# Drawings

> Drawing tools, the magnet, locking and the anchored VWAP.

Drawing tools live in the rail on the left of the window. Drawings are anchored in time and price, so they stay in place when you change the interval or the chart type.

## Tools

Tools come in groups. A group with several tools has a flyout (the arrow at its right edge, or a right click); the rail shows the tool you used last in each group. Hover a tool to see its keyboard shortcut. When the window is short, scroll the rail with the wheel.

| Group | Tools | Anchors |
|---|---|---|
| Cursors | Crosshair, Arrow | — |
| Lines | Trend line, Ray, Extended line, Parallel channel | 2 (channel: 3) |
| Levels | Horizontal line, Horizontal ray, Vertical line, Cross line | 1 |
| Fibonacci | Fib retracement | 2 |
| Anchored VWAP | Anchored VWAP | 1 |
| Shapes | Rectangle | 2 |
| Brushes | Brush, Highlighter | drag freehand |
| Text | Text | 1 |
| Positions | Long position, Short position | 2, plus a stop handle |
| Measure | Price range, Date range, Date and price range | 2 |

Below the groups:

| Rail button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Measure | Measure once; you can also <kbd>Shift</kbd>+drag on any chart |
| Zoom in | Drag a box to zoom into it |
| Magnet | Snap anchors to the open, high, low or close of the nearest bar |
| Stay in drawing mode (pencil with a lock) | Keep the tool after placing a drawing instead of going back to the crosshair |
| Lock all drawings | No drawing can be moved while on |
| Hide all drawings | Hide every drawing while on |
| Remove drawings on this chart | Delete the active chart's drawings for its market |

## Placing a drawing

1. Pick a tool in the rail.
2. Click on the chart for the first anchor.
3. For tools with more anchors, click again for each one.

You can also press at the first anchor and drag to the second. One-anchor tools finish on the first click. The **brush** and the **highlighter** draw while you drag; the chart does not pan with them. After placing, Flowscope returns to the crosshair unless **Stay in drawing mode** is on. <kbd>Esc</kbd> cancels a drawing in progress and leaves the tool.

## Editing

- **Select** a drawing by clicking it. A floating style bar appears at the bottom of the chart with colour, width, dashed line, lock and remove; text drawings also get a text field. Drag the bar by its grip to move it.
- **Move** a drawing by dragging its body.
- **Reshape** by dragging a handle. With the magnet on, the handle snaps to the bar's OHLC.
- **Delete** the selected drawing with <kbd>Delete</kbd> or <kbd>Backspace</kbd>, or from the style bar.
- **Lock** a single drawing from its style bar or the object tree.

The object tree in the right panel lists every drawing on the active chart with show or hide, lock and remove buttons.

New drawings default to a 2 px blue line.

## Keyboard shortcuts

| Keys | Tool |
|---|---|
| <kbd>Alt</kbd>+<kbd>T</kbd> | Trend line |
| <kbd>Alt</kbd>+<kbd>H</kbd> / <kbd>Alt</kbd>+<kbd>J</kbd> | Horizontal line / horizontal ray |
| <kbd>Alt</kbd>+<kbd>V</kbd> / <kbd>Alt</kbd>+<kbd>C</kbd> | Vertical line / cross line |
| <kbd>Alt</kbd>+<kbd>F</kbd> | Fib retracement |
| <kbd>Alt</kbd>+<kbd>Shift</kbd>+<kbd>R</kbd> | Rectangle |
| <kbd>Alt</kbd>+<kbd>B</kbd> | Brush |
| <kbd>Alt</kbd>+<kbd>Shift</kbd>+<kbd>T</kbd> | Text |
| <kbd>Alt</kbd>+<kbd>Shift</kbd>+<kbd>L</kbd> / <kbd>Alt</kbd>+<kbd>Shift</kbd>+<kbd>S</kbd> | Long / short position |

## Fib retracement

The retracement draws levels at 0, 0.236, 0.382, 0.5, 0.618, 0.786 and 1 between its two anchors, each level in its own colour.

## Anchored VWAP

The anchored VWAP draws a volume-weighted average price from the bar you click onwards. Its anchor snaps to a bar. From the style bar you can add deviation bands at ±1σ, ±2σ and ±3σ.

Because the curve depends on the bars, the chart computes it, caches it per drawing and recomputes it when history arrives.

## Positions

**Long position** and **Short position** draw a position box with entry, target and stop, and label the reward-to-risk ratio (`R:R`). Use them to plan a trade visually; they do not place orders.

## Where drawings are saved

Drawings are saved with the chart in the layout, per market. If you switch a chart to another market, its drawings for the first market stay stored and reappear when you switch back.

Drawings are part of undo and redo.

> [!NOTE]
> More drawing tools (pitchfork, Gann) are on the roadmap.
