A test and measurement instrument comprising: a circular buffer configured to receive and hold digitized samples of a signal under test; a trigger event detector configured to also receive and process the digitized samples and a user-specified trigger threshold, to detect a trigger event based on the processed digitized samples and the user-specified trigger threshold, and to generate a trigger signal; an acquisition memory configured to receive the trigger signal and capture a portion of the digitized samples that are held in the circular buffer in response to the trigger signal; the test and measurement instrument characterized by further comprising: a processor configured to receive a copy of the processed digitized samples from the trigger event detector and the user-specified trigger threshold, so as to generate a real-time trigger figure-of-merit indicator which includes: a first marker that indicates a real-time trigger figure-of-merit that is calculated based on the processed digitized samples, wherein the real-time trigger figure-of-merit is a quantifiable aspect of the signal under test; and a second marker, based on the user-specified trigger threshold, that indicates a level that the real-time trigger figure-of-merit must exceed in order for the trigger event detector to detect a trigger event and to generate the trigger signal; and display means configured to display the real-time trigger figure-of-merit indicator; wherein the real-time trigger figure-of-merit indicator provides a continuous indication of how close the signal under test is to satisfying the user-specified trigger threshold without requiring the instrument to actually trigger. a circular buffer configured to receive and hold digitized samples of a signal under test; a trigger event detector configured to also receive and process the digitized samples and a user-specified trigger threshold, to detect a trigger event based on the processed digitized samples and the user-specified trigger threshold, and to generate a trigger signal; an acquisition memory configured to receive the trigger signal and capture a portion of the digitized samples that are held in the circular buffer in response to the trigger signal; the test and measurement instrument characterized by further comprising: a processor configured to receive a copy of the processed digitized samples from the trigger event detector and the user-specified trigger threshold, so as to generate a real-time trigger figure-of-merit indicator which includes: a first marker that indicates a real-time trigger figure-of-merit that is calculated based on the processed digitized samples, wherein the real-time trigger figure-of-merit is a quantifiable aspect of the signal under test; and a second marker, based on the user-specified trigger threshold, that indicates a level that the real-time trigger figure-of-merit must exceed in order for the trigger event detector to detect a trigger event and to generate the trigger signal; and display means configured to display the real-time trigger figure-of-merit indicator; wherein the real-time trigger figure-of-merit indicator provides a continuous indication of how close the signal under test is to satisfying the user-specified trigger threshold without requiring the instrument to actually trigger. a processor configured to receive a copy of the processed digitized samples from the trigger event detector and the user-specified trigger threshold, so as to generate a real-time trigger figure-of-merit indicator which includes: a first marker that indicates a real-time trigger figure-of-merit that is calculated based on the processed digitized samples, wherein the real-time trigger figure-of-merit is a quantifiable aspect of the signal under test; and a second marker, based on the user-specified trigger threshold, that indicates a level that the real-time trigger figure-of-merit must exceed in order for the trigger event detector to detect a trigger event and to generate the trigger signal; and display means configured to display the real-time trigger figure-of-merit indicator; wherein the real-time trigger figure-of-merit indicator provides a continuous indication of how close the signal under test is to satisfying the user-specified trigger threshold without requiring the instrument to actually trigger. a first marker that indicates a real-time trigger figure-of-merit that is calculated based on the processed digitized samples, wherein the real-time trigger figure-of-merit is a quantifiable aspect of the signal under test; and a second marker, based on the user-specified trigger threshold, that indicates a level that the real-time trigger figure-of-merit must exceed in order for the trigger event detector to detect a trigger event and to generate the trigger signal; and display means configured to display the real-time trigger figure-of-merit indicator; wherein the real-time trigger figure-of-merit indicator provides a continuous indication of how close the signal under test is to satisfying the user-specified trigger threshold without requiring the instrument to actually trigger.