Drawing Tools

Annotate your charts with lines, Fibonacci tools, shapes, and text using DCT Alpha’s built-in drawing toolkit.

What are Drawing Tools?

Drawing Tools give you a full set of chart annotation capabilities directly within DCT Alpha. You can draw trend lines, mark support and resistance levels, plot Fibonacci retracements, draw channels, and add text notes — all without leaving the platform. Your drawings persist between sessions, so your analysis is always ready when you return.

The drawing toolbar can be toggled between vertical and horizontal orientation, minimized when not in use, and dragged to any position on the chart. This flexibility lets you keep the tools accessible without cluttering your charting workspace.

Available Tools

Lines

Horizontal Line (H-Line): Draw a horizontal level across the chart at a specific price — ideal for marking support, resistance, and key psychological levels
Vertical Line (V-Line): Mark a specific point in time on the chart — useful for annotating events, session opens, or news timestamps
Trend Line: Draw a line between two price points to identify the direction and angle of a trend
Ray: A line that extends infinitely in one direction from a starting point — useful for projecting trend continuations

Fibonacci

Fibonacci Retracement: Plot the standard Fibonacci retracement levels (23.6%, 38.2%, 50%, 61.8%, 78.6%) between a swing high and swing low to identify potential pullback targets
Fibonacci Extension: Project price targets beyond the current range using Fibonacci extension levels — commonly used to estimate where a trend may reach after a retracement completes

Shapes

Rectangle: Draw a rectangular zone on the chart — useful for highlighting consolidation ranges, supply/demand zones, or areas of interest
Parallel Channel: Draw two parallel lines to define a price channel — tracks trending price action that oscillates between support and resistance
Pitchfork: An Andrew’s Pitchfork tool using three points to project a median line with parallel channel boundaries — useful for identifying the likely path of a trend

Annotations

Text: Add text labels anywhere on the chart to note your analysis, trade ideas, or reminders
Arrow: Place directional arrows to highlight specific price action or draw attention to key areas
Freehand Brush: Draw freehand directly on the chart — useful for circling patterns or sketching zones quickly
Measure: Measure the distance between two points in both price and time — shows the percentage move, absolute price change, and number of bars

How to Use Drawing Tools

Open Chart from the sidebar
Click the drawing tool icon in the toolbar to expand the drawing panel
Select the tool you want to use
Click on the chart to place the starting point, then click again (or drag) to complete the drawing
Click on any existing drawing to select it and access customization options

Customization Options

Each drawing tool supports the following customization settings:

Color: Choose any color for the drawing line or fill
Line Width: Adjust the thickness of lines from thin to bold
Line Style: Select from solid, dashed, or dotted line styles
Fibonacci Levels: For Fibonacci tools, customize which levels are displayed and add custom ratio values
Lock/Unlock: Lock a drawing in place to prevent accidental modifications

Vertical/Horizontal Toggle: Switch the toolbar orientation to suit your workflow
Minimize: Collapse the toolbar to a single icon when not in use
Drag to Reposition: Move the toolbar anywhere on the chart by dragging it

Tips

Use Horizontal Lines at key levels identified by DCT Alpha’s on-chain tools (Liquidation Levels, TP/SL clusters, Limit Order walls) to keep those levels visible even when overlays are turned off
Fibonacci Retracement works best when drawn from clear swing highs to swing lows on higher timeframes — the 61.8% and 78.6% levels are particularly significant in crypto markets
Use Rectangles to mark supply and demand zones identified from Trade Footprint data — this creates a persistent visual reference for high-volume price zones
The Measure tool is valuable for quickly calculating risk/reward ratios before entering a trade