Cross Mark

The Cross Mark draws an X over a region. Its purpose is narrow and worth stating plainly: it records that an idea is dead without deleting the idea. Removing a failed drawing removes the evidence of what you believed and why, which is the most useful thing on the chart when you come back to review the decision. Crossing it out keeps both the analysis and the verdict.

It is drawn as two independent strokes rather than one continuous path. A single path would have to travel between the two diagonals, drawing a third edge that is not part of the mark. Both strokes are clickable, so the X can be selected by grabbing either diagonal.

There is no fill, because an X encloses nothing — and deliberately so. The mark sits over the drawings and bars it invalidates without hiding them, which is the whole reason to prefer it over drawing a filled rectangle on top.

1. 1
   Select the Cross Mark tool

   Choose Cross Mark from the Shapes group in the drawing toolbar.
2. 2
   Click one corner

   Place the first point at a corner of the region you are crossing out — typically the bounds of the failed pattern.
3. 3
   Click the opposite corner

   Place the second point diagonally opposite. The X spans the box between them.
4. 4
   Adjust

   Drag either handle to resize. Open the popup for colour, thickness and line style.

• Invalidated setups — cross out a pattern that failed while leaving the analysis visible underneath. This is the point: deleting the drawing destroys the record of what you thought, which is exactly what a review needs.
• Failed breakouts — mark the level that did not hold. The X over the breakout zone reads immediately, where a note explaining it does not.
• Retired projections — a forecast cone or measured move that has been overtaken by events. Crossing it out is more honest than removing it.
• Review annotation — on a post-mortem chart, distinguish what worked from what did not without rearranging anything.
• Rejected levels — a level you considered and discounted, kept on the chart so the reasoning is not repeated next week.

The habit this tool supports is worth more than the tool itself. A chart where failed ideas have been deleted shows only the calls that worked, which produces a systematically flattering and useless record. A chart where they have been crossed out shows the full set of decisions, and the ratio between them is the only honest measure of how the analysis is performing.

Pair the X with a dated note explaining what invalidated the idea. In three months the mark alone will tell you that something failed; the note will tell you what you learned. Crossing out without recording the reason preserves the outcome and loses the lesson.

• 1.Trade journaling and post-trade review — Investopedia
• 2.Trading in the Zone — Mark Douglas