| TradeStation Tips |
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Highlighting Separation Tim talks about price bars with 'good separation' as one of many indicators we can use to make decisions about trade entries. Thanks to Paul C for doing all the work on this tip. Here's how to alter the style for the symbol you are charting. This is done easily by one of several methods: 1. Double click any price bar. 2. Right click any price bar and select Format XXX... where XXX is the symbol you are charting. For example, if you are charting the current Silver contract (SIZ09) it will say Format SIZ09... 3. Right click anywhere in the chart window other than on a price bar and select Format Symbol... Once you have brought up the Format Symbol window select the Style tab.
Look at how easy it is to see the downside separation on both the initial test and subsequent retest: Stepping Bar by Bar Through a Chart This is super easy in TradeStation, in fact, easier than with Ensign. The only difference is that in Ensign you are able to have the 'current bar' in any part of the screen depending on the right margin setting (see the Ensign tip). With TradeStation the current bar will always be to the right of the screen, immediately before the right axis. You are then able to step through the chart bar by bar using one of two methods: 1. Use the right and left arrow keys on your keyboard to move the chart left or right, one bar at a time. 2. Use the scroll wheel on your mouse to move the chart left and right, one bar at a time. Combine this tip with the previous tip Highlighting Separation to increase visibility of the bar close and you will learn a lot about the contract you are trading and get a better feel for the action. Place Drawing Elements to the Right of the Current Bar TradeStation has an issue in that it is impossible to place drawing elements (labels, lines, circles, etc) much to the right of the current bar unless the Space to the Right setting is changed. In the picture below you can see that when attempting to place the circle on the Energy Point it is far to the left of where it should be. It will not move any further right than the current bar. Note on the horizontal axis the last value is 20:00, the time of the last bar. This denotes the farthest right on the chart a drawing item can be placed. Solution to this problem is to change the Space to the Right setting on the Format Window dialog box under the General tab. Enter a value representing number of bars. In this example, 50 represents 50 20-minute bars in the 20-minute chart. Select Set as Default to ensure all future charts allow 50 bars of space to the right of the current bar.
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