This lesson will walk you through creating the Price Box used by Alan, "mbh" whose posts may be seen in the daily folder at dacharts and who can usually be found in the coffee house or Bline room in Echat. This covers what Alan calls "Chart 1", a Box that spans 8:20am ET (NYC) to 16:20pm (ET). Alan has used this method on the YM, so that is the reference point. Use on other symbols is up to the user but the setting up of the Box follows similar principles.
Ensign setup property windows
Recommended settings for crosshairs - setup/charts/cursor
By using the big cross it will be easier to make sure you are on the right time and the high or low at the same time.
Bar times - setup/charts
Ensign can be set to mark a bar time either at the beginning time of the bar or the ending time of the bar. The default is the ending time of the bar. If you wish to change it, go to Setup | Charts and check "time stamp bar open". This is trader preference and probably based on what you are used to.
Chart used
Open a 10 minute all sessions chart of the YM. Make sure to have day session only unchecked in the chart properties. You may have to do a refresh if you unchecked this box.
Chart 1 - YM 10 Minute - 8:20 to 16:20
Alan's charts are of the YM 10 minute. Chart 1 uses an All Sessions chart but draws the Box only on the portion of the chart from 8:20am is the opening time of the bar that completes at 8:30am (ET, NYC) to the 16:10-16:20 bar ET.
While this may seem to be complicated at first, with practice, it doesn't take long to be able to do quickly each day.
This is the completed chart you should have after following the instructions. It consists of three boxes centered around yesterday's (or globex if H or L) H and L.
How to obtain High/Low numbers to use
Apply the daily price lines on your drawtool bar to the chart with the following properties window (Click on tab FIRST if you wish to save the changes.)
The high we will use will be yesterday's high unless globex made a higher high. The low we will use will be yesterday's low unless globex made a lower low.
Making the Gann Boxes
First Box:
We will draw a Box that looks like this
With the daily price lines showing the high and low to use, go to your draw tools and select the Gann Square.
Put your cursor so it is on the high we are going to use and so that it lines up vertically with the 8:20-8:30 bar. Left click and hold dragging the cursor down to where the low and the 16:20 EST time intersect vertically. Let the mouse go. Right click to bring up Gann Square Properties window to make changes to match the following property window
(Click on tab FIRST to keep settings.)
You now have your first square and it should look like this:
Note: For some users, making a copy of this square works. Click on a red dot to activate the square. Move the cursor and hit the space bar - this will make a copy of the square you just put on. It can be adjusted by using the dots. For others, myself included, the copied square is not accurate enough and it needs the width adjusted. Just as fast to redraw the box per the following.)
Now move the box to the low
Draw the second box
Do this exactly as you drew the first one
(Note how if line disappears it means the alignment is perfect.)
Move last drawn box to high being used for the first and second box
Expanded view
Draw the third box
Now draw the 3rd box in the middle just like the first one was drawn
We now have 3 squares and it should look like this:
The left side of the box MUST be on the 8:20-8:30 10 minute bar.
Explanation of the diagonal and horizontal lines
Horizontal Lines
The horizontal lines in the box are drawn on the quarters between the high and low being used for the box. These are refered to as 3/4s, midpoint and 1/4. The lines in the top box are referred to with a plus in front - plus 1/4 etc. The lines in the bottom box are referred to as minus in front - minus 1/4 etc.
Diagonal Lines
Draw a line from the lower left corner to the top right corner of your first square. This line can now be copied using the space bar off of each 50 level and zero level on the left. There should be 5 of them.
Draw a line from the top left corner to the lower right corner of your original square. This line can now be copied from the same points as the up diagonal was. There should be 5 of them.
The following sequence of charts walks you through completing the diagonals.
Ending up with the following chart
Explanation of the zones:
with price bars
Completed chart
The following is a visualization created by Kubes of the various zones that have been created on the chart.
