Table

The Table tool puts structured values on the chart. Where a note holds a sentence, a table holds numbers with names against them — a trade plan, a levels sheet, a scenario matrix. It is held by two corners carrying price and time, so it travels with the bars it describes.

Data goes in the way it does in a spreadsheet. Double-click a cell to start typing; Tab moves to the next cell and Enter to the next row; Tab or Enter off the last cell adds a row rather than stopping. Shift reverses either direction, and the arrow keys move between cells once the caret reaches the end of the text. Pasting a block copied from Excel, Sheets or a terminal blotter replaces the grid whole, because those applications put tab-separated text on the clipboard and the table reads it directly.

Structure is edited on the chart rather than in a settings panel. Hover near the top or left edge and a + appears, snapped to the nearest boundary; clicking it inserts a row or column exactly there. A delete control sits beside it for the row or column under the pointer, and the dividers between columns can be dragged to re-apportion width. Throughout, only the cell you are typing into changes — the rest of the grid stays drawn, so the table never collapses to a blank panel mid-edit.

1. 1
   Select the Table tool

   Click the Table icon in the annotation group.
2. 2
   Click to place

   One click drops a four-row skeleton with a heading row, so the shape is visible immediately.
3. 3
   Fill it in

   Double-click a cell and type. Tab moves right, Enter moves down, Shift reverses. Tab or Enter off the last cell adds a row.
4. 4
   Or paste a block

   Copy a range from a spreadsheet and paste into any cell. The whole grid is replaced with the pasted shape.
5. 5
   Adjust the structure

   Hover the top or left edge and click the + to insert a row or column at that boundary. Use the delete control for the row or column under the pointer.
6. 6
   Set the widths

   Drag a divider between two columns, or choose Fit content / Equal in the popup to go back to automatic sizing.

• Trade plan — entry, stop and target as rows, with price and R:R as columns. The plan sits on the chart it belongs to instead of in a separate document nobody opens.
• Levels sheet — named support and resistance levels with their prices and the dates they were last tested.
• Scenario matrix — one row per scenario (breakout, failure, range), with trigger, target and invalidation as columns. Written before the move, it removes the improvisation from reacting to it.
• Position summary — size, average price, unrealised P&L and exposure, pasted from a blotter so the numbers match the risk system exactly.
• Earnings or event calendar — dates, expected figures and actuals, placed near the bars they will move.
• Backtest results — parameter sets against win rate and expectancy, so the chart showing the strategy also shows how it performed.

Three settings are on by default because they are what makes a column of figures readable rather than merely present. Right-aligning numbers puts the decimal points in a line, which is the only reason a column of prices can be compared at a glance instead of read one row at a time. Tabular figures give every digit the same width, so 1.2210 and 1.9999 occupy identical space and the column does not shimmer as values update. Both are standard practice in financial reporting for exactly these reasons.

Signed-number colouring is deliberately narrow: it tints only cells that carry an explicit + or −, never a bare quantity. A position size of 40 is not a gain, and colouring it green would say otherwise. Writing +0.0180 rather than 0.0180 is what opts a figure into the colouring, which keeps the decision with the person writing the table rather than with a heuristic.

Row rules are on and column rules are off for the same reason: with adequate cell padding and right-aligned figures, vertical rules add ink without adding information. Turn them on for wide tables where the eye needs help tracking across many columns.

Width is yours; height is not. Dragging the frame sets the width, and the height always follows the row count — a four-row table is four rows tall. A free vertical handle could only clip rows or leave dead space, neither of which is a thing anyone wants from a table.

Column widths start automatic. Fit content measures the widest cell in each column and then scales those measurements to the frame, which preserves the ratio the content implies: a narrow "Level" column stays narrow beside a wide "Note" one however the frame is resized. Dragging any divider switches to explicit widths, stored as proportions rather than pixels so they survive a resize. Adding or removing a column returns to automatic sizing, because stored proportions no longer describe the new column count.

• 1.The Visual Display of Quantitative Information — Edward R. Tufte
• 2.Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten — Stephen Few
• 3.Trading plan construction — Investopedia