Here's an article from back in 2010 that is just as relevant today as it was back then.  Enjoy!  - Chip As we try to roll out recent improvements to our site, we are getting some feedback from users that we did not expect.  Basically, some users are reporting that they prefer the pop-up version of ChartNotes because it is in a bigger window than what their web browser can show them. While I understand and sympathize with this perspective to a certain degree, I also need to clarify that we - and the rest of the web - are moving quickly towards a model where you manipulate Read More 

The new User-Defined Index (UDI) feature that we introduced with our PRO service last week is extremely flexible and powerful.  In the last edition of our ChartWatchers newsletter, I showed how it can be used to chart economic datasets downloaded from the Internet.  Today I'm going to show you how you can use a UDI to plot any technical indicator you can imagine. OK. Let me say up-front that this is not for the meek or the timid.  You need a spreadsheet program like Excel and you need to know how to use it.  Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to explain every Read More 

Another great new feature we released this week are our new workbench "skins."  Skins are optional color combinations that apply to the entire page, not just the chart.  Currently, we have skins for our "Dark" color schemes - Dark Amber, Dark Blue, Dark Gray and Dark Green.  Here's an example of a page with the Dark Blue skin: (Click on this image a couple of times to see it "full scale".) In order to use skins, you first need to create a chart with one of the "skinable" color schemes mentioned above.  You then need to check the "Skin" checkbox that should Read More 

Check out the cute curves on this "little number": Those three lines were created with our new Parabola tool that we added to the Flash version of our ChartNotes annotation tool last weekend. (The red curve was added for fun - just to complete the "smiling face" look on the chart!) A parabola is a curve created from three points - one at each end of the line and one at the top/bottom of the curve.  By moving the three points around, you can stretch a parabola into any curve that you want. To create a parabola using ChartNotes, click and hold down Read More 

Aug-14 Update:  CTRL+Drag now works as a shortcut to create a filled rectangle with 33% opacity. (CMD+Drag for the Mac).  Keep reading for more info on other rectangle settings Continuing our week of great new features, we just released a big update to the Flash version of our ChartNotes annotation tool.  There are several amazing new features in this new version which we will be blogging about and documenting in the next couple of days.  I wanted to start with the new features we've added to rectangles. You can now create rotated rectangles (great for Read More 

Today I'm thrilled to announce the addition of Technical Alerting to StockCharts.com.  We are starting off by providing everyone with a collection of common, interesting predefined alerts such as Bullish and Bearish MACD crossovers for the major stock averages.  In a couple of days, we will be expanding our alerting capabilities so that Extra members can create their own alert criteria. A technical alert is a set of conditions that is checked several times each minute.  If the conditions are found to be true, the alert's owner is then notified in one or more ways Read More 

We've just updated the "Inspector" feature on our SharpCharts workbench.  Now, when the "Inspect" box is checked, you will automatically see the databox and, if you click and drag, you will get a measuring stick-like ruler that shows you both the percentage and absolute change between any two points on your chart.  Here's a screenshot of the measuring stick in action: In this example, I clicked my mouse just below the 187.5 level and dragged it upwards to just above the 200 level.  The white box on the left side shows me that the distance I measured was a 7.0% Read More 

Recently, we've been getting some disturbing reports for users about our charts appearing very slowly and then sometimes disappearing after about 20 seconds.  Initially these reports were very confusing to us because we had not made any significant changes to our website that would cause those kind of problems.  In addtion, only a couple of people were reporting the problems - most people were not experiencing any issues. Some follow-up messages from some of the people with the problem revealed a suspicious pattern - all of them were using the Kaspersky Interlet Security Read More