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Date/Time: Sat, 18 May 2024 17:03:56 +0000



Post From: FYI Sierra Chart Version 2225 Runs on a Mac using Codeweavers Crossover Version 20 for Mac

[2021-02-28 19:30:02]
User584084 - Posts: 241
User584084

How's the experience of using TWS as data provider?

I would rate IB TWS as average as a data provider. TWS real time data integration with Sierra Chart is very good. I think pulling historical data from TWS to a 3rd party app is limited to 30 days. So TWS falls short there. Sierra Chart provided historical data until recently. Now you need to subscribe to the Sierra Data feeds.

There is no way to chart and trade TWS options spreads in Sierra Chart. It is not supported in Sierra Chart. TWS symbols for futures, futures options, stocks and stock options have to be in a certain format to work with Sierra Chart. This can be difficult and may require trial and error to find the right symbol. If you use the Sierra Chart Cumulative Delta Bars study, TWS only allows 3 symbols to access Level 2 quotes.

I use Microsoft Excel to pull Real Time Data (RTD) from TWS for options strategies analysis. TWS uses ActiveX to do this. ActiveX is not supported on the Mac. TWS API for the Mac doesn't support integration with Microsoft Excel. A custom solution is required.

If you trade Micro Futures and want to use Sierra Chart, the brokers you can trade with and use as a data source are limited. Interactive Brokers being one of a few.

Any lags while having all these programs opened?

I have 2 PCs I use. I have a 2013 HP DV7 2.4GHZ Core i7 Quad Core 500GB Windows 8 laptop with 16GB RAM memory. When I run Sierra Chart, TWS, Excel and Firefox on Windows 8, I use 40 to 50% of the CPU and 70 to 80% of the memory. I have 20+ Chartbooks in SC with 5 or 6 Charts per Chartbook running. Sierra Chart uses about 2GB of memory and TWS uses about 1GB memory. Windows uses most of the memory. More memory is better. Memory is cheap. Really helps with the performance. I am also using a Mid 2011 iMac 27 inch 3.4GHZ Core i7 Quad Core with a 1TB HD and 32GB RAM memory. Mac OSX High Sierra Version 10.13.6 is installed on the iMac. When I run Sierra Chart with Crossover for Mac, TWS for Mac and Opera, the system uses only 25% of the CPU and 12GB out 32GB of the memory. 75% of the CPU is idle. Crossover uses about 300MB, Sierra Chart uses 2GB and TWS uses 1GB. I have TG Pro from TunaBelly Software installed on the Mac. Only $10. TG Pro monitors the iMac CPU & GPU temperatures and fan speeds. You can adjust the fan speeds to provide more cooling to the CPU and GPU if needed.

And have you compared the data from IB to that from Sierra Data Feed?

I haven't compared the IB data feed with the Sierra data feed. I have no experience with the Sierra data feed.
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2021-02-28 21:55:54