How to screenshot a chart for AI analysis
Take a real screenshot rather than a photo of your screen, keep the price axis in frame, and show roughly 50 to 150 candles. The price axis is the single thing that decides whether you get exact numeric levels or relative descriptions — crop it out and no honest tool can quote you a price.
The five rules
1. Screenshot, never photograph
A photo of a monitor adds glare, moiré patterning, angle distortion and focus blur. All of it lands hardest on the smallest text in the frame, which is the price axis — the exact thing that determines whether your levels come back as numbers.
2. Keep the price axis
This is the rule that matters most. Without a readable axis, a responsible tool has two options: describe levels relative to visible structure and say so, or make numbers up. ChartLens does the first and marks the analysis as approximate; those analyses are also excluded from the public track record, because a claim with no numbers cannot be checked.
3. Show the right amount of history
Somewhere around 50 to 150 candles. Below that there is no structure to read — no sequence of highs and lows, no levels with more than one touch. Above it, individual candles compress to a few pixels and the wicks that define rejections disappear.
4. Leave the symbol and timeframe visible
If they are legible, the analysis names what it is looking at, and the outcome can be scored against real price data for that pair. If not, you still get the read — it just cannot enter the record.
5. Decide whether you want your own lines in the frame
Your drawings are context, and heavy ones are obstruction. If you want a second opinion rather than a reaction to your first one, hide them.
The shortcut that avoids all of this
For crypto pairs, skip the screenshot. ChartLens can build the chart itself from exchange data, which means the levels are exact by construction, there is no axis to misread, and the analysis is always eligible for the track record.
Screenshots remain the right route for anything outside the supported pairs — stocks, FX, or a chart from a platform with drawings you actually want considered.
People also ask
Why does my analysis say the levels are approximate?
Because the price axis could not be read in your image. Rather than invent numbers, ChartLens describes levels relative to visible structure and flags them — and those analyses are excluded from the public track record.
Is a screenshot better than a photo of my screen?
Always. A screenshot is pixel-perfect; a photo adds glare, moiré, keystone distortion and focus blur, all of which attack the small text on the price axis first.
How much chart history should be visible?
Enough to see the structure that matters — around 50 to 150 candles. Too few and there is no trend to read; too many and individual candles become a few pixels wide.
Do I need to remove my drawings?
Not necessarily, but heavy overlays hide the candles underneath. If you want an independent read rather than a reaction to your own lines, hide them first.
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Written by The ChartLens team. Last updated .