Sierra Chart - Numbers Bars

Numbers Bars

Introduction

Numbers Bars are a group of Graph Draw Types supported within Sierra Chart. These Graph Draw Types draw vertical bars that contain numbers providing information about each price level, which represents each tick, within a bar. This can include AskVolume and BidVolume difference, and the Total Volume for a price tick within a bar. They help to reveal detailed trading activity within a bar.

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Step-By-Step Instructions

Image 1
  1. Make certain you are on version 600 or higher of Sierra Chart.
  2. You will need to be on Sierra Chart package 5. To change your package select Help >> Purchase/Account Management on the menu. Click on the Change Service Package link and follow the instructions. After you change your service package, you will need to restart Sierra Chart.
  3. You need to have data records in your chart data file that are either 1 Tick or 1 Second when using Numbers Bars or otherwise they will not be correct. To change the related settings select File >> Data/Trade Service Settings. Change the Intraday Data Storage Time Unit to 1 Tick or 1 Second. You may also see a service specific setting to download historical intraday data as Minutes or Ticks. You will want to download historical intraday data as Ticks. After you change these settings, press OK. If you did make changes you will need to refresh the data in the data file for the symbol by going to the chart and selecting Edit >> Refresh All Intraday Data for Symbol. Keep in mind that when data is loaded from the chart data file, 1 Tick data will take a long time to load when using Numbers Bars due to the extra volume analysis while loading the data.
  4. Select Chart >> Chart Settings. In the Graph Type list box (see image) select one of the following:
    • Ask Bid Vol Diff Numbers Bars (AskVolume BidVolume Difference Numbers Bars): These numbers display the difference between AskVolume and BidVolume for each price within the bar.
    • Volume Numbers Bars: These numbers display the Total Volume for each price within the bar.
    • Trades Numbers Bars: These numbers display the Number of Trades for each price within the bar.
    • Bid Vol x Ask Vol Numbers: These numbers display the BidVolume and AskVolume separated by a x character, for each price within the bar.
    • Ask Bid Vol Diff Bars: This GraphDrawType uses the same coloring method as Ask Bid Vol Diff Numbers Bars, but does not display any numbers.
  5. Set Days to Load/Display to a small number such as under 3 to reduce the amount of time it takes to load chart data due to the additional processing required with these Graph Draw Types. If you have a large amount of tick data in the data file, then unless you load a small number of days, it can take a considerable amount of time to load the chart. Therefore, keeping the Days to Load small, is critical.
  6. Set the Tick Size if it is not set correctly. This is the minimum increment that the symbol trades in. For example, for the ES futures this will be .25. If you need to change this setting, then uncheck Automatically Set Tick Size.
  7. Press OK.
  8. You should now see the Numbers Bars on the chart so long as the necessary data is available. For some Numbers Bars Graph Draw Types, you will need BidVolume and AskVolume or Total Volume. See the Services That Support BidVolume and AskVolume section.
  9. Due to the nature of Numbers Bars you probably will have to change the horizontal and vertical scaling. In order to get them to appear correctly. To change the horizontal scaling, see the Changing Spacing documentation. The change the vertical scaling, see the Interactive Scaling documentation.
  10. To set the colors for the Numbers Bars select Global Settings >> Graphics Settings. Adjust the related Color Settings in the list box.
  11. The Font Type (Name) and Font Size for the text displayed in the Numbers Bars can be set under Global Settings >> Graphic Settings. Change the Chart Text Font.
  12. You will notice an arrow displayed on the left or right side of one or two rows within a Numbers Bars column. If the arrow is on the left side, then this represents the price of the Open for the bar. If the arrow was on the right side, this represents the price of the Close for the bar.

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Global Color Settings

This section lists the global color settings for Numbers Bars. To change global color settings select Global Settings >> Graphics Settings. You will find these color settings in the list box of graphics elements on that window. Click the colored button to change the color for the selected element.

Ask Bid Vol Diff Numbers, Bid Vol X Ask Vol Numbers, Ask Bid Vol Diff Bars

To determine which color to use we first calculate:

Volume Numbers Bars, Trades Numbers Bars

To determine which color to use we first calculate :

We use Ask colors if the Open of the bar is lower or equal to the Close of the bar, and Bid colors if Open of the bar is greater than Close of the bar.

Minimum and Maximum Highlighting

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Quickly Changing Between Different Numbers Bars Types

The two methods described here are the most efficient and the recommended methods of changing the visible Numbers Bars type. If you were to go into the Chart Settings window and change the Graph Type there, this would require a time-consuming reload of the data which is unnecessary in this case.

1. Using the Chart Menu: To select a different Numbers Bars type select Chart >> Graph Draw Types >> [GraphDrawType that you want].

2. Using the Toolbar: There are Toolbar buttons that can be added to your Toolbar which correspond to the commands found on Chart >> Graph Draw Types. To add these to the Toolbar, select Global Settings >> Customize Toolbar. Add them to the list of Toolbar buttons to display. You can then easily press these buttons on the Toolbar to quickly change to a different Numbers Bars type.

Example Charts

In this image you can see Numbers Bars which display the difference between AskVolume and BidVolume each price level. The yellow box that you see around a value indicates the maximum or minimum value within that particular bar.



In this image you can see Numbers Bars which display the BidVolume and AskVolume individually, separated by a "x", at each price level. The yellow box you see around a set of volumes indicates that the numbers are the maximum BidVolume or maximum AskVolume within that particular bar.



This image shows a Volume by Price study with a Transparent draw style and a Period Type of 1 Bar on top of a Numbers Bars graph draw type.

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Services That Support BidVolume and AskVolume

With all of the supported data and trading services, Sierra Chart will store BidVolume and AskVolume for the symbol from real-time data received, so long as the symbol provides Bid and Ask prices and Volume. For example, with cash indexes there is no Bid or Ask and sometimes there is not Volume. So BidVolume and AskVolume is simply not available with these symbols. To have BidVolume and AskVolume for historical downloaded data, you need to use a supported service. The following are the services that provide historical BidVolume and AskVolume:

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Using the Volume by Price Study with Numbers Bars

The Volume by Price study can be applied to a Numbers Bars chart. For instructions to use this study, refer to the Volume by Price documentation. If you wish to have a Volume profile for each individual Numbers Bars column, then follow the instructions below.

  1. Make sure you are running Sierra Chart version 591 or higher.
  2. Add the Volume by Price study to the chart.
  3. Open the Study Settings window for the Volume by Price study.
  4. Press the Volume by Price Settings Window button.
  5. Set the Period Type to Fixed by Bar Count. Set the Number of Bars to 1.
  6. Enable the option Display above Price Bars.
  7. Enable the option Use Transparent Draw Style. Set the Transparency Level to what you require.
  8. Set the Maximum Volume Bar Width to Period Length and the Percentage to 90 (or whatever percentage you want).
  9. Uncheck Display Bid and Ask Colors.
  10. Press OK.
  11. Select the Subgraphs tab.
  12. Set the Volume Bars Fill color and the Volume Bars Outline color (SG16) to what you want.
  13. Press OK to close the Study Settings window.
  14. Press OK to apply the Volume by Price study to the chart.

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Using Numbers Bars on Point and Figure Charts

The Numbers Bars Graph Draw Types can be used on Point and Figure charts. One use of this is to create a 5 Tick Reversal Chart. The first step is to add the Point and Figure Chart study to your chart and configure it the way that you require. Please see the Point and Figure Chart study documentation.

When you have the Point and Figure study configured the way you require, open the Study Settings window for the study. Select the Subgraphs tab. In the Graph Draw Type list, at the top, you can choose one of the Numbers Bars types.

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