Two minutes of drawing, one clean chart

Add support and resistance to TradingView as rectangles, one per zone, typed in from prices you chose before the open. Lines dragged by eye during the session are where charts go wrong.

The common habit is to zoom out, spot the obvious old highs and drag a line across them. Two people doing that on the same chart rarely draw the same line. Then the day starts, price moves, and a new line appears every time something happens. By lunch the chart holds a dozen marks and none of them were there at 9:30.

A level only helps if it existed before price got there. Otherwise you're drawing the answer onto the question. The fix is a short routine. Get the levels before the open, type them in exactly, and leave them alone.

Start with a written list of prices. If you trade SPY, QQQ or IWM, the Morning Map gives you one each trading day at 8:40 ET. Our model draws the zones from prior sessions only, so nothing is added after the open.

The free page lists every zone with its low and its high, coloured by side. Rust zones are resistance and green zones are support. The same map arrives by email if you sign up, so the list is waiting before you open the platform.

If you draw your own levels, write them down first anyway. A short list on paper, made before the open, is what keeps the chart honest. Typing from the list is faster than eyeballing, and it means every rectangle sits on the exact price.

Open the symbol on the chart you trade from. Pick the rectangle tool from the left toolbar. Click once anywhere near the zone, then click again to finish a rough box.

Double-click the box to open its settings. On the Coordinates tab, type the zone's high into the first price and its low into the second. Now the box sits on the exact prices. On the Style tab, tick Extend right so the zone runs across every future candle.

Repeat for each zone. A single price, rather than a zone, can be a horizontal ray instead of a box. Keep the count low. Three levels above price and three below cover a normal session. More than that and the chart turns into a wall of colour you stop reading.

The slow part is setting colours and extend options every morning. Do it once and save it.

Style one rectangle as support: a muted green fill, thin border, Extend right ticked. At the bottom of the settings window, open the Template menu and save it as Support zone. Do the same for a resistance box in a muted red. From then on, you draw a rough box, pick the template, type two prices and move on.

Keep the fills faint so candles stay visible through them. If you also mark price gaps, give them a third template in a different colour. Every zone of the same type then looks identical on every chart. That makes it easier to read at a glance when price is moving fast.

Do it in this order before the open, then once more after the close.

A zone on the chart is a place to wait. While price is inside the box, the market hasn't decided, and neither should you.

Act once price is clearly above or clearly below the zone. Use a candle close on your entry chart to judge that. A wick that pokes through and snaps back is still inside. The same close rule works for exits once you're in.

Clear the boxes every evening. Yesterday's zones were drawn from yesterday's information, and leaving them up invites you to trade old prices. Start each morning from a blank chart and a fresh list. If you want a record of the day, take one screenshot after the close before you delete. Then write one line about what price did at each zone.