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Date/Time: Sat, 27 Jul 2024 01:56:09 +0000

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[User Discussion] - Can Sierra Chart Support be more...supportive??

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[2023-08-13 17:08:33] #1 [Go To First Post]
Ed Goppelt - Posts: 41
Dear fellow Interactive Brokers users of Sierra Chart: Do you think Sierra Chart can do a better job of supporting its clients? To date, I have brought perhaps half a dozen problems to the attention of SC Support and always the response has been "not our job." How do they know without first looking into these problems? Statements on the SC web site suggest that Interactive Brokers software and data is terrible and that users are wasting SC's time by asking them to look into problems. Here's a representative snippet from their web page on IBKR: Please do not blame Interactive Brokers problems on Sierra Chart or burden us with technical questions related to their problems or problems encountered when using them. Here is a recent thread, about problems you will encounter in our response. You have been warned!! Source: Interactive Brokers Trading Service Short of SC making their source code public, there's no way to know for sure if the above is accurate. It sounds a bit improbable, IMO. OTOH, did you know that the well-regarded NinjaTrader software supports IBKR? Check out their support page for IBKR problems: https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aninjatrader.com+problems+interactive+brokers What strikes me reading through these interactions between NinjaTrader support and their Interactive Brokers clients is: 1. Ninja Support is unfailingly polite to their clients!! 2. Ninja Support seems to view investigating client problems as part of their job, rather than an unwelcome burden. 3. The NinjaTrader users seem happy with how well NinjaTrader software works with Interactive Brokers. So, fellow SC Users, can Sierra Chart do a better job supporting you? If so, how? Also, Sierra Chart Support, if I have been unfair in my criticism of the service you provide to me and many others, please let me know. I try to be as truthful and fair as I can be with my business partners, and I regard the Sierra Chart as one of my more important business partners as a trader.

[2023-08-13 19:49:40] #2 [Go To First Post]
rondawes - Posts: 39
I've used SC and NT for several years. As such, I've posted my share of questions here and read responses to many, many questions that others have posted. Various ramblings and personal observations in no particular order: - Almost always my questions have been answered within a few hours, sometime within minutes. - I've seen many times people ask a question that with about 1 minute of research, they would have had the answer without posting. Most of those times, they received a polite answer and link to where the answer was in the online documentation. Those types of questions would drive me nuts. - SC is very opinionated that almost always the problems are not their fault. Most of the time this is accurate but not always. I have seen them relent and admit fault and then quickly address the problem. - I have seen them offer solutions to problems that I've never had personally so I presume they found the problem themselves or from some other user's issue. - There are a lot of posts where the user blames SC for either an issue they caused themselves or some issue beyond SC control. As a support person, I'd get frustrated with that. - As far as Ninja support goes, I've had and read many tales of other users where NT support is useless. Things go into black holes, never to be addressed again. I'd rather have the attention of a support person who was unconvinced of the issue but was open to listening than have a "We'll look into it and get back to you." and never respond beyond that. - I do know that IB has had a reputation of having data that was "thin", i.e. using it for tick charts, footprint charts, volume profiles, was unfeasible because it was not a complete data set. It's OK for time based charts. I could see how SC would not want to deal with the problems from users who attempt to use it for purposes it's not suited for. - SC support has gotten "nicer" in recent times, i.e. more patient. - Your milage may vary......

[2023-08-13 21:05:57] #3 [Go To First Post]
Sierra_Chart Engineering - Posts: 15584
Sierra Chart's focus is developing fully our own solutions to the extent possible and not relying on others. We really cannot do a good job with Interactive Brokers. Although we actually have been looking some more into to the issue you and some others have with the position not showing and we may have determined why that happens sometimes. This is definitely due to a problem on the Interactive Brokers side but we have a workaround that might help. We will try to have this released before morning and then you can test. Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy: https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, use the Teton service: Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing Date Time Of Last Edit: 2023-08-13 21:06:44

[2023-08-14 11:50:41] #4 [Go To First Post]
Ed Goppelt - Posts: 41
Sierra Chart's focus is developing fully our own solutions to the extent possible and not relying on others. We really cannot do a good job with Interactive Brokers. If SC carries this principle to its logical conclusion, then I expect it will drop support for those data/trade routing firms which compete with its Teton/Denali services. So in addition to dropping IBKR, your statement implies there will be no more support for Rithmic or CQG data and trading. Although we actually have been looking some more into to the issue you and some others have with the position not showing and we may have determined why that happens sometimes. This is definitely due to a problem on the Interactive Brokers side but we have a workaround that might help. We will try to have this released before morning and then you can test. I don't care whose fault it is. If SC is unwilling to support those parts of its integration with IBKR upon which risk management rests, it is no longer a viable solution for me. I will have to find another solution. I would be a fool to continue to employ a software stack that silently cancels bracket orders at midnight.

[2023-08-14 15:01:00] #5 [Go To First Post]
HumblyTrading - Posts: 174
I am another happy user of SierraChart No one is perfect, but what they have built and the amount of constant, constant support is unrivaled in all other apps I've used (not even remotely close). I have heavily invested in JForex4, cTrader, MT4/5 and a few others. I spent a lot of money and worked hard with developers at each of them, all to have 1% of the capability I get natively with Sierra... :) SierraChart's forum, user base, related Discord servers run by other programmers, and the amazingly detailed wikipedia-like reference system... Are they perfect? No. But miles beyond the competition. However, you must find something that works for you! Best of luck, and happy trading! Mike

[2023-08-16 10:54:24] #6 [Go To First Post]
Ed Goppelt - Posts: 41
I have heavily invested in JForex4, cTrader, MT4/5 and a few others. I spent a lot of money and worked hard with developers at each of them, all to have 1% of the capability I get natively with Sierra... :) If you like to invest in software firms specializing in trading software, may I ask if you are an investor in Sierra Chart?

[2023-08-16 14:32:38] #7 [Go To First Post]
HumblyTrading - Posts: 174
:) No - I meant that I had a lot of custom studies developed in those other platforms... All wasted now, as I don't bother to use them. JForex4 is the next best. The developer is very responsive, but of course, that is only for price action Forex trading... If I needed a function that SC would agree to code, I would gladly pay for it. So far, it hasn't come to that... Happy Trading! Mike

[2023-08-16 14:54:55] #8 [Go To First Post]
Ed Goppelt - Posts: 41
No - I meant that I had a lot of custom studies developed in those other platforms... All wasted now, as I don't bother to use them. JForex4 is the next best. The developer is very responsive, but of course, that is only for price action Forex trading... If I needed a function that SC would agree to code, I would gladly pay for it. So far, it hasn't come to that... So you invested quite a bit of "sweat equity" into these other trading platforms. What data/trade routing/FCM do you currently use? I've been using SC for six months now. I like the software! The last thing I want to do is switch to another platform. All that learning for nothing. But if risk management is compromised...that's a red line for me. I can put up with misbehavior on the part of the SC/IBKR stack but only so long as it doesn't expose me to financial ruin.

[2023-08-16 15:01:28] #9 [Go To First Post]
rondawes - Posts: 39
SC is not for everyone and as great as it is, it's not the holy grail. I've used MultiCharts and like some things in it. I use NT and like some things in it (not many) but there are a lot of good 3rd party tools and indicators for it but a lot of the good ones are not free. I use TradingView and there are a lot of free indicators for it and it's great at working the same way on Mac, Window, iPad, iPhone. But actually trading on it sucks. SC, MC, and NT are much better when actually trading. One of the things that's nice about SC is that, once you learn it, you can do a lot that requires paid indicators from NT. With respect to NT's market dominance, it's like the old IBM mantra: "We don't have to have a great product, we don't even have to have a good product, we just need to have an adequate product and market the hell out of it."

[2023-08-16 15:27:26] #10 [Go To First Post]
Ed Goppelt - Posts: 41
With respect to NT's market dominance, it's like the old IBM mantra: "We don't have to have a great product, we don't even have to have a good product, we just need to have an adequate product and market the hell out of it." I know nothing about NinjaTrader so this is interesting to hear. If I had to switch, I would probably go with MotiveWave. I'm still hoping that things work out with Sierra Chart. As to IBM, I think you're being unfair to Big Blue considering the sheer number of cutting edge technologies they were responsible for inventing. Also, there is nothing wrong with providing your customers with excellent support, as IBM did and, I suspect, still does. There's a reason why people say "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM". Wikipedia on IBM's contributions to the computer field: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM) As one of the world's oldest and largest technology companies, IBM has been responsible for several technological innovations, including the automated teller machine (ATM), dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), the floppy disk, the hard disk drive, the magnetic stripe card, the relational database, the SQL programming language, and the UPC barcode. The company has made inroads in advanced computer chips, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and data infrastructure. IBM employees and alumni have won various recognitions for their scientific research and inventions, including six Nobel Prizes and six Turing Awards.[14]

[2023-08-16 22:53:12] #11 [Go To First Post]
User938282 - Posts: 2
I want to ask for your help because since today for the check boxes in the sierra chart there is filled black check box and I cannot mark these check boxes. I attach the screenshot for this problem here for you. I searched the whole internet but I dod not fond anything useful. https://www.sierrachart.com/Download.php?Folder=SupportBoard&download=85109 https://www.sierrachart.com/Download.php?Folder=SupportBoard&download=85110


2023-08-16 23_31_51-.jpg / V - Attached On 2023-08-16 22:50:22 UTC - Size: 24.31 KB - 120 views 2023-08-16 23_32_07-Open Historical Chart.jpg / V - Attached On 2023-08-16 22:50:27 UTC - Size: 12.58 KB - 101 views

[2023-08-17 00:48:13] #12 [Go To First Post]
Sierra_Chart Engineering - Posts: 15584
This is an operating system problem having to do with the color settings. On your Windows system. It is outside the control of Sierra Chart. Check the color settings at the operating system level. Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy: https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, use the Teton service: Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing Date Time Of Last Edit: 2023-08-17 00:48:34

[2023-08-21 02:38:27] #13 [Go To First Post]
ivory - Posts: 91
SC support has gotten "nicer" in recent times, i.e. more patient. I noticed that too. No one is perfect, but there is definitely an effort to improve. Thank you SC team, I appreciate it.

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