eSignal - Trading from the Charts
one of the functionalities added to esignal 10.3 is the ability to place buy and sell orders from within the chart. to begin, you'll want to setup a default broker in the trade menu. we'll use esignal paper trading as the sample broker for this article. if your buy and sell buttons are greyed out, it's likely that you haven't selected your default broker. click here for assistance in setting up esignal paper trading.
trading from the charts
trading from the charts features new buy and sell buttons that allow you to place stop and limit orders directly to the chart. there are two ways to access this feature. on the advanced chart toolbar you can click the buy or sell buttons located next to properties. 
you can also access the buy and sell buttons by using the right click menu inside the advanced chart. select buy or sell to set a stop or limit order.
using the buy and sell buttons
the buy and sell buttons allow you to place orders directly from the charts. when you click the buy button, you'll see a green stop buy line if your cursor is above the bid/ask price or a limit buy line if it's below the bid/ask price. conversely, if you click the sell button you'll see a limit sell or stop sell line (in red) depending if your cursor is above or below the bid/ask line. left click to set the buy or sell order. once your order has been filled, you'll see a position line (marked open) indicating long vs. short along with profit/loss (p/l) status.
in the following example, there is an open position (long 1 contract) of the e-mini s&p at 813.50. with a single click, one can place a stop or target level. any of these orders can be adjusted by a simple drag and drop. for instance, to move the stop to break even, one can simply grab it and drag it to the position line. likewise, any pending order or open position can be cancelled by clicking on the "x" on either the position or order line.
order ticket
when using the buy or sell orders, the order ticket displays with each new order placed. here you can set additional details or make changes to the existing order. 
edit order defaults
the default order ticket settings can customized so that all new orders will follow the same template. order size, type, and bracket style (among others) can be customized as part of a default setting. to set the order defaults, click trade on the esignal menu bar, select esignal paper trading (or your broker of choice), then click order defaults. you can set a template for each contract type including stocks, future, and forex.
customizing colors and fonts
you can customize the the color of any of the lines that appear as part of the buy or sell orders. the colors can be set for any of the following lines:
buy and sell order
bid and ask line
profitable and unprofitable position line
to access this menu, right click the chart and select properties. use the scroll bar in the colors and fonts section to highly the field you wish to change, then use the drop down to select a new color. esignal 10.4 introduces an updated orders and positions section in this menu. the ability to show/hide the orders, position, order price/quantity and the bid/ask lines is available. you can also choose to select transparent lines as well as left or right justify the order text. to adjust the font size or style, click the font button in the orders and positions menu. please note that there is a separate font button to control the font settings of the x and y axis on the chart. 
default sound scheme
once the buy or sell order is executed, a default alert will sound. you can disable or edit the sounds by clicking trade in the menu bar and clicking ‘notifications’. you can either uncheck or edit the sound for a specific alert using this menu.
account manager
the account manager window allows you to monitor orders, positions, as well as executions, accounts, and messages. you can also modify or cancel orders. to launch the account manager click trade, esignal paper trading, account manager. in the following image you can see the two orders that were set in the chart. for additional info on using the account manager, click here.
