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Log of Changes and Improvements to Sierra Chart

This list contains major items of development, and changes and additions which users need to be informed about.

This is not a comprehensive changes and additions log. And it should never be relied upon for such. It only represents a very small percentage of the actual development being performed every day. The vast majority of development is not documented here. Or receives, one small comment after it is all complete. There are not version notes for each version. The main Sierra Chart documentation is updated as needed relating to the changes and additions.

The maintenance of this page has mostly been abandoned by Sierra Chart development for many years due to the difficulty of maintaining it and because users can be incorrectly misled by or misinterpret notes that are made here. This does not change, the development of Sierra Chart which is very active every day and new releases are made nearly weekly or several times a week. The Sierra Chart project is still very active, with extensive development and it remains a very high quality software in the world. The engineering is at the very top of the world.

  • 2394 Release Date: 2022-05-17

    • CME Group and EUREX market data is no longer supported through CQG. Users must use the Denali Exchange Data Feed for market data.

      This change only applies to market data and not trading. You can still trade CME Group and EUREX through CQG when using Sierra Chart.

      We recommend that users move from CQG to Teton Order Routing Service if you are trading the CME Group. Teton is superior in every way and has no transaction fees.

      One exception to the above is futures options and exchange traded futures spreads market data from CQG for CME Group and EUREX are still supported. In the case of options and spreads, you can optionally use the Denali Exchange Data Feed for this market data and still trade CQG options and spreads by using the Trade and Current Quote Symbol Chart Setting. For options, refer to Using Denali Futures Options Data with Trading Service.

      Once you begin to use the Denali Exchange Data Feed you will definitely want to cancel market data exchange fees that you pay through your broker. Request your broker to cancel those fees. If they will not cancel them, let us know what broker that is so we can discuss it with them and come to a solution for this case. Until you are able to use the Denali Exchange Data Feed, stay on a version prior to 2394 if you are using CQG market data for CME Group or EUREX.

      Contact us on our Support Board if you need any help activating the Denali Exchange Data Feed.
  • 2391 Release Date: 2022-05-05

    • Implemented support for Perform Immediate Scale Out with Market Order setting for Trade Simulation Mode in Global Settings >> General Trade Settings >> Scale In/Out. This will be implemented as soon as possible for live trading.
    • Other general development and issues resolved.
  • 2387 Release Date: 2022-04-28

    • Resolved a problem, where when the login to the Sierra Chart server fails upon starting Sierra Chart, the server address for the Frankfurt server for EUREX data was not set. This would prevent both historical and real-time EUREX data from being received.
  • 2386 Release Date: 2022-04-27

    • Enhancements to new Settings Windows. Refer to new Settings Windows color settings in Global Settings >> Graphics Settings and other interface behavior settings, in General Settings >> Settings Windows.
    • Added sc.RemoveStudyFromChart and sc.GetChartTimeZone ACSIL functions.
    • Added DRAWSTYLE_POINT_RIGHT_OFFSET and DRAWSTYLE_POINT_LEFT_OFFSET draw styles.
    • Support for additional primary server for Teton Order Routing service.
  • 2382 Release Date: 2022-04-10

    • Modified Scale Out functionality so that when an order is submitted as the same Side as existing Attached Orders for the same Trade Account and Symbol, that order will be considered a Scale Out order. There does not need to be a current Position as previously required.
    • Resolved a problem with the Trade Activity Log from a recent release where new activity entries added to the Trade Activity Log did not immediately appear if they should have based upon the filter settings at the top of the log, until you pressed the Apply button. This is resolved.
    • New Input named Volume Display Multiplier for Numbers Bars and Numbers Bars Calculated Values that allows for the display of the Volume values to shift the number of digits that are displayed.
    • For the Study Subgraph Above/Below Bar as Text study, added a new item to the Display Location Input with the study to display the values at the bottom of the Chart Region.
    • Updated the default settings for Settings Windows in Global Settings >> General Settings >> Settings Windows to emulate the same behavior for interacting with settings in the new Settings Windows to be the same as the previous dialog windows.
  • 2379 Release Date: 2022-04-06

    • Various enhancements to the new Chart Settings window.
    • There are new settings in Global Settings >> General Settings >> Settings Windows, to control the behavior of interacting with settings in the new Settings Windows so that only a single left click is required to perform an edit operation of the setting. Additionally, buttons in these new Settings Windows are now by default colored with a gray background and a black foreground for the text.
    • Important technical notice: It is come to our attention, that a problem has developed with versions released since February 14, 2022 with the Global Settings >> General Trade Settings >> Send Order Fills to SC Web Server option.

      This option is for specialized purposes only and most users do not have it enabled. And you should not have it enabled any longer.

      We are requesting Sierra Chart users to disable this option. Exit from Sierra Chart and go into the /TradeActivityLogs subfolder in your Sierra Chart installation folder and if you see a OrderFillsToSend.data file, then delete it. This may actually be a large file. Rather than going through this procedure you can also just update Sierra Chart to this version or higher. Update with Help >> Download Current Version.

      What we discovered has happened, is that the uploading of fills is no longer working since versions released since February 14, up until this version, and the size of this file would get larger and larger for two different reasons. One reason is that the fills are not being sent, and the other reason is that the file is not getting cleared when it is being rewritten when Sierra Chart exits.

      This large file causes two problems. It causes high CPU usage when Sierra Chart is starting and when exiting and can cause a delay with exiting and also causes a large amount of memory use. You would not be affected by this problem if order fills are not being uploaded to the server and this file does not exist, or is not a large file.

      We are requesting all users to upgrade to this version or higher as soon as possible. After the update, exit from Sierra Chart to cause this large file to be deleted.

      We also must emphasize overwhelmingly very clearly, that this issue affects a small number of users and if you have a high memory usage or high CPU usage problem, then most likely it is not related to this issue. High CPU and memory usage issues in almost all cases are unrelated to this issue.
  • 2372 Release Date: 2022-03-19

    • Resolved a stability issue when using the Current Traded Volume columns on the Chart or Trade DOM.
    • Continued performance improvements with the Chart and Trade DOM market data columns.
    • Corrected an issue with the Rithmic Direct-DTC service where the order prices when submitted to Rithmic as strings, may have been rounded to a wrong number of places (fewer) to the right of the decimal point. This issue only occurred with symbols like 6E and when trading with a Tick Size based on .00005
    • Implemented many enhancements to the Order Allocation to Trade Accounts feature. Documentation will be added as soon as possible.
    • Removed support for Chartbooks saved approximately more than two years ago. To open a Chartbook saved more than two years ago in the latest version, refer to these instructions.
    • Various enhancements related to Teton order routing service. For example, when using the Flatten button on the Trade Positions Window a flatten command is sent to the server rather than a market order and using the quantity calculated on the client side.
    • Requested ACSIL functions have been added. Refer to the end of the /ACS_Source/SierraChart.h header file provided with Sierra Chart, for the new functions added and the parameters that they require.
    • Resolved exception issue with TPO Profile Charts that occurs under some conditions: Caught an unhandled exception in c_Chart::WindowProc. Message: 15, wParam: 0, lParam: 0. There are still some outstanding issues related to this which are being worked on.
    • Added support, for re-centering to the exact last trade price on a chart, when using the Re-center Trade DOM Scales command.
    • Released new Chart Settings window. For information about the new Chart Settings window, refer to New Chart Settings Window.
    • Removed support for the CTS Trading Platform Service. From the perspective of Sierra Chart, this is considered a legacy service. Support for this service will still be maintained in older versions of Sierra Chart. If you are trading the CME Group of exchanges, you need to use the Teton Order Routing Service which replaces CTS and other services. If you are trading EUREX or ICE exchanges you need to use other services like Interactive Brokers, CQG or Rithmic. Sierra Chart intends to, but not definite, add support for direct routing to the EUREX around the middle of 2022.
  • 2355 Release Date: 2022-02-13

    • Support for the Transact Trading service has been removed. For complete information, refer to this Support Board posting.
    • When using sorting on the Trade Positions Window or the Trade Account Monitor, the sorting changes and there are lines selected, those identical lines according to the Trade Account or the Trade Account and Symbol combination, will continue to remain selected.
    • Continued performance improvements with the Chart DOM and Trading DOM market data columns.
    • We completed development for standardized sorting in the Alert Manager for the Symbol Alerts and Time Alerts tabs.
    • New Input for Large Volume Trade Indicator named Do Not Display Values Less Than. This works as a filter for the displayed information from the Large Volume Trade Indicator to not display any values that are less than the entered value.
    • Added new structure member AdjustedPrice to the s_MarketDepthEntry data structure. This holds the price of the market depth level adjusted by the Real-time Price Multiplier set in the Global Symbol Settings for the symbol. Usually this is the same as the Price member but can be different in the case of services which use native exchange pricing like the Teton Order Routing Service. This data structure is used with functions like sc.GetAskMarketDepthEntryAtLevel and similar functions. When using this version or higher, update your ACSIL code as necessary.
  • 2351 Release Date: 2022-01-31

    • Support for new NASDAQ TotalView data feed.
    • For CQG users, historical tick by tick data (including historical bid volume and ask volume) support has been removed for the CME Group and EUREX exchanges when using data direct from CQG. This only applies when you are using real-time and historical data direct from CQG, and not from the Denali Exchange Data Feed provided by Sierra Chart. This does not affect Denali Exchange Data Feed users.

      If you require historical tick by tick data, you must use the Denali Exchange Data Feed when using CQG. Understand, when CQG support was added by Sierra Chart there was not the intention to add market data support. We do not want to support CQG data. It creates a poor impression for Sierra Chart for numerous reasons and we do not want to answer any technical questions about CQG data. We are our own data provider. CQG historical data is hugely inferior to what Sierra Chart provides. Sierra Chart provides 10+ years of historical tick by tick and daily data delivered fast and efficiently and processed on a background thread. Whereas with CQG you get data for current contracts only.

      We are phasing it out to the extent possible. If you require proper data for Sierra Chart, you must use the Denali Exchange Data Feed. You only need to pay for the exchange fees once. When you pay them through the Denali Exchange Data Feed, you then cancel them through your broker. You will also cancel historical market data access from your broker for CQG.

      One of the reasons, that historical tick by tick data was always limited by Sierra Chart when accessing it from CQG, is that it is processed on the primary thread of Sierra Chart, unlike data from Sierra Chart provided historical data services which is a background thread, and it is provided in time reversed order from CQG. Downloading of this historical chart data causes the user interface of Sierra Chart to freeze and there is excessive memory use. It is also slow to download from CQG.

      And for the lowest cost and highest quality and most advanced, futures order routing you need to use the Teton Order Routing Service instead of CQG. Depending upon the amount of trading you do, you can save substantially (.00 USD (Teton) per contract versus .10 USD (CQG) per contract), and have superior order routing as compared to CQG. You also eliminate the monthly connection fee to CQG that CQG charges.

      Until you use the Denali Exchange Data Feed, you can go back to a prior version of Sierra Chart. You will need to re-download the historical data to obtain tick by tick data for up to 5 days.

      Effective by April 2022, for new users and for usage time renewals, Service Package 10, 11, or 12 will be required to use CQG.
  • 2348 Release Date: 2022-01-20

    • Resolved issues with new implementation of Global Settings >> General Settings window.
    • Chart/Trade DOM performance improvements. These will be especially noticeable when there are more than 10 levels of market depth levels displayed. The more levels, the greater performance improvement. Further performance improvements will be made in the next two weeks.
    • Resolved a problem where, the Quantity value in the Trade >> Trade Positions Window may not synchronize to the Service Position Quantity field also in this window. This is not a common issue. It is important to update as soon as possible.
  • 2346 Release Date: 2022-01-16

    • Changes to how back adjustments are done for continuous futures contract charts. The prior day settlement prices are now used rather than the current day open prices.
    • Added new Input for Numbers Bars study called Color Non-Dominant Ask/Bid Text Same as Opposing Side. When set to Yes this Input will force the coloring of the non-dominant Ask/Bid at the same price level that would typically be drawn in the Default Text Color, to be drawn using the same color as the opposing sides color. This does not color diagonally, even for diagonal comparisons.
  • 2344 Release Date: 2022-01-12

    • Resolved a problem affecting version 2342 and 2343, where when opening a file for overwrite mode, the file may not have been truncated and may have contained at the end of the file some left over data from the prior state of the file. This left over data at most would cause an error when the file is opened and successfully read. Another condition would be a file may not have been cleared when it should have been. This could for example cause the orders list to show the prior state of orders. This primarily affected, the orders list file, positions list file, and trade activity files. These versions have been locked out.
  • 2342 Release Date: 2022-01-08

    • Released in a prior version: Updates to the Market Depth Historical Graph including bug fixes for Automatic Combine Increment in Ticks and support for determining Maximum/Minimum depth from Trading Day or Per Session
    • Released new chat functionality which can be opened through File >> Open Chat Window.
  • 2337 Release Date: 2021-12-20

    • Corrected an issue which at least affected EUREX EOBI market data when using Combine Trades into Original Summary Trade and back adjusted Continuous Futures Contract charts, where historical bars may have out of range values due to the back adjustment being applied twice.
    • Corrected an issue from a recent release where .5 second of data was being filtered out from the chart bar which would end at the Session End Time.
  • 2331 Release Date: 2021-11-26

    • Added support for third Internet connection for Teton Order Routing service.
    • Enhancements to Duplicate Chart interface.
    • Added new UseSingleClickToEditItemInSettingsWindow setting to General Settings.
    • Resolved issue with Combine Trades into Original Summary Trade when used with EUREX data from the Denali Exchange Data Feed where when the exchange did not provide an indication of the end of the block of trades that belong to a summary trade, there could be trades which were filtered out from the chart bars.
  • 2327 Release Date: 2021-11-10

    • Resolved issue from a recent release where the Step 2 for Move to Breakeven Stop did not function.
    • Implemented solution to issue where when connecting to the Denali Exchange Data Feed more than once from the same computer, the connection sometimes would be denied due to different devices being detected.
    • Corrected issue with real time and historical data for Binance not being requested. This issue arose in a recent release.
    • Previously Released: With the Trade Account Settings window, when there are uncommitted changes for the Symbol/Products Limits or Symbol Commissions tab, and an Update operation is performed, those uncommitted changes are no longer removed. They will be maintained and can be committed subsequently.
    • Import and Export functionality has been added to the Trade Account Settings window for the Symbol/Products Limits or Symbol Commissions tabs.
  • 2323 Release Date: 2021-10-25

    • Resolved an issue from a recent release affecting subscribing to market data and downloading historical data for spread symbols for the Sierra Chart Order Routing service.
    • Improvements with switching to backup connection when using the Sierra Chart Direct Order Routing service.
    • Support for market data from the FairX exchange.
  • 2310 Release Date: 2021-09-08

    • Corrected an issue from recent release where the order of study Inputs for the RSI studies was mistakenly reordered. If you have saved your Chartbook since updating to a version where these study Inputs were reordered, then after updating to version 2310 or higher, it is necessary to access your Backup Chartbooks to have the original Input settings restored. Or you can just modify the study Inputs manually to what you previously had set.
    • Support for the old Rithmic connection has been removed. Only the new service (Rithmic Direct - DTC) can be used which will be automatically selected if the old Rithmic connection was previously selected. Rithmic has limited historical data and for complete historical data, it is necessary to use the Denali Exchange Data Feed when using Rithmic. Historical data for the old Rithmic connection was always provided by the Sierra Chart Historical Data Service which is the same historical data as the Denali Exchange Data Feed, other than the most recent 10 minutes of data which came from Rithmic.

      Therefore, the historical data that Rithmic users have been used to when using Sierra Chart has always been provided by Sierra Chart other than the most recent 10 minutes. Gradually across all supported Trading services, historical data now either comes completely from the external service or completely from Sierra Chart provided data feeds for complete consistency and simplification with data access. This has now been implemented with Rithmic as well.

      When updating to this version or higher, it is necessary to translate symbols to the new Rithmic symbol format which use a dot as compared to a - for the delimiter between the symbol and the exchange. To do this, refer to Translate Symbols to Current Service.
  • 2308 Release Date: 2021-09-08

    • Support for direct CME order routing. The Trading Service is listed as SC CME Futures Order Routing in Global Settings >>Data/Trade Service Settings. We expect this service to become available for users to use, towards the end of September or the beginning of October 2021. This service provides high-quality, very low latency, direct order routing to the CME with advanced risk management.
    • Corrected issue with adjusting secondary anchor point on the Pitchfork drawing tool.
    • Corrected an issue with Attached Orders Scale Out that occurs under certain circumstances where an additional Stop order was having scale out applied when it should not be.
    • Corrected an issue, with ACSIL n_ACSIL::s_LineUntilFutureIntersection lines that use UseLineValue2 where the lines were not always stopping at future intersection bars.
    • Resolved an issue from a recent release causing order fills for the Trading Evaluator service to have an incorrect timestamp. This would cause them to effectively not be seen in the Trade Activity Log.
  • 2296 Release Date: 2021-08-12

    • Resolved a problem that a small number of users have had, related to modifying orders within the chart or entering orders, which could result in a stack corruption and an abnormal shutdown of Sierra Chart. It is believed that this issue, was a problem at the compiler level.
    • Added new Angled Ellipse drawing tool.
    • The Start Time for the internal Trades list of a chart, when a chart is maintaining a trades list, now has a separate setting. This is Chart >> Chart Settings >> Trading >> Start Time for Trades List.
  • 2293 Release Date: 2021-07-31

    • Effective with version 2288, custom study functions that use the sc.SmoothedMovingAverage function need to be recompiled due to changes with the parameters of this function.
    • Corrected issue from a recent release where the price display formatting in the Trade Orders List may not be correct in all rows. This was related to an optimization that was done and an unexpected side effect.
  • 2280 Release Date: 2021-06-26

    • The median line beginning point of a Pitchfork drawing can now be changed by adjusting the two immediate parallel lines to the median line. This is supported for the standard Pitchfork drawing but not yet properly supported for Schiff and Modified Schiff pitchfork drawings. Support for these types of Pitchfork drawings will be implemented as soon as possible.
    • We have had a few reports, upon opening a Chartbook, where the symbol of the charts were changed to what appears to be a corrupt symbol. We have determined the cause of this, and resolved it. It is *not* due to a direct programming error or any corrupt values within Sierra Chart or the Symbol Settings. The reason for this is because there has been a case where when translating symbols in a Chartbook when the Chartbook is being opened, an event triggered apparently on a window creation of a chart, related to the updating of symbol settings which caused the translation database to be cleared causing corrupt values to be used previously when a reference was being held to the STL container object containing the database. This caused invalid symbols to be set within charts during the translation. This was a completely unexpected behavior at the operating system level. A message event on the same thread should never have been occurring, during execution of an unrelated event on the same thread.

      Anyway, this problem is now resolved and it is very important that all users update to this release or higher as soon as possible to avoid the potential of this issue. We still need to look at the range of versions affected. It would be approximately versions in the last 3 to 4 months. In our experience, it is a rare issue but it could potentially happen.
    • Various other development related to risk management, and managing Trade Account settings for the trade simulation service and live order routing.
    • Resolved a problem, where there would be an unnecessary connection to a market by order server, for option symbols for the Denali Exchange Data Feed. Options do not support a separate connection for market by order data and there would be a continuous reconnection to an invalid server port. Options also do not support this type of data either.
  • 2273 Release Date: 2021-06-12

  • 2268 Release Date: 2021-05-31

    • Advanced Custom Study Control Bar buttons can now be independently selected and are independently tracked. There is also an internal variable which indicates the button number of the most recently activated Advanced Custom Study Control Bar button. It is this button number which is indicated to custom studies that are receiving Pointer input. If that same button is changed to an off state, then this variable is cleared. Whenever an Advanced Custom Study Control Bar button is pressed, whether changing the state on or off, all chart studies are set to receive this type of input are called indicating the selected button number, and whether the state is on or off.
    • When a custom study DLL file is unloaded, there is now a call to study functions in that DLL, with the sc.LastCallToFunction ACSIL variable set to true.
    • Support for market by order data (MBO) on separate connection. This data is now delivered on a separate connection in order to not impact the latency of standard trade and market depth data. Market by Order data is provided with the Denali Exchange Data Feed and the Delayed Exchange Data Feed.
    • Resolved various small issues, related to market by order data on a separate connection.
    • Support for accessing Denali Exchange Data Feed from the NY4 server. This applies to the upcoming CBOE Futures data, and NASDAQ stock data. Both of these data feeds provide full market depth. CBOE futures data will support market by order data.
  • 2256 Release Date: 2021-05-09

    • Corrected a problem with the CQG Trading service where when using the Denali Exchange Data Feed, there was an unnecessary request for historical Minute data from the Denali Exchange Data Feed, followed by the standard historical data request. This would not occur under all conditions. This issue is now resolved. This problem arose, when Sierra Chart switched to using CQG historical data rather than the subsidized historical data system that we developed for CQG.

      This is considered a critical update. Any user using CQG will need to update.
  • 2255 Release Date: 2021-05-08

    • Added new fields to Trade Positions Window and Trade Accounts Monitor (Account Balances) window used by the Sierra Chart Simulated Trading Service and the upcoming Sierra Chart Direct Order Routing Service.
    • Implemented full support for creating and managing trade accounts for the Sierra Chart Simulated Trading Service and the upcoming Sierra Chart Direct Order Routing Service, directly within Sierra Chart. This is accessed through Trade >> Trade Accounts Monitor >> Manage. In the case of the Direct Order Routing Service, creating and managing accounts would only be done by a clearing firm.
    • This version has support for all the latest enhancements with the Simulated Futures Trading Service. When updating to this version you will automatically use the new version of this service if you have been using either the delayed or live version of this service. You will need to re-create your trading account on this service if you have an existing one. For instructions, refer to Setup Instructions.
  • 2253 Release Date: 2021-04-27

    • Full implementation of new interface for creating and managing trade accounts for the simulated futures trading service and the upcoming Sierra Chart direct order routing service.
    • Corrected a problem when using the Add Additional Symbol study on a Continuous Futures Contract chart, where the first date loaded would be the same date as the most recent futures contract date loaded in the chart. This is now resolved and the first date for the Add Additional Symbol study will be the same as the First Date in the chart assuming there is data available back that far for the symbol set in the Add Additional Symbol study.
    • Various Quote Board enhancements, related to inserting and removing symbols for multiple rows.
  • 2247 Release Date: 2021-04-07

    • Corrected issue from recent release affecting downloading of historical data from Interactive Brokers where for symbols where there are no Symbol Settings, the historical data download was being skipped.
    • Removed s_MarketDepthUpdateLevel_Int DTC message support.
    • New Draw Mode in Large Volume Trade Indicator for Based on Total Ask Bid Volume Above Threshold - Diagonal Difference.
    • The settings: "Support Downloading Historical Market Depth Data" and "Max Historical Market Depth Days to Download" are now both in Global Settings >> Sierra Chart Server Settings.
  • 2230 Release Date: 2021-02-13

    • Support for the new EUREX data feed for real time and delayed and historical data. It is necessary to be running this version or higher to access any EUREX data. This was not expected to be the case unless you required real-time EUREX data but we realize now, that all users requiring EUREX data will need to update to this version or higher. We do apologize for this requirement.

      It is important to not be too far behind with Sierra Chart updates. You should generally be up-to-date within the last three months.
    • Resolved a potential issue related to changing the quantity of an order or canceling an order on the chart which could potentially cause an exception.
    • New studies added: One Time Framing, Covariance, and Premier Stochastic Oscillator.
  • 2226 Release Date: 2021-02-01

    • Added functionality to the Large Volume Trade Indicator to support the Total Bid/Ask Volume. When selected, the larger Total Bid or Total Ask volume at that price is displayed.
    • New studies added: - Moving Average - Variable Index Dynamic, RAVI, Turbo MACD
    • New Subgraphs for Numbers Bars Calculated Values 2: Time Since Price Touched Bar High and Time Since Price Touched Bar Low.
    • New Draw Mode options in Large Volume Trade Indicator. Based on Entire Bar Total Volume Above Threshold and Based on Entire Bar Bid/Ask Volume Above Threshold.
    • Corrected a minor inefficiency issue in charts when market depth data is subscribed. Additionally in the case when the chart symbol uses a Real-time Price Multiplier other than 1, if the chart uses market depth data, it would always update under certain conditions even when there was no market activity.
    • Advanced Custom study DLL loading management. For more information, refer to this Support Board thread.

*Last modified Sunday, 25th February, 2024.