Support Tip: MetaStock Monitor MAY - JUNE 13

Support Tip

How do I control how an indicator is scaled?
Contributed by MetaStock Support

Adding indicators to charts in MetaStock is as simple as dragging and dropping. But what about scaling for the indicator? When you add an indicator to an inner window or copy or move an indicator to another inner window, it is likely that the other inner window's y-axis scale will not be compatible. If this is the case, MetaStock displays the Scaling Options dialog so that you can choose how to handle the scaling when the plot is overlaid.

For this example, we will use a chart of Apple and a Stochastic Oscillator for the indicator.

Let's take a look at the available options:

For any indicator scaling you want to execute, you must do the following steps regardless of which scale you choose.

1. After opening a chart in MetaStock, drag and drop the indicator anywhere on the chart. You will know the indicator is going to be applied in the chart when the price bars turn pink.


2.  After setting the parameters of your indicator, select "OK." You will be asked what you want your scaling options to be. Here are the scaling options and how to apply them.

1) Display New Scale on Left

1. For this example, we select "Display new scale on left."

2.  After selecting "New scale on left" and clicking "OK" the indicator will appear over the prices on the chart. Notice the new scale on the left side of your chart. This scale is directly related to the plotted indicator. Since the Stochastic Oscillator is based on a scale of 0 - 100, you will notice this is the scaling used on the left with blue overbought and oversold lines at 20 and 80.

2) Display New Scale on Right

1. For this example, we select "Display new scale on right."

2. After selecting "New scale on right" and clicking "OK" the indicator will appear over the prices on the chart. Notice the new scale on the right side of your chart. This Stochastic Oscillator scale has replaced the pricing scale. Since the Stochastic Oscillator is based on a scale of 0 - 100, you will notice this is the scaling used on the right with blue overbought and oversold lines at 20 and 80.

3) Merge with Scale on Right

1. For this example, we select "Merge with scale on right."
   *** If you have a scale on the left side that appears with every chart you open, you can follow the same steps to merge with that scale. If you do not, the "Merge with scale on left" will remain grayed out.

2. After selecting "Merge with scale on right" and clicking "OK" the indicator is “merged” with the current right scale. Notice the scale on the right side of your chart now displays from -50 to 750 so that it can display both the pricing for Apple as well as the range for the Stochastic Oscillator. So you’re now able to see Apple and the Stochastic Oscillator in the same chart.

4) Overlay without Scale

1. For this example, we select "Overlay without Scale."

2.  After selecting "Overlay without Scale" and clicking "OK" the indicator scale will use the price scale on the chart to plot the Stochastic Oscillator (in this example.) Notice the pricing scale on the right side of your chart is unchanged with the addition of the Stochastic Oscillator. The Stochastic Oscillator is still based on a scale of 0 - 100 with blue overbought and oversold lines at 20 and 80. However, for this example it is using pricing values rather than the 0 - 100 scale. This is useful if you are only concerned with comparing relative movments between the plots.

Please note: You can change the scaling of any indicator already in your chart by right clicking on the indicator and selecting "Scaling." This will display the Scaling Options dialog and allow you to select the desired method.