Moving Countdown Timer

Once the Countdown Timer is added to a chart, it can be moved anywhere on the chart by right clicking on it and selecting Move Drawing. If this command is not displayed, then add it to the Chart Drawing Shortcut menu. Refer to Customizing Chart Drawing Shortcut Menu.

After right clicking on the Countdown Timer text and selecting Move Drawing, move your Pointer to the new location. As you move your Pointer, the Countdown Timer text will move with it. Left click to set the Countdown Timer text into place.

Alternatively, if the option Support Left Click to Select Chart Drawings is enabled on the Global Settings >> Tool Settings window, then it is possible to Left-Click on the Countdown Timer and Left-Click and hold while dragging the Countdown Timer to the new location.

After the Countdown Timer is initially added, modifying the Inputs Initial Horizontal Position From Left and Initial Vertical Position From Bottom will no longer move the Countdown Timer. You need to use Move Drawing as explained in this subsection.

Inaccurate Countdown Time Value or Amount Remaining | Countdown Time Not Changing

When the Display Continuous Time Countdown Based on Real-Time Clock Input is set to Yes, and the remaining time is clearly inaccurate based upon the timeframe of the chart bars and the last trade time of the last bar in the chart, then the problem is that the computers Date and Time is not set accurately, or the data feed timestamps for the symbol are incorrect, or the data feed for the symbol is lagging.

If the computer's Date and Time is not set accurately relative to the data feed, you can also see a negative time remaining.

Refer to Incorrect Date and/or Time Display to set your computer's clock accurately.

Another problem you can see when using the Countdown Timer on Number of Trades, Volume, Range, Reversal, Renko, Delta Volume, Price Change, Point and Figure Bars, is that it goes negative. In this case you need to set Sierra_Chart for a Tick by Tick Data Configuration to resolve this.

If the timestamps for the symbol from the data feed are incorrect in some way or the data feed for the symbol is lagging, then you must set the Display Continuous Time Countdown Based on Real-Time Clock Input To No. This must be done. There simply is no other solution.

Countdown Timer on TPO Profile Charts

The Countdown timer study can be used on charts that use the TPO Profile Chart study.

The Countdown Timer will display the remaining time from the start of the current subperiod within the most recent TPO Profile until it completes.

The Display Continuous Time Countdown Based on Real-Time Clock Input does not apply and should be set to No when the Countdown Timer study is used on a TPO Profile Chart. Effective with version 1644, this Input is always interpreted to be No, no matter what the setting is.

Inputs

• Initial Horizontal Position From Left: This Input specifies the initial relative position from the left side of the chart that the countdown timer will appear at. The value can be from 1 to 150.
  
  This Input only controls the initial position of the Countdown Timer upon first adding the study to the chart. After that it is ignored. To later move the Countdown Timer, you need to follow the instructions in Moving Countdown Timer.
• Initial Vertical Position From Bottom: This Input specifies the initial relative position from the bottom of the Chart Region that the countdown timer will appear at. The value can be from 1 to 100. 1 is at the bottom of the region and 100 as at the top of the region.
  
  This Input only controls the initial position of the Countdown Timer upon first adding the study to the chart. After that it is ignored. To later move the Countdown Timer, you need to follow the instructions in Moving Countdown Timer.
• Display Value Only: When this Input is set to Yes, then the countdown timer value will be is displayed as a value only without any descriptive prefix. In the case of when the chart bars are based upon a fixed amount of time, the remaining time is always displayed in Seconds when this Input is set to Yes.
  
  When this Input is set to Yes, it is possible to use an Alert Condition Formula with the Countdown Timer study. The countdown time value is outputted to the last Subgraph 1 element for the study. For example, if you want to be alerted when 10 seconds remains on a bar and the chart bars are set to a fixed amount of time, then enter this formula = SG1 <= 10 in the Alerts >> Alert Condition box on the Study Settings window.
  
  Additionally, when this Input is set to Yes, the Countdown Timer value will be outputted to a Sheet when using the Spreadsheet Study. The value will be in the first Subgraph for the Countdown Timer study on the Sheet at row 3. And the Countdown Timer value will be outputted to the Chart Values windows.
• Display Continuous Time Countdown Based on Real-Time Clock: When this Input is set to Yes and the chart bars are based on a time specific period (not Number of Trades, Volume, Range, Reversal, Renko, Delta Volume, Price Change, Point and Figure Bars), then the Countdown Timer will display the remaining time for the bar up to the current second even if there is no trading activity.
  
  In addition to real-time chart updating, this setting when set to Yes also applies during chart replays. However, if the replay is at a higher speed it may not always be completely precise.
  
  Note: In the case of real-time chart updating, this setting requires that your computer's clock to be set 100% accurately and that the trades received from the connected Data or Trading service are accurately timestamped. Otherwise, the displayed remaining time will not be accurate.
  
  Therefore, it is not necessarily a good option to use. For example, your computer's clock may be correct, but the time stamping from the Data or Trading service differs and you can still have an accuracy issue, assuming the external service is being used for trade time stamping.
  
  For information about synchronizing your computer's clock to an Internet time server for high accuracy, refer to help topic 38.
  
  When this Input is set to Yes, it will cause continuous redraws of the chart window until a bar completes. Therefore, it will result in increased CPU usage. Therefore, use it only when necessary and only on a few charts. It is not a good idea to use it on many charts because otherwise you may substantially increase the CPU load.
  
  When this Input is set to Yes, when a chart bar completes, this timer will go to 0. Only when a new bar begins will the timer begin again.
• Display Remaining Range In Ticks: When this Input is set to Yes and it is a Range bar chart, then the remaining range is shown in ticks rather than the actual remaining value. This requires a correct Tick Size setting. This can be set in Chart >> Chart Settings.
• Alert On New Bar: When this Input is set to Yes, then when a bar completes and a new bar is added to the chart, the selected Alert Sound number on the Alerts tab of the Study Settings window for the study will be triggered. For details to configure this particular Alert Sound number, refer to Alert Sound Settings.
  
  If there are multiple bars added at once to a chart, then only one alert sound will be played unless Alert for Every New Bar is set to Yes.
• Transparent Label Background: Setting this to Yes removes the background surrounding the display of the timer information. Note that by default, the text is black and the chart background is black, therefore setting this to Yes will make the timer display disappear. To overcome this, change the Primary Color to something other than Black.
• Alert for Every New Bar: This input only applies if Alert On New Bar is set to Yes. When this Input is set to Yes, then for every new bar added to the chart a separate alert sound will be played. Normally this is the case when Alert On New Bar is set to Yes, but when there are multiple bars added to the chart at once, only one alert sound is played unless Alert for Every New Bar is set to Yes.
• Display Remaining Time as Seconds Only: Setting this to Yes will display the Countdown Timer as seconds only with no notations. In order to reference the amount of time left in a bar in another study or alert, it is necessary to set this to Yes in order to have a valid number to test against.
• Use Current Price for Vertical Position: When this Input is set to Yes, then the vertical position of the Countdown Timer is controlled by the current price for the symbol and not by the Vertical Position from Bottom Input.
• Draw Above Main Price Graph: When this Input is set to Yes, then the Countdown Timer will be drawn above the main price graph. Otherwise, the Countdown Timer will be drawn below the Main Price graph.

Examples

The following are examples that use the Countdown Timer Study in some way.