Drawing Tools
ApexStock includes an interactive drawing layer for technical analysis. A drawing toolbar lets the viewer sketch trend lines, shapes, and text directly onto the chart. Drawings are anchored to data coordinates, so they stay in place as the chart is zoomed, panned, or streamed.
Available tools
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Line | Straight trend line between two points |
| Brush | Freehand drawing that follows the cursor |
| Highlighter | Semi-transparent freehand stroke for emphasis |
| Rectangle | Box to mark a price/time zone |
| Circle | Circular marker |
| Ellipse | Elliptical region |
| Text | A text label placed on the chart |
| Pin | Pin a tooltip in place at a data point |
| Clear | Remove all drawings |
Using the tools
Select a tool from the drawing toolbar, then draw on the chart:
- Shapes and lines — press, drag to size, and release to commit.
- Freehand (brush / highlighter) — hold and move the cursor.
- Text — place the caret and type; the label is committed when you confirm it.
Each committed drawing is stored against its data coordinates and redrawn whenever the chart re-renders, so it survives zoom, pan, theme changes, and chart-type switches.
Interactions
- Cancel a drawing in progress — press Escape. The half-drawn element is removed and no drawing is committed. This is a no-op if you are not mid-draw.
- Editing — committed elements can be selected and restyled (color, width, fill).
- Scroll to exit — using the mouse wheel to scroll/zoom deactivates the active drawing mode, so you can navigate without accidentally drawing.
- Clear — the Clear tool removes every drawing at once.
Pinned tooltips
The Pin tool keeps a tooltip visible at a chosen data point instead of only on hover, which is useful for calling out a specific candle while you annotate around it. Click a point with the pin tool active to pin its tooltip; the pinned annotations are managed alongside the other drawings and are cleared with them.
Fill and stroke
Closed shapes (rectangle, circle, ellipse) support a fill color and opacity in addition to their stroke color and width, so you can shade a region lightly or outline it. Freehand and line tools use the stroke color and width only.