Each chart document is made up of certain elements. Some of the elements are always present, like price and time scales, some elements must be added by you, like symbols (time series), studies and drawing objects.

A chart shows the visual representation of a symbol’s historical and current data (time series). For each point in time, the price(s) of the symbol are plotted on the screen. To see how the data points relate to each other, charts use a coordinate system of time and prices.

Times are shown on the horizontal scale. Depending on the data compression that you use (for example, daily, intraday or tick compression), the intervals shown on the time scale will be different. On the time scale, you can find out for example at which point in time a certain price level was reached.

Prices are shown on the vertical scale. Here, you can find out what the current price for a symbol is and what prices were reached in the past. The price scale can be adjusted, so that it shows for example percentages or logarithmic prices.

When you want to display different symbols in one chart, for example to compare them, or add other chart objects, such as studies, you can organize the contents of your chart into several chart panes or sheets.

Every chart consists of at least one chart pane. You can add other panes as well. Each pane has a header that shows which objects are displayed in this pane. The currently active pane is indicated by a colored rectangle at the left edge of the pane header. The appearance (colors, grid) of every pane and its header can be freely configured.

You can also use sheets to organize the contents of a chart, like in price pages. Each sheet can be customized differently, including its data compression and chart type. In combination with the chart window split, you can use sheets to display for example two different data compressions for a symbol at once.

In addition to symbols, you can also display other objects necessary for technical analysis on a chart. The most important examples are drawing objects, like trend lines or Fibonacci Retracements, and studies, like the Moving Average or different oscillators. You will learn more about these tools in the sections Drawing Tools and Analysis Tools.