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Sierra Chart - Help Details - Connection and Symbol Issues

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Help Details - Connection and Symbol Issues

-Unable to Connect to Data or Trade Server
-Symbol Error: "[symbol] is unknown, unavailable, or improperly formatted."
-"Symbol is Unknown or Unavailable"
-"Currently no data to display." message
-No Charts, No Quotes, or a Blank Chart

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1.1. Data or Trading Service Setup Issue. Unable to Connect to Data Feed.

To get charts or quotes and for them to continuously update, you need to be using a supported a data or trade service, be properly set up to use it, and you need to be connected to its data and/or trading server (also called the Data Feed). Select File >> Connect to Data Feed on the menu to connect to the data/trade server. If you are unable to make a connection to the data/trade server, the Sierra Chart message log will display a message indicating this error and the reason. Depending upon the data or trading service you are using, the reason may or may not be very descriptive. If you have the Reconnect on Failure option enabled in the Data/Trade Service Settings window, Sierra Chart will try to reconnect to the data/trade server if it was unable to. To manually retry connecting to the data/trade server at any time, select File >> Connect to Data Feed on the menu. You can also stop connection attempts by selecting File >> Disconnect on the menu. If you are unable to connect to the data/trade server, then there could be a communication problem to the server, a problem with the server, or you may not be properly set up to use the data or trading service (you may not have an account with the service you are trying to use). If any of these are the case, then you will not be able to get new charts or quotes and existing charts will not update. Go to the Data and Trading Services page and follow the setup instructions for your service to become properly set up if you are unable to connect to the data/trade server due to a set up problem. If you are unable to connect to the data/trade server due to a communication or server problem, then see help topic 1.2.

If you are able to connect to the data server, however you are using an unknown or improperly formatted symbol, or you are connected to the wrong service, then you also will not get a chart, quote or updates. In this case, see help topic 1.3 for further information about symbols.

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1.2. Network Communication or Server Problem

If you have followed all the setup instructions to connect to your data or trading service and Sierra Chart continues to report it cannot connect, it cannot log on, or there is a Timeout connecting to the data or trading server, then there may be a communication problem between Sierra Chart and the server, the server is unavailable, or there is a problem with the server. In this case, the Sierra Chart message log will indicate that it could not connect or log on to the server. With some services, the data or trading server may be unavailable during end of day processing or during the weekend. If there is a communication problem, then this could be because a firewall on your computer is blocking Internet access from Sierra Chart. Usually the Windows firewall is not the source of a problem. If you have upgraded Sierra Chart, then some firewalls might block Internet access. In this case, what you need to do is unblock Sierra Chart from the firewall connection rules list. If that does not help, uninstall your firewall and reboot your computer. Sierra Chart support cannot help with firewall problems. Sierra Chart needs to be provided full Internet access to establish connections to data and trading services.

If there is some other network communication problem outside of your computer and internal network, then you may want to contact your ISP or wait for the problem to clear and be resolved.

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1.3. Symbols

If you receive a "Symbol Error: [Symbol] is unknown, unavailable, or improperly formatted" or "No security definition has been found for the request" message in the Sierra Chart Message Log for a symbol, or you see the message "Symbol is Unknown or Unavailable" on the chart window, then you are using an unknown, unavailable on your data/trade service account, or improperly formatted symbol. In this case you may not get a chart, quote or updates for that symbol. To open the Message Log select Window >> Show/Hide Message Log on the menu. Support can only provide limited assistance with symbols. It may be best to contact your data/trade service provider.

For help with symbols for your data or trade service, please see the Supported Data and Trading Services page for links to the page that has symbol listings, symbol information, and/or symbol examples for the service you are using.

One other possible reason for these error messages is because you are connected to the wrong Data/Trade service. For example, by default Sierra Chart is configured to work with the Sierra Chart Real-Time Forex Data Service. If this is not the service you want to use, then you have to configure Sierra Chart to work with the Data/Trade Service you want to use. Please refer to help topic 1.1.

One way to look up symbols is to go to File >> Find Symbol and Open Chart on the menu. This is only supported for some data/trade services. When you find a symbol in that list, you can press OK to open an intraday chart for the symbol.

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1.4. Other Issues

If you are able to connect to the data/trade server and you are using the correct symbol, however your intraday chart is blank or is not updating, then see help topic 3.

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1.5. Contacting Support for Connection Help

If you have followed all the setup instructions to connect to your data/trade service and Sierra Chart continues to report it cannot connect or log on to the data/trade server, then you can contact Sierra Chart support for advice. Please follow the support board posting instructions and also refer to the instructions to post your message log.

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*Last modified Monday, 26th July, 2010.