Financial Plot

Candlestick Chart

Candlestick charts use symbols to display price data. The rectangle indicates open and close prices, and the center line indicates minimum and maximum price for the given time period. Color indicates whether the price increased or decreased between open and close.

Finance.cs

ScottPlot.Plot myPlot = new();

var prices = Generate.RandomOHLCs(30);
myPlot.Add.Candlestick(prices);
myPlot.Axes.DateTimeTicksBottom();

myPlot.SavePng("demo.png", 400, 300);

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OHLC Chart

OHLC charts use symbols to display price data (open, high, low, and close) for specific time ranges.

Finance.cs

ScottPlot.Plot myPlot = new();

var prices = Generate.RandomOHLCs(30);
myPlot.Add.OHLC(prices);
myPlot.Axes.DateTimeTicksBottom();

myPlot.SavePng("demo.png", 400, 300);

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Finance Chart with Custom Time Bins

Finance charts can display price range information over arbitrary time scales.

Finance.cs

ScottPlot.Plot myPlot = new();

DateTime timeOpen = new(1985, 09, 24, 9, 30, 0); // 9:30 AM
DateTime timeClose = new(1985, 09, 24, 16, 0, 0); // 4:00 PM
TimeSpan timeSpan = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(10); // 10 minute bins

List<OHLC> prices = new();
for (DateTime dt = timeOpen; dt <= timeClose; dt += timeSpan)
{
    double open = Generate.RandomNumber(20, 40) + prices.Count;
    double close = Generate.RandomNumber(20, 40) + prices.Count;
    double high = Math.Max(open, close) + Generate.RandomNumber(5);
    double low = Math.Min(open, close) - Generate.RandomNumber(5);
    prices.Add(new OHLC(open, high, low, close, dt, timeSpan));
}

myPlot.Add.Candlestick(prices);
myPlot.Axes.DateTimeTicksBottom();

myPlot.SavePng("demo.png", 400, 300);

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Price on Right

Finance charts can be created which display price information on the right axis.

Finance.cs

ScottPlot.Plot myPlot = new();

// add candlesticks to the plot
var prices = Generate.RandomOHLCs(30);
var candles = myPlot.Add.Candlestick(prices);

// configure the candlesticks to use the plot's right axis
candles.Axes.YAxis = myPlot.Axes.Right;
candles.Axes.YAxis.Label.Text = "Price";

// style the bottom axis to display date
myPlot.Axes.DateTimeTicksBottom();

myPlot.SavePng("demo.png", 400, 300);

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Simple Moving Average

Tools exist for creating simple moving average (SMA) curves and displaying them next to finanial data.

Finance.cs

ScottPlot.Plot myPlot = new();

// generate and plot time series price data
var prices = Generate.RandomOHLCs(75);
myPlot.Add.Candlestick(prices);
myPlot.Axes.DateTimeTicksBottom();

// calculate SMA and display it as a scatter plot
int[] windowSizes = { 3, 8, 20 };
foreach (int windowSize in windowSizes)
{
    ScottPlot.Finance.SimpleMovingAverage sma = new(prices, windowSize);
    var sp = myPlot.Add.Scatter(sma.Dates, sma.Means);
    sp.LegendText = $"SMA {windowSize}";
    sp.MarkerSize = 0;
    sp.LineWidth = 3;
    sp.Color = Colors.Navy.WithAlpha(1 - windowSize / 30.0);
}

myPlot.ShowLegend();

myPlot.SavePng("demo.png", 400, 300);

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Bollinger Bands

Tools exist for creating Bollinger Bands which display weighted moving mean and variance for time series financial data.

Finance.cs

ScottPlot.Plot myPlot = new();

// generate and plot time series price data
var prices = Generate.RandomOHLCs(100);
myPlot.Add.Candlestick(prices);
myPlot.Axes.DateTimeTicksBottom();

// calculate Bollinger Bands
ScottPlot.Finance.BollingerBands bb = new(prices, 20);

// display center line (mean) as a solid line
var sp1 = myPlot.Add.Scatter(bb.Dates, bb.Means);
sp1.MarkerSize = 0;
sp1.Color = Colors.Navy;

// display upper bands (positive variance) as a dashed line
var sp2 = myPlot.Add.Scatter(bb.Dates, bb.UpperValues);
sp2.MarkerSize = 0;
sp2.Color = Colors.Navy;
sp2.LinePattern = LinePattern.Dotted;

// display lower bands (positive variance) as a dashed line
var sp3 = myPlot.Add.Scatter(bb.Dates, bb.LowerValues);
sp3.MarkerSize = 0;
sp3.Color = Colors.Navy;
sp3.LinePattern = LinePattern.Dotted;

myPlot.SavePng("demo.png", 400, 300);

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Candlestick Chart Without Gaps

When the DateTimes stored in OHLC objects are used to determine the horizontal position of candlesticks, periods without data like weekends and holidays appear as gaps in the plot. Enabling sequential mode causes the plot to ignore the OHLC DateTimes and display candles at integer positions starting from zero. Users can customize the tick generator to display dates instead of numbers on the horizontal axis if desired.

Finance.cs

ScottPlot.Plot myPlot = new();

// create a candlestick plot
var prices = Generate.RandomOHLCs(31);
var candlePlot = myPlot.Add.Candlestick(prices);

// enable sequential mode to place candles at X = 0, 1, 2, ...
candlePlot.Sequential = true;

// determine a few candles to display ticks for
int tickCount = 5;
int tickDelta = prices.Count / tickCount;
DateTime[] tickDates = prices
    .Where((x, i) => i % tickDelta == 0)
    .Select(x => x.DateTime)
    .ToArray();

// By default, horizontal tick labels will be numbers (1, 2, 3...)
// We can use a manual tick generator to display dates on the horizontal axis
double[] tickPositions = Generate.Consecutive(tickDates.Length, tickDelta);
string[] tickLabels = tickDates.Select(x => x.ToString("MM/dd")).ToArray();
ScottPlot.TickGenerators.NumericManual tickGen = new(tickPositions, tickLabels);
myPlot.Axes.Bottom.TickGenerator = tickGen;

myPlot.SavePng("demo.png", 400, 300);

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OHLC Chart Without Gaps

When the DateTimes stored in OHLC objects are used to determine the horizontal position, periods without data like weekends and holidays appear as gaps in the plot. Enabling sequential mode causes the plot to ignore the OHLC DateTimes and place OHLCs at integer positions starting from zero. Users can customize the tick generator to display dates instead of numbers on the horizontal axis if desired.

Finance.cs

ScottPlot.Plot myPlot = new();

// create a OHLC plot
var prices = Generate.RandomOHLCs(31);
var ohlcPlot = myPlot.Add.OHLC(prices);

// enable sequential mode to place OHLCs at X = 0, 1, 2, ...
ohlcPlot.Sequential = true;

// determine a few OHLCs to display ticks for
int tickCount = 5;
int tickDelta = prices.Count / tickCount;
DateTime[] tickDates = prices
    .Where((x, i) => i % tickDelta == 0)
    .Select(x => x.DateTime)
    .ToArray();

// By default, horizontal tick labels will be numbers (1, 2, 3...)
// We can use a manual tick generator to display dates on the horizontal axis
double[] tickPositions = Generate.Consecutive(tickDates.Length, tickDelta);
string[] tickLabels = tickDates.Select(x => x.ToString("MM/dd")).ToArray();
ScottPlot.TickGenerators.NumericManual tickGen = new(tickPositions, tickLabels);
myPlot.Axes.Bottom.TickGenerator = tickGen;

myPlot.SavePng("demo.png", 400, 300);

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Stock Symbol Background

Stock symbol information can be displayed beneath the plot using the background text feature.

Finance.cs

ScottPlot.Plot myPlot = new();

myPlot.Add.Candlestick(Generate.RandomOHLCs(30));
myPlot.Axes.DateTimeTicksBottom();

var line1 = myPlot.Add.BackgroundText("DANK");
line1.LabelFontColor = Colors.Gray.WithAlpha(.4);
line1.LabelFontSize = 96;
line1.LabelBold = true;

myPlot.SavePng("demo.png", 400, 300);

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Stock Symbol Multiline

Stock symbol information can be displayed beneath the plot using the multiline background text feature.

Finance.cs

ScottPlot.Plot myPlot = new();

myPlot.Add.Candlestick(Generate.RandomOHLCs(30));
myPlot.Axes.DateTimeTicksBottom();

(var line1, var line2) = myPlot.Add.BackgroundText("DANK", "Highest Recommendation by Reddit");

line1.LabelFontColor = Colors.Gray.WithAlpha(.4);
line1.LabelFontSize = 64;
line1.LabelBold = true;

line2.LabelFontColor = Colors.Gray.WithAlpha(.4);
line2.LabelFontSize = 18;
line2.LabelBold = false;

myPlot.SavePng("demo.png", 400, 300);

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Finance Chart Dark Mode

A dark mode finance plot can be achieved by customizing color options of the candles and figure.

Finance.cs

ScottPlot.Plot myPlot = new();

// add sample financial data
OHLC[] prices = Generate.Financial.OHLCsByMinute(60);
var candlePlot = myPlot.Add.Candlestick(prices);
candlePlot.Axes.YAxis = myPlot.Axes.Right;

// setup DateTime ticks on the bottom
myPlot.Axes.DateTimeTicksBottom();

// use currency tick formatting on the right
myPlot.Axes.Right.TickGenerator = new ScottPlot.TickGenerators.NumericAutomatic()
{
    LabelFormatter = (double value) => value.ToString("C")
};

// customize candle styling
candlePlot.RisingColor = ScottPlot.Color.FromHtml("#FF0000");
candlePlot.FallingColor = ScottPlot.Color.FromHtml("#00FF00");

// add SMA indicators
int[] windowSizes = { 3, 8, 20 };
foreach (int windowSize in windowSizes)
{
    ScottPlot.Finance.SimpleMovingAverage sma = new(prices, windowSize);
    var sp = myPlot.Add.Scatter(sma.Dates, sma.Means);
    sp.Axes.YAxis = myPlot.Axes.Right;
    sp.MarkerSize = 0;
    sp.LineWidth = 1.5f;
    sp.LinePattern = LinePattern.DenselyDashed;
    sp.Color = Colors.Yellow.WithAlpha(1 - windowSize / 30.0);
}

// add symbol information and push it to the back of the plot
(var line1, var line2) = myPlot.Add.BackgroundText("DANK", "Recommended by Reddit");

line1.LabelFontColor = Colors.Gray.WithAlpha(.4);
line1.LabelFontSize = 72;
line1.LabelBold = true;
line1.Axes.YAxis = myPlot.Axes.Right;

line2.LabelFontColor = Colors.Gray.WithAlpha(.4);
line2.LabelFontSize = 24;
line2.LabelBold = false;
line2.Axes.YAxis = myPlot.Axes.Right;

// customize miscellaneous plot component colors
myPlot.FigureBackground.Color = Colors.Black;
myPlot.DataBackground.Color = Colors.Black;
myPlot.Axes.Color(ScottPlot.Color.FromHtml("#999999"));
myPlot.Axes.Right.MajorTickStyle.Color = Colors.Transparent;
myPlot.Axes.Right.MinorTickStyle.Color = Colors.Transparent;
myPlot.Axes.Bottom.MajorTickStyle.Color = Colors.Transparent;
myPlot.Axes.FrameWidth(0);
myPlot.Grid.MajorLineColor = ScottPlot.Color.FromHtml("#222222");
myPlot.Grid.YAxis = myPlot.Axes.Right;

myPlot.SavePng("demo.png", 400, 300);

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Financial DateTime Axis

A special axis system has been created for financial charts. Unlike standard DateTime axes which assume the horizontal scale is linearly spaced time, the financial DateTime system allows for dates to be skipped. This is ideal for financial charts where date ranges are skipped such as after-hours trading or non-trading days.

Finance.cs

ScottPlot.Plot myPlot = new();

// generate sample data using a collection of dates and price ranges
DateTime[] dates = Generate.ConsecutiveHours(100);
List<OHLC> candles = Generate.RandomOHLCs(30);
var candlestickPlot = myPlot.Add.Candlestick(candles);

// enable sequential mode so candles are placed 1 unit apart (0, 1, 2, etc.)
candlestickPlot.Sequential = true;

// disable the default tick generator (and grid) and make space for the new one
myPlot.Axes.Bottom.TickGenerator = new ScottPlot.TickGenerators.EmptyTickGenerator();
myPlot.Axes.Bottom.MinimumSize = 30;

// add the financial DateTime tick generator
ScottPlot.Plottables.FinancialTimeAxis financeAxis = new(dates);
myPlot.Add.Plottable(financeAxis);

myPlot.SavePng("demo.png", 400, 300);

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