Tips and Tricks: Advanced charts on normal time

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Advanced charts on normal time

Printed From: BullCharts Forum
Category: BullCharts
Forum Name: Tips and Tricks
Forum Discription: Tips on how to use BullCharts more effectively.
URL: http://www.bullcharts.com.au/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=64
Printed Date: 19 May 2024 at 1:13pm
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Topic: Advanced charts on normal time

Posted By: Peter
Subject: Advanced charts on normal time
Date Posted: 29 Nov 2004 at 11:48am

BullCharts provides several advanced chart types including: Point and Figure, Gann Swing, Kagi, and Renko (to name a few) that provide a unique picture of the price history. Specifically they examine trends in price without respect to time.

These can be accessed from the chart type dropdown:

Fig. 1 - Accessing advanced chart types

These chart types plot data from left to right, however the time axis does not show consistent time intervals. Rather, the charts advance in response to events such as trend changes.

Fig. 2 - A typical Point & Figure chart

This unusual treatment of time can give insight into the behaviour of a security, however some may find it difficult to get used to at first. To assist in becoming familiar with these tools, BullCharts has a mode that will allow these indicators to be presented over a conventional bar chart.

Follow these steps:

Create a new chart
Change its chart type to point and figure
Right click on the point and figure plot and select properties
Tick "overlay price plot". The "use normal time" option will also automatically get ticked.
You may also want to change the Box Size setting in the Parameters tab to a round number.
Press OK

The time axis will be stretched out and the individual Point & Figure crosses will be placed against the days on which they occurred. This can be used to better understand how the chart works. Figure 3 shows how the three columns labelled in figure 2 were generated.

Fig. 3 - Point & Figure overlayed on price

The two options behave as follows:
"Overlay price plot" - this causes the bar chart to be drawn in addition to the point and figure plot. You can later select this plot and change it to candles if you like.
"Use normal time" - this prevents the point and figure from making its adjustments to the time axis.

It is possible to tick either option without the other, however they would almost always be used together. (Specifically if you select only the first then the price plot will appear crowded and will draw over itself).

For more information on the creation or interpretation of individual chart types, there is a great deal of literature available both online and in books.