Chart overlays are graphical elements drawn on top of the chart to represent the value or state, over time, of a Named Term in your Trading Spec. Please see Graphical Information for more information about all of RuleTrader’s graphic elements for price charts

Use these to turn all overlays on/off and to style the labels shown on the left hand side of the chart. These labels show the name of the conditional term being represented by the bars at the bottom of the chart. Labels are not available for line or block overlays (see below).

Note that if log display is turned on for a chart (right-click on the chart and check/uncheck Log Scale) then the bars will be drawn some-way up the chart. Log display must be turned off to have the bars displayed at the bottom.

To add an overlay, select a Named Term, whose value or state you wish to display, from the drop-down Source list, then click the Add button. If all available terms have already been added, then a message stating this will be displayed instead of the Source list

This group is displayed when at least one term has been added to the overlays.

When the Do It! button is pressed, the operation selected in the Overlay Operations drop-down list is applied to those overlays, displayed below, whose left hand check-box is checked.

The listed overlays can be individually enabled/disabled using their Show checkmark and their styles are set using the Overlay Style drop-down lists and the Colour / Alt. Colour colour-pickers. An overlay’s style options depend on the type of term represented:

• Numeric or percentage named terms are represented with a line drawn across the chart. As these are scaled according to the chart’s vertical price scale, they are best used with expressions that are dependent on the chart security’s price and which are in the price currency. Values not associated with price will be scaled for the minor currency unit e.g. a term whose value is a random number between 0 – 200 will be scaled between 0 pence to 200 pence on a UK share’s chart.
• Conditional terms, which represent true or false values, are represented either with bars or blocks:
  • Bars (on/off, spaced): a solid bar is drawn with the Colour setting on each day that the condition is true, and a gap is left on the days it is false. If the condition is true on consecutive days then a small space is inserted between the bars on those days.
  • Bars (on/off, no spaces): as ‘Bars (on/off, spaced)’ but a space is not inserted between consecutive days when the condition is true
  • Bars (alternate, spaced): as ‘Bars (on/off, spaced)’ but instead of a gap when the condition is false, the bar is drawn in the Alt. Colour. A small space is inserted between consecutive days when the condition has the same state
  • Bars (alternate, no spaces): as ‘Bars (alternate, spaced)’ but a space is not inserted between consecutive days when the condition has the same state
  • Blocks (alternate): as ‘Bars (alternate, no spaces)’ but the bar is transformed into a block by extending it vertically for the entire height of the chart