Tips, Tricks and undocumented feature for StockCharts.com

lmkwin

There are a bunch of tips and tricks and undocumented features shared on this forum over the decades. Most are buried in the threads of various other topics, but we haven't a place that stored any of it in it's own thread.

So, similar to the Suggestions to StockCharts thread, where we can share our suggestions we made to StockCharts.com for enhancements / improvements, maybe this tread will be a place to share things we do to customize our StockCharts experiences.

I'll start. I use the Full Stochastic on my time based charts. I use the Full as its versatility allows you to have it replicate the Fast or the Slow Stochastic simply by changing the parameters. A 14,3,3 Full equals a 14,3 Slow. A 14,1,3 Full equals a 14,3 Fast. The Stochastic is made up of a %K line and a %D line. The %D line (the last number in the parameters) is the simple moving average of the %K line. George Lane, credited with creating the stochastic indicator, paid attention to the %D at some point in his long and illustrious career.

Tips and Tricks:
There are ways to modify the look of the Stochastics on your charts by adding overlays to the indicator.

The Standard or Default view is fine, but you may want to focus your attention or make it easier to see levels or occurances that are important to YOU. I try to help myself by making what I want to see, POP off the screen.

4 examples below



You can Highlight the line of interest (%K or %D) by placing a SMA Envelope overlay on the Stochastic. To highlight the %K use a SMA Env with a parameter of 1,1.5 for example. This will put a thicker outline on the %K line. To highlight the %D use a SMA Envelope overlay on the Stochasic with a parameter of the last parameter number of your Stochastic. Example: SMA Env parameter 3,1.5. This will put a thicker outline on the %D line. The 1.5 in the parameter is the distance from the SMA, so a 1,1.5 puts a line 1.5% above and below the SMA to create the Envelope.

The lower panel has Horizontal Line overlay on the Stochastic. The parameter on that one is 10:red,15:red,33:cyan,35:blue,49:red,50.65:red,63:cyan,65:blue,75:lime,76:green,20:white,80:white

I look at that like a hockey rink. Starting at the bottom at my goal line, until I move past my Blue Line, I'm on Defense. As I move past my Blue Line I transition to Offense by crossing the Red Line and am definitely on Offense when I cross the opponents Blue Line.

You can create multiple colored lines using the number colon color comma number colon color technique in the parameter field. The default lines on the Stochastic are 20,50,80. I "hide" those lines by making the 20 and 80 white.

azb

Great idea. Thanks.

Ok, here is one ....
You can show a DAILY chart on other timeframes by adjusting the parameters.
Here is a DAILY timeframe shown on a 30 MINUTE CHART.
Just increase the numbers .... SMA 7 on daily ... is SMA 7 * 6.5 = SMA 45
Be sure to adjust ALL the indicators the same amount.

lmkwin

@azb I like that concept and use it. It gives visibility to other time frames on the chart you are using. I tend to "optimize" my weekly chart and then make the monthly and daily charts indicators reflective of the weekly chart's indicator parameters. So when I'm looking at a daily chart, I can see (approximately) where the weekly indicator levels are at the moment.

I should have mentioned in the Stochastic "trick" that you can also adjust the Opacity of the indicator to make the MA Envelopes pop even more. The Opacity of the bottom panel is set to 3. I adjust Opacity on many things to balance out what I want to see easily vs want to see sometimes.

lmkwin

Inside a recent thread I mentioned an undocumented feature on StockCharts. Coloring the MACD/PPO histogram

Undocumented feature:

markd

Another interesting feature is the 'Position' column under indicators. There are four options for placing an indicator 'above' (meaning above the chart), 'below', 'behind' and - the kicker - 'behind indicator'.

With the 'behind indicator' option you can 'stack' different versions of the same indicator on top of each other. It can get messy, but depending on the indicator it can be very useful for saving real estate.

I use Price with $GT200SPX, $GT50SPX, $GT20SPX which track the percent of issues in the SP500 above each MA, 200, 50 and 20. The first Price is positioned 'below', and the others 'behind indicator'. When GT200 is rising or moving sideways above 80, the market likes to turn at or shortly after the GT20 or GT50 dipping below 50. Once the GT200 starts to slope down (drops below 80 and moves toward 50) the signals stop working.

You can do something similar with stacking Fast Ks. I use 251 (Fast Stoch %K(251,1), 63, 21 and 10. In strong markets, prices like to turn on or shortly after 10 or 21 dipping below 20. Likewise, in weak markets, prices like to turn when 10 or 21 get above 80.

The longer parameters tell you the longer term position of the market - if they are higher up, the market has been rising, if the are lower down, prices have been falling, and you know that without have to change the time frame of the chart, or lengthen the start/end.






The GTs also show non-confirmation around the Feb highs. Prices return to past highs, but none of the GTs do, meaning fewer stocks were responsible for the rally, indicating weakness likely.

lmkwin

Here's a tip that works for select limited times for those with questions for support but not getting responses.

Occasionally StockCharts solicits feedback from users. A banner may appear at the top of a page or screen that asks you to checkout some feature and provide feedback to them. The "new SharpCharts Workbench" is one I see now. They have had some in the past also.

Here's the tip:

Click on the "provide feedback" link and then give LEGITIMATE* feedback on the topic solicited. Then.... add your unresponded to comment or question that you requested from Support. They usually respond to their requests for feedback and LEGITIMATE* feedback, and may even provide you will further information on your unanswered inquiry.

*legitimate feedback is well thought out and pertinent to the request.