Zerodha Kite chart axis log scale

Scales and axis on Kite charts

From WebNotes, a public knowledge base. Last updated 19 May 2026. Reading time ~4 min.

Kite chart scales govern how prices and times are visually rendered. Choosing the right scale matters: a linear price scale on a multi-year chart of a 100x-bagger stock makes the early years invisible; a log scale on a one-day chart adds visual noise. Time axis choices similarly affect intra-period interpretation.

Linear (arithmetic) price scale

The default on most Kite charts. Equal vertical distance represents equal price difference: a move from Rs 100 to Rs 110 occupies the same space as a move from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,010.

Suitable for: short-horizon charts (intraday, days, weeks), narrow price ranges, comparing absolute price moves.

Limitation: on long horizons, early-period detail compresses. A stock that went from Rs 10 to Rs 1,000 over 10 years shows the early Rs 10 to Rs 100 phase as a barely-visible line at the bottom.

Logarithmic (log) price scale

Equal vertical distance represents equal percentage change: a move from Rs 100 to Rs 200 occupies the same space as a move from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 (both 100% gains).

Suitable for: long-horizon charts (multi-year, decade-plus), wide price ranges, comparing percentage moves.

Standard for: monthly / yearly charts of high-growth stocks, broad market indices over decades.

When to use log

Holdings analysis over 5-10+ years.
Stocks with substantial price expansion (>5x over the period).
Comparing percentage drawdowns across different price levels.

When to use linear

Intraday or short-horizon trades.
Narrow price ranges.
Beginners (linear is more intuitive for short charts).

Price scale on left vs right

Kite (TradingView engine) supports moving the price scale to the left side of the chart. Some users prefer this for:

Mirroring traditional charting books and software.
Better visibility of price next to legend or notes on the left.

ChartIQ engine has more limited price-scale orientation flexibility.

See How to move price scale to left on Kite for the toggling procedure.

Time axis behaviour

Kite charts have an evenly-spaced time axis by default. Each candle occupies the same width regardless of session-time elapsed:

Pre-open candle and a normal session candle have the same width.
9:15 AM 5-min candle and 3:25 PM 5-min candle have the same width.

For most analysis this is the right default. For some volume-weighted strategies, an equivolume-style chart (where candle width reflects volume) is preferred; this is available only on TradingView engine.

Time axis gaps

Weekend gaps and holiday gaps: by default Kite (like most charting software) suppresses non-trading days. Weekends and exchange holidays don’t appear as gaps on intraday or daily charts; you go directly from Friday close to Monday open.

Some users prefer chart software that displays weekend gaps; Kite doesn’t.

Intra-day session boundaries

For Indian equity F&O, the session is 9:15 AM to 3:30 PM. Pre-open is 9:00 AM to 9:15 AM. Post-close period adds end-of-day auctions.

On a 5-min chart of intraday data, the first candle of the day is the 9:15-9:20 candle. The previous candle (i.e., 3:25 PM of the previous day) precedes it without a visual gap.

Crosshair and snap

When the crosshair is over a candle, it displays the OHLC for that candle in a small info box. The snap-to-OHLC behaviour ensures the crosshair information matches the candle directly under it.

For ChartIQ, the candle info appears in a panel at the top of the chart. For TradingView, it floats with the crosshair.

Implications for indicator interpretation

Linear vs log scale affects the visual interpretation of indicators that compute on price:

Moving averages: numerically unchanged; visually different.
Trend lines: a straight line on linear scale curves on log scale (and vice versa).
Fibonacci retracements: most users expect linear-scale retracement levels; switching to log changes the visual but not the numerical levels.

For consistency with most published technical analysis, stick to one scale per workflow.

External references

References

Zerodha support documentation on Kite chart settings.
TradingView Charting Library scale documentation.

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WebNotes Editorial Team

The WebNotes Editorial Team covers Indian capital markets, payments infrastructure and retail investor procedures. Every article is fact-checked against primary sources, principally SEBI circulars and master directions, NPCI specifications and the official support documentation published by the intermediary in question. Drafts go through a second-pair-of-eyes review and a separate compliance read before publication, and revisions are tracked against the SEBI and NPCI rule changes referenced in the methodology section.

Last reviewed: 19 May 2026
Conflicts of interest: WebNotes is independent. No relationship with any broker, registrar or bank named in this article.