The "today" selection for timeframe

surfsup

I want charts to end at "today" for timeframe - whatever the current day is.

I seem to have to keep typing in "today" or picking "today" when I am in the "End" box under chart attributes to set the timeframe of the chart. I don't get it. For example, today, I just got back from a 4 day trip in Montreal for work. Going through the charts, I have to go to my charts that have the timeframe end at "today" but they are all loading on May 13th or May 15th, etc. The last time I looked at them is what the date shows. I KNOW I had today there. I saved these charts a long time ago. I keep putting in "today" and resaving the chart. But some charts just randomly keep changing to a setting for "End" that was the last time I loaded it up. How do I get it to permanently say "today"??? Very annoying.

markd

I get the same behavior in Select Start/End mode for Range. Fortunately, that is the behavior I want. It would have been less confusing if they had used the numeric date instead of the word "today", which to me does imply that it will move to the next day when the market opens. But it doesn't.

Maybe that's because it doesn't want to make an assumption about what you want to do with the start date - advance it, or keep it. If it keeps the start date but advances the end date, the chart could accumulate a lot of data and maybe exceed whatever the limits are for chart data. But if it advances the start date, that might violate someone else's expectation of what the tool is supposed to do (always start from that same start date). So apparently they chose to make no assumptions - what you select is what you get, and it stays that way until you change it. But, I agree that would have been clearer if they had used an actual date for the end date instead fo the word "today".

If you want the charts to advance with the market open, you have to select one of the other range choices (10 days, 1 month, 3 years, etc.). There are quite a few, so hopefully one of them fits your needs.

gord

I agree with Markd, the "start / end date" is for customers who want to see a specific date range in the past, or from some date in the past to the current date. The term "today" is really just a shortcut so you don't have to actually select todays date and enter it.

Just pick the range you need, say 6 months, then when the fields pop up you can then modify it to say 6 months 3 days, whatever you need. The right hand side of the chart will always be the lastest trading day.

namron8255

In RANGE for the END I put in 'today'. But the next day that I look at the Chart END now reads the day that I orginally started the CHART. I can then erase that date, put in 'today' and it stays that way. How can I prevent this from happening.

markd

Hi @namron8255 ,

To avoid the problem you are having, don't use the "Select Start/End" option.

Instead, as @gord suggests above, in the "Range" drop down, where it says "Predefined Range", you can select a default length, like 3 months or 6 months, and the chart will always end on the current date (the starting date will advance 1 bar each day to maintain the 3 month or 6 month length).

If you want a non-default length, use the drop downs to the right of the default selections (Years, Months, Days). So if you wanted a daily chart of six weeks duration, you would select 0 Years, 0 Months, 30 Days (5 days in a week times 6 weeks). As @gord notes, you can combine default choices with custom choices (6 months, 11 days).