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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.

  • 1188 Release Date: 2014-09-09

    • Added support for server-side OCO and bracket orders for the OEC Trading service.
    • The Color Bar Based on Alert Condition study has a new Draw Style Offset Type input to offset non-color bar styles based upon a Percentage or Number of Ticks according to the chart Tick Size.
    • Corrected a problem arising in a recent release where the Evaluate on Bar Close option was not being followed in the evaluation of Simple Study and Chart Alerts.
    • Server-side OCO orders are now available to Rithmic Optimus futures users.
    • Corrected a problem when using the Study Subgraph Fill Draw Styles where the value labels would be referring to one bar forward instead of the last bar displayed.
    • Corrected a problem from the prior release where the Chart Values tool would become active when left clicking when using the Pointer tool and the Chart Values tool setting Always on When Using Other Tools is enabled.
  • 1185 Release Date: 2014-09-03

    • Corrected a problem with the loading of historical Daily data from the data file. Some recent days of data may not have been loaded. This problem arose with file I/O changes that are being made in the software to support other operating systems.
    • Corrected a problem from a recent release where real-time stock/equities data would not have been received when using the Sierra Chart Real-Time and Historical Exchange Data Feed.
    • Corrected a problem with the downloading of historical data from the Sierra Chart Historical Data Service where download requests may have been rejected indicating they do not contain a two digit year even if the symbol did have a two digit year.
  • 1183 Release Date: 2014-09-02

    • Rewrote the Chaikin Money flow study.
    • Historical Intraday data for Rithmic is now provided by the Sierra Chart Historical Data Service except for the most recent 10 minutes of historical data. Historical tick by tick data is provided with Sierra Chart service package 5. With package 3, the timeframe of the historical Intraday data records is 2 seconds minimum. This historical Intraday data provides Bid Volume and Ask Volume.
    • Corrected a problem with the handling of server side bracket orders for IB and CTS T4, where Moved to Breakeven and trailing processing for child Stop orders would begin to occur when the parent order is modified, even if it has not been filled.
  • 1178 Release Date: 2014-08-25

    • Corrected a problem from version 1177 with DTC protocol data structures which would affect the market data snapshot and historical data downloading. Version 1177 has been locked out.
    • The Vertical Line Tool configuration window now allows alerts to be configured.
    • The Alert Once and Blink Once Per Bar Options are made more reliable for Chart Drawings.
    • Alerts are re-allowed if a Chart Drawing is moved or adjusted. This does not apply if Only Trigger Once is enabled and was triggered.
    • The following ACSIL variables and functions related to the computer system Pointer have been renamed. The documentation for these has been updated as well.
      • MouseEventType >> PointerEventType
      • ReceiveMousePointerEvents >> ReceivePointerEvents
      • SC_MOUSE_DOWN >> SC_POINTER_BUTTON_DOWN
      • SC_MOUSE_MOVE >> SC_POINTER_MOVE
      • SC_MOUSE_UP >> SC_POINTER_BUTTON_UP
    • Stop orders as the main order for server-side Bracket orders can now be used when using CTS T4.
  • 1174 Release Date: 2014-08-14

    • Added support for CTS T4 FIX Trading service server-side bracket orders. Only Limit and Market if Touched orders can be used as the parent/main order. Market and Stop orders are not supported for server side bracket orders. If a Market or Stop order is used as the parent order, the initial management of the bracket order will be performed by Sierra Chart.
    • Added new option: Global Settings >> Tool Settings >> Prompt When Deleting All Chart Drawings .
    • Added a ToolBar button for Clear Recent Bid and Ask Volume. The command Clear Recent Bid and Ask Volume can also be accessed from the shortcut menu by right clicking on the price scale. This command only applies to the Recent Bid and Ask Volume columns on the Chart/Trade DOM.
  • 1173 Release Date: 2014-08-09

    • Added the following ACSIL functions: void * sc.AllocateMemory(int Size) , sc.FreeMemory(void *Pointer).
    • Corrected an issue with the new IB server-side bracket feature where trailing stop orders were activated before the parent order filled. This is now resolved.
    • Corrected an intermittent issue arising in a recent release where when using the CTS T4 trading service, real-time updates of the chart bars may not have occurred after the historical Intraday data was downloaded.
    • Added the following option: Global Settings >> General Settings>> Wait for Prior Alert Sound to Finish Before Playing Next Queued Sound .
  • 1172 Release Date: 2014-08-07

    • Fixed an issue related to when setting a string into a SCString in an ACSIL data structure. This affected the Time Line study when displaying text on vertical lines.
    • Worked on Linear Regression End Channel study to make it consistent with the Linear Regression tool.
    • Solved some issues with Spreadsheets and Simple Alerts in the non-CLR version.
    • With the new Interactive Brokers server-side bracket feature, when the parent order fills, Sierra Chart will no longer modify the Target and Stop order to maintain the original Attached Order offset settings.
    • Corrected a problem with the DTC protocol where the determination of whether bracket orders are supported on the server may not have been correct.
    • Low-level improvements with historical data downloading from DTN IQ Feed.
  • 1167 Release Date: 2014-08-02

    • In ACSIL the Line Width will now be able to be adjusted to zero for highlight drawings allowing the removal of the outline. Your code will need to be recompiled against version 1167 or higher, and you will need to explicitly set the LineWidth to zero. Example: Tool.LineWidth = 0;.
    • For removing text from ACSIL added chart drawing, you will now be able to explicitly set the s_UseTool::Text member to an empty string to cause the label to be removed. Example: Tool.Text = "";.
    • Corrected a problem from a recent release when downloading historical Intraday data when using Rithmic through Optimus Futures. If you are missing tick by tick data in the chart, re-download the data with Edit >> Delete All Data and Download.
    • Added support for multiple Trade Simulation Mode accounts. Refer to Multiple Trade Simulation Accounts for more information.
    • There are now four commands on the Help menu for downloading an updated version of Sierra Chart. There is support for downloading the current version or the prerelease, and for each of these you can download support for the new spreadsheets or the old spreadsheets. Old spreadsheets refers to the spreadsheet functionality provided in the standard version of Sierra Chart all these years. For existing users of the old spreadsheets, we recommend downloading the version that supports the old spreadsheets. The new spreadsheets are nearing completion but not fully ready for existing users.
  • 1166 Release Date: 2014-07-29

    • The Trade Stats for Charts tab has been moved from the Trade >> Trade Orders and Positions window to the Trade >> Trade Activity Log.
    • There is a new menu command to globally mute all alert sounds: Global Settings >> Mute All Alert Sounds. This command can also be added as a ToolBar button.
    • Added server-side bracket order support with Interactive Brokers. To use this feature, enable Global Settings >> General Settings >> Use Server-side OCO and Bracket Orders.
    • Added support to download historical Intraday data for unexpired contracts when using the CTS T4 trading service, from the Sierra Chart Historical Data Service. To use this feature, enable Global Settings >> Data/Trade Service Settings >> Allow Support for Sierra Chart Data Feeds. The historical data is in 30 seconds units. Disable this option to download historical Intraday data from the CTS T4 system instead.
  • 1163 Release Date: 2014-07-22

    • Corrected a problem arising in the prior release with the handling of IB trading service symbols when getting the non-simulated Trade positions, which would cause some symbols to report a Position of 0 in the Trade Window when there was a nonzero position for the symbol.
    • Added an extra layers of safety to ensure an order does not get submitted more than once. This primarily applies to Limit Attached Orders which are being held until touched (feature added in 1161).
  • 1161 Release Date: 2014-07-19

    • The Find Symbol Window can now do a search of symbol descriptions for the TeleTrader service. In the lower right of the window is a new button Search By Desc. You can select an exchange, enter search text, and use this button to do simple searches.
    • There is a new Adjust button in the Tools >> Manage Chart Drawings Window to adjust Chart Drawings by a specified price amount. You can select either the symbol root of the drawing list to adjust all Chart Drawings for the selected symbol or you can select individual Chart Drawings within a symbol to adjust select Chart Drawings.
    • There is a new setting in Chart >> Chart Settings to set the Chart Region for the main price graph to be displayed in.
    • There is the new option: Global Settings >> General Trade Settings >> Hold Limit Attached Orders on Client Side Until Touched where when enabled, will hold Target Attached Orders on the client-side, in other words not sent to the server, until they are touched. The purpose of this feature is when there is not server-side OCO and connectivity is lost between Sierra Chart and the trading server, only the Stop order will be at the trading server and if it is filled, then there is not a chance the Limit order could fill and put you back into the market.
  • 1159 Release Date: 2014-07-12

    • The Find Symbol window remembers the previous symbol and branch selected.
    • Cleaned up the Symbol List saving and loading menu and functionality on the Quote Board. The menu has been renamed to File. The functionality provided by this menu previously was not well organized and functioning as intended.
  • 1158 Release Date: 2014-07-10

    • There is a new setting in Global Settings >> General Settings to specify the folder when saving chart images. The filename of saved chart images will now contain the Date and Time in a readable format.
    • Added a new setting to General Trade Settings to use the bid or ask price for open profit/loss calculations. Currently this only applies to the open profit/loss values within a chart.
    • You can now search by description in Find Symbol window when using the TeleTrader Data service.
    • Added a new Graph Draw Type to draw hollow candlesticks (GDT_CANDLESTICK_HOLLOW). This is useful when using the Numbers Bars study and you also want to draw a candlestick outline on top of the Numbers Bars. This can be done by using the Overlay (Bar) study and overlaying the same Chart Number that the study is on.
  • 1156 Release Date: 2014-07-02

    • Corrected a connection problem to Rithmic and TeleTrader which arose from the previous release.
    • Added the ability for sc.OpenChartOrGetChartReference to specify the timeframe of bars for Historical charts. This can be daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly. Refer to the scsf_OpenChartOrGetChartReferenceExample code example for details.
  • 1155 Release Date: 2014-07-01

    • Volume for stocks from the IB Trading service is now multiplied by 100 to create actual volume which matches the volume from the Sierra Chart Historical Data service which is now used for historical Intraday data.
    • LineNumbers are now automatically assigned for ACSIL added Chart Drawings. Previously they were only automatically assigned for an ACSIL Chart Drawing identified as user drawn.
    • Continued improvements with the new Non-CLR Spreadsheets.
  • 1154 Release Date: 2014-06-28

    • Corrected a problem where an ACSIL study was not able to modify a user drawn drawing. Support for this was recently added but had an implementation issue. For an example to modify a user drawn drawing, refer to scsf_AdjustUserDrawnDrawingExample in /ACS_Source/studies.cpp.
    • Corrected a problem with the trading statistics studies like Trading: Daily Profit/Loss. The problem was that the trade statistics data were not adjusted to the Time Zone setting in Sierra Chart. This created a graph which was out of alignment with the timescale on the chart.
  • 1152 Release Date: 2014-06-25

    • Update: Due to recent changes, the SendOrdersToTradeService automated trading management variable must be set consistently with the global Trade >> Trade Simulation Mode On setting. If global Trade Simulation Mode is off, then SendOrdersToTradeService must be set to Yes/TRUE for any order action (submitting, modifying, canceling order) to work, otherwise they will be ignored and there will be an error. If global Trade Simulation Mode is on, then SendOrdersToTradeService must be set to No/FALSE for any order action (submitting, modifying, canceling order) to work, otherwise they will be ignored and there will be an error.
    • Support for historical Bid and Ask prices has now been fully implemented. As of June 23, 2014 our servers are now maintaining this data for many of the supported Data and Trading services. This feature provides accurate Bid and Ask prices during chart replays.
    • Corrected a problem with the AMP/TTNet trading service where if there were 2 or more overnight positions, those positions would not have been reported upon a connection to the trading server.
    • Corrected a problem from the prior release where the Compact Tool Values Window was not displayed.
    • All of the tabs on the Trade Activity Log now use Sierra Chart developed displays rather than operating system list controls. This greatly improves performance and eliminates any stability issues.
    • Corrected a problem from a recent release where when using one of the back adjusted Chart >> Chart Settings >> Symbol >> Continuous Contract options, the open price for some historical bars would be close to zero when using tick by tick data.
    • There is now the ability to Save and Load Data and Trading service specific settings within the Global Settings >> Data/Trade Service Settings window. This is useful when you have different sets of settings for the same Data or Trading service.
  • 1149 Release Date: 2014-06-21

    • Futures spread symbols are now supported when using OEC. The spread symbols need to be looked up through the OEC trading software. In Sierra Chart you will need to use the exact same spread symbol as is used in the OEC trading software.
    • The Time Line and Time Range Highlight studies now support drawing into the forward projection area of the chart after the last displayed bar. To enable this, set the Display in Forward Projection Area input with these studies to Yes.
    • Corrected a problem with the non-CLR Spreadsheets, which arose in a recent release, with the outputting of study data to the Sheet.
    • The ACSIL variable sc.CurrentSystemDateTime, no longer includes milliseconds. The milliseconds part of the time is always zero. Added the ACSIL member sc.CurrentSystemDateTimeMS which includes the current system time milliseconds.
  • 1148 Release Date: 2014-06-18

    • Updated the interface to TeleTrader due to changes made by TeleTrader. To use TeleTrader, it is required that you use this version or higher.
    • Corrected a price formatting issue for some symbols for the CQG Trading service.
    • In the case of the TT FIX/AMP trading services, CBOT symbols which use the CME exchange code, are now automatically converted to CBOT.
  • 1147 Release Date: 2014-06-17

    • The Zig Zag study has a new option: Reset ZigZag At Start Of Trading Day.
    • The ACSIL member sc.OnExternalDataImmediateStudyCall had an implementation problem preventing Sierra Chart from calling the study function no more often than at the standard update interval. This issue has been corrected.
    • Support for symbols that end with -TD when using Interactive Brokers is no longer supported. It is now necessary to use the Global Settings >> Data/Trade Service Settings >> Record True Real-Time Data in Intraday Charts option for true real-time data.
    • Continued development of the non-CLR spreadsheets.
    • Added separate color settings for Trade DOM recent Bid and Ask volume in Graphics Settings.
    • This version has an updated bridge program from TransAct Futures and supports a connection to TransAct futures.
  • 1145 Release Date: 2014-06-10

    • New Tool: Horizontal Level. This tool is used to draw horizontal segments and has similar features as other horizontal drawings.
    • New option: Tool Settings >> Chart Values >> Show Y Value and Time Boxes With Pointer Tool . When this option is enabled, the price and time values will be highlighted in the x/y-axis when using the Pointer tool.
    • The ACSIL sc.VolumeAtPriceForBars and related pullback data objects have been restored back to the original structure they had in 1137 and earlier. Therefore, any studies which uses this member need to be recompiled for this version and higher. Once this re-compilation is done, going forward this will not be necessary.
    • Under development: Sierra Chart will be storing the bid and ask prices at the time of the trade when the Global Settings >> Data/Trade Service Settings >> Intraday Data Storage Time Unit is set to 1 Tick. This data is used when replaying charts to provide the exact bid and ask price during the replay as they were when the trade occurred.
    • Support for LME outright futures and spreads/strategies has been added for CTS T4. In File >> Find Symbol you will now see *.(outright futures).LME_ME and *.(spreads).LME_ME symbols listed. Click on one of these and press Get Additional Symbols to get either the outright futures or the spreads and strategies respectively. After the symbols are received, and they are listed, you can select one of the symbols to open a chart or Trade DOM for the selected symbol.
    • In ACSIL, HTTP requests can now include the port number in the URL. Example: www.sierrachart.com:80
    • The DTC protocol has been updated to version 4. All quantity, size and volume types are now converted to floating-point types. This is consistent with the FIX protocol. The only exception is Open Interest still is an integral type. Any program which uses the DTC relay server needs to be recompiled using the DTC header file in this version or higher. The TransAct bridge program at the present time is not compatible with this version. We are waiting for an updated bridge from TransAct.
    • For the AMP / TT Net trading service, there is a change with the exchange code for CBOT symbols. It is recommended to do the following when running this version of higher: Perform a Full Reset of Symbol Settings by selecting Global Settings >> Symbol Settings >> Full Reset. For symbols which trade on the CBOT and use the exchange identifier CME , the exchange part of the symbol needs to be changed to CBOT . For example, YM-######-CME needs to be changed to YM-######-CBOT. If you have updated to this version or higher, you do not need to immediately change the symbols. However, new users will need to use the CBOT symbols and you will need to use the new symbols if you have performed a Full Reset of the symbol settings. Do not use a mix of the CME and CBOT exchange codes for CBOT symbols. For instructions to change the symbol of a chart or Trade DOM, refer to Changing Symbols. In an upcoming release, all of this will be made automatic.
  • 1143 Release Date: 2014-06-02

    • Corrected a problem with the grouping of order fills when scaling out, in the Trade list in charts and the Trade Activity Log. This was affecting the Daily Profit/Loss calculation and other statistics.
    • Added the sc.CancelAllOrdersOnReversals Auto Trading variable.
    • In ACSIL, it is now supported to specify Attached Orders separately for the second order in an OCO parent order. There are several new members in the s_SCNewOrder structure to support this. Refer to the updated ACSIL Trading documentation.
    • Continued development with the new non CLR version spreadsheet functionality.
    • Finalized changes to the improved Global Settings >> Data/Trade Service Settings window.
    • When the Automated Trading Management system determines the quantities of working orders for the symbol of the trading system when an automated trading system submits an order, the selected Trade Account is now considered as well. Basic testing has been done and demonstrates that this new check works properly. However, it is strongly recommended if you are using an automated trading system for live trading, that it is tested on this version or higher with a simulation account from your Trading service to ensure that there are no problems with the new Trade Account check.
  • 1141 Release Date: 2014-05-23

    • Added support for downloading historical Intraday data from the Sierra Chart Historical Data service when using the TD Ameritrade or Interactive Brokers services. This is supported for both current and historical major US and Eurex futures contracts and US equities symbols. This feature requires Sierra Chart Service Package 3 or 5.

      The advantage of the Sierra Chart Historical Data Service compared to the historical Intraday data provided by TD Ameritrade or Interactive Brokers, is that the data is more detailed, more history is available, the downloads are considerably faster, and in the case of Interactive Brokers you will not get pacing violations.

      The timeframe of the historical data depends upon the Intraday Data Storage Time Unit setting. However, the minimum time unit will be 30 seconds. The data which is downloaded is delayed. Therefore, there is a second download which occurs from TD Ameritrade or Interactive Brokers, depending upon which service you are using, to fill in the missing data.

      This feature is a major enhancement if you are using one of these services. In the case of Interactive Brokers, if you are using one of the supported symbols for this service, this is going to virtually eliminate pacing violations. There is nothing special to do to use this feature. It happens automatically.
    • Continued development with the new non-CLR Spreadsheet functionality.
    • Added price formatting mapping for CME Copper and Silver when using the CQG Trading service. This is necessary to make the price format for these markets match what is required by CQG FIX.
  • 1139 Release Date: 2014-05-17

    • Every time an order is now submitted, the focus from the Trade Window, if opened and attached to a chart or Trade DOM, is transferred away from the Trade Window and back to the chart or Trade DOM main window, to prevent accidental order entry with the buy/sell buttons which can happen when pressing the space bar on a keyboard.
    • The Global Settings >>Data/Trade Service Settings window has been redeveloped to use a property list control. This provides for easier maintenance of the settings and is one of the steps involved in migration to adding support for other operating systems.
    • Integrated support for US equities/stocks data from the Sierra Chart Real-Time and Historical Exchange Data Feed service has been added for the Interactive Brokers and TD Ameritrade trading services.
    • At this time, the US equities/stocks data is available to be activated for new and existing users of the Sierra Chart Real-Time and Historical Exchange Data Feed. US equities/stocks data can be accessed with or without an integrated trading account. To use this data without a trading account, you need to set the Global Settings >> Data/Trade Service Settings >>Service in Sierra Chart to SC Exchange Data.
  • 1138 Release Date: 2014-05-15

    • Correct a problem preventing the connection to the TeleTrader data service.
    • Added support for US equities data for the Sierra Chart Real-Time and Historical Exchange Data Feed. Although as of this date, the US stock data is not yet ready to be released.
  • 1135 Release Date: 2014-05-09

    • Corrected a problem with the grouping and matching of order fills, which arose in a recent release. This was affecting the Trades list and the Trade Statistics on the Trade Activity Log and also affected the Average Price calculation for Trade Positions.
    • Corrected a problem when using TT FIX, AMP TT / Net, and CTS T4 where orders were marked as automated when they were actually manual orders. This FIX tag is only recognized by the CME and it does not affect your trading. It is only for CME tracking purposes.
  • 1134 Release Date: 2014-05-08

    • The calculation method for Open Profit/Loss now is calculated using the last trade price instead of the bid and ask prices.
    • Detaching chart windows is now supported on all Sierra Chart packages.
    • The Left Side Chart Scale is is now supported on all Sierra Chart packages.
    • Continued development of the new Spreadsheets in the non-CLR version.
    • Low-level changes/improvements with the downloading of historical data.
    • Improved support for downloading historical price data from TeleTrader.
    • Various small items resolved/added which are discussed on recent Support Board threads.
    • Daily price change now supported with the CQG Trading service.
    • When using the LMAX trading service, historical order fills are no longer downloaded from the LMAX system. This is to reduce the possibility of having an inaccurate Trade Position displayed.
  • 1131 Release Date: 2014-05-01

    • Corrected a problem with Trade Position reporting when using AMP TT Net, that arose in version 1129. If you are running version 1129 or 1130, it is essential that you update to 1131 or higher.
    • Corrected a problem with moving the Countdown timer and Volume Profiles drawn with the Draw Volume Profile tool.
  • 1130 Release Date: 2014-04-30

    • This is an important update because it corrects two significant problems arising from recent development.
    • Corrected an abnormal shutdown issue when using Attached Orders and there are partial fills of the parent order in quick succession.This occurs with non-simulated trading.
    • Corrected a problem where there would be data errors in an Intraday chart related to adding Time and Sales records after a Historical Intraday data download when using the Sierra Chart Exchange Data Feed. To correct data errors you may have in an Intraday chart, refer to help topic 2.1.2.
    • Added the following functions to ACSIL to get order fills: int sc.GetOrderFillEntry(unsigned int FillIndex, s_OrderFillData& FillData) and int sc.GetOrderFillSize().
    • All user drawn chart drawings now have a non-zero LineNumber assigned to them that can be used to access/modify the drawing from ACSIL. In addition, when user drawn chart drawings are added from ACSIL, the LineNumber of the drawing can be auto-allocated by passing in a value of zero, and the actual value is returned to the user after the sc.UseTool call. You can still expressly set the line number of a new user drawn chart drawing in ACSIL.
  • 1129 Release Date: 2014-04-29

    • The Open Profit/Loss calculation for the current Trade Position displayed on the Trade Window and the Position Line on the chart, now uses the Bid and Ask prices instead of the last trade price. The Bid price is used for Long positions and the Ask price is used for Short positions.
    • Added support for overnight Trade Positions when using AMP TT Net.
    • With the Numbers Bars and Numbers Bars Calculated Values studies, setting the Font Size input to zero, the default, will auto size the font based on the available vertical space. To use a specific font size, set the Font Size input to the font size that you require.
    • There is now an option for the DOM Graph to show the Bid and Ask prices.
    • The full ACSIL "sc" structure is now passed to a GDI drawing function defined by custom study DLL.

*Last modified Sunday, 25th February, 2024.