second set of retracement values that you can toggle between on the charts
• Change the style of the retracements to Horizontal, Angle, or Circle-Enable/Disable the ability to extend the retracement lines across the length of the chart

Fibonacci Retracement default levels are set at 38.2%, 50%, and 61.8%, listed under Value 1.

To keep the default settings, leave the values for "Value 1" unchanged.

If you want to add another set of retracements, change the values listed for the column labeled "Value 2". You can add up to 12 Fibonacci Retracement lines per each set of values. Note if the value is set to ¨C1.0, then no line will appear on the charts.

To change the colors of the retracement lines, select the drop-down arrows next to the colors on each line.

Once you save these settings, to switch to the custom values that you have created in "Value 2", right-click in the chart where you would like to draw the Fibonacci Lines, select "Switch Default Fibonacci Settings" and choose "Fibonacci Set 2". Then draw your Fibonacci Retracements.

 

The screen allows you to adjust various font options throughout the software.

• Text on Chart: You can add text to any chart by right clicking on the chart and choosing "Add text" from the drop down menu, or by selecting the in the chart toolbar. To globally adjust the text size, style and color change the settings here.
• Font for Display Data Window: Use this to change the font size of the Display Data Window.
• Font for X and Y Axis labels on the Chart: Use this to globally change the font size of both the X and Y-axis for all charts.

 

Please click here to learn all about how to Import and Export Groups as well as how to adjust Groups in your Preload list.

 

Print lets you adjust the settings of how you send the print request of the charts to your printer.

• Full Page Print: Full page print will print the chart so it take sup the entire size of the paper, so if you have paper that is 8.5" x 11", the chart will print out covering the full 8.5" x 11" span of the paper.
• Print with Transparent Background: When you print with this, the background coloring of the chart will be hidden, it will not be printed.
• Print Size: In order to enable this you must first uncheck the "Full Page Print" option. Then you can make adjustments here to change the print margins or the size of the charts being printed.
  • Left Margin: Moves chart from the left edge of the paper inward.
  • Top Margin: Moves the chart down from the top of the paper towards the center of the paper.
  • Width: Adjusts the width size of the actual chart being printed.
  • Length: Will adjust the length or height of the size of the chart being printed.

 

You may want to adjust the look of the charts by adjusting the colors, this menu allows you to adjust almost every aspect of the charting color. Here is a detailed breakdown of how to use the many options on this screen.

Note: You can also launch this menu by either going to the chart's "View" menu and select "Compose Color Scheme" or right click in the charts and select "Color Scheme", a pop up menu will appear allowing you to customize the charts even further.

• Name: This is the name that will be applied to the color scheme you are about to create. This will be grayed out until you select the button labeled "New". Then this field will become available so you may type in your color scheme name. To save the name, choose "Apply".
• Switch To: This field will display a drop down list of previously saved color schemes. The "Switch To" option is available when you first open the color scheme window. This tool will allow you to adjust already saved color schemes. Note, should you decide to create a completely new color scheme (choose "New" button), then this field will become grayed out. After making your selection, the color scheme associated with that name will show up in this window. Then you can go ahead and adjust and change, as you like, once you are finished, be sure to choose "Save".
• Colors:
  This section breaks down all of the different areas of the chart where you can make color changes. In order to change any of these items, click on the colored box just to the left of the item name and a "Choose Color" window will pop-up. From here you can select using the default color palate, or create a customized color using the HSB or RGB color tabs. Once you have selected a color, be sure to choose "OK" to apply this action. If you wish to revert back to the software's default color for any of these items, simply click on the "Default" button just to the right of each option.
  • Background Band 1: The background color of the chart is made up of two different color bands, you can adjust one set of color bands here.
  • Background Band 2: The background color of the chart is made up of two different color bands, you can adjust one set of color bands here.
  • Positive Bar: This is the bar/candle that is displayed when the rate is going up; by default this bar/candle will be blue.
  • Negative Bar: This is the bar/candle that is displayed when the rate is going down; by default this bar/candle will be red.
  • Positive Last Bar: The last bar/candle displayed on the chart is the current, self-updating bar. The positive bar is the one displayed when the rate is going up; by default this bar will be cyan.
  • Negative Last Bar: The last bar/candle displayed on the charts is the current, self-updating candle/bar. The negative bar is the one displayed when the rate is going up; by default this bar will be orange.
  • Y-Axis Label: The Y-axis value, on the right side of the chart, is the exchange rate of the symbols selected.
  • X-Axis Label: The X-axis, just below the chart, displays the date and time. As you change the Time Scale & Period, both date and time will adjust accordingly.
  • Calendar Day Marker: These are the vertical lines that appear on the charts to mark the start/end of a day at midnight, or 00:00:00.
  • Live Price: The live price bar that is updating on the right side of the chart in the Y-Axis
  • Chart Margin: This is the area on both left and right and top and bottom of chart that by default will show up as gray.
  • New: When you choose New, you will be able to create a new color scheme. Go through and make any and all changes and when you are finished be sure to , starting with the chart's default color settings. the "Switch to: " field will automatically be populated with a new name identifying the new colors scheme, it should change to "My Scheme-1" or the next consecutive number available for a new color scheme. Next type in the name of the color scheme in the "Name" field. Set up the colors of the scheme and hit "Apply". To see the newly created color scheme, close the options window and then reopen it, when you reopen the Color Scheme Tab, you will now be able to choose from the newest named and created color scheme.
  • Save: Save will save any changes or new settings you apply to the color scheme. Be sure to choose Save after making creating a new color scheme or making any changes to existing color schemes.
  • Delete: To delete a color scheme, click on the drop down list next to "Switch to:" and highlight/select the color scheme you wish to delete. Once highlighted, just choose "Delete" and the color scheme will be instantly removed/deleted.
  • Copy: If you like a color scheme and perhaps wish to over-write another existing color scheme with an existing one, click on the drop down list next to "Switch to:" and highlight/select the color scheme you wish to copy and then select the "Copy" button. This color scheme is now copied, you will not see any change yet. Now you can paste this copied color scheme over an existing color scheme.
  • Paste: If you have an existing color scheme and wish to overwrite it with another saved color scheme you can use the copy/paste functions. First follow the steps outline din "Copy" above, then click on the drop down list next to "Switch to:" and highlight/select the color scheme you wish to be overwritten. Next click on paste, this colors scheme will now reflect the settings of the copied color scheme.

 

Not all charting software includes this Tab, called "Datafeed". If your software includes the Interactive Data Corp. datafeed, and you are logged into the software using the Interactive Data Corp. datafeed, then you will see this menu item.

Interactive Data Corp. (http://www.interactivedata.com) is a datafeed aggregator. It aggregates several bank's feed. Interactive Data Corp. also carries 100's of crosses, while other datafeed providers are often market makers and only carry the crosses they trade. In addition you may see some trading activity over the weekend with an aggregate feed like Interactive Data Corp.