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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.

  • 54

    • New studies added:
    • Positive Volume Index
    • Negative Volume Index
    • Standard Error Bands
    • Money Flow Index
    • TRIX
    • Moving linear Regression line
    • Moving Average-Volume Weighted
    • The following studies have additional inputs added and/or conform to the formulas given in Technical Analysis from A to Z:
    • Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD)
    • Chaikin Oscillator
    • Relative Strength Index (RSI-W)
    • Directional Movement Index
    • Historical Volatility Ratio
    • Bollinger Bands
  • 53

    • The problem with text not appearing on the chart with the chart calculator, Fibonacci, and other tools has been corrected.
    • Improvements with the Spreadsheet study. The Study Moving Average now appears on Spreadsheets.
    • The True High and True Low items in the Input Data input for studies have been changed to the average of high, low, and close and the average of high and low.
  • 52.1 Release Date: 2004-08-19

    • A new Overlay Study with a OHLC bar style has been added. Studies including DLL studies that use the OHLC bar style are now colored to the color settings with the study. This allows you to independently control colors. This also allows DLL studies to color main price graph bars to signal certain conditions.
    • The chart update interval can be set from 200 milliseconds to 60,000 milliseconds. If you are upgrading, then it will default to 1200 milliseconds. To adjust it select Chart >> General Settings on the menu. If you find your CPU usage is high, then use a larger update interval. Using a very short interval (less than 900 milliseconds) is going to require a very fast CPU.
  • 52 Release Date: 2004-08-09

    • Smooth scrolling charts and flicker free graphics. This is a major improvement in the graphics display. The entire screen is redrawn every chart update. This new feature allows DLL studies to change the color of study subgraphs on the fly to signal when certain conditions are met. Additionally, a DLL study can use very wide lines under the study graph display to color a region. That color can be changed on the fly when certain conditions are met.
    • When charts are printed, lines are drawn with increased thickness based on the ratio of your printer resolution to the screen resolution.
    • The Most Recently Used list at the bottom of the File menu has been increased to eight items.
  • 51

    • Corrected a problem with date and time display on Spreadsheets when using the Spreadsheet Study.
    • All three Momentum studies follow the formula in Technical Analysis from A to Z.
    • There is now Rate of Change - Percentage study and Rate of Change - Points study. If you use Rate of Change - Points then this is the same as the old Momentum formula.
  • 50

    • The software can automatically open a chartbook. To open a chartbook automatically when you start Sierra Chart, save the chartbook you want to automatically open with the name "default". Do not use the quote marks.
    • Out of order volume data from the IB data feed no longer causes volume spikes.
    • The Copy to chart.bmp function on the Edit menu is now functional.
    • The software now gives you an alert if it detects a bug in a custom DLL study, and will not shut down.
  • 49

    • The program now passes a random number to IB for the client ID. This allows you to connect multiple running copies of Sierra Chart to IB at the same time.
    • The program counts real-time volume messages from IB as trades. This provides accurate tick counting.
    • A minimum of 2 days of historical chart data for a symbol is downloaded from myTrack even if the data is already in the file. This will give you up to date open interest data for futures since the data is reported late.
    • When the price display format is set to 1/32 and the symbol trades in half 1/32nds, the halves are now displayed.
  • 48

    • IB ticker ID numbers will not conflict with ticker ID's used by other programs connected to the TWS at the same time Sierra Chart is connected. This will allow multiple programs to be connected to the IB TWS at the same time.
    • The tick count in intraday charts is now displayed immediately after the bar closing price on the top line of the window.
    • The Adaptive Moving Average now follows the formula provided in "Stocks and Commodities V13:6"
    • The chart type and bar period or number of ticks are now passed to DLL functions. Refer to the sierrachart.h file for the variables.
  • 47

    • A new tick bar will be started when the date changes in an intraday chart even though the specified number of ticks has not been reached. This allows price gaps to be visible.
    • The "Request ID Number Not Found" message will only be shown once.
  • 46

    • Intraday data can now be stored in units as small as 2 seconds. This allows you to create tick charts, charts with bar periods less than one minute and precise intraday point and figure charts.
    • The Chart Values window scroll position is saved for each chart. When you activate a chart, the scroll position will be restored to the very same position it was when the chart was last used.
  • 45.1 Release Date: 2004-05-04

    • Corrected a problem with downloading historical chart data from myTrack.
    • You will not receive CreateToolhelp32 errors when running the software on Windows NT 4.
  • 45

    • New studies added: Chaikin Oscillator, RSI (for small values), and Historical Volatility Ratio.
    • Corrected a problem with the LSE filter to allow only automatic trades in intraday charts.
    • Improved reporting of invalid symbols in message log.
    • Added commands to the tools menu for switching between charts and chartbooks.
    • Intraday data files will automatically be compressed if your hard drive volume is NTFS formatted. NTFS is supported by Windows XP and NT. This will save disk space.
  • 44

    • The chart symbol and daily volume can now be accessed in a DLL function.
    • A function to make a trendline parallel to another. This command is available on the Tools menu.
    • Fibonacci retracement levels are stored with each drawn Fibonacci lines. Therefore adjustments to Fibonacci levels in the General Settings window will not affect already drawn Fibonacci lines.
    • The ability to erase ranges of trendlines has been added to the "Erase lines" Tool. For example to erase lines 7 to 12, you would type 7-12.
    • Extending trendlines are drawn with virtually perfect accuracy. This should correct the problem where an extending trendline spanning a long-distance would appear to move as a chart scrolls.

      The "Study Draw Width" can now be set to any value.
  • 43

    • A function to adjust existing lines drawn on a chart. This function can be selected from the "Tools" menu.
    • If the option to include only LSE Type A trades is enabled then filtering messages are not displayed in the message log.
    • Corrected a problem which prevented the IB Tick and Trin symbols from working.
    • The setup program no longer stops responding after choosing the installation language if there is an application running on your system that has a window which is in a frozen or hung state.
  • 42

    • Tick and Trin symbols can now be used with IB.
    • Daily data files with .prn extensions are now included in chart scans.
    • The data server port number can now be specified in the Data Source Settings window.
    • Bid and ask data from the IB data service can optionally be included as trades in intraday charts. An option has been added that allows only automatic trades from the LSE to be included in intraday charts. These two options can be enabled by selecting File -> Data Source Settings on the Sierra Chart menu.
    • Corrected a problem where the IB TWS window would repeatedly be brought to the top of the screen while Sierra Chart was waiting to connect to the data feed and shortly after it did connect to the data feed.
    • Corrected a problem where there would be a longer than usual delay when Sierra Chart is trying to reconnect to the IB data feed if it was unable to.
  • 41

    • The problem with version 40 chart graphics going blank under certain conditions has been corrected.
  • 40

    • A new averaging method has been added to the RSI study, this method follows the standard RSI formula.
    • Chart graphics updating has been improved to eliminate any possibility of flicker and when dragging application windows over the chart window, there is no longer gray areas left on the chart.
    • Text labeling has been made more compressed on the chart window, this allows for more data to be seen.
    • Pivot Point formulas are now included within the description for the study.
    • Corrected a problem where the Open File window would not display if the active cell in a Spreadsheet contains a "/".
  • 39

    • Corrected a problem where the New/Open Chart menu commands and other file open commands did not work on operating system versions earlier to 2000/XP.
    • Corrected a problem where Spreadsheet Study formula column names do not display correctly in the charts.
    • Data from IB that has six decimal places is now fully displayed in Sierra Chart.
  • 38

    • The message " Some files not updated during installation." no longer occurs the first time you connect to the data feed. It was never necessary to have rebooted the computer or reinstalled the program to correct this. It was only necessary to restart the program. This problem has been corrected.
    • Improved the feature that automatically logs you in to the standalone IB TWS software when the TWS New Login window is displayed, so that it works reliably every time. To enable the IB TWS automatic Login feature, select File-Data Source Settings on the menu and enable the Retry If Fail to Connect option.
    • Support for IB TWS API version 8 and higher. Support for version 8 and higher means the program uses the high, low and net change information from the data service and allows you to use any type of symbol.
    • The Login button is automatically pressed when the Sierra Chart Login window displays.
  • 37

    • Corrected a problem where a runtime error would sometimes occur when logging into the software when using a firewall. Firewalls should no longer cause a problem.
  • 36

    • Corrected a problem where a user-defined scale for the main price graph may cause flickering. Added complete documentation for the Scale window in the Chart Settings topic in the programs on-line help. If you have been using a user-defined scale for the main price graph because studies cause it to become compressed, then it is recommended that you use the new Same As Region scale range for your studies.
    • German menus have been added.
    • Ability to enable or disable values on the horizontal line and Fibonacci line drawings on the chart.
    • Improvements with the special and out of sequence trade filter for myTrack. Special and out of sequence trades are trades that are filtered from intraday charts to prevent spikes in the charts. All filtering is now listed in the programs message log. Contact support if the program appears to be filtering data it should not.
    • Corrected a problem where chart regions may not keep their exact size over time.
    • The Last Time field on Quote Spreadsheets now includes seconds.
    • The program code for intraday chart updating and IB data processing has been reviewed. No problems were found. Some improvements were made. Any problems with IB charts not updating would be because no data is being received from the IB data feed.
  • 35

    • Improvements with the chart calculator tool.
    • Chart window can be copied to a graphic file.
    • Corrected a problem where trendlines in some cases would not start on the bar you began drawing at.
    • The IB "accept incoming connection" and Login boxes are automatically closed (only the standalone version Login box is closed). The program will reconnect to the data feed if it detects a data feed loss from IB. The program will continuously try to reconnect for one full day. If you're able to start the IB standalone TWS software automatically like through the Windows scheduler, then you will now be able to continuously store data. Review the setup instructions for IB on the Data page on this web site for instructions to continuously store data.
    • Chart grid lines are fully drawn to the right side.
    • The number of Fibonacci levels and Fan tool slopes has been expanded to 11. Fibonacci lines are visible even if the original drawn line is off-screen. Current bid and ask values are passed to DLL functions.
  • 34

    • Study Moving Average study has been added to the program. This moving average study can be applied to any other study.
    • When erasing lines or text, the identifying numbers can be clearly seen.
    • The least squares moving average can be displaced.
    • A References Other Charts option has been added to the Technical Study Settings window. This option can be turned off for the Spreadsheet Study which will prevent automatic recalculation every minute. This will decrease CPU usage. It's only necessary to turn on the References Other Charts option, when a study refers to another chart.
  • 33

    • Can set the minimum number of trades/ticks per bar to base bars on trades instead of minutes. Data is still currently stored in minutes. Therefore this feature does not create perfect tick charts. The ticks per bar is set in the Chart Settings window.
    • Spreadsheet windows for the Spreadsheet studies are now opened in the background.
    • Corrected a problem where the state of the active chart window was not always saved.
  • 32

    • Corrected a problem where tools would not draw properly during chart updating.
  • 31

    • The moving average type for the Slow stochastic can be set to one of five available types.
    • Improvements with the commodity channel index.
    • Charts are now printed completely in color. Corrected a problem where some color bars were not printing.
    • Improved graphics updating to solve a flickering problem some users had on some systems.
    • You can change the symbol in an intraday chart by just typing the partial symbol. If you want to switch to a new symbol type a / before the symbol.
    • IB volume data is no longer multiplied by 100. If you need to adjust volume display you can do this in the Chart Settings window. The existing volume data in your data files can be adjusted to match the new volume format by using the Adjust Data function on the Edit menu. Volume data in intraday charts received with version 30 and earlier needs to be multiplied by .01 to match the new volume format.
  • 30

    • Can run multiple instances of Sierra Chart. This allows using both Interactive Brokers and myTrack at the same time. Instructions for this are on the Data and Trading services page page on this web site in the Interactive Brokers section.
    • New settings for Up and Down bar colors and Candlestick fill color.
    • Data is read from the Interactive Brokers software at the maximum possible speed to avoid any possible delays.
    • Corrected an issue with the Intraday Data editor.
    • Other improvements and more to come.
  • 27

    • Sierra Chart is now integrated to the Interactive Brokers Trading service. Refer to the Data and Trading Services page on this web site for Interactive Brokers setup instructions.
    • An additional input has been added to the Slow Stochastic study.
    • Intraday File Update List: This feature will update Intraday chart data files with current data for a list of symbols whether the charts for those symbols are opened or not. The Intraday File Update List window can be displayed from the Global Settings menu.
    • A control has been added to the General Settings window for the Alert Sound.
    • A Hidden option has been added as a study Subgraph display option.
  • 26

    • Additional improvements with the Pivot Points studies.
    • Volatility study added.
    • Same As Region scale range type has been added to the Scale window.
    • Out of order trade filter for the London stock exchange.
    • Improvements with the Fan tool.
  • 25

    • Pressing the control-t keys will bring up the trendline color window. The common colors are displayed at the bottom and can be more easily selected. The individual Fibonacci retracement levels can be set to different colors. Go to Chart-Graphics Settings on the menu to set them.
    • Trendline width can be adjusted separately.
    • New pivot point study for intraday charts.

*Last modified Sunday, 25th February, 2024.