Chart Buddy Deep Dive
CHART BUDDY DOCUMENTATION
v4.2.10 · Mac · Windows · LinuxYour desktop trading companion — a compact launcher bar that lives alongside TradingView and puts one-click chart presets, screenshot capture, Trade Coach audio alerts, a complete trade journal, and Annotation Buddy at your fingertips without interrupting your focus on price action.
Table of Contents
What's New in v4.2.10
Version 4.x is the biggest update in Chart Buddy's history. The headline addition is Annotation Buddy — a full chart markup companion shipped with every download on Mac, Windows, and Linux. This release also adds Chart Stickers, Pin to Corner, Cycle Presets, a fully redesigned dashboard with animated gauges, and an Notification Center that runs automatically in the background. All changes are live in the current download.
Annotation Buddy — Permanent Companion App
Annotation Buddy is now shipped with every Chart Buddy download on Mac, Windows, and Linux — no separate install required. A floating green A pill lives on your screen alongside the launcher. Click A to drag-select any region of your screen for annotation, or B to open a blank 800×800 canvas. The annotation editor gives you drawing tools, arrows, text, 30 emoji stickers, 33 trader-specific icons, notes cards, scoreboard cards, undo/redo, copy to clipboard, and save to your screenshots folder. User-saved templates let you build and reload common annotation layouts instantly. Annotation Buddy quits automatically when Chart Buddy quits.
Chart Stickers — Drag-and-Drop Trading Labels
A new 📍 icon in the launcher opens the Chart Stickers panel — a 4-column grid of 24+ PNG sticker images (Long, Short, Added, Partials, Stop, Target, directional arrows, Battle Plan zone markers, and more). Click any sticker to drag it directly onto your TradingView chart via CDP. Stickers land at the chart center and can be repositioned using TradingView's normal drawing tools. The panel is scrollable, has a draggable header, and can be shown or hidden via App Settings → Launcher Icons.
Pin to Corner — Sticky Image Overlay
A new 📌 Pin to Corner tool keeps a selected TradingView Image drawing pinned to the top-right corner of your chart viewport automatically. Chart Buddy repositions the drawing every N seconds (1s–3min, your choice). A set of nudge controls (← → ↑ ↓) lets you fine-tune the exact position. Pin to Corner detects timeframe changes and repositions the image within 0.25 seconds. Settings persist across restarts and the tool auto-resumes on launch.
Cycle Presets — Multi-Step Timeframe Cycler
A third preset type is now available alongside Actions and Toggles: Cycle. A Cycle preset steps through up to 4 timeframes in sequence, pausing on each for a configurable dwell time (default 3 seconds). Optional Auto-Cycle mode repeats the sequence automatically on a 2–60 minute loop — hard-stopping at 4:00 PM so it never runs after market close. All folders selected in the Cycle editor are hidden at the start and restored to their original visibility when the cycle ends (even if you stop it manually mid-cycle).
Notification Center — Automatic Session Reminders
A background thread now automatically displays navy/gold overlay cards on your TradingView chart at key moments throughout the session — Initial Balance at 10:30 AM, Lunch at noon, Power Hour at 4:00 PM, plus OPEX/Triple Witching/Contract Rollover/Market Holiday notices. News event alerts fire 10 minutes before any high-impact event from the Airtable calendar. All overlays auto-fade after 9 seconds. A master on/off toggle in App Settings controls the entire system (on by default).
Dashboard — Animated Gauges, AI Coach & Transformation Tracker
The Dashboard hero section now features four animated tachometer gauges: Journal Streak, A/B Discipline Streak, Green Day Streak, and Total Points — each with an easing animation and live counter on load. The hero action bar links to three new tools: AI Coach (privacy-first journal export with 5 ready-made prompts for Claude or ChatGPT), Trade Analyzer, and the Transformation Tracker (a standalone wellness/habit tracker on port 7435 with daily checkboxes, progress charts, and a Goals page).
Cycle Editor & Morning Brief Scrollability Fixes
v4.2.10 fixes a crash in the Cycle preset editor where clicking Save silently failed due to undefined local variables. The entire Cycle editor panel now scrolls as a single Canvas+Scrollbar so all settings (including the Indicators & Folders section) are reachable on any screen size. The Briefing Panel's three-column content area is now fully scrollable — all columns always accessible regardless of window height.
What Chart Buddy Does
Chart Buddy is a compact desktop launcher that sits alongside TradingView during every session. It connects directly to your live chart and puts the tools you reach for most — one-click chart presets, screenshot capture, trading accountability alerts, a complete daily journal, and a full chart annotation suite — one click away without breaking your focus on price action.
Action Presets
Configurable buttons that control your TradingView chart — switch symbols, timeframes, Y-axis zoom, or price position. Any chart operation, one click.
Toggle Presets
Show and hide groups of indicators and drawing folders together. Flip between your clean chart and full indicator stack instantly.
Cycle Presets
Step through up to 4 timeframes automatically with configurable dwell times. Auto-Cycle mode loops the sequence on a 2–60 minute repeat.
Screenshot
One-click chart capture. Interval auto-screenshots and up to 5 daily timed shots — so your chart is documented even when you forget.
Trade Coach
Audio alerts every 30 and 17 minutes plus three one-time session warnings keep you accountable all day without lifting a finger.
Trade Journal
A full daily journal with goals, gratitudes, session notes, a trade log, error tracking, grades, session stats, and a big lesson.
Dashboard
HTML report with animated gauges, day-of-week stats, per-tag breakdowns, lightbox image viewer, live editor, AI Coach export, and Transformation Tracker.
Annotation Buddy
Permanent companion for capturing and marking up any region of your screen — drawing tools, arrows, stickers, notes cards, scoreboard cards, user templates.
Chart Stickers
24+ PNG trading label stickers in a scrollable panel — drag directly onto your TradingView chart: Long, Short, Stop, Target, directional arrows, and more.
Pin to Corner
Keeps a selected TradingView Image drawing locked to the top-right corner of your chart viewport automatically, repositioning it as the chart scrolls.
Notification Center
Auto overlays for Initial Balance, Lunch, Power Hour, OPEX, rollover, holiday notices, and news event alerts — fired directly onto your chart.
Settings
Light/dark themes, font size, launcher slot count, auto-screenshot config, Launcher Icons visibility, and full journal section/tag customization.
Why a Companion App
"Every serious trader I know has the same problem — they have all the right tools spread across five different places. The chart is here, the journal is in a notebook, the timer is on their phone, the screenshots get lost in a downloads folder. Chart Buddy puts all of that in one bar that never moves. It's not about features. It's about removing friction so you can focus on the one thing that matters: reading the market."
— George, MicrosTrader Live Trading Room- Friction kills discipline. If your journal is hard to reach, you will not journal. If your screenshots require multiple steps, you will not take them. Every extra click between you and good habits is a reason to skip them. Chart Buddy eliminates those clicks.
- Your chart setup should be instant. The time between sitting down and having your chart configured exactly the way you want it should be seconds, not minutes. Action Presets and Toggle Presets mean your symbols, timeframes, and indicator sets are one click away — always.
- Accountability needs structure. The Trade Coach is not just a timer. It is a scheduled reminder that you made a commitment when you turned on your computer this morning. Recurring audio prompts keep you honest about risk, position sizing, and whether you should be trading at all.
- Your journal is your edge. A single week of honest journaling — real points, real grades, real lessons — tells you more about your trading than a year of watching charts. The Dashboard is how you find those patterns.
- Annotation is documentation. Annotation Buddy exists because the best traders mark up their charts. A screenshot with arrows, notes, and labels is ten times more useful in review than a raw image. The habit of annotating reinforces learning.
- Consistency over intensity. Chart Buddy is designed for daily use, every session, every week, all year. Simple tools used consistently outperform complex tools used occasionally. The journal sections, the screenshot habit, the Trade Coach alerts — they compound over time.
Your Command Center
The launcher bar is a compact, frameless vertical strip that you position alongside TradingView on your desktop. It is always on top — it never disappears behind other windows. You can drag it anywhere by clicking and holding its surface between buttons. The bar scales proportionally to your chosen font size setting.
CDP Connection Indicator
A colored dot at the bottom of the launcher shows your live connection to TradingView. Green = connected and all chart-control features are active. Yellow = connecting. Red = no connection — TradingView Desktop is not running or CDP is unavailable.
Auto-Hide — Three-Click Cycle
Clicking the launcher bar's edge cycles through three visibility states: Peek mode (half-view, auto-hides on mouse out) → Full view (always visible) → Half-view locked (auto-hide disabled). This lets you reclaim screen space on small monitors without losing access to the bar.
Launcher Icons (top to bottom)
All icons except the TV connection dot and Close button can be individually shown or hidden via App Settings → Launcher Icons. The default set:
📣 Briefing Panel
Opens the daily Briefing Panel with Verse of the Day, Trader Wisdom, news drivers, futures snapshot, and links to battle plan and settings. Can be set to open automatically on launch in App Settings.
Numbered Preset Buttons (1–20)
Your configurable preset buttons — Action, Toggle, or Cycle type. The number of slots shown is set in App Settings (1–20). Each slot can hold any preset you build. Click an empty slot to create a new preset; click a filled slot to run it. Edit mode is accessed via long-hold or right-click depending on platform.
✏️ Trade Journal
Opens today's journal entry. On weekends, opens the Weekend Reflections panel instead. Auto-populates symbol and timeframe from your live chart.
📸 Screenshot
Triggers a manual TradingView chart screenshot. Configure auto-screenshots (interval or timed slots) in App Settings.
🧲 Magnet Tool
Toggles TradingView's magnet snapping mode — snaps drawing tools to OHLC prices on the nearest bar.
📐 Ruler Tool
Activates TradingView's ruler/measure tool for measuring price ranges and distances on the chart.
📍 Chart Stickers
Opens the Chart Stickers panel — a scrollable 4-column grid of drag-and-drop PNG trading labels. Hidden by default; enable in App Settings → Launcher Icons. See Section 16 for full details.
🔧 More Tools
A slide-out panel containing links to Trade Coach, Object Tree, Feedback, and the Documentation page. Use this for tools you access occasionally but don't need on the main launcher.
Journal-Only Mode
Traders who primarily use Chart Buddy for the journal can hide all other launcher icons in App Settings → Launcher Icons, leaving only the journal pencil visible. In this mode the gear icon opens App Settings directly. The launcher shrinks to a minimal footprint that stays out of your way.
Action Presets — One-Click Chart Control
An Action Preset is a button you configure that performs a specific operation on your TradingView chart with a single click. Chart Buddy sends the instruction directly to your chart via a live CDP connection — no clicks inside TradingView required.
What an Action Preset Can Do
- Switch Symbol: Change the chart ticker — for example, MES to NQ with one click.
- Switch Timeframe: Change the chart resolution — from 1-minute to Daily and anything in between.
- Y-Axis Zoom: Lock the vertical scale to a specific price range around the current price.
- Time Position: Set how far back the chart is scrolled (hours) or how much right-side space appears.
- Center Price: Move the current price to a specific vertical position (10%–90%). 50% centers it.
- Show/Hide Indicator: Turn a specific indicator on or off by its ID — useful for indicators not suited to a Toggle group.
- Hotkey Assignment: Each preset can be assigned a keyboard shortcut (Ctrl/Cmd + number) so you never have to look at the launcher.
Setting Up an Action Preset
Click any empty preset slot to open the preset editor. Choose Action as the type, select the action from the dropdown, fill in the value (symbol, timeframe, price range, etc.), give it a label, and save. The button appears immediately. Edit or delete any preset at any time.
Build Your Session Setup Button
The most common use is a "session start" button — one click that switches your chart to your primary RTH symbol and preferred session timeframe simultaneously. Some traders build a full grid: one button per timeframe, one per instrument, one for daily review, one for the 1-minute scalp view. Build the set that matches how you actually trade and your chart setup time drops to seconds every morning.
Toggle Presets — Show & Hide Indicators
A Toggle Preset is a button that shows or hides a group of indicators and drawing folders on your TradingView chart. Press once to turn the group off. Press again to turn it back on. Each toggle tracks its current state across sessions — if you left your volume studies hidden yesterday, they stay hidden when you open Chart Buddy today.
Setting Up a Toggle Preset
- Open the preset editor: Click an empty slot in the launcher bar and choose Toggle as the preset type. A scan panel opens alongside the editor showing all indicators and drawing folders currently on your chart.
- Select what to include: Check the indicators and folders you want this toggle to control. Mix individual indicators and drawing folders freely in one toggle.
- Name and save: Give it a clear label — "Volume Off", "Key Levels", "Clean Chart" — and save. The button is ready immediately.
- Re-scan when needed: After adding new indicators to your chart, use the Re-scan button in the editor to refresh the list. Existing selections are preserved.
Sync IDs — One-Step Indicator Reconnect
When you update a Pine Script indicator, the old version is removed and a new version added with a different internal ID. Sync IDs (in App Settings action bar) fixes this automatically — it scans your live chart, matches every controlled indicator by name, and updates the stored ID across every preset and toggle that referenced the old ID in one step. A persistent ID cache recovers even stale IDs from previous sessions. Use Sync IDs any time after removing and re-adding an indicator.
Cycle Presets — TF Cycler New
A Cycle Preset steps through up to 4 timeframes in sequence, pausing on each for a configurable dwell time before moving to the next. It is designed for multi-timeframe reviews — glancing through the daily, 60-minute, 15-minute, and 5-minute view in sequence without touching TradingView at all.
Configuring a Cycle Preset
| Setting | Options | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Free text | The label shown on the launcher button. |
| Steps (1–4) | Timeframe + optional dwell override per step | Each step is a timeframe. Steps 3 and 4 have their own enable checkbox so you can run a 2-step or 3-step cycle without removing configured values. |
| Dwell Time | Default 3 seconds | How long to pause on each timeframe before advancing. Can be overridden per step. |
| Finish On | Dropdown — any step's timeframe | Which timeframe the chart should land on after the cycle completes. Defaults to the last step. |
| Price Position | 10% – 90% | Optional Y-axis positioning applied at each step alongside the timeframe change. |
| Auto-Scale | On / Off | Whether to apply a Y-axis zoom at each step. |
| Auto-Cycle | Off / 2 / 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 min | Repeats the cycle automatically on the selected interval. Hard-stops at 4:00 PM ET so it never runs after market close. |
| Indicators & Folders | Checkboxes (from live chart) | Selected items are automatically hidden at cycle start and restored to their original visibility when the cycle ends — even if you stop it manually mid-cycle. |
Button Behavior During Cycle
While a cycle is running, the launcher button shows a blue ⟳ icon and the Actions panel labels the slot "CYCLE". Clicking the button while running stops the cycle immediately and restores the chart to its original timeframe and folder state. Clicking while a pending Auto-Cycle timer is counting down cancels the timer and restarts the cycle from the beginning.
Best Use: Morning Multi-TF Review
Set up a 4-step cycle through Daily → 60m → 15m → 5m with a 4-second dwell on each. Run it at session start for a fast, structured top-down review of the market before the open. Auto-Cycle set to every 30 minutes keeps you oriented on higher timeframes throughout the session without any manual effort.
Object Tree — Indicator Order
The Object Tree panel gives you control over the order your indicators and drawing folders appear in TradingView's object tree. Open it via the More Tools (🔧) panel. It slides out alongside the launcher and shows all your indicators and drawing folders as a single drag-and-drop list.
Reset — Pull the Live Order
Click Reset to scan your live TradingView chart and load all current indicators and folders into the panel in their current order. This is your starting point.
Drag to Reorder
Drag any item up or down to reorder. Indicators and drawing folders are in a single intermixed list — position them in any sequence.
Sort and Close — Apply to Chart
Click Sort and Close to push your saved order to your live TradingView chart via CDP. The object tree updates immediately. The order is saved and available for re-application any time your chart order gets rearranged.
Screenshot — Manual & Auto
Chart Buddy has three ways to capture your TradingView chart: a manual one-click capture, an automatic interval capture, and a timed capture that fires at specific times of day. All three use TradingView's own screenshot mechanism and save to your TradingView download folder.
Manual Screenshot
Click the camera icon on the launcher bar. Chart Buddy triggers TradingView's Download Image function automatically — no dialogs, no folder navigation. Zero friction during a live session.
Auto-Screenshot — Interval
Enable in Settings and choose from: 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, or 10 minutes. Runs in a background thread with a visual flash confirmation on each capture.
Auto-Screenshot — Timed Slots
Up to 5 daily time slots, each with its own enable/disable toggle and a time in HH:MM format. Fires once per day per slot and resets at midnight. Uses your global timezone setting from App Settings — set once and all slots convert correctly.
Suggested Timed Screenshot Schedule
8:29 AM ET: Pre-market setup with all levels marked.
8:30 AM ET: RTH open — the first bar of the session frozen in time.
12:00 PM ET: Midday — a record of the morning's full price action.
3:00 PM ET: Power hour start.
4:00 PM ET: Session close — the complete day on one chart.
Trade Coach — Audio Alert System
"The Trade Coach exists because I've watched hundreds of traders blow up accounts not because they didn't know the rules — but because they forgot them in the heat of a live session. The audio alerts are not a fancy alarm clock. They are a tap on the shoulder at the exact moment you need to stop and ask yourself: am I still trading my plan?"
— George, MicrosTrader Live Trading RoomHow Trade Coach Works
- Master Switch: A single ON/OFF toggle controls the entire system. The master starts OFF every time Chart Buddy launches — you turn it ON intentionally at the start of each session. This is by design.
- Session Window: Define a start time and end time. All alerts only fire within this window — they will not play outside configured hours.
- Session Mode: RTH, Overnight, or All-Day — controls how the session window is interpreted.
- Timezone Selector: Choose your timezone. All alert times are interpreted in the timezone you select and shared with the auto-screenshot timed slots.
Recurring Alerts
- "No Level No Trade" — Every 30 Minutes: A specific audio clip plays reminding you that you do not take a trade without a clearly defined Pre-Flight level. The most important alert in Chart Buddy.
- Motivational Clip — Every 17 Minutes: A rotating library of 20 audio coaching clips. Staggered from the 30-minute alert so the two never compete. No clip repeats until the full library has cycled.
One-Time Session Alerts
- 30-Minute Warning (default 3:30 PM ET): Reassess the session. Are you up, flat, or down? Many traders' worst trades happen in the final window — chasing, averaging down, or trying to recover. This alert is your signal to reassess, not accelerate.
- 10-Minute Warning (default 3:50 PM ET): Ten minutes to close. Consider going flat unless you have a very specific reason to hold.
- Stop Trading (default 4:00 PM ET): RTH closed. Close remaining positions, open your journal, and begin end-of-session review while the day is fresh.
Trade Journal — Daily Entry
The Trade Journal is the centerpiece of Chart Buddy. A structured daily record of your session — morning intention to end-of-day lesson in one place. Every section can be enabled, disabled, and reordered in Journal Settings. The journal auto-saves continuously as you type.
Sunday Night — Monday's Entry
If you open the Trade Journal on a Sunday, Chart Buddy pre-stamps the entry as Monday. Everything you write is saved under Monday's date and appears correctly in the Calendar and Dashboard on Monday morning. Write your Sunday prep notes without any manual date adjustment.
Window Position Memory
The journal window remembers exactly where you placed it on your screen. Drag it once to your preferred position and it opens there every session automatically.
Journal Sections
Symbol, Timeframe & Opening Price
Auto-populated from your live TradingView chart when you open the journal. Fill in the opening price at RTH open for an objective price anchor for the day.
Goals
Three individual text fields — one process-oriented goal per field. Write them before the session opens. At end-of-session, grade yourself honestly against each one.
Gratitudes
Three individual text fields — one thing you are grateful for per field. A mental reset before the session. Three lines, 60 seconds. Do not skip it.
Special Day
Selectable chip tags for high-impact economic events — Bank Holiday, CPI, FOMC, NFP, OPEX, and others. These tags drive special day performance analysis in the Dashboard.
Session Notes
Rich text area for your morning bias and running session narrative. Supports bold, italic, headings, bullet lists, numbered lists, horizontal dividers, and multiple font sizes. A notes template in Journal Settings pre-fills this field each morning with your standard prompts.
Trade Log
A table of all trades logged for the session via the Trade Ticket. Displays direction, symbol, entry, exit, points, tags, and notes. Trades can be edited or deleted directly from the log.
Trader Errors
Selectable chip tags for behavioral mistakes — Sized Too Big, Chased Entry, Broke Rules, Revenge Traded, Over-Traded, Early Exit, No Plan. All tags are user-editable. Drives error frequency analysis in the Dashboard.
Grades
Two separate letter grade selectors — Discipline Grade and Result Grade (A–F). Track them independently. A losing session where you followed every rule is still a high Discipline Grade.
Session Stats
Four numeric fields: P&L in points, number of trades, top runner price, and account balance. Powers all Dashboard statistics and streak gauges.
Big Lesson
A free-text area for the single most important thing you learned today. Not a list — one clear insight. These become your personal trading curriculum and are displayed on the Dashboard and in the Briefing Panel's "Focus This Week" section.
Day Tags
Session-level tags for marking overall character or significance. The default ⭐ Important tag lets you filter to your most significant sessions in the Dashboard. Add custom tags for any session category you want to track.
The Excluded Flag
Each entry has an Excluded checkbox. Checking it removes the session from all Dashboard statistics. Use it for paper trading days, test days, or partial sessions. The entry is never deleted — it remains in your journal for reference.
Trade Ticket — Logging Trades
The Trade Ticket opens when you click Add Trade in the Trade Log. It captures the full context of a single trade and adds it to the day's log. Opens beside the journal panel so both windows are visible simultaneously and your chart remains unobstructed.
| Field | Options / Format | What to Enter |
|---|---|---|
| Time | 12-hour format | Auto-populated with current time when you open the ticket. Adjust if logging after the fact. |
| Direction | Long / Short | Color-coded in the trade log — green for Long, red for Short. |
| Symbol | Dropdown (user-configured) | The instrument you traded. Add or remove symbols in Journal Settings. |
| Entry Price | Numeric | The price at which you entered. |
| Exit Price | Numeric | The price at which you exited. |
| Points | Numeric (auto-calculated) | Calculated automatically from entry and exit. Override manually if needed. Positive = winner; negative = loser. |
| Tags | Up to 2 per trade | Your setup type tags — "ONH Fade", "RTH HB Long", etc. Create tags in Journal Settings. The Dashboard groups performance by these tags. |
| Notes | Rich text | Context about the trade — what you saw, what you were thinking, what you would do differently. |
Tag the Setup, Not Just the Outcome
When every trade has a tag, the Dashboard tells you your win rate and average points by setup type. You may discover your ONH Fade has a 68% win rate while your breakout trades lose money. That is actionable information — but only if you tag consistently enough for the data to be meaningful.
Dashboard — Journal Report & Editor
"The Dashboard is where your journal becomes your edge. It's not enough to write things down — you have to look at them. The report takes everything you've logged and turns it into a picture of your trading. When you can see that your average points on FOMC days is negative, or that your best setup has a 70% win rate but you only take it twice a week, that's actionable information. That changes your trading."
— George, MicrosTrader Live Trading RoomAnimated Gauges — Streak & Stats
The Dashboard hero section features four animated tachometer gauges that run on load:
- Journal Streak (Site Blue): Consecutive trading days with a journal entry. Scale ceiling adjusts to your personal best (minimum 20).
- A/B Discipline Streak (Gold): Consecutive sessions graded A or B for discipline. Scale ceiling adjusts to personal best (minimum 30).
- Green Day Streak (Green): Consecutive sessions with P&L ≥ 0 points. Scale ceiling adjusts to personal best (minimum 10).
- Total Points (Navy): Sum of all logged P&L points, auto-scaled in 25-point steps.
Each gauge animates with an easeOutBack overshoot followed by an easeInOut settle, with a live counter ticking up in sync.
Hero Action Buttons
- Transformation Tracker: Opens the standalone wellness/habit tracker at port 7435. Daily checkboxes, progress charts, Goals page — separate from your trading journal and never included in trading analytics.
- Trade Analyzer: Opens the trade analysis tool for deeper review of your logged trades.
- Trade Plan Builder: Opens the session planning tool.
- AI Coach: Privacy-first export of your journal as Markdown or JSON — plus 5 copy-ready prompts for Claude or ChatGPT. No API key, no server calls. Your data stays on your machine.
Session Index & Statistics
- Session Index: Every logged session in reverse chronological order. Each row shows date, P&L, grades, day tags, and a summary. Click any row to expand it for the full journal entry — notes, trade log, grades, big lesson, and all tags.
- Day Tag Filter: Filter buttons at the top — click any tag to show only sessions carrying it. Click ⭐ Important to review your most significant sessions as a curated set.
- Statistics Panel: Win rate, breakeven rate, loss rate, average winning/losing/overall trade, total P&L, largest single win/loss, longest winning/losing streaks, and total trading days.
- Day-of-Week Breakdown: Statistics grouped Monday through Friday — reveals whether you consistently perform better or worse on specific days.
- By Setup Tag / Special Day / Day Tag: Performance grouped by each tag type — sessions count, average P&L, and total P&L per category.
- Lightbox Image Viewer: Screenshots in session pages open full-screen in a lightbox for chart review without leaving the Dashboard.
Dashboard Editor
A full web-based journal editor opens in your browser — create or edit journal entries without opening the Chart Buddy app window. Every field is editable (goals, gratitudes, notes, trade log, tags, grades, stats, big lesson). Save & Return saves the entry, regenerates the Dashboard, and returns you to the index. Requires Chart Buddy to be running in the background.
Briefing Panel — Morning Setup
The Briefing Panel opens from the 📣 megaphone icon on the launcher. It is draggable — click the header row to reposition it anywhere. You can set it to open automatically on launch in App Settings.
Three-Column Layout
Verse & Trader Wisdom
Daily verse and a rotating Trader Wisdom quote from George — the mental framing for today's session.
News Drivers
Today's high-impact economic events from the Airtable calendar, converted to your timezone. High-impact events (CPI, FOMC, NFP, Fed Press Conference) display with a 🔥 emoji. After 4:00 PM Eastern, the column is replaced by an End of Day card with a checklist reminding you to review your battle plan, update your levels, and prepare for tomorrow.
Futures Snapshot
Live futures prices from the TradingView scanner API — a quick read on overnight market direction before you open your chart.
Focus This Week
The Briefing Panel pulls the Big Lesson from your most recent Saturday journal entry and surfaces it at the top of the panel as your "Focus This Week" — your own words, reminding you of last week's most important insight.
Version Update Check
The panel header fetches the latest Chart Buddy version from the MicrosTrader site. If a newer version is available, a notice appears: "v{current} (v{latest} Available — Click to Download)" — so you always know when to update.
Weekend Mode
On Saturday, the panel shows a "Markets closed" block with light-hearted rest suggestions. On Sunday, it shows a structured block: "Battle Plan published" (3 PM ET), "Write weekend reflection" link, and "Futures open" (6 PM ET).
Bottom Action Buttons
⚔️ Battle Plan | 🔔 Alerts | ✏️ Dashboard | ⚙️ Settings | Close
The Alerts button shows a toast reminder to turn on your Battle Plan indicator before setting alerts. The Battle Plan button opens the Battle Plan Panel (and closes the Briefing Panel — only one can be open at a time).
Battle Plan Panel — ⚔️
The Battle Plan Panel is your pre-session command center. One click on the ⚔️ icon opens a two-column popup that puts George's daily battle plan, the audio brief, and your two most important setup steps in a single window.
Left Column — Today's Battle Plan
- Eyebrow line: "At the close of yesterday's RTH session, George wrote:" — context for when the plan was composed.
- Full HTML content: The complete battle plan rendered with headings, bold/italic, section headers, and bullet lists — exactly as written. Fetched automatically from Airtable on panel open.
- 🎧 Play Audio Brief: Downloads the MP3 and plays it immediately via your system's native audio player (afplay on Mac, PowerShell on Windows, ffplay on Linux). Turns red "Stop" while playing — click again to stop.
- 📖 Read the Entire Battle Plan: Opens the full battle plan page in your browser.
Right Column — Set Your Alerts
⚡ Turn On Battle Plan Indicator
Finds the Battle Plan indicator on your active TradingView chart and makes it visible. If present but hidden, this turns it on automatically via CDP. Turns green on success, amber if the indicator needs to be added manually first.
🔔 Set Alerts Now
Reads the current key price zones from your Battle Plan indicator, deletes any existing Battle Plan alerts, and recreates them at today's levels. Runs in a background thread. Turns green "Alerts set!" on completion. A disclaimer card explains when alerts are cleared (at launch, 3 PM Central, and when the button is clicked).
Battle Plan Label Click — Chart Notes Overlay
When you click a numbered Battle Plan label (1–5) on your TradingView chart, a navy/gold card appears at the top of the chart showing that level's notes from George's battle plan. Click the card to dismiss it, or click the same label again to toggle it off. Notes are fetched from Airtable on startup and cached for the day.
Daily Session Workflow with the Battle Plan Panel
Open the Battle Plan Panel first — before any trades, before the market opens. Read or listen to the brief. Click Turn On Indicator → click Set Alerts Now → close the panel. Four steps, under two minutes, every single session.
Annotation Buddy — Chart Markup Tool New in v4
Annotation Buddy is a permanent companion app shipped with every Chart Buddy download on Mac, Windows, and Linux. No separate install. It launches automatically when Chart Buddy starts and quits when Chart Buddy quits.
The Floating Pill
A small green A/B/✕ pill floats on your screen at all times. Drag it anywhere to keep it out of your way. Three buttons:
- A — Capture: Click and drag to select any region of your screen. The selected area opens in the annotation editor, ready for markup.
- B — Blank: Opens a fresh white 800×800 canvas in the annotation editor for annotations built from scratch.
- ✕ — Close: Closes the Annotation Buddy pill. Chart Buddy keeps running.
Annotation Editor
- Drawing tools: Freehand draw, arrows, straight lines, text.
- Stickers: 30 emoji stickers + 33 trader-specific icons (Long, Short, Stop, Target, arrows, zone markers, and more).
- Notes Card: A branded navy/gold card with a gold "NOTES" header and auto-height white body text. Drops the card into the annotation at current size.
- Scoreboard Card: A performance card — configurable with fonts, colors, and height per line. Use for annotating trade grades and session stats onto chart screenshots.
- Undo/Redo: Full undo/redo history throughout the editing session.
- Copy to Clipboard: One click to copy the finished annotation to your clipboard for pasting anywhere.
- Save to Screenshots Folder: Saves the annotated image to your Chart Buddy screenshots directory with a timestamp.
- User Templates: Save any annotation layout as a named template and load it with one click in any future session. Build templates for your standard trade review card, your morning bias annotation, or your post-market analysis format.
The Best Traders Mark Up Their Charts
A screenshot with arrows pointing to the exact level that rejected, a text note with your reasoning, and a scoreboard showing the outcome is ten times more useful in review than a raw image. Annotation Buddy exists to make that habit effortless — one keystroke from your chart to a fully annotated image ready to save or share.
Chart Stickers — Drag-and-Drop Labels New in v4.1
The Chart Stickers panel opens from the 📍 icon in the launcher bar. It is a scrollable, 4-column grid of PNG trading label images that you drag directly onto your TradingView chart via CDP. Stickers land at the chart center and can be repositioned using TradingView's normal drawing tools.
Sticker Set
| Row | Stickers |
|---|---|
| Trade Actions | Long, Short, Added, Added 2 |
| Partials & TP | Partials 2, Partials, TP Left, TP Right |
| Risk Management | Stop, Target, Mag Down, Mag Up |
| Directional Arrows | ↘ Down R, ↙ Down L, ↗ Up R, ↖ Up L |
| Battle Plan Zones | BP 1, BP 1 Short, BP 2, BP 2 Short, BP 3, BP 3 Short |
| Special | Speculator, Battle Plan, Missed Entry |
Enabling Chart Stickers
The 📍 icon is hidden by default. Enable it in App Settings → Launcher Icons → Chart Stickers. The panel has a draggable header so you can reposition it independently of the launcher bar. Scroll with MouseWheel (Mac/Win) or Button-4/5 (Linux).
Pin to Corner — Sticky Image Panel New in v4.1
Pin to Corner keeps a selected TradingView Image drawing locked to the top-right corner of your visible chart viewport automatically. Chart Buddy repositions the drawing at your configured interval, even as the chart scrolls, zooms, or changes timeframes.
How It Works
- Select the drawing: In TradingView, click the Image drawing you want to pin. Chart Buddy identifies it by its current position.
- Set the interval: Choose how often Chart Buddy repositions the drawing: 1s, 2s, 5s, 10s, 30s, 1min, or 3min. Shorter intervals keep the image more precisely locked; longer intervals reduce CDP load.
- Nudge controls: ← → (horizontal) and ↑ ↓ (vertical) buttons let you fine-tune the position in 5px increments — useful if the image is overlapping a label or the price axis.
- Timeframe change detection: Pin to Corner detects timeframe changes and repositions the image within 0.25 seconds — so it stays in the corner even when you switch timeframes via a preset.
- Persistent: Settings are saved to App Settings and the tool auto-resumes on launch with a 4-second delayed scan to allow TradingView to fully load first.
Use Case — Battle Plan Image Always Visible
Pin an image of your key levels or daily battle plan zones to the top-right corner of your chart. No matter how far you scroll or zoom, the reference image stays pinned in the corner — always visible, never covering the price action you need to watch.
Notification Center — Auto Reminders New in v4
The Notification Center is a background thread that starts automatically when Chart Buddy launches. It displays navy/gold overlay cards directly on your TradingView chart at key moments throughout the session — no setup required. Cards auto-fade after 9 seconds. A master toggle in App Settings → Notification Center controls the entire system (on by default).
Scheduled Daily Reminders
| Time (ET) | Header | Message | Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10:30 AM | INITIAL BALANCE | IB High and IB Low — the range of the first 30 minutes is set. How does price relate to it? | Daily |
| 12:00 PM | NEW YORK LUNCH | Low-probability window. Use this time to review your morning — not to add new risk. | Mon–Fri |
| 4:00 PM | POWER HOUR | Final hour. Be careful. Size down if you are not already flat. | Daily |
Calendar-Based Alerts
| Trigger | Header | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 3rd Friday (non-quarterly months) | OPEX FRIDAY | 9:30 AM |
| 3rd Friday (Mar / Jun / Sep / Dec) | TRIPLE WITCHING | 9:30 AM |
| Tue, days 6–12 of quad months | CONTRACT ROLLOVER NEXT WEEK | 9:30 AM |
| Tue, days 13–19 of quad months | CONTRACT ROLLOVER TODAY | 9:30 AM |
| Trading day before a NYSE holiday | MARKET CLOSED TOMORROW | 9:30 AM |
News Event Alerts
Fires 10 minutes before any timed event in the Airtable calendar for the current day. Times are converted to your configured timezone automatically. High-impact events (CPI, FOMC, NFP, Fed Press Conference) are visually highlighted with the 🔥 emoji on the card.
NYSE Holidays (Auto-Calculated)
New Year's Day, MLK Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. The Notification Center calculates these dates automatically — no manual configuration needed.
Settings & Customization
Chart Buddy has two settings areas: the App Settings panel (gear icon or More Tools menu) controls the launcher, screenshots, account, and notification options; the Journal Settings panel (accessed inside the Trade Journal) controls journal sections, tags, and symbols. All preferences save automatically.
App Settings — Appearance
| Setting | Options | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Theme | Light / Dark | Switches the entire Chart Buddy interface between light and dark color schemes immediately. |
| Font Size | Adjustable (pt) | Controls the base font size across all Chart Buddy windows. The launcher bar scales proportionally. |
| Launcher Slots | 1 – 20 | The number of preset button slots in the launcher bar's upper zone. |
| Price Position | 10% – 90% | The vertical position of current price when a Y-axis positioning action preset runs. 50% centers the price. |
| Include Logo | Checkbox (off by default) | Shows the MicrosTrader logo in the launcher bar. For traders who stream their screen. 75% opacity in peek view. |
| Pop-Up Position | 9 options | Controls where Battle Plan cards, news alerts, and Notification Center overlays appear on screen. |
App Settings — Launcher Icons
Each launcher icon can be individually shown or hidden. Options: Actions (numbered slots), Briefing (megaphone), Journal (pencil), Screenshot (camera), Magnet, Ruler, Chart Stickers (📍), More Tools (wrench). Show only what you use — hide everything else.
App Settings — Account
| Setting | Options | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| First Name | Click to edit | Your first name in the Dashboard title and journal header. Auto-populated from your license record. |
| Timezone | Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, UK | Global setting used by Trade Coach alert times and auto-screenshot timed slots. Set once, applies everywhere. |
| Notification Center | On / Off | Master toggle for all Notification Center overlays. On by default. |
| Annotation Buddy on Startup | On / Off | Whether Annotation Buddy launches automatically when Chart Buddy starts. |
| Briefing Panel on Launch | Checkbox | Whether the Briefing Panel opens automatically at startup. |
| Sign Out | Button | Clears the local license cache. Use when moving to a new computer or transferring your license. |
App Settings — Auto Screenshot
| Setting | Options | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Interval — Enable | On / Off | Turns interval auto-screenshot on or off. |
| Interval — Frequency | 5s, 10s, 15s, 30s, 1m, 2m, 5m, 10m | How often the interval screenshot fires. |
| Timed Slot 1–5 | Enable + HH:MM per slot | Up to 5 daily timed screenshots. Each fires once per day and resets at midnight. |
Journal Settings — Sections
| Setting | Options | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Section Visibility | Checkbox per section | Enable or disable any journal section. Disabled sections are completely hidden from the journal entry page. |
| Section Order | Drag to reorder | Drag any section row up or down to reorder it within the journal. |
| Notes Template | Free text | Pre-fills the Session Notes field each time you create a new journal entry. Write your standard morning prompts here. |
Journal Settings — Tags & Symbols
| Tag List | Default Tags | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Special Day Tags | Bank Holiday, CPI, FOMC, NFP, OPEX… | High-impact event tags for the Special Day section. Add any recurring event that affects your trading. |
| Trader Error Tags | Sized Too Big, Chased Entry, Broke Rules… | Behavioral error tags. Drives error frequency analysis in the Dashboard. |
| Trade Setup Tags | User-created (none by default) | Setup tags for the Trade Ticket. The Dashboard calculates your per-setup win rate from these. |
| Day Tags | ⭐ Important | Session-level tags for filtering and tracking in the Dashboard. |
| Trade Symbols | MES, ES | The dropdown list in the Trade Ticket. Add any instrument you trade. |
Your Data is Always Safe
Changes to Settings — including restoring any defaults — will never delete tags, symbols, or journal entries. Settings changes affect layout and configuration only. Every tag you have added, every trade you have logged, and every journal entry you have written is preserved regardless of any settings change.
Quick Reference Card
Everything at a glance — launcher icons, Trade Coach alerts, journal sections, and the daily routine that makes Chart Buddy work.
Launcher Icon Reference
Briefing Panel
Verse + Trader Wisdom + news drivers + futures snapshot. Draggable. Opens automatically on launch if enabled. Can also be set to open with Chart Buddy.
Trade Journal
Opens today's entry. Auto-populates symbol and timeframe. Weekend mode shows the Reflections panel instead.
Screenshot
One-click manual capture. Configure interval and timed auto-screenshots in App Settings.
Magnet
Toggles TradingView magnet snapping for drawing tools.
Ruler
Activates TradingView's measure tool for price ranges and distances.
Chart Stickers
24+ drag-and-drop trading labels. Enable in App Settings → Launcher Icons. Draggable panel, scrollable grid.
More Tools
Slide-out panel with Trade Coach, Object Tree, Feedback, and Documentation links.
Battle Plan
Battle plan content + audio brief + Turn On Indicator + Set Alerts. Open first every session. Click icon again to close.
Trade Coach Alert Reference
| Alert | Timing | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| No Level No Trade | Every 30 min within session window | Core accountability loop. No trade without a defined Pre-Flight level. |
| Motivational Clip | Every 17 min within session window | Rotating library of 20 coaching clips. Staggered from the 30-minute alert. |
| 30-Minute Warning | One-time, default 3:30 PM ET | Reassess the session. Protect gains. Do not chase in the final window. |
| 10-Minute Warning | One-time, default 3:50 PM ET | Consider going flat. Final 10 minutes can be volatile and unpredictable. |
| Stop Trading | One-time, default 4:00 PM ET | RTH closed. Close positions. Open the journal immediately. |
Journal Section Reference
| Section | When to Fill It | Primary Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Symbol / Timeframe / Opening Price | At session open | Auto-populated from chart. Record opening price at RTH open. |
| Goals | Before open | Three process-oriented intentions. Grade yourself at close. |
| Gratitudes | Before open | Mental reset before touching the market. |
| Special Day | Before open | Tag economic events. Drives special day analysis in the Dashboard. |
| Session Notes | Before open + throughout | Morning bias, live observations, market narrative. Rich text. |
| Trade Log | After each trade | Individual trade records via Trade Ticket. Source for all Dashboard P&L stats. |
| Trader Errors | End of session | Honest behavioral review. Drives error frequency analysis. |
| Grades | End of session | Discipline grade and Result grade — scored independently. |
| Session Stats | End of session | P&L, # trades, top runner, account balance. Powers Dashboard gauges. |
| Big Lesson | End of session | One key insight. Appears in next session's Briefing Panel Focus This Week. |
| Day Tags | End of session | Tag ⭐ Important sessions for curated review in the Dashboard. |
The Chart Buddy Daily Routine
Before the bell: Launch TradingView → connection dot turns green → click session start Action Preset → open Battle Plan Panel → read/listen to plan → Turn On Indicator → Set Alerts → open Journal → Goals → Gratitudes → Special Day → enable Trade Coach master switch → Session Notes morning bias.
At the open: Manual screenshot → observe first candles → Trade Coach recurring alerts begin → take setups with a defined level → log each trade via Trade Ticket immediately after exit.
During the session: Screenshot at significant moments → use toggles and cycle presets freely → Coach alerts keep you accountable → Notification Center reminders fire automatically.
At the Stop Trading alert: Go flat → Trader Errors → Grades → Session Stats → Big Lesson → Day Tags → open Dashboard → review the day → annotate key screenshots in Annotation Buddy.
