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Open Feature request MC-686

Rounded time-scales for charts

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Description

MultiCharts currently seems to use rather arbitrary time scales along the x-asis for charts. For example, I currently have a one-minute chart open for a symbol that opens at 08:30. I've attached some screenshots.
 
At the default settings, MultiCharts has a timestamp every five minutes, but starting at 08:36: i.e., "08:36, 08:41, 08:46, 08:51, 08:56, 09:01," etc. Since these timestamps don't fall on round numbers like 08:40 or 08:45, they're more difficult to read quickly in my opinion.
 
Likewise, if I compress the chart using "Decrease Bar Spacing," the division of the timestamps becomes even more weird, based on nine-minute increments: "08:38, 08:45, 08:52, 08:59, 09:06," etc. 
 
It would be great if you could normalize these divisions so that they are based on round numbers, like timestamps every five minutes, every ten minutes, every fifteen minutes, every thirty minutes, or every hour (depending on the space available and compression). E.g., if there isn't enough space for a five-minute division, it should default to the next round number, a ten-minute division. 
 
Also, these should be displayed at rounded numbers, like "08:35, 08:40, 08:45..." for five-minute divisions, or "08:45, 09:00, 09:15..." for fifteen-minute divisions. If there isn't space on the chart for the first timestamp of the day (like 08:35 for five-minute divisions), it should just wait until the next timestamp (like 08:40).
 
There are similar issues with charts in Performance Reports, like the equity curve. For example, I backtested a strategy that ran from approximately March 2006 to the present. Rather than have sensible divisions of dates like "1/1/2007, 1/1/2008, 1/1/2009," etc., it instead gave some completely arbitrary numbers: "9/14/2006 9:52:00 AM, 3/14/2007 10:47:00 AM, 9/7/2007 2:23:00 PM," etc. It would be great if these could also be changed to use round numbers or dates.

Steps to reproduce this issue

See above.

Comments (2)
#0
user-offline.png  arx (arx)
Jan 11, 2012 - 18:11

Odd time intervals require additional unnecesary effort to be read. This feature would make it much quicker to analyze single charts and to make comparisons across various charts. Right now, one has to count bars very carefully to avoid misinterpreting a chart.
This could be implemented by providing two options in the X-scale tab in "Format Window":
1) Automatic time intervals for the grid: To let the computer generate divisions that should take into account the normalized intervals described in the post above (paragraph 4).
2) User-defined time intervals for the grid: Here, one could fix the intervals manually as needed.
I believe these two options would provide full flexibility to accomodate every trader's needs.
Also, the post above describes the issue of bars using end-of-period time (paragraph 2). For example, the 1 min bar that goes from 9:30 to 9:31, is marked in the chart
as 9:31. There should be a way to change this to beginning-of-period time, that is,
9:30. This would be another important step to improve chart readability.
References:
Issue: MC-732 and MC-703
Thank you!

#0
user-offline.png  Yves BENOIT (Yves BENOIT)
Dec 14, 2012 - 14:35

Many concurrent program offer clear Time scale. It's becoming urgent to catch up on this issue, When I show Multicharts charts to potential new users, it is difficult to convince them because of this .
A first simple step would be to write days, months, years in a specific way : bold police, or special color .
Then I totally subscribe to Xyzzy proposals.

History
Issue basics
  • Type of issue
    Feature request
  • Category
    Not determined
  • Targeted for
    MultiCharts 9.0 (RELEASED)
  • Status
    Released
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  • Posted by
    user-offline.png  Xyzzy (Xyzzy)
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  • Severity
    Normal
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