Sierra Chart - TransAct Futures Trading Service

TransAct Futures Trading Service



Introduction

Sierra Chart supports the TransAct Futures Trading service. This service provides both real-time tick-by-tick futures data and advanced futures trading. Real-time Futures data and trading is provided for the CME, GLOBEX, CBOT, NYMEX, COMEX, and EUREX. You will have access to intraday charts complete with long-term, detailed, tick by tick and reliable historical intraday data, and futures trading. Historical intraday data goes back to 2006. For support for long-term daily historical charts, please see the Sierra Chart Historical Daily Data service.

The TransAct platform is supported by many large and very well known Brokerages. Therefore you have a wide array of brokerages to choose from.

Trading with TransAct is fully supported with the Sierra Chart advanced trading features. To have your Sierra Chart account activated for TransAct trading, please contact us here.

What is Included

Setup Instructions

  1. To use the TransAct trading platform, you need to have an account with them through one of their supported brokerages. If you do not have an account, a free 30 day simulation account is available.

    Install the TransAct software on your computer. Please contact your broker for assistance with this.

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  2. Go to Sierra Chart. Select Global Settings >> Data/Trade Service Settings on the menu. Click on the Service list box at the top of the window. Select the TransAct service name from the list. See the image below.

  3. The next step is to enter your TransAct account Username and Password. This is the most important step and if this information is wrong or is not accepted by TransAct, you are NOT going to be able to connect to the TransAct server. The information you enter here is most definitely NOT your Sierra Chart login information. Those are different. Before proceeding the first thing you must to do is run the TransAct AT software and login. Once you have successfully done that, then what you need to do is enter the very same Username and Password you entered to log into the TransAct AT software in the username and password boxes in the Connection Details frame in the Data/Trade Service Settings window in Sierra Chart. Keep in mind that if you use different login information to log into the TransAct AT software, then you need to update this Username and Password here as well. See image below.

  4. Enable the Connect On Program Startup and the Reconnect on failure options.

  5. All data is time stamped to GMT/UTC time. Set the Time Zone control in the Data Settings frame to the time zone you want times to be displayed in. For complete details and instructions to use the Time Zone control, see the Time Zone documentation page.

  6. You can either timestamp data using the Exchange timestamp or timestamp using the local computer clock. To use your local computer clock enable the option Timestamp Using Local Computer Clock. It is preferred you use the local computer clock because the exchange timestamps are not always reliable and in sequence. For example, the EUREX is known to sometimes have a timestamp which is off by an hour during certain times of the year.

    If you do use your local computer clock for time stamping, it is recommended to use a time synchronization utility that can adjust your clock frequently. Dimension 4 is available for free.

  7. Set the Intraday Data Storage Time Unit to what you require. For efficiency, preferably not lower than 2 seconds.

  8. If you want to view Time and Sales data, enable the Maintain Time and Sales option.

  9. Click OK to close the Data/Trade Service Settings window.

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  10. Before you connect to TransAct from Sierra Chart it is first necessary to start and log into the TransAct AT software at least once. Once you do that one time, then you should be able to connect from Sierra Chart in the future without any problem.

    To connect to the data and trade servers, select File>>Connect to Data Feed on the menu. If you are unable to connect to the servers and the Message Log opens indicating an error connecting, please see help topic 44.

    Note: When connecting to TransAct, the TransAct software takes control and performs the connection. During this time, Sierra Chart will be in a frozen state. This momentary freezing behavior is a function of how the TransAct software works, and not of Sierra Chart. This is not the behavior when using our own data services and some other services. If you wish to prevent continuous reconnections to the server if the connection is failing, select File >> Disconnect. You may also want to disable the option to Connect on Program Startup.

  11. If you are still unable to connect to the TransAct data and trade servers after reviewing help topic number 44, then please see help topic 1.5.

  12. Select Global Settings >> Data/Trade Service Settings on the menu. Inside of the Connection Details frame, select your TransAct account from the Account drop down box. Setting your account only needs to be done once. If you do not select the correct account, you may not be able to get a chart. Note: The account box can be left blank to use the default account.

  13. You can open an Intraday Chart by selecting File>>Find Symbol and Open Chart on the menu. Simply select the symbol and press OK.

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    It is possible to get charts on older contracts. Go to File >> New/Open Intraday Chart. Type the symbol in the Filename box or locate the symbol in the file list. Press Open. For example, you could enter ESM6.

  14. Continue with step number 2 on the Getting Started documentation page.

Trading with TransAct from Sierra Chart

The Sierra Chart trading functionality fully supports the TransAct trading service. You can only use your live account for trading. You cannot use a TransAct demo account or a simulated live account. However, Sierra Chart has its own Trade Simulation Mode that can be used while receiving TransAct data. If you try to enter orders when connected to a simulated live account, the orders will not be accepted. Please be certain you are running version 600 or higher of Sierra Chart.

To enter live orders from Sierra Chart that are sent to your TransAct account, TransAct requires Sierra Chart consent from your broker for this. To have your Sierra Chart account activated for TransAct trading, please contact us here. In any case you will still be able to view orders and positions from your live TransAct account within Sierra Chart.

In order to trade from Sierra Chart and view your TransAct orders, you must first login to the TransAct AT software in Live Mode. Once you have done that, it does not need to be running any longer. And, under Global Settings >> Data/Trade Service Settings, make certain your Username, Password and Account Number are your live TransAct account info. If you change these, please restart Sierra Chart.

Once you are connected to TransAct from Sierra Chart, using your live login information, to place live trades and to see your Orders and Position on a chart make sure there is no check-mark by Trade >> Trade Simulation Mode On. Make sure there is a checkmark by Trade >> Chart Trade Mode On. For complete information, please see the Overview of Trading page.

Warning: When trading from Sierra Chart, and you are running the TransAct AT software at the same time, you must disable the Auto Bracket feature in the TransAct AT software if you are using Attached Orders in Sierra Chart, otherwise a new order entered from Sierra Chart will cause an automatic bracket to be submitted from TransAct AT, resulting in two sets of brackets and other confusion and unpredictable behavior.

Symbols

If you are not getting real-time updates for a symbol or you do not see a symbol listed in the Find Symbol... window, then your TransAct account may not have that symbol enabled. Make sure you are connected to the data feed and trade server by selecting File >> Connect to Data Feed. To find what symbols are available for your account, select File >> Find Symbol and Open Chart on the menu. To select a different account that you may have available, select Global Settings >> Data/Trade Service Settings on the menu. Select an account from the Account list box or enter one. Make sure your trading account username and password are entered in this window as well. Click OK. Reconnect to the data feed, by selecting File >> Disconnect and then File >> Connect to Data Feed. Select File >> Find Symbol and Open Chart on the menu to see what symbols are available for that account. If the symbol you want to chart is not available in any of your accounts, contact your broker and have them add the symbol to your account.

Notice: When your broker adds a symbol to your account, it usually will not show up immediately in the Find Symbol... windows. Please allow 24 hours for the TransAct system to update your account. When the TransAct system updates your account, you will then have to reconnect to the data feed or restart Sierra Chart to see the symbol listed. Although you may see the symbol more quickly in the TransAct AT software, it may not show up immediately in Sierra Chart due to how the TransAct system works.

Using the TransAct platform with Another Data Service

You can use TransAct with another data service to access data it does not supply. To do so, follow the directions on the Using Multiple Services at the Same Time page.

*Last modified Wednesday, 08th September, 2010.