This article will be very straight to the point. It’s simply a compilation of useful tricks to get the most out of the charting software Tradingview(dot)com.
Hotkeys
First we’ll start with a few hotkeys that you might want to use regularly.
With the keys alt + i you can turn your chart upside down (inverse).
Alt + z is a quick way to undo whatever it is you just did.
Alt + s allows you to make a screenshot of your chart.
This is what it’ll look like:
You can also take a screenshot by using the button on the top right that looks like a camera:
The last hotkey that you probably want to use a lot is: “/”.
It opens the indicators tab. It’ll go straight to the category you were previously at. If you were looking at “favorites” for example, it’ll open your favorite indicators.
Wider chart
The chart is pretty small when you have your watchlist open. You could make the watchlist less wide by sliding it left or right, but you can also make it collapse all the way by using that button on the top right corner of your screen.
You’ll have a much bigger chart after closing the watchlist.
Watchlist scrolling
Closing the watchlist is useful for another reason. If you have a bunch of assets in your watchlist that you want to go through, you can use the up and down arrow keys to open all those charts automatically. This way you don’t have to re-open the watchlist all the time and click the asset of which you want to see the chart.
Asset categories
Speaking about the watchlist, there is a new function that allows you to make subcategories.
First to make sure you all know where you can find and make watchlists:
Then you can right click on an asset in your list and it’ll give you the option to add a section. In the example below I made subcategories (sections) for ethereum charts and the other major cryptocurrencies.
Arranging watchlist
Still on the topic of the watchlist… If your lists tend to get quite long it could get really annoying to move around price charts and arrange them in the order that you want.
Luckily there’s an easy trick to drag around multiple charts all at once and move them around in your list.
Press “ctrl” and then select as many charts as you want.
Then you can drag them up or down:
Time frames
It’s possible to select time frames at the top of your chart, but you can also just type a number. It’ll automatically open this box:
For minutes you only have to type a number. For example: if you type “5” and press enter, it’ll open the 5 minute chart.
If you want a multiple day time frame for example then you have add “d” to it (capital letters or not doesn’t matter).
Here’s the overview:
Number + …
no letter = minutes
D = days
W = weeks
M = months
Years doesn’t work, you’ll have to type 12 months or 24, etc.
Straight lines
If you want 100% perfect straight lines, press “shift” and then drag the line horizontally.
This also works for vertical lines if you drag it up while holding shift, even diagonals can be made perfect by dragging the line in an angle while holding shift.
Hide drawings
If your chart has become messy and you want to look at a naked chart for a moment, but you don’t want to lose your drawings, you can press the button that looks like an eye on the left. It’ll hide, but won’t delete, all your drawings until you press the button again.
Copy drawings
If you want to make a perfect copy of a drawing you just made you can hold “ctrl” and then just click on the drawing and drag it somewhere else.
Quickly re-scale
To re-scale your chart you can click on the “auto” button on the bottom right, but that doesn’t fix indicators.
A simple way to fix the scaling is by double clicking on the
sidebar (or “price scale”) of the indicator. This also works for the price chart.
Advanced calculations
This trick has intentionally been kept for last because it’s the most complex, but there’s a lot possible and it’s super useful.
Let’s say you want to look at the bitcoin chart. The problem is that every exchange has a different price. They’re all around the same level, but still, there is a difference.
So let’s say you want to look at a chart with the average price of all the top spot exchanges.
Here’s how it works…
First click on the ticker. It’ll open up the ticker tab (“symbol search”).
Then instead of typing a ticker, you open parenthesis by typing “(”.
Next you type ‘BTCUSD”. You’ll get a whole list of exchanges to choose from. It’s possible to select an exchange with the arrow keys. You don’t even need to press “enter”. Just use the down arrow key and simply stop at the exchange you want, then we can continue typing (seriously, use the arrows, don’t click with your mouse, it’ll mess things up).
The first exchange I selected is Coinbase, now I can continue.
The next thing you type is “+”. After that type “BTCUSD” again and select another exchange.
Keep doing this until you have all the exchanges you want.
Once you’re done, close the parenthesis and divide it by the amount of exchanges you selected.
In the example below I used 4 exchanges so I divide everything by 4:
Tadaa! Now I’m looking at the average price of those 4 exchanges combined.
And instead of showing you a ticker, it’ll show you the calculation you made.
Ok now let’s take it to the next level.
Let’s say we want to compare the average price of the top spot exchanges to the average price of the top derivatives exchanges.
Here we go…
You start the exact same way, except after dividing the first group of exchanges, you type “-” and open the parenthesis again because now we’re going to add perpetual swaps.
In the example below I used 4 spot exchanges again and 4 derivatives exchanges. I used the Bybit perp, Bitmex perp, Binance USDT perp and
Okex USDT perp. The Bitmex contract for example is called “XBTUSD” which means you have to type “XBT” to find it instead of “BTC”.
Now we can see the difference, but it would be nice if we could add a normal price chart to this wouldn’t it?
To make that happen you have to make the exact same calculation, but this time we enter it in the “compare” section.
Everything else works the same.
But just to give you some creative ideas, let’s compare BTCUSD prices to BTCUSDT prices this time.
I used 3 USD markets and 3 USDT markets.
But once you press enter it’ll put this ugly fat orange line on top of your pretty price chart. Let’s move it out of the way by clicking the three dots, then “move to” and then “new pane below”.
By doing this it’ll look like a nice indicator instead of a wonky line on top of your chart. If you want you can make it look even nicer by clicking on the cog wheel for settings and then you can change the style.
Hmmm… This ratio looks pretty interesting. Something to keep an eye on maybe.
There are all kinds of possibilities with these calculations, but I don’t want to write an entire book so I’ll end the article here.
Final words
Hopefully you found some of these tricks and tips useful.
Making a Tradingview account is free, but if you ever want to buy a subscription to unlock all the tools then you could use my referral link to
get $30 off:
https://www.tradingview.com/gopro/?share_your_love=ByzantineGeneral
And finally if you’re feeling generous and just want to give me a tip well then here’s my BTC address:
bc1qkafmufg8pnph74u9ux5uprppfq94qjpxguq9xa
Cheers,
Byzantine General.
