So far, we have focused on building the knowledge needed to understand financial markets and the fundamental concepts behind trading.
From this chapter onward, we begin working directly with the tools that will become part of our day-to-day trading process.
The first platform we need to become comfortable with is TradingView, one of the most widely used financial charting and analysis platforms in the world.
Before we begin, there is an important distinction to make.
TradingView will be our primary analysis environment. This is where we study price, move between timeframes, mark important levels, prepare potential setups, and later apply the concepts and strategy covered throughout the Academy.
Trade execution will be handled separately through our execution platform, MetaTrader 5, which we will introduce later in this chapter.
For now, our objective is straightforward: set up TradingView correctly, understand the parts of the platform we will actually use, and build a workspace that we can return to throughout the course.
What Is TradingView?
TradingView is a charting and market-analysis platform used by traders and investors around the world.
It gives us access to financial markets through an interactive charting environment where we can:
analyse financial market charts;
follow instruments from different markets around the world;
mark important price levels and areas;
use technical indicators;
save our charts and analysis;
test and review trading ideas;
follow economic events and market news.
TradingView contains far more functionality than we need at this stage.
That is perfectly fine.
One of the mistakes beginners often make is trying to understand every menu, button, and tool before they start using the platform. We do not need to do that.
We will begin with the functions that are relevant to our trading process and introduce additional tools when we actually need them.
The free version of TradingView provides enough functionality to begin learning the platform and applying the concepts introduced in the Academy. There is no need to purchase a premium plan simply to get started.
Creating Your TradingView Account
The first step is to create a TradingView account.
Go to TradingView and:
Select Sign Up.
Choose your preferred registration method.
Complete the requested information.
Confirm your email address as required.
Log in to the platform.
Once the account is created, open a chart.
This will become our main working environment.
There is no need to configure everything immediately. We will build the workspace gradually throughout this lesson.
Understanding the TradingView Interface
Opening TradingView for the first time can feel slightly overwhelming.
There are menus on several sides of the chart, multiple toolbars, price information, watchlists, drawing tools, indicators, alerts, and many other functions.
In practice, we will use only a relatively small part of what the platform offers.
The main areas we need to recognise are:
Symbol Search, where we find the market we want to analyze.
Watchlist, where we keep the markets we follow regularly.
Main Chart, where price action is displayed and our analysis takes place.
Timeframe Selector, where we change the timeframe of the chart.
Drawing Tools, which we use to mark levels and areas directly on the chart.
Indicators, where technical indicators can be added.
Bar Replay, which allows us to practice on historical price action without seeing what happens next.
Do not worry about memorising where everything is immediately.
After using the platform regularly, navigating these areas will become natural.
Building Our Market Workspace
Now that we understand the basic interface, we can begin setting up the markets we will use throughout the Academy.
Searching for an Instrument
The current market symbol appears in the upper-left area of the chart.
Select it to open Symbol Search.
From here, we can search for the financial instrument we want to analyze.
Some of the main markets we will work with throughout the course include:
GER40;
US100;
US30;
SPX500;
XAUUSD.
Depending on the data source selected in TradingView, the exact ticker used for the same underlying market can differ.
For example, different providers may use different symbols for the DAX or Nasdaq 100.
For that reason, we should always check that we have selected the intended instrument and data source rather than relying on the ticker alone.
Adding Instruments to Favourites and the Watchlist
Searching for the same market every time we open TradingView is unnecessary.
Once we find an instrument we use regularly, we can use the star icon to add it to our Favorites.
We can also keep our main instruments together in the Watchlist.
For the Academy, a simple starting Watchlist can include:
GER40;
US100;
US30;
XAUUSD.
The Watchlist gives us quick access to the markets we follow and allows us to move between them without repeatedly using Symbol Search.
There is no need to fill it with every instrument available.
For now, the markets we actually intend to study are enough.
Setting Up the Chart for Our Strategy
Once our main markets are available, the next step is to configure the chart itself.
A consistent chart environment makes analysis easier because we are not constantly changing settings from one session to another.
Understanding Timeframes
A timeframe tells us how much time each candle represents.
For example:
Timeframe - Each Candle Represents
M1 - 1 minute
M5 - 5 minutes
M15 - 15 minutes
H1 - 1 hour
Daily - 1 day
If we select M5, every completed candle represents five minutes of price movement.
Changing the timeframe does not change the market itself. It changes the level of detail through which we observe that market.
During the course, we will work primarily with:
1 minute;
5 minutes;
and, when needed, 15 minutes.
H1 and Daily remain useful when broader context is required, and we will use them when the analysis calls for it.
To change the timeframe, select the current interval at the top of the chart and choose the one you want to display.
In the next lesson, we will also learn faster ways to move between timeframes using keyboard shortcuts.
Setting the Time Zone
Time is particularly important in intraday trading.
Market sessions, scheduled economic releases, opens, closes, and many of the setups we will study depend on knowing exactly when something occurred.
To keep the examples throughout the Academy consistent, we will use New York time.
Select the time zone displayed at the bottom of TradingView and choose New York.
Depending on daylight saving time, New York operates at:
UTC-4 during daylight saving time;
UTC-5 during standard time.
If the New York regional time zone itself is selected, TradingView adjusts the offset automatically when daylight saving time changes.
All time-specific examples and strategy references throughout the course will use New York time unless stated otherwise.
Auto Scale
TradingView provides controls for adjusting how price is displayed vertically on the chart.
Auto Scale automatically adjusts the visible price range so that the relevant price action fits properly within the available chart area.
If we have manually stretched, compressed, or moved the chart and the price action becomes difficult to read, Auto Scale is a quick way to restore a usable view.
Log Scale
TradingView also provides a Logarithmic Scale option.
A regular linear scale gives equal vertical space to equal absolute price changes. A logarithmic scale reflects percentage changes more proportionally.
This distinction becomes more relevant when we analyze instruments over large price ranges or longer periods.
For the intraday work we will do throughout the Academy, the important point is not that one scale must always remain active. What matters is knowing which scale we are using and keeping the chart consistent while performing an analysis.
If we change the scale, the visual relationship between price movements and drawings can also change.
At this stage, simply become familiar with where the setting is located. When a particular scale is relevant to an example later in the course, we will make that clear.
Customising the Platform
TradingView allows us to customize almost every visual element of the chart.
We can change:
candle colours;
background;
text and scale appearance;
grid;
colours used for lines and drawings;
chart layout.
There is no single chart style that is objectively better.
What matters is that the chart is easy to read and that we can identify the information relevant to our analysis without unnecessary visual distraction.
Choose a configuration that is comfortable for you and keep it relatively consistent.
Indicators
At the top of TradingView, we can access the Indicators menu.
TradingView provides a large library of built-in and community-created indicators.
Some commonly known examples include:
Moving Average;
RSI;
VWAP;
Volume;
MACD.
At this stage, we are not going to add indicators simply because they are available.
Later in the Academy, we will introduce the indicators we use, explain what information they provide, and show where they fit within our strategy.
An indicator is a tool.
It should support a defined part of the analysis rather than replace the trading strategy itself.
For now, simply make sure you know where the Indicators menu is located.
The Long and Short Position Tools
Two TradingView tools that we will use regularly are Long Position and Short Position.
These tools do not execute a real trade.
They allow us to visually plan a potential trade directly on the chart.
Long Position
We use the Long Position tool when working with a potential setup in which we expect price to move higher.
It allows us to display:
Entry;
Stop Loss;
Take Profit;
Risk/Reward Ratio.
Short Position
We use the Short Position tool when working with a potential setup in which we expect price to move lower.
The underlying logic is the same, but the direction is reversed.
These tools will become particularly useful when we begin planning trades and evaluating the relationship between potential risk and potential reward.
For now, become comfortable placing both tools on a chart and adjusting the Entry, Stop Loss, and Take Profit areas.
Drawing and Removing Objects
As our analysis becomes more practical, we will draw directly on the chart.
Lines, levels, zones, and other objects will eventually become part of our normal workflow.
If we place something incorrectly, two basic controls are useful from the beginning:
Ctrl + Z can be used for Undo.
Backspace can be used to remove a selected object on supported desktop setups.
Keyboard behaviour can vary slightly depending on the operating system and device being used.
In the next lesson, we will go further and learn the shortcuts that make drawing, deleting, moving between markets, and changing timeframes much faster.
For now, knowing how to correct a mistake is enough.
Practicing With Bar Replay
One of TradingView's most useful learning tools is Bar Replay.
Looking at a completed historical chart creates a problem: we already know what happened.
That knowledge can make a setup appear more obvious than it would have been in real time.
Bar Replay helps reduce that hindsight advantage.
It allows us to return to an earlier point on the chart, hide the price action that followed, and then progress through the market as if that future information were not yet available.
A basic Replay session works like this:
Open Bar Replay.
Select a point in the past.
Begin the replay from that point.
Advance through the market candle by candle or using the available playback controls.
Analyse and make decisions using only the information that would have been visible at that moment.
This provides a much more realistic way to practice than simply scrolling backwards through a completed chart.
Later, once we have learned the strategy, Bar Replay will allow us to test our decision-making repeatedly across historical sessions.
The objective will not be to prove that every setup works.
It will be to practice applying the same process without knowing what price does next.
The amount of intraday historical data available in Bar Replay can vary depending on the instrument, timeframe, available data, and TradingView plan.
Do We Need TradingView Premium?
TradingView offers paid plans with additional functionality.
Depending on the plan, these can include:
more alerts;
additional indicators per chart;
multiple-chart layouts;
greater historical-data availability;
additional analysis and workflow features.
Those features may become useful later.
They are not necessary simply to begin learning how to use TradingView.
Start with the functionality you actually need.
If, over time, limitations such as the number of charts, alerts, indicators, or available Replay history begin to affect your workflow, you can decide whether upgrading provides enough practical value.
A Practical Example
Imagine that we are preparing to analyse GER40 for an intraday session.
We open TradingView and select GER40 from our Watchlist.
Before analysing anything, we check that the chart is using New York time so that the session times correspond with the examples and strategy references we will use throughout the Academy.
We then select the M5 timeframe as our main working view.
Suppose we identify a hypothetical area from which we believe price could move higher.
At this stage, we are not trying to decide whether the trade is actually valid. We have not yet learned all the rules required to make that decision.
Instead, we use the Long Position tool to practice mapping the idea.
We mark a hypothetical Entry, place the Stop Loss below it, and position the Take Profit above it. TradingView then allows us to visualise the relationship between potential risk and reward.
We can repeat the same process with the Short Position tool.
Finally, we return to an earlier GER40 session using Bar Replay, hide the future price action, and practice moving through the chart without knowing what comes next.
We have not placed a trade.
We have simply used TradingView for what we need it to do: organise the market, prepare an idea, and create an environment in which we can practice.
Your Turn
Before moving to the next lesson, spend some time inside TradingView yourself.
Create your account if you haven't already and build a Watchlist containing:
GER40;
US100;
US30;
XAUUSD.
Open each market and move between M1, M5, M15, H1, and Daily so that you become familiar with how the chart changes.
Set the platform to New York time, adjust the chart appearance until it is comfortable to read, and make sure you know where Auto Scale and Log Scale are located.
Then place both a Long Position and a Short Position on the chart. Adjust their Entry, Stop Loss, and Take Profit levels.
Finally, open Bar Replay and spend a few minutes moving through a previous market session without looking ahead.
There is no trading objective here and nothing you need to "get right."
The goal is simply to reach the point where opening TradingView, finding a market, changing the timeframe, and using the basic tools no longer feels unfamiliar.
The Xcelerate Trade Perspective
TradingView is a powerful platform, but knowing every feature it offers will not make us better traders.
What matters is knowing how to use the tools that support our process.
Throughout the Academy, TradingView will become our main analysis environment. We will use it to study price, move between timeframes, mark the levels and areas that matter, prepare setups, practice historical scenarios, and eventually apply the complete Xcelerate Trade Strategy.
At this stage, we do not need dozens of indicators, every paid feature, or an elaborate chart setup.
We need an environment that allows us to see the market clearly and repeat the same analytical process consistently.
That distinction will remain important throughout the Academy.
The platform provides the tools.
The quality of the analysis comes from how we use them.
In the next lesson, we will keep the environment we have just built and focus on using it more efficiently, learning the shortcuts and workflow techniques that reduce unnecessary clicks and allow us to spend more time analyzing the market itself.
See you in the next lesson!