The chart window is where Exocharts Desktop spends most of its time. It combines a footprint chart with profiles, plugins and drawing tools, all controlled from two toolbars and a set of keyboard shortcuts.
Overview
- 1 — Tab. The exchange, instrument and period loaded in this tab.
- 2 — Chart toolbar. See Chart Toolbar.
- 3 — Info line. See Chart Area.
- 4 — Left toolbar. See Left Toolbar.
- 5 — Chart area. The footprint chart itself.
- 6 — CPL and 7 — CPR. The composite profiles. See Chart Area.
- 8 — Price axis, 9 — Last price, 10 — Volume, 11 — Time axis, 12 — Candle countdown. See Chart Area.
- 13 — Bottom toolbar and 14 — Chart controls. See Bottom Toolbar.
Chart Toolbar
Template Manager
Opens the Template Manager (P), where chart setups are saved, loaded, organised into folders and shared with the community. Chart, TPO Flow and DOM templates are kept separately. See Templates menu.
Instrument
The instrument button opens Select Instrument (Enter). Exchanges are listed on the left, instruments grouped by contract type and sector on the right. The tabs across the top switch between Crypto, Futures, Stocks and ETFs. Use the search field to find a symbol directly, and the star to keep favourites at the top.
Period
The period button opens the period panel (*). Choose how much history to load under Look Back, the candle Type, and the Period for that type. Types go well beyond time: sessions, days, weeks and months, Point & Figure, Trend-Reverse, Renko, Delta, Tick Imbalance, Shannon Entropy, Volume, Range, RangeY and Ticks.
The right side of the panel sets the session and chart timezone, trade size filters, tick size override, synthetic volume, and whether trades are reconstructed into market orders. Go To Date jumps to a specific date. Changes take effect with Apply & Reload.
Look Back is the setting with the biggest effect on loading time. Load only as much history as you actually read.
Tick Multiplier
The Tick field sets how many ticks are grouped into one price level in the footprint. Raise it to make clusters coarser and easier to read on a volatile instrument; lower it for more detail. The + and − keys change it without opening anything.
Settings
Opens the chart settings dialog (S), with separate tabs for the chart itself, CPL, CPR, Big Trades, Auto-Markers and TPO. See Chart settings menu.
Cluster Type
Chooses what each candle's cluster shows: volume or delta as a profile or a cluster, a bid-ask profile, delta-ladder views, or OI-based clusters. Void hides clusters and leaves only candles.
Text Type
Chooses the numbers printed inside the clusters: volume, delta, bid-ask or imbalance, OI-based values, or none. Sync text with cluster type matches the text to whatever the cluster shows.
Candle Type
Chooses how the candle is drawn alongside or around the cluster — full candles, flat and box styles, Exo Candle, side OHLC, HL and OC markers, a bid-ask centre line, or classic bars.
TPO
Turns the TPO profile on and controls how it is built: as blocks or letters, how it is split and how wide it is drawn, and whether a volume profile is shown alongside it. When TPO is on, a separate TPO tick field appears in the toolbar, so the profile can use a different price granularity from the footprint. Reset All TPOs clears manual expansions.
Indicators
Shows the built-in indicators next to the icon: FPBS, TSize, DBars, OI, NL, NS, VWAP and IM (stacked imbalance). Click a name to switch it on; active indicators are drawn in their own panes below the chart or directly on it.
Screenshot
On the far right of the toolbar. Saves a screenshot of the chart; screenshots can be found through Data → Open Screenshots Folder.
Trading Panel
Opens the trading panel beside the price axis. From there you choose the connected trading account and see its margin mode, leverage and position mode; switch between Market and Limit orders; set the quantity in either currency or as a percentage of your balance; add Reduce, conditional or TP/SL options; and place the order with Buy, Long or Sell, Short. Your available balance is shown underneath. See Account Setup to connect an account.
Left Toolbar
Drawing Tools
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Drawing tools tree (/) — every drawing on the chart, where they can be selected, hidden or deleted
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Line (L)
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Rectangle (R)
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Fibonacci (F)
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Horizontal line (Alt+H)
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Horizontal ray (H)
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Brush profile (B) — draws a volume profile over any area you paint
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Text (T)
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Measure (M)
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VWAP (W) — anchored VWAP from any point you choose
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Dynamic profile (D) — a volume profile over a range you drag
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Position long / short (O) — entry, stop and targets with risk and reward
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Magnet mode (G) — snaps drawing points to candle prices
Plugins
The labels below the drawing tools are plugins. Clicking one opens a short menu to switch it on and choose what it shows, with a link to its full settings at the bottom.
CPL and CPR show or hide the left and right composite profiles. Their menus are identical.
Mrk — markers. The last price line, plus developing and previous levels for the day, week and month, each switched on separately. Show auto-markers adds levels detected automatically.
Big — Big Trades. Shows large limit orders, large market orders, or both, with Live updating them as they print.
VA — value area. The upper group controls the value area on candles, including VA lines and imbalance boxes; the lower group controls the TPO value area, its lines, extension and range.
POC — point of control. The upper group controls how the POC is marked on each candle, including naked POCs — levels price has not returned to. The lower group chooses whether the TPO POC is calculated from time or from volume.
Rkt — REKT liquidations, drawn as circles sized by liquidation value. The menu controls sizing, whether the volume and price are printed, and how the labels are drawn.
OFA — order-flow analysis plugins: Delta Min-Max Ratio and CS — Candle Statistics, or all of them at once.
Chart Area
The areas numbered 3 and 5 to 12 in the overview image.
Info line. Open, high, low, close, volume, delta, sells and buys for the candle under the cursor, followed by the volume mode, cluster type (CL) and text type (TXT) currently in use.
Chart. The footprint chart itself. The instrument and exchange are shown faintly in the background.
CPL and CPR. Composite profiles drawn on the left and right edges of the chart. They are the same tool on opposite sides, so two different periods can be compared side by side.
Price axis. The price scale. Home locks it so vertical scrolling stops following price.
Last price. The last traded price, highlighted on the axis and extended across the chart as a dotted line.
Volume. Traded volume per candle along the bottom of the chart.
Time axis. Candle times in the chart timezone. Hovering shows the exact time of the candle under the cursor.
Candle countdown. Below the price axis. Time remaining until the current candle closes.
Bottom Toolbar
Session, Volume, Trades and RektV switch display layers on and off; the highlighted ones are active. The bracketed field shows the tick size override and ticks per bar. The two dropdowns on the right set the chart timezone and the trading session.
Chart Controls
In the bottom right corner:
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Centre price — keeps the current price in the middle of the chart as the market moves
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Lock price scale (Home)
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Lock to last candle (V) — keeps the newest candle pinned to the right edge
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Reset chart (End)
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Mouse wheel mode (C) — switches the wheel between zooming and panning
Navigating the Chart
Mouse and Trackpad
- Ctrl + wheel — zoom in and out
- Shift + wheel — scroll the chart
- Middle button drag, left and right — zoom the time axis
- Middle button drag, up and down — zoom the price axis
- Swipe left and right on a trackpad — pan
- C — toggle what the plain mouse wheel does
Keyboard
- Arrow keys — move the chart left, right, up and down
- Page Up / Page Down — zoom in and out
- Home — lock the price scale
- V — lock to the last candle
- End — reset the chart
- Ctrl + F — maximise or restore the window
Keyboard Shortcuts
The full list is available at any time from Settings → Key Reference Card, and shortcuts can be reassigned in Settings → Chart Keymap. Drawing tool shortcuts are listed with each tool above.
Chart
- S — open settings
- P — open templates
- Enter — select symbol
- * — select period
- + / − — tick multiplier up and down
- [ / ] — previous and next option in the toolbar dropdowns
Drawing
- Ctrl + Z — undo
- Ctrl + Shift + Z or Ctrl + Y — redo
- Ctrl + C / Ctrl + V — copy and paste a drawing
- Delete — delete the selected drawing
- Esc — cancel or deselect
System
- Ctrl + P — re-center all windows onto the primary monitor