TradeStation question

I'd like to have "real" crosshairs for a cursor on my TradeStation charts, but choosing the "Crosshairs Pointer" under the "Window" main menu option only gives a small crosshair rather than one that goes from top to bottom, side to side.

Does anybody know how to make a "real" crosshair cursor in TradeStation?

Thanks!

Only help I can provide is to hold down your mouse button while you are moving across the chart. This will provide standard crosshairs and data tips window as long as you hold the mouse button down. To my knowledge TS does not have a way to keep the crosshairs active - mouse button must be pressed. All of that said be advised that several individuals are upset about he recent 9.5 changes. Depending on your background color you may not be able to see the crosshairs. This is a known issue that many are complaining about in the community. The crosshairs are dark gray / black with a slight transparent feel. Dark background coupled with monitor resolution might prevent you from seeing. It could also prevent you from freely reading the data tips window. I have a medium to lighter gray background so the crosshairs work perfect for me. I also put thought into my background color so that I would be able to read the data tips window which also allows me to see the crosshairs and makes the other colors stand out. Many in the forum use a standard black background which is causing some of their issues. If you are open to changing your background then you might have better results. Several are asking for the ability to change crosshair and data tips settings. Don't hold your breath as it is hard to keep such a large community happy.

NCT



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/15/2014 06:15AM by NCTrader.

Thanks, NCT.

I was playing around with it as I was composing this reply and I got them to show up when I kept the mouse button down as you described. Apparently, if you have Pointer Tracking turned off, you get the 'real' crosshairs but when you have Pointer Tracking turned on (you get a 'T' with the little crosshair cursor), you only get the vertical 'crosshair' when you hold mouse button down. I use a light gray background so that wasn't an issue. My crosshair problem has spanned all upgrades over since I signed up with them a couple of years ago so it's not version specific.

I'm assuming this is as good as it gets or do you know of another knob I can turn to get me something closer to what I want?

Unfortunately that is about all I know regarding the crosshairs. I never used crosshairs as a standard setting so it never really bothered me. The fact that I can get them to appear at will by holding down the mouse works for me . Sorry... Still trying to get use to pointer tracking. I love the concept but wish the charts would align on the hard right edge instead of hard left edge. I understand why they use the left edge so that you can examine historical moves across all charts without moving the chart but haven't gotten comfortable yet. I spent so many years with QCharts having to run everything back manually that I forget the tracking option is available at times (QCharts before they had "Go To Date".

NCT

Thanks, NCT.

The tracking function was something I was waiting for QCharts to add so I took to it pretty easily. Of course, QCharts never added that function but it did have crosshairs that I wish TS had!

I had seen videos of a guy using TS and it had those crosshairs I want and I thought there must be something I can do, but now I know, he was only looking at one time frame at a time so tracking wasn't an issue.

Oh, well. I can live with it... I guess I'll have to, won't I?

Think Or Swim has crosshairs :-)

I'll check it out. Thanks!

Yes, TOS has nice crosshairs and is a great platform. The charting can be great if you take the time to learn the nuances. You an also find excellent support in this forum. Researching, entering, and managing a trade makes TS seem ancient (clunky is the word I think I used in previous posts and seems to fit well). You can do everything in TS but it simply does not flow nearly as well as TOS. If you are used to Tradestation and for any reason have a need to go back more than 6 months on an intraday chart then don't bother with TOS. People will tell you about OnDemand that allows you to replay any given market day over the past 5 years. Great for practicing short chart entries and I use it on occasion. You simply cannot go back and study previous time periods or how the charts move together leading up to events with TOS unless the time period you are looking for is within the last 6 months. You can on weekly and daily but not on intraday. For that you need TS, Qcharts, StrategyDesk if still available, or some other platform. It all depends on your personal priority list but nothing is as easy as entering and managing a trade on TOS. Yes, I use both. I log into TS remotely using remote desktop connection so that I can see my charts. I have TOS loaded at work and use it for trade management. If my RDC is disconnected for any reason then I have TOS workspace I can fall back on if needed. A lot of work but I was not willing to settle for TS trade management nor was I willing to settle for TOS charting



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2014 09:34PM by NCTrader.

Good info! Thanks NCT!

I second NCT's opionion. I use both TS and TOS for exactly the same reasons as he stated. I will say that TOS data is somewhat "dirtier," e.g. I do scans on stocks and create separate lists by NYSE and NASDAQ stocks. TOS consistently has a small but significant number of stocks assigned to the wrong exchanges. It's a big pain to correct this and it is not hard to get this data directly from the exchanges. I have complained on numerous occasions to TOS technical support but nothing seems to be getting any better. I have to download excel spreadsheets of stock lists from the exchanges and then check them against my scans after I load the data into a MySQL data base so I can get the stocks assigned to their correct exchanges.

I "third" what NCT said.
Concerning using TOS to place trades. Most all of my trades are done on the phone app TOS provides. I just look at the charts, and when I'm ready to enter I use TD Ameritrade's "Trader" app for the android. I think it's also on the I-phone as well. I like it because I don't have to be glued to the PC while entering and/or exiting trades. TOS still keeps track of all the entries and exits within the TOS program, which is fine since it doesn't clutter up the phone app:-)

@Dan, Does this data corruption extend to the price data or just the exchanges info? I haven't really noticed many errors with the price data.

ncmudbug

Thank you for indirectly helping me with the missing crosshairs on my chart; I had lost them when I made the upgrade to 9.5. Your hint of turning off the PointerTracker brought them back !

I had asked NCtrader to help me problem solve it earlier.

Tracker with crosshairs without mouse-hold would best.

Chunk

Glad I could help - even if it was inadvertently!