Prior to Version 5.2, every technical indicator added to a chart is specific to that chart window. Every chart window in Investor/RT is a "template". That is, you can switch a different instrument into any chart and all of the technical indicators within the chart are automatically associated with the new instrument. In Version 5.2 we have considerably expanded the flexibility of technical indicators by enabling them to be designated either as "instrument specific indicators" or "all chart indicators" (or both). An "instrument specific" indicator is one you wish to appear in your chart(s) only when a specific instrument is present in the chart. Trendlines, Gann Time Series and various Fibonacci indicators are good candidates to be made instrument specific since the settings of these indicators are very much dependent upon the price and time relationship of a particular instrument. An "All Charts" Indicator is one that you want to appear in all chart windows. The new periodicity and ticker buttons are excellent candidates to be designated as "all charts" indicators. The idea is you set them up only once, designate them as "All Chart" and from that point on, every chart window you open will automatically get the same consistent array of convenient push buttons and menu buttons. An "All Charts" indicator can be present in every chart regardless of instrument or in all charts that contain a specific instrument. You designate an indicator as "Instrument Specific" or "All Charts" by editing its settings in any chart window. In other words you have to first add the indicator to any chart window, get it setup they way you want it. Then you can right-click on the indicator to select it, or tab to it in the chart and press enter to edit the indicator. You will notice a four choice menu titled "Scope". There are four scopes to choose from:
- This Chart - Any Instrument
- This Chart - This Instrument
- All Charts - Any Instrument
- All Charts - This Instrument
You should be familiar with choice 1, "This Chart Only, Any Instrument". This is the default setting when a new indicator is added to a chart. The indicator is not specific to any instrument, but it is specific to the particular chart window in which it resides. Prior to Version 5.2 all indicators behaved this way, there were no other options. Cases 2, 3, 4, new in Version 5.2, are discussed below: This Chart - Specific Instrument When only the Instrument Specific checkbox is checked, Investor/RT treats the indicator as specific to the particular chart window in which it was created and further, the indicator will appear in the window ONLY when a particular instrument is present in the chart window. Be sure to save your chart and assign it a permanent name before designating any indicators in the chart as instrument specific. Such indicators are not saved with the chart as they used to be. Instead, Investor/RT determines each time you open the chart or change the instrument in the chart whether to add the indicator. So for example, you might designate instrument specific trendlines in a particular chart window. Changing the instrument in the chart either removes or adds the indicator automatically depending on the instrument. The key benefit of this kind of indicator setup is that for the particular chart window, you can cycle through a series of tickers manually or using a slide show and the various instrument specific trendlines, Fibonacci indicators, etc. are shown with the instrument specific settings they had when the indicator was created. All Charts - Any Instrument Sometimes, an indicator is so generally useful that you wish it to appear in every one of your chart windows regardless of the instruments involved. The convenient ticker and periodicity buttons are a good example. Another would be a basic volume histogram and an accompanying volume moving average, or perhaps a few common moving average that always appear. All Charts - This Instrument Sometimes you may wish to designate an indicator as not only instrument specific but "All Charts" as well. This means that every chart window containing the particular instrument will get the trendline automatically. For example, you may have four chart windows open of the same instrument but of differing intra-day periodicities. You draw a trendline on any one of the intra-day charts. You can then call up the settings for the trendline and choose "All Charts, This Instrument" and click OK. All four charts will then show the very same trendline anchored at the same date/time positions. This applies to all price time based indicators in Investor/RT such as Fibonacci Arcs, Projections, and Retracements. A few things to note about these new indicator types: There is a setting in "Setup Prefs: Charts: General" titled Use "This Chart, This Instrument" Scope for Trendline-Based Indicators. When this checkbox is checked, all trendline-based indicators (including regression lines, Fibonacci indicators, Gann angles, etc) as well as horizontal Reference Lines, will by default inherit the instrument only ("This Chart, This Instrument") scope when they are added to a chart. If this checkbox is unchecked, they will just be added with the standard "This Chart, Any Instrument" scope.
When you insert a new ticker into a chart window, all instrument specific indicators for the new instrument will be added to the chart. You can still have chart specific indicators in addition to the automatic indicators. When you delete an "All Charts" indicator from any chart, it is deleted globally. It disappears from All Charts in which it current resides. The indicator will not appear again when you open new chart window. If you have an All Charts indicator in a particular chart and you edit it's properties so it is no longer an "All Charts" or an "Instrument Specific" indicator, the indicator will be removed from all charts, just as it you had selected and deleted it. If you have an indicator, e.g. a Fibonacci retracement, and you make it an "All Charts" (when it was not before), the indicator will then appear automatically in all open chart windows unless it is instrument-specific in which case it only appears in those charts holding the same instrument as the original indicator. When you drag and drop an indicator within the chart to adjust its settings, the update is reflect in all window in which the indicator appears. For example, if you drag and either end of a trendline, or Fibonacci retracement, or a reference line or vertical reference line, the drag operation is immediately reflected in all chart windows showing that indicator. If you use the keyboard shortcuts for adjusting certain indicators, like trendlines, the updates are immediately reflected in other charts when appropriate. When a technical indicator is selected (highlighted) in the chart, the 4 arrow keys can be used to move the indicator. Shift key and Ctrl key can be used in combination with the four arrow keys to reposition either the left or right end of trendlines, retracement swing lines, etc. When an indicator has a scope of "All Charts" and is visible in two or more chart windows, the indicators move in tandem as keyboard positioning takes place.