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Out of Order Timestamps Detected


Solving Out of of Order Timestamps Issue

  1. In the Sierra Chart Message Log (Window >> Message Log), if you receive messages that say out of order timestamps detected like the following:
    [Symbol] 5 Min ## | Out of order timestamps detected. Chart tool drawings and some chart studies may not function properly. Prior Date Time: [Date-Time]. Next Bar Date Time: [Date-Time]. Filename: [Symbol].scid
    Then these messages indicate that the Intraday data file for a symbol contains out of order timestamps for the chart data. This does not mean that the data itself is actually out of order, this is unlikely, but the bar timestamps are out of order.
  2. The recommended method to solve this issue is to re-download the data in the chart by going to the chart and selecting Edit >> Delete All Data And Download on the menu. This only has to be done once for each affected symbol.

    You can also follow the instructions given in the 2.1.2 Deleting and Re-downloading Data section.

    Alternatively, you can go to the Intraday chart data editor through Edit >> Edit/Download Data - Intraday Chart, scroll to the Date-Time just before the out of order timestamps and press the Delete and Download Data from Current Position to End button.
  3. This issue may have been caused by your computers Date and/or Time not being set correctly. To solve this issue, refer to help topic 38 to make certain your time related settings are all correct within Sierra Chart and on your computer.
  4. Optional: If you want to visually see where the out of order time-stamps are in your charts, add the Out of Order Timestamps Detector study by selecting Analysis >> Studies on the menu. After the study is added to the chart, you will see a vertical bar, red by default, at each location in the chart where incorrect time-stamps are detected.

Sunday Morning Trading and Daylight Savings Time

With continuously trading markets like Bitcoin, when there is a transition to or from Daylight Savings Time, this will cause out of order timestamps in a chart at the time of the transition. Usually these transitions occur Sunday Morning which is the case in the United States. For countries that do not use Daylight Savings Time, this will not be an issue.

For example you may see a message like this in the Message Log Out of order timestamps detected. Chart tool drawings and some chart studies may not function properly. Prior Date Time: 2013-11-03 01:58:00. Current Date Time: 2013-11-03 01:00:00. Filename: C:\Data\BTCUSD.scid .

This is completely expected and is simply the result of the time change. Ignore the message in this case.

One solution to this problem is to choose a time zone setting in Sierra Chart that does not use Daylight Savings Time. For additional information, refer to Time Zone Setting. One choice is to use the GMT/UTC (Greenwich Mean Time/Universal Time) time zone. There is no daylight savings time adjustments with this time zone.


*Last modified Wednesday, 22nd February, 2023.