A tour of every drawing tool MT5 offers, plus the keyboard shortcuts most traders never discover. Then how to template your setups so you do not redraw lines on every chart.
Ctrl+B to open the Objects List - this is the fastest way to manage existing drawings.The drawing tools live in the second toolbar from the top, just below the timeframe selector. By default it shows about 10 icons covering the most common tools. To access everything, use the Insert menu or right-click the toolbar then choose Customise to add more icons.
Keyboard navigation: most tools have no default keyboard shortcut, but you can assign them in Tools > Options > Charts > Drawings.
Used for support, resistance, and round-number levels. Click the icon then click anywhere on the chart to place. The line extends across the full chart and into the future. Double-click the line to edit price level, colour, line style, and whether it should display in the price scale (it should).
Marks a specific time. Useful for marking news events, session opens, or "I entered here" markers. Same edit pattern as horizontal.
Click two points to draw a line connecting them. By default it extends to the right (toward future bars). Double-click to edit endpoints and "Ray Right" toggle, which controls whether the line extends.
Same as trend line but rotates a specified angle from horizontal. Useful for replicating angled support lines from another platform or paper.
Two parallel trend lines maintaining a fixed distance. Click three points: two for the first line, one to set the parallel offset. This is the standard tool for drawing trading channels in a trending market.
MT5 calculates a linear regression line through a price range and draws standard-deviation bands around it. Click the start point and drag to the end point to define the range. Useful for mean-reversion strategies and identifying when price is extended.
Similar to regression channel but with deviation bands drawn at user-specified standard deviation multiples (default 2.0).
Just the regression line, no deviation bands. Cleanest visualisation of trend direction over a range.
MT5 ships with seven Fibonacci tools. In practice, traders mostly use one (Retracement) and occasionally two more (Expansion, Time Zones).
The classic tool. Click the start of a move (the low for an uptrend) and drag to the end (the high). MT5 draws horizontal levels at 23.6, 38.2, 50, 61.8, and 100 percent of the move. Pullbacks often find support/resistance at these levels.
Default levels can be customised. Right-click the drawn fib then choose Properties then Levels tab. Common additions are 0.786 and 0.886 (deeper retracement levels) and 0.236 (lighter retracement). The 50 percent line is not technically a Fibonacci ratio but it is conventionally included.
Three-click tool: start, end, then a retracement point. MT5 then projects extension levels (127.2, 161.8, 200, 261.8 percent) above the original move. Used to project price targets in trending markets.
Marks vertical lines at Fibonacci-numbered bar counts (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc.) from a starting point. Used by time-cycle traders.
More exotic Fibonacci applications. The fan draws diagonal lines from the start point through Fibonacci-ratio points on the price axis. Arcs draw circles. The channel applies Fibonacci to parallel lines. Most traders ignore these.
Gann analysis depends on geometric relationships between time and price. MT5 includes three Gann tools, which are useful if you actually understand Gann (and not useful otherwise).
Draws a line at the 1x1 angle (one unit of price per unit of time). The scale calibration matters - you must set the chart's price-per-bar so the angles are meaningful.
Draws nine angled lines from a starting point at the classic Gann angles: 1x8, 1x4, 1x3, 1x2, 1x1, 2x1, 3x1, 4x1, 8x1. Used to identify support/resistance angles in trend.
A grid of Gann squares overlaid on the chart. Most computer screens are too small for this to be useful but it exists.
MT5 includes two markers for Elliott Wave labelling: Elliott Impulse Wave (1-2-3-4-5) and Elliott Correction Wave (a-b-c). They draw labelled lines connecting points you click. Useful only if you are doing rigorous Elliott analysis.
For visual analysis and chart notes:
Press Ctrl+B on any chart. The Objects List opens, showing every drawing you have placed on that chart.
From here you can:
If your chart has accumulated 50+ drawings and you cannot find a specific line, the Objects List is the fastest cleanup tool.
Suppose you trade XAUUSD and always draw the same four horizontal levels (current week high/low, current month high/low). You do not want to redraw them every time you switch timeframes.
Now on any new chart, right-click and choose Template then Load Template > XAU horizontals. Every drawing reappears, exactly as saved.
Save the template with the magic name default.tpl. Every new chart you open will use it as the default template.
Sometimes you want a horizontal line at, say, 2030.50 to appear on every chart of XAUUSD across all timeframes. Right-click the line, choose Properties, and check Draw on All Timeframes. MT5 will replicate it across all open charts of that symbol.
If you want the line to appear only on certain timeframes (e.g. H1 and higher), use the Properties dialog's Visibility tab to choose specific timeframes.
By default, when you draw a trend line, the endpoints snap to nothing - they end exactly where your mouse was. To snap to bar prices, enable Magnet Mode in the toolbar (looks like a magnet icon). With Magnet on, line endpoints snap to the nearest bar open, high, low, or close.
Press Ctrl+B to open Objects List, Ctrl+A to select all, Delete key.
Right-click the object, choose Properties, check the Disable Selection box. The drawing becomes uneditable until you uncheck it via the Objects List.
Most likely the drawing is set to display only on the current timeframe. Open Properties and check the Visibility tab.
Yes: select the object, Ctrl+C, switch to target chart, Ctrl+V. Or save the source chart as a template and load it on the target chart.