Charting Desk User Guide

Welcome

Charting Desk is a tool for reading higher-timeframe markets (one hour and up). It is built for analysis and planning, not for high-speed trading, and it deliberately keeps things simple.

Charting Desk brings together the tools that usually live across several apps: a fast, higher-timeframe chart, a market scanner, automatic levels and structure, trade planning, comparison tools and a built-in beginner course. It runs entirely in your browser at chartingdesk.com, with nothing to install.

The web edition covers crypto plus equities in a limited capacity: US stocks, ETFs and forex. Indices, commodities and international equities are not included.

Everything below is written for a complete beginner. You do not need to know any trading jargon; the glossary explains every term the first time it appears. If a word looks technical, hover the matching control in the app and a plain-English hint appears.

Highlights

These are the parts users reach for most. Each card opens the full section later in the guide.

60-second tour

Let us get a chart on screen before we explain anything.

1. Go to chartingdesk.com. It opens on BTC/USDT daily with a starter setup already in place.

Once a chart is up:

1. Pan by dragging the chart, zoom with the mouse wheel over the chart.
2. Click any timeframe button in the toolbar (for example 4h or 1W) to change the bar size.
3. Hover the chart: the top-left legend shows that bar's open, high, low, close, change and volume.
4. Click the toolbar Indicators button and add RSI if it is not already there.
5. Hover a button you do not understand. A hint appears. That is the whole learning model.

The screen at a glance

The window has five zones. Knowing their names makes the rest of the guide easy to follow.

Simple and Advanced

The toolbar has two personalities. Simple hides the specialised controls so beginners are not overwhelmed. Advanced reveals them. Toggle between the two with the sparkles button at the right of the toolbar.

The browser edition

Charting Desk runs in the browser at chartingdesk.com. There is nothing to install and no account: open the page and start charting. Your charts and settings are stored in your own browser.

How your chart gets its data

You do not connect anything, log in, or paste an API key. Charting Desk talks to public, keyless data sources and quietly caches what it downloads.

Where prices come from

• Crypto: Binance, the exchange. Crypto charts can also update in real time (see Live below).
• Stocks, ETFs and forex: a cached Yahoo feed with a free intraday source, in limited capacity (US symbols).

Sync, cache and the stale flag

• Cache: downloaded bars are stored so a chart reopens instantly and works offline.
• Sync: the circular-arrow Sync button fetches the latest bars for the active chart.
• Stale: if data is old, a small note in the status bar says so. Sync when you want fresh prices.
• Auto-refresh: the Auto-refresh dropdown (Off, 15s, 30s, 1m, and up to 1h) reloads the active chart on a timer.
• Daily cache for the scanner: the Scan tab works from the daily bars already cached on your device. Open or sync the symbols you care about to fill the cache.

Live streaming

For crypto, the Live button streams updates over a websocket so the newest bar ticks in real time. The status chip shows live, connecting or reconnecting. Live works on the 1h, 4h, 12h, 1D, 1W and 1M timeframes. The slowest timeframes (2W and longer) simply refresh on a timer.

Live needs outbound access to Binance. In some networks or regions it is blocked, in which case the chip shows reconnecting and the chart falls back to normal syncing. You are never stuck.

Timeframes

The timeframe is the amount of time each bar (candle) covers. It is the single most important choice, because it changes what every indicator and every pattern means.

Under the hood the app stores two native resolutions (1 hour and 1 day) and builds every larger timeframe from them. Timeframes are bucketed in UTC, so a "day" starts at midnight UTC.

Chart types

The Chart type dropdown in the toolbar changes how price is drawn. All twelve draw from the same underlying data, so your drawings and indicators are unaffected when you switch.

Scales and overlays

These controls decide how the price axis and the chart furniture behave. In the toolbar they live inside the Display button (the small panel icon).

Search and the omnibox

The search box is the front door. Type a ticker or a company name and press Enter (or click the magnifier).

• One search, all sources. The box searches every source the edition offers, including crypto and, on the web, US stocks, ETFs and forex.
• Grouped results. Matches are grouped by asset class: Crypto, Stocks, ETFs, Indices, Forex, Metals and so on.
• Source badge. Each row shows where the data will come from.
• Pinned first. Symbols already on your watchlist or recently viewed float to the top.
• Smart ranking. An exact ticker beats a prefix, which beats a partial name.

Click a row to load it. Press Esc to close the list. Examples to try: AAPL, BTCUSDT, EURUSD=X.

The Assets drawer

The Assets button slides a browsing panel in from the right, with a two-level tree: a Popular list, then sections such as Crypto, Stocks, ETFs, Indices, Forex and Commodities, each with groups inside. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ-100 groups list their full membership.

• Type in the filter box to narrow the tree as you go.
• Groups fill in only when you open them, so the drawer stays quick.
• Click any ticker to load it on the active chart.
• Open it from the toolbar Assets button, the View menu, or Ctrl+Shift+A.

In the browser edition the equity sections list US stocks, ETFs and forex in limited capacity; indices and commodities are desktop only.

Watchlist

The Watch tab in the right sidebar is a simple, ordered list of the symbols you care about.

• Add: with a chart open, click the + beside the Watchlist header, or the toolbar star, or Options → Add to watchlist.
• Load: click a symbol in the list.
• Remove: click the × on the row.
• The active symbol is highlighted so you always know what you are looking at.

The watchlist is also a universe for the Scan tab.

Markets heatmap

The Markets tab gives you a bird's-eye view of a whole group at once. Each tile is a symbol; the size of the tile is how much it traded and the colour is how much it moved. Green is up, red is down, deeper shades mean bigger moves.

• Universe chooses the board: a live Crypto board. Equity, sector, commodity and forex boards are desktop only.
• Period is Live, 1h, 1D or 1M (Live is crypto only; the rest use cached bars).
• Click any tile to load its chart.
• The refresh button re-pulls quotes. Boards update on their own roughly every five minutes while open.

Info tab: news, earnings and calendar

The Info tab answers the "what is this thing and what is going on around it?" questions. It refreshes when you change symbol and again about once a minute while it is open. Everything here is cache-first, so it stays instant after the first load.

Navigating a chart

Moving around a chart is deliberately mouse-first. There is nothing to memorise beyond the first three gestures.

The legend and status bar

Two quiet but important readouts.

The chart legend (top-left)

Shows the ticker, provider, asset class and timeframe. Below that it lists the hovered bar's O H L C, change percent and volume. If you are not hovering, it shows the latest bar instead.

The status bar (bottom)

Shows the active symbol and name, how many bars are loaded, sync and live state, the hovered bar details, and short messages such as a toast or a data warning.

Multiple panes

You can show up to four independent charts at once. The Layout dropdown offers Single, Two columns, Two rows and a 2 x 2 grid. Click any pane to make it active; the toolbar, rail and sidebar then apply to that pane.

• Link symbols keeps every pane on the same symbol as you change it.
• Link timeframes keeps every pane on the same timeframe.
• Turn both off to compare up to four different markets at once.
• Hover a pane in a multi-pane layout for a maximize button. It enlarges that pane temporarily without changing your saved layout.

Bar Replay

Bar Replay hides the future so you can practise decision-making on historical bars. It is the single most useful learning feature in the app.

1. Click Replay in the toolbar (View and replay group).
2. The full chart appears and asks you to click a bar to choose where to start.
3. Use play, step forward, step back, and the speed dropdown (1x, 2x, 4x, Fast).
4. Draw, add indicators, and watch alerts evaluate as if it were live.
5. Press the rewind button (↺) to re-pick a start bar, or the close button to exit.

Blackboard

The toolbar Board button replaces the chart with a blank, gridless canvas and the full drawing toolkit. Use it to sketch an idea, map a strategy, or explain a concept without a symbol in the way.

• Board drawings are saved separately from any symbol, so turning the board off never disturbs your charts.
• Everything in the tool rail works here: lines, shapes, arrows, doodles, text and stickers.
• Toggle Board again to return to your chart.

The drawing tools

The rail on the left holds every drawing tool, grouped by purpose. Tools that belong together (Fib, Shapes, Icons, Forecast, Auto, Compare) open a small panel beside the rail when clicked, so the rail never becomes a wall.

Drawing in three steps

1. Pick a tool. Most are two-point tools; the cursor changes to a crosshair.
2. Click once for the first point, move, then click again for the second. Fibonacci extension and some figures use three points.
3. To reshape it, switch to Select, click the drawing and drag its handles.

Fibonacci tools

Fibonacci tools measure a move and mark where price might pause.

• Retracement (F): two points. Marks the pullback levels between them, with optional shaded "golden zone" bands.
• Extension (X): three points. Projects targets beyond the move (the classic uses are 1.272 and 1.618).
• Fan (G): two points. Radiates levels diagonally as dynamic support and resistance.
• Auto Fibonacci (in Forecast): finds the visible swing for you and draws the retracement in one click.

Double-click a Fibonacci drawing to open its settings. There you can edit all 24 levels by hand, give each its own colour, show or hide individual levels, and tick Reverse to swap which end is 0%. The defaults show 0, 0.618, 0.786, 0.826 and 1.

Auto levels and auto structure

The Auto fly-out is a one-stop shelf of reference levels the computer can find for you. Each row is an independent on/off toggle and each carries a colour swatch. Nothing is on until you ask.

• The Sensitivity dropdown (Low, Medium, High) tunes how eager the structure detectors are. Medium is the default.
• Follow timeframe keeps the automatic drawings matched to the timeframe you are viewing. When it is off and the drawings came from another timeframe, a small warning chip says so.
• Refresh auto and Clear auto affect only machine-made drawings. Your own drawings are never touched.

Planning a trade

The Long and Short tools turn a chart idea into a plan with explicit risk. They are about discipline, not prediction.

1. Pick Long (S) or Short (Shift+S).
2. Click your entry price.
3. Click your stop price. The risk band appears immediately.
4. Drag the take-profit line to set the target. By default there is one target at 2R (twice your risk).
5. Double-click the position to open its settings, where you can add up to TP1 to TP4 as R multiples and set the percent you would close at each.

The tool shows a blended expected R and a live readout as you adjust it. Drag a take-profit line directly on the chart to change its R multiple.

Projection figures

Projection figures are ready-made price-path shapes (about 29 of them) that you drop onto the chart as translucent "ghost" candles. They are for asking "if price follows this kind of path, where does it end up?"

1. Open Projection figures from the rail Forecast group (or Options → Projection figures).
2. Pick a figure from the list.
3. Click two opposite corners on the chart to place it.
4. Drag any point to reshape it and fit it to your levels. Drag it into the future to project forward.

A Render option lets you choose "match chart style" or force a simple line. Figures follow your chart type by default.

Editing, templates and the Objects panel

Selecting and editing

• Select (V) then click a drawing to select it. Handles appear at its anchor points.
• Drag a handle to reshape; drag the body to move the whole drawing.
• Marquee: Shift+drag to select several drawings at once.
• Copy, paste, duplicate: Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+D. Select all with Ctrl+A.
• Delete: Del or Backspace. The Eraser (Q) deletes by dragging over drawings, and one drag is one undo step.
• Undo and redo: Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z (or Ctrl+Y).
• Lock or hide any drawing so you can keep working around it.

The per-drawing settings dialog

Double-click any drawing (or right-click it, or use the pencil in the Objects list) to open a full settings window: name, visibility, lock, colour, width, line style, opacity, text and font, editable anchor coordinates, and templates. OK and Cancel sit in a pinned footer, and one session counts as a single undo step.

Templates

A Template is a saved look for a drawing: colour, width, text and Fibonacci levels. Select a drawing, pick a built-in template (Support, Resistance and others) from the toolbar Template dropdown, or choose Save current as template to create your own.

The Objects panel

The sidebar Objects tab lists everything you have added, and is the fastest way to manage a busy chart.

• Drawings: filter, rename, reorder by dragging, show or hide, lock, edit, delete, clear all, or hide all.
• Indicators: show or hide each study, or remove it. Hidden studies stay computed so indicator alerts keep working.

Adding indicators

Indicators (also called studies) are calculations drawn from price. Charting Desk ships 53 built-ins, organised by category so you can find what you need.

To add one

1. Click the toolbar Indicators button.
2. In Add an indicator, choose from the dropdown. A one-line description appears underneath.
3. Adjust any parameters (period, colours, levels) that appear beside the picker.
4. Click Add. It appears in the On the chart list and on the chart.

Each study shows a placement chip: Overlay on the price chart, Pane in its own panel below, or Volume in the volume pane. The order in the On the chart list is the draw order.

The Favourites section is a saved set you can toggle on and off as a group with the toolbar star button. First run seeds a sensible bundle (Volume, BX, EMA 21/50/100 and Bollinger Bands).

Volume profile and Value Zones

Volume profile

A volume profile is a sideways histogram showing how much trade happened at each price, rather than at each time. The toolbar dropdown offers four modes:

• Off.
• Visible: profiles the bars currently on screen.
• Session: one profile per session.
• Anchored: profiles from a bar you pick. Click Anchor in the toolbar, then click a bar.

The POC (point of control) is the price with the most volume, and it often acts like a magnet. Switch on Value area in the Display menu to shade the 70% zone (VAH and VAL).

Value Zones

Value Zones read the trend's structure, measure its last impulse leg, and shade where a pullback would be attractive. In an uptrend it marks a Value Buy and Discount Buy zone, with TP and SL lines at the leg extremes. In a downtrend it marks the mirror-image Premium Sell and Peak Sell zones. If the structure is mixed, it draws nothing, which is itself useful information.

Chart presets

A preset applies an entire chart setup in one click: the studies plus the automatic levels, structure and volume profile, grouped by school of thought. Presets are the quickest way to try a style you have not used before. Click the toolbar Presets button for a quick menu grouped by school, or choose Manage presets… in that menu to open the full Chart presets dialog.

• Groups include Starter (the Default Desk), Classical, Indicator era, Market profile, Structure and Modern volume-price.
• Each preset has a one-line summary and a short why so you know what it is trying to show you.
• Applying a preset replaces the studies and automatic layers. Your own drawings are never touched.
• Save current as preset captures your setup under My presets, and presets can be exported and imported as JSON.

Custom indicators

If the 53 built-ins are not enough, you can write your own study in a small, safe expression language. There is no plugin system and no risk to your machine: the language can only do maths on price series.

1. Open Indicators, then the Custom section, then New custom indicator.
2. Give it a name. Hover hints explain the fields.
3. Choose Overlay (on price), Pane (below the chart) or Volume.
4. Optionally pick a Higher TF. The expression is then recomputed on locally resampled higher-timeframe bars.
5. Type the expression and click Add to chart.

Inputs are open, high, low, close, volume, hl2, hlc3 and ohlc4. Around 34 functions are available, including sma, ema, wma, hma, dema, tema, rma, stdev, rsi, atr, highest, lowest, sum, cum, shift, change, roc, abs, sqrt, log, min, max, pow, clamp, nz, cross and bar_index. Use plot(x, "Name", "#rrggbb", "histogram") to style each line and fill(a, b, "#rrggbb") to shade a band.

Two special calls open the door to bigger ideas: study("rsi", 14) borrows a built-in study's series, and htf(series, "1d") samples a series at a higher timeframe.

Scripts are saved in a library, and the whole library can be exported and imported as JSON. Custom studies render exactly like built-ins, so panes, the legend, alerts and workspaces all work with them.

Compare and analogues

Compare overlay

Click the toolbar Compare button, search a second symbol, and it is overlaid on your chart normalised to percent change from the left edge of the view. The legend reads something like ETHUSDT +4.20%. This answers "is this instrument strong or weak against that one?" without price levels getting in the way.

Historical analogues

The rail Compare group's H tool time-warps a past window of any symbol onto your chart. Pick a source, a date range and an optional bar count, set an anchor bar, then Add analogue. The source history is resampled and projected as a dashed line. With the select tool you can drag it forward in time, stretch it, or scale it.

Earnings overlay

The rail Compare group's E toggle draws reported quarterly EPS as slim blue bars on the price pane, scaled into the visible price range. Each bar is labelled with its EPS. It applies to instruments that report earnings (equities and ETFs), which are desktop only; crypto has none.

Quarterly history merges recent Nasdaq data with deep SEC filings, cached for twelve hours. The toggle is on by default and is remembered as a preference.

Trading ideas

The toolbar bulb asks the app to analyse the chart and mark its best setups. This is an automated second opinion, not a recommendation.

• An overlay draws an entry, a stop, a target, risk and reward shading, and a dashed projection when the setup is still waiting.
• A popover and the sidebar Ideas tab list up to six setups, strongest first, with the direction, the strategy name, entry, stop, target and R:R.
• Evidence chips show what supports and what argues against each idea.
• You can Focus, set Alerts, open the Plan, Pin it, or Dismiss it.
• Seven detectors ship: Value zones, Trend pullback, Range fade, Breakout and retest, RSI divergence, Volume climax, and MA cross. Each carries a higher-timeframe confluence note.

Pinned ideas persist per symbol, dismissals expire when the setup leaves the chart, and named sets can be saved and exported. Confidence is expressed as Low, Medium or High.

Alerts

Alerts watch a level and tell you when price reaches it, so you do not have to stare at the screen.

1. Click the toolbar bell to open Alerts.
2. Choose the type, the condition (for example "crosses above"), and the level or line.
3. Click Add. The toolbar bell shows how many alerts are armed.

There is a shortcut for drawings: open the Objects tab and click the bell on a drawing row to arm an alert on it in one click.

Scan

The sidebar Scan tab runs an explainable screen over your cached daily bars. It is a way to turn "show me candidates" into a short, reasoned list, rather than scrolling through hundreds of charts.

• Universe: All cached (default), Crypto, Assets (everything non-crypto), or your Watchlist.
• Pattern: All, Base, Breakout, Reversal, Momentum, Continuation or Volume.
• Recipes: 16 built-in screens, including base accumulation, fresh highs, gap ups, near 52-week highs, double bottom, double top, EMA and MACD crosses, thrust, moving-average alignment, relative strength, RSI divergence, pullback, flag, volume surge and volume climax.
• Results are grouped in collapsible sections per recipe, each row with additive evidence chips, an invalidation level and a direction. Click a row to load the chart.
• Sensitivity (Low, Medium, High) tunes every recipe at once.
• Saved scans keep a recipe and universe combination, and results can be exported as CSV.

The web scanner covers crypto only. It works from the daily bars already cached on your device, so load or sync the symbols you care about first.

Learn mode

Learn mode is a complete beginner's course built into the app, with worked examples drawn on real (synthetic) charts. It lives in its own world: entering it does not touch your saved charts, drawings or settings, and your practice sketches are discarded when you leave.

• Open it from the toolbar Learn button, the Learn menu, or the sidebar Learn tab.
• Each lesson loads an annotated example, shows the outcome, and offers prose, callouts and steps.
• There is an inline Reveal control, interactive exercises (pick on the chart, draw along) and a chapter quiz with an explanation for every answer.
• Every module closes with a graded exam (70% to pass).
• Your progress is stored locally and you can toggle it on or off.

Workspaces

A workspace is a saved snapshot of your whole view: symbol, timeframe, chart type, indicators, scale, drawings, compare, panes and more. It is how you return to a setup tomorrow without rebuilding it.

• Open Workspaces from the toolbar or the File menu.
• Save the current view under a name, or load, rename and delete saved ones.
• Export JSON and Import JSON move workspaces between machines or back them up.

Your last session is restored automatically on the next launch when the startup choice is Last session.

Export and import

The toolbar Export button (and the File menu) offers three formats:

There is also Import CSV. It reads a file of ISO or epoch OHLCV rows and adds them to the symbol's 1-hour or 1-day series, which is useful for testing data you already have.

Themes

Seven colour schemes ship with the app, three dark and four light. The Theme dropdown applies one instantly, and your choice is remembered.

• Dark: Midnight Navy, Heritage, Neon.
• Light: Solarized Light, Porcelain, Bauhaus, Executive.

Preferences also let you set candle up and down colours, per-tool drawing colours, the number of price decimals, the default timeframe and gridlines.

Help, hints and search shortcuts

You are never expected to remember everything. The app explains itself in three ways.

1. Hover hints. Hover (or keyboard-focus) almost any control and a tooltip appears after a short delay. Small ? buttons in dialogs open a fuller explanation.
2. Hint level. The Hints dropdown in Advanced mode selects All (both lines), Technical (short), Educational (the why and the pitfalls), or Off.
3. Help window. Press ? or F1, or click the ? in the toolbar, for the full keyboard reference and feature primer.

Guided walkthroughs

These put the pieces together in the order a real analysis usually happens. Follow along in the app.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcuts never fire while you are typing in a text box. Press ? for this list inside the app.

Settings reference

Most settings are toggles on the toolbar; the rest live in Preferences (Ctrl+,). Here is the whole map.

Menu map

The menu bar mirrors the toolbar, which helps when you cannot find an icon.

Glossary

FAQ and troubleshooting

The chart is blank, or nothing loads

Check your connection, then click Sync. The first load of a new symbol always takes a moment. If a retry button appears with an error, click it. Data comes from public feeds that occasionally hiccup; trying again usually works.

Live shows "reconnecting"

Live streaming needs outbound access to Binance, which is blocked on some networks and in some regions. The chart still works; it simply falls back to normal syncing. Turn the Live toggle off if the status chip is distracting.

The last bar keeps changing

That is expected. The newest bar is not final until its period closes. A 1D bar keeps moving until the UTC day ends, and then it is written to the cache as a closed bar.

My drawings appeared on a different timeframe

Drawings belong to the symbol, not the timeframe, so a line on the daily chart shows on every timeframe. This keeps levels consistent. Delete it if you only wanted it on one timeframe.

I cannot draw anything

Three usual causes. A tool might not be armed (press the key or click the rail tool). The layer might be locked or hidden (check the Objects panel). Or you might be on the Blackboard with a tool that needs two clicks; press Esc and start again.

An alert never fired

Alerts are one-shot and evaluate after a sync and on each live crypto tick. Check that it is armed (the toolbar bell shows the count), that the condition and level are correct, and that it has not already triggered. Re-arm it if it did.

Why did the price scale stop following the price?

You switched to a manual scale by dragging or wheeling over the price axis. Double-click the chart, or press Reset, to return to auto-scaling.

The Scan finds nothing

The scanner reads only cached daily bars. If your cache is thin, load or sync the symbols you care about, or widen the universe and lower the sensitivity.

Where is my data stored?

In your own browser storage (IndexedDB). Your charts and settings are kept on your device. See Privacy, data and risk.

A symbol is missing

Crypto coverage is broad but not universal. Equity coverage is limited to US stocks, ETFs and forex. Try the Assets drawer, or a slightly different ticker format.

My custom indicator shows an error

The editor points to the line and column. The usual causes are a missing argument, an unknown function name, or a lowercase input where an uppercase one is expected. The "Inputs and functions" panel in the editor lists everything available.

How do I start over cleanly?

Options → Data → Flush cached data deletes stored bars and re-syncs, keeping your symbols, drawings and settings. Clear all drawings removes every drawing for every symbol. Both ask for confirmation first.

Privacy, data and risk

Your data stays yours

• Charts, drawings, alerts and settings are stored locally, in your own browser storage (IndexedDB).
• No analytics or usage tracking. Your work is not studied or profiled.
• Exports are files you create and control.

Data sources

Crypto data comes from Binance. On the web, US stocks, ETFs and forex use a cached Yahoo feed with a free intraday source, in limited capacity. These are public, unofficial feeds. They can be delayed, incomplete or briefly unavailable, and they are not licensed market data. Charting Desk is an independent tool and is not affiliated with any exchange or data provider.

Not advice

Charting Desk is for research and education. Nothing in the app is investment advice, and no feature can predict the future. Trading ideas, Value Zones, scans and auto structure are suggestions you must judge for yourself. Past performance never guarantees future results.

Risk

Markets can move against you quickly. Never risk money you cannot afford to lose, and decide your risk before you enter, not after. The position tool exists to make that habit easy.

See the in-app About dialog for the live version and links to the full Disclaimer, Privacy and Terms pages published at chartingdesk.com.