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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.

• 2124 Release Date: 2020-06-17

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  • Support for replaying past simulated trade fills for non-simulated/live trading.
  • Corrected a problem from the prior release where for a new opened Intraday chart, the Session Times that are preset were not being converted to the correct time zone and were left in UTC time instead. This is now resolved.
  • Added separate Bid and Ask coloring options for quantities displayed in the Market Depth Historical Graph.
  • Fixed a problem with floating point rounding in the Market Depth Historical Graph that came about due to the changes for the Combine Increment in Ticks.
  • Fixed a problem with floating point rounding when using Combine Increment in Ticks on the Chart/Trade DOM (Chart >> Chart Settings >> Market Depth >> Market Depth Combine Increment in Ticks). Previously some of the data would not get combined properly as they were being put into the wrong price level due to rounding errors.
  • Partially reduced memory usage for Market Depth Historical Graph.
  • Added error handling for OpenGL related to memory allocation failures. This may resolve some stability issues encountered when using OpenGL some users have reported. We have done extensive testing with OpenGL and we have not seen any exceptions or stability issues. Instead we have been very impressed with the performance and the 100% stability of when using OpenGL in Sierra Chart. We have tested on three different systems for multiple days at a time using Chartbooks provided from users. In some cases, it is clear that the stability issues some users are reporting relate to using custom studies. In this case refer to help topic 17.

• 2118 Release Date: 2020-06-07

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  • New Input setting: Combine Increment in Ticks for the Market Depth Historical Graph study. This will combine the specified number of Market Depth levels together and place the result at the rounded price level for the combined levels.
  • Discovered and resolved a problem where there is potentially an inefficiency when the Enable Estimated Position in Queue Tracking for orders option is enabled in the General Settings >> Chart Trade Settings. This inefficiency would only exist when there are hundreds or more of levels of market depth data for a symbol being received. It is recommended to disable this option unless you have a definite requirement for it. The reason that this feature has been an option, is that there has been a concern about the performance impact of it since it was first implemented many years ago.
  • Support for replaying past simulated trade fills. When replaying a chart, when in chart trade mode and there were past order fills which have not been cleared, as the time is encountered in the chart where the order fill occurs, then it will display on the chart if the chart is set to display order fills. Eventually this will also support replaying of live trade fills as well. The complication of replaying of live trade fills is that live accounts cannot be selected when in Trade Simulation Mode which is on during a replay.

• 2117 Release Date: 2020-06-04

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  • New commands to adjust Target and Stop orders to selected price through keyboard shortcuts: Move Target Attached Orders to Price and Move Stop Attached Orders to Price.
  • Resolved a problem from a recent release where when during a Chart Replay, market depth level order quantities, could overlap each other. This related to the best Bid and Ask prices also updating the first level of market depth due to a time zone conversion issue.
  • Added the Chart >> Chart Settings >> Trading >> Always Simulate Bid and Ask Prices During Replay option. When enabled, this will always simulate the Bid and Ask prices during a replay rather than using what was recorded in the Intraday data file when data is stored tick by tick. Sometimes the use of the actual Bid and Ask prices will cause order fills to be at prices which are several ticks away from the last trade price due to the Bid and Ask data from the exchange lagging behind the last trade prices.

• 2111 Release Date: 2020-05-26

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  • Added greater tolerance for imbalances between the number of market depth levels on the Bid and Ask sides with the Bid and Ask Depth Bars study.
  • Added support for file compression for Chartbooks. This reduces the file size by 98%. In version 2118 and higher, when a Chartbook is saved which uses compression, a backup of the existing Chartbook is made with the suffix .backup2109 followed by the standard file extension.
  • Continued lower-level development related to supporting millisecond time stamping for trades.
  • When a Stop Attached Order is automatically moved to breakeven and is OCO triggered and there is more than one OCO Group, there is no longer a modification of the stop order to the breakeven level in the same OCO trigger group, if the Target order has fully filled. This eliminates unnecessary rejection messages from the trading server.

• 2109 Release Date: 2020-05-22

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  • Corrected a problem when there is a manual reconnect to the data feed, the backup server would be used, for order routing services provided by Sierra Chart. This would include LMAX and the Sierra Chart Order Routing Service. A reconnection will now still use the primary server.
  • Corrected a problem with the Add Additional Symbol study where the Intraday volume data was not being set correctly.
  • Corrected a problem with OCO orders where when manually canceling one side of an OCO order, the other side was not being automatically canceled. The automatic management of OCO orders was still functioning correctly in relation to sibling order fills. This is a recent issue. This issue never applied to bracket orders.
  • Corrected a problem with the size of the highlight box on Chart DOM under certain conditions.
  • Corrected problem with the ACSIL sc.GetPersistent*Fast functions where initially when used, a memory address returned could become invalid when calling the same sc.GetPersistent*Fast function again to access more than one persistent variable. This would result in the stored persistent data being stored in an invalid location and then next time the variable is accessed with the function that value would not be accessed. This would only occur on the initial use of the sc.GetPersistent*Fast functions.
  • Corrected a problem with sending Chartbooks using the new file format using the File >> Send File to User functionality.
  • When the Subscribe RT Data and Download Historical Data During Scan option was disabled, during a scan, historical data for the chart was still being downloaded if it needed to be. This is now resolved and the historical data will not be downloaded.
  • Saved Default Study settings has now been reimplemented using the standard file format used for Study Collections and Chartbooks for studies. These files are now saved in the /DefaultStudySettings subfolder in the Sierra Chart installation folder. Existing Default Study settings from prior versions that were saved are no longer compatible and you need to resave them in this version or higher.

• 2104 Release Date: 2020-05-13

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  • New enhanced Chartbook file format. This format offers the following advantages:
    -About 20-27% reduction in file size.
    -Faster saving. Done on a background thread.
    -Common file format. Same as trade activity log.
    -Variable length strings. So there is no longer any length limit for alert conditions, or the trade window text tag, or study short names, or subgraph short names.
    -The permanent storage block for studies is now 4K rather than 512 bytes.
    -Compatibility with upcoming change for date and time values to support microsecond time stamping.
    
    Chartbooks saved in this version are not compatible with version 2092 and earlier, however a backup of the version of your Chartbooks before this file format change is made. "Backup2092" is added to the file name in the copy of the file made. This copy of the Chartbook can be used in earlier versions just by opening it through File >> Open Chartbook.
    
    The backups are directly contained within the Data folder for immediate access. No need to go to the Backups folder. You can go back to a prior version of Sierra Chart. If using version 2092 or earlier, you can then open your Chartbooks that have the name: [Chartbook name].Backup2092.Cht. You can then do a File >> Save As to save back them to the original name.
    
    Trade Window configurations and Study Collections also use the new file format. So these files when saved in 2093 and higher, do not work in earlier versions. However, there are backups made of these files in 2094 and higher in the usual way in the Backups folder.
  • New method for referencing drawings in Alerts. This allows for referencing the value of the drawing at a bar position relative to the current bar. For more information, refer to Referencing Chart Drawings in the Alerts documentation.
  • The sc.PersistVars data structure in ACSIL has been removed and is now a null pointer. Code that uses this needs to be updated to use the new persistent variable functions.
    
    For more information, refer to Notice: Study Exceptions in New Versions and Code Efficiency. Older custom studies that use sc.PersistVars need to be modified and recompiled or they will cause exceptions given in the Message Log. If you are using User Contributed Studies you need to enable "Install Optional Components" on the Sierra Chart installer when updating, to get the newest User Contributed Studies DLL file. Otherwise, some studies will cause exceptions.
  • New Scroll Wheel option for changing bar spacing in Global Settings >> General Settings >> GUI >> Scroll >> Scroll Wheel. The new option supports changing the bar spacing and maintaining the same position of the current bar being pointed to with the Chart Values tool when holding the Shift key.
  • New color settings for the Volume by Price study to support Bid Volume and Ask Volume horizontal volume bar coloring for the Point of Control and Value Area.
  • Support for triggering identical re-downloading of historical data in main instance from sub instance.
  • Support for moving client-side manage Attached Stop orders to breakeven.
  • New Study Subgraph Draw Styles added.
  • Corrected a problem with Trading Statistics reset time in a chart when a chart is using a different time zone as compared to the global time zone setting in Sierra Chart.
  • Other development and various issues resolved.

• 2090 Release Date: 2020-04-21

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  • New Input settings for the Large Volume Trade Indicator to control whether the Squares or Circles are drawn, and whether the Volume text is transparent or has a background.
  • Resolved a exception issue with studies that could occur under some rare conditions.
  • Resolved a problem where data for historical daily chart data files in the main instance of Sierra Chart was being unnecessarily downloaded for continuous futures contracts charts in a sub instance.
  • Added new ACSIL functions: sc.GetBidMarketDepthStackPullSum, sc.GetAskMarketDepthStackPullSum, sc.GetChartReplaySpeed, sc.GetYValueForChartDrawingAtBarIndex.
  • When using the Chart >> Chart Settings >> Split Data Records option, only last trade price is repeated for the new split records rather than the original open, high, low values.
  • Enhancements to the Percent Change Since Open study. It now supports any timeframe for the calculation (minutes, hours, days, weeks, months) and can be based on other studies.
  • Added Volume Point of Control for Bars study.
  • Resolved problem where there can be overlapping market depth quantities in the market depth displays during a chart replay. This is when historical market depth data has been recorded and is being replayed.
  • The Error Filtering settings and functionality has been removed. It is something that should never have been added and is simply not useful and by default it has been disabled for at least 7+ years now. It is a nonsense feature which makes no sense. There simply are no real errors which exist in the market and it is not the proper way to handle any incorrect or out of range pricing condition anyway.
  • Continued development of new Chartbook Format.
  • Various low-level development and improvements and issues resolved.

• 2079 Release Date: 2020-04-06

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  • Resolved a FIX client order identifier issue for linked orders. In most cases this did not cause a problem but did cause a problem in version 2072 with connections that use the DTC protocol. The area of code this issue arose in, has been completely changed to ensure there is no possibility of a condition like this ever occurring again and this will be released in version 2080.
  • Restored this from version 2072 which was reverted in 2078: "Resolved a Server Order ID mapping issue with the Sierra Chart Order Routing Service and LMAX which could occur under rare scenarios. This issue only potentially occurs when a backup order routing server is connected to when there are open orders."
  • Continued development of new Chartbook Format.

• 2078 Release Date: 2020-04-05

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  • Prerelease 2077 has a new Replay Mode named Calculate Same as Real time. This is what we recommend to use instead of Accurate Trading System Back Test Mode if you have any performance issues with Accurate Trading System Back Test Mode.
    
    This is a much more practical mode to be using and provides much better performance. And will give a result which is much more consistent to real-time updating. This is also a mode which should be considered as an accurate mode and is much faster. It is a good balance between bar based back testing and Accurate Trading System Back Test Mode.
  • Resolved a problem from recent releases with continuous futures contract charts when Loading by Date Range and the ending date is not specified.
  • This has been reverted in this version and versions 2072 through 2077 have been locked out for SC order routing users: "Resolved a Server Order ID mapping issue with the Sierra Chart Order Routing Service and LMAX which could occur under rare scenarios. This issue only potentially occurs when a backup order routing server is connected to when there are open orders." It revealed a FIX Client Order ID issue which occurs with linked orders. The Client Order ID for linked orders issue has been resolved in version 2079.

• 2072 Release Date: 2020-03-30

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  • When performing a chart replay and not using Standard Replay and instead using one of the back testing modes, if the data loading and study calculations are very time-consuming, there now will be more of an opportunity to stop the replay rather than the user interface being in an often frozen state doing calculations.
  • Implemented support for multiple connections from the Denali Exchange Data Feed to the same computer system.
  • Resolved a Server Order ID mapping issue with the Sierra Chart Order Routing Service and LMAX which could occur under rare scenarios. This issue only potentially occurs when a backup order routing server is connected to when there are open orders. Users should update to this version or higher as soon as possible.
  • New Color Settings in Graphics Settings: "List Box Header Color", "List Box Adjust Header Width Divider Color", "List Box Header Divider Color", "List Box Header Text Color". Adjust these color settings to get the appearance you like for the headers for the different listboxes within Sierra Chart. This lets you control the headers independent of operating system colors.

• 2070 Release Date: 2020-03-24

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  • Default Currency Code for stock symbols when using Interactive Brokers has been removed from the Global Settings >> Data/Trade Service Settings and now must be specified on stock symbols other than simple US stock symbols. Refer to Stock Symbol Formats for Interactive Brokers. The default currency code setting has been out of date now for about two months due to recent changes to stock symbol formats for Interactive Brokers.
  • Corrected a problem with the Trading System Based on Alert Condition study where when studies that it depends upon are calculated at an earlier index than the last calculated index, there was an incorrect bar index internally specified for the buy/sell entry/exit functions. This would cause entry/exit signals from the prior bar starting with the starting calculation index where the alert condition was true being followed, when they should have been ignored.
  • When selecting Help >> Install Previous Version, the prior version of Sierra Chart previously installed before the latest update, will be installed. This allows for a very easy method of rolling back without remembering the prior version number.
  • We are in the process of changing the visible button text for some Control Bar buttons to be more descriptive. In those cases there may be two lines of text. You can change the button text to whatever you want through the Control Bar Button Properties. You also have the ability to adjust the font size of that text per individual button. For the new multiline text that is being updated for some buttons, the default is an 8 point size but we may remove that and leave the default at the global Control Bar Text size. To change the global Control Bar Text size, refer to Control Bar Buttons Text Size. Any customizations you have made to Control Bar Buttons will remain when updating to this version.

• 2068 Release Date: 2020-03-19

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  • "Periodically Save Sheet In Minutes (0 = Disabled)" Input for Spreadsheet studies has been implemented.
  • Jump to previous and next order fill commands added to the Trade menu.
  • Even distribution method for trading Scale In has been added.
  • New Chart/Trading DOM order entry types to move stops and targets to price.
  • Changes to the Inputs to the Large Volume Trade Indicator study to support enhancements. There are now separate Inputs to control the Marker Style and whether Text is displayed or not.

• 2066 Release Date: 2020-03-12

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  • Added new Even Distribution option for Trading Scaling Out. This will also be supported with Scaling In in the next release.

• 2065 Release Date: 2020-03-11

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  • Control Bar buttons for drawing tools now use single or multiline text with an 8 point font size by default. This is because the previous images are too small on 4K monitors and based upon the color of the button, they may not be well visible. While larger images could be used for higher resolution monitors, text is very easily scalable based on resolution. There is also no question as to the particular drawing tool that a button is for. It is supported to use the previous images. To do this, follow the Control Bar Button Properties instructions and in particular follow step 10.
    
    We are not intending to cause users any difficulties, but there was a significant issue with the images where they were not legible on very high resolution monitors. This has been reported many times to us. And images in general, have difficulty with scaling and visibility problems based on the background color.
    
    This is why we deliberately came up with a method and took the detailed time to implement this, by which you could still use the default drawing tool image but not have to specifically select a particular image file. This is a very easy process through the Control Bar Button Properties window where you press the Reset button and choose the option to Use Image. This is all. It is a few seconds per button. Also, you do not even have to use the Reset button either. We are just saying that for completeness.
  • Resolved an issue where a Target or Stop Attached Order would not activate when the parent order fills, if either the Target or Stop order in the same OCO group was canceled before the parent order filled. This is now resolved. This was not a common scenario.
  • When using the Volume by Price study and the Volume Bar Calculation Method is set to other than Total Volume, now the Value Area and Point of Control calculations are based upon the selected Calculation method.
  • New ACSIL functions added: sc.GetStudySummaryCellAsDouble, sc.GetStudySummaryCellAsString, sc.StartChartReplayNew, sc.GetSymbolDescription, sc.GetTradeWindowTextTag, sc.StartScanOfSymbolList, sc.StopScanOfSymbolList.
  • Added new studies: Trading the Nines, Moving Average Elastic Volume Weighted, Trade Quantity Graph, Generalized Double Exponential Moving Average, Rollover Date Display.
  • New data line formats for Trading Levels study: "Date, Label, Color, Width, TopValue, BottomValue", "Date, Label, Color, Width, Value". Performance improvements for the Price Levels study.
  • Resolved issue with scale out, when either the Target or Stop Attached order has been canceled and a scale out operation is performed after. In this particular case, the scaling out would not have been performed. This is now resolved.

• 2060 Release Date: 2020-03-04

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  • New TPO profile chart shortcut menu commands to change the subperiod display style and also enable or disable text data above or below TPO profiles on the chart.
  • Resolved a rare issue which could cause an exception in the network socket communication processing thread when a network connection which uses TLS is closed. It is recommended that all users update to this version or higher. This issue is rare. We found it during some unrelated testing and we think it has been rarely encountered if at all. It only affects connections which use TLS.
  • Implemented support for a more compact message from the Transact data feed. This message does not provide market depth data. Version 2061 implements an even more compact message.
  • Rithmic order modification issue related to when the order quantity does not change, is resolved.
  • When using the DTC server in Sierra Chart, market data requests are no longer allowed from remote systems. Only requests which come from the local system are allowed. This is to ensure compliance with market data rules from exchanges.

• 2056 Release Date: 2020-02-21

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  • OpenGL performance improvements.
  • Corrected a problem using OpenGL where multiple transparent objects on a chart would not display with the proper color and would appear black.
  • Corrected a problem with connections to FXCM demo trading accounts.
  • The calculations during the processing of market depth data during a chart replay, are now consistently done at the end of a related batch of depth updates. This makes calculations like the market depth pulling and stacking values consistent during a chart replay as compared to real-time chart updating.

• 2055 Release Date: 2020-02-21

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  • Implemented avoidance of a situation where when modifying the price of an order on the client side like from automated trail order management, where this order has a new order quantity still in transmission to Sierra Chart from the server due to bracket order management, the quantity on the server is maintained rather than getting overrided by an incorrect quantity from the client side. This solves a condition which we have seen sometimes over the years which can result in an incorrect final order quantity for a child/attached order.
    
    This feature is only available with the Sierra Chart Order Routing Service. It is not supported with any other service. And this is yet another reason why if you are serious about futures trading, the best choice is to use the Sierra Chart Order Routing Service.
  • Added new study - Moving Average - Generalized Double Exponential.
  • Fixed issue with Parallel Lines/Rays when extending in both directions.

• 2050 Release Date: 2020-02-14

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  • Updated the STIX study to be able to reference the Add Additional Symbol study within the same chart.
  • Added new Input to Volume by Price study to control whether future intersection extension lines stop at a volume profile, or at intersecting chart bar.
  • Resolved an issue with the Quote Board when using a scroll wheel which could cause an abnormal shutdown of Sierra Chart.
  • Redundant connection support when using the LMAX trading service. If the connection to the primary server fails, the backup server is used. This applies to both market data and for trading.
  • Removed support for CQG Demo accounts. Users instead need to use the Simulated Trading Service for simulated trading using a server-side environment. Additionally, the Delayed Exchange Data Feed is available for trial users and Advanced package users. These services provide a high quality of service far and above which is available with a CQG demo account. You have access to outright futures data, futures spreads and futures options data. All of these types of markets can be traded.
    
    One reason a CQG account should be avoided is because after the demo period is up which would be at most 30 days, you are locked out of that account for good. You have no access to market data, you have no access to your orders, positions, or fill history.
    
    Whereas with Sierra Chart, you have access to your simulated account as long as you want. You can have access to the delayed futures data feed as long as you want without paying any exchange fees. You are in control rather than having your account suddenly withdrawn because the trial has ended. With Sierra Chart, all that you have done with the program, including creating Chartbooks, the recorded daily, intraday and market depth data, and all of your trading history, all remains with your Sierra Chart installation at all times under your own control.
  • When updating to version 2048 or higher, it is necessary to convert the trade activity log format. This is necessary to support proper delete trade activity operations and to optimize queries. To do this follow the steps below:
    1. Select File >> Disconnect.
    2. Select Global Settings >> Convert Trade Activity Format.
    3. Select File >> Connect to Data Feed.
    4. This procedure only needs to be done once.

• 2048 Release Date: 2020-02-08

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  • Corrected a problem where under some conditions when left clicking on a Chart/Child window tab or Chartbook tab, the mouse pointer capture was not getting released preventing interaction with the menus or control bar or other elements of the main program window until you switch to another window and back again.
  • Added a new ACSIL flag variable to s_UseTool to control whether a user drawn drawing can be copied to other charts or not. And also a Chart Drawing can be right clicked on and you can select the command to control whether it can be copied to other charts or not. This command has to be added to the Chart Drawing menu first.
  • Added support for new bond Price Display Format options. This includes, half, quarter, and eighth 32nds. When using CBOT bond futures symbols in Sierra Chart, you must update to this version or higher. All of the Symbol Settings for all the different supported services that support CBOT futures, have been updated to use these new formats. Otherwise, the bond prices will not display properly.

• 2044 Release Date: 2020-02-01

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  • This change from a recent release has been reverted for the Trade Statistics calculations in a chart: The reset now only is performed when there is an order fill in a new trading day and not when the time is merely encountered according to the time in the chart.
    
    A reset of the daily trade statistics will now occur when the new trading day is encountered even when there is not a new fill in a new trading day.
  • There was a problem with performing a trade activity query for trade accounts with [ ] characters. This was a problem for simulated Transact accounts. This is now resolved in this release. One effect of this issue is that order fills would not display on a chart for these simulated accounts.

• 2043 Release Date: 2020-02-01

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  • The historical Intraday data service for the Gain Capital trading service has changed. This is a mandatory update and it supports the new historical intraday data implementation for Gain Capital users. You need to update to this version or you will lose access to historical Intraday data if you are using Gain Capital.
  • The current Chart Drawing Tool is specific to each individual chart and is no longer global.
  • Added new study - Moving Average - Elastic Volume Weighted

• 2039 Release Date: 2020-01-25

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  • Corrected a problem from a recent release where historical data downloads and real-time data requests were failing when using CME group spreads with the SC Data-All Services service.
  • Corrected an apparent problem with the Daily Profit/Loss reset time under some conditions within a chart. The reset logic has been simplified. The reset now only is performed when there is an order fill in a new trading day and not when the time is merely encountered according to the time in the chart.

  • Added new sub window/tab to the Trade Activity Log that shows the consolidated view of profit/loss and other relevant statistics, per symbol and trade account. The number of fields here will be expanded upon.
  • Support for Top Step Trader through Rithmic has been removed. You will need to use an older version of Sierra Chart if you want to use Top Step Trader. There is also available the Simulated Futures Trading service which can be used.

• 2036 Release Date: 2020-01-15

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  • When using either the Rithmic or Interactive Brokers trading service historical Intraday data for stocks and futures from the Sierra Chart Historical Data Service now requires using the Advanced Service Package, or one of the Real-time Exchange Data Feeds Available from Sierra Chart. Otherwise, the historical Intraday data will be downloaded from these services only. There is going to be less data available and the downloads will be slower.
  • Fixed miscellaneous drawing issues related to modifications made to copied drawings on an inverted chart.
  • Added new option in Global Settings >> Chart DOM Settings for Display Cumulative Last Size in Current Traded Total Volume. When enabled, the Cumulative Last Size is displayed in the Current Traded Total Volume column at the current Price Level. The coloring of the number is determined by the settings for the Cumulative Last Size.
  • New Numbers Bar Background Coloring and Text Coloring option added named Based on AskVol BidVol Difference Percentage of Max Dominant Side.
  • Added ACSIL Functions: sc.GetStudySummaryCellAsDouble, sc.GetStudySummaryCellAsString.
  • In this release, there is now automatic mapping of simple US stock symbols from 1 to 5 letters for market data and trading, to the more complex Interactive Brokers stock symbol format. This is also true of when using symbols like this in the past: GLD-STK-SMART/ARCA-USD. In all of these cases you will need to use simple stock symbols like IBM for US stocks. Therefore you need to change the symbols of existing charts for US stocks to the new simple format.
    
    If a symbol requires a primary exchange like with the GLD example above this requires that Sierra Chart set up the mapping for that symbol. The symbols that have this mapping are listed in File >> Find Symbol >> Specific Stocks. We can add other symbols on request.
    
    If you require market depth data for US stock symbols, you will have to use the more complex longer format and specify a non-SMART exchange.
  • Line extensions when using the Ray, Parallel Rays and Pitchfork drawing tools now use the logarithmic scale when the chart is set to a Logarithmic scale and Global Settings >> Tool Settings >> Support Curved Lines on Logarithmic Scale is disabled.
  • CTS hardware ID check has been restored for the time being. But this cannot be relied upon to remain longer term.
  • General performance improvements with study calculations.

• 2032 Release Date: 2020-01-02

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  • The global Use Order Fill Calculated Position on the Trade menu has been removed because the implementation is unnecessary and not logical. Instead you need to be using the chart specific setting which is on the Trade Window and documented in the Use Order Fill Calculated Position section.

• 2031 Release Date: 2019-12-30

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  • Improved the conversion to a common currency ( Global Settings >> General Trade Settings >> Common Profit/Loss Currency) so that it is able to convert to more currencies from particular source currencies by using an intermediate currency.
  • Totals for market depth pulling and stacking market data columns are displayed.
  • The number of decimal places when a profit/loss values displayed as a currency can now be controlled and is in Global Settings >> Global Trade Settings.
  • Trade activity data is now stored in files which include the trade account. This improves query performance. Other query optimizations have been made as well.
  • Added Volume by Price Reset Button study. Documentation will be added as soon as possible but this will reset the selected Volume by Price study to start its Volume Profile at the current Date-Time, when the selected Custom Study Button is selected on the Control Bar.
  • Added the MESA Adaptive Moving Average study.
  • Enabling Hide Values Scale in the Chart Settings will no longer hide the Left Hand Values Scale if it is also displayed. To remove the display of both scales, it is necessary to also deselect the option for Use Left Side Scale.

• 2028 Release Date: 2019-12-16

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  • Removed the automatic translation of symbols to the current service when opening a Chartbook. It was removed because it can cause some unexpected behaviors.

• 2027 Release Date: 2019-12-13

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  • The function signature for ACSIL function sc.FormatVolumeValue has been changed. A Boolean type was changed to an Integer type to avoid compatibility and stability issues with compilers other than Visual C++. It is important that if an ACSIL function you have created uses this function, that you recompile for this version or higher.
  • DTC messages s_MarketDepthUpdateLevelCompact2, s_MarketDepthFullUpdate20, s_MarketDepthFullUpdate10 removed for DTC protocol service client and server. If any of these messages are being used by a DTC server or client, it is necessary to use other available DTC messages which have replaced them. The messages, s_MarketDepthFullUpdate10/20, have never been considered efficient messages and should not be used any longer.
  • Replaced s_MarketDepthUpdateLevelCompact with s_MarketDepthUpdateLevelFloatWithMilliseconds in the DTC protocol Server in Sierra Chart.
  • The Intraday chart Session Times will not be allowed to be changed when there is a change to the same symbol but a different contract month within a chart.
  • This version supports more efficient market data over the DTC protocol through new messages which do not transmit the timestamp when the timestamp has not changed.
  • A new Symbol Setting has been added to specify the maximum number of depth levels when subscribing to market depth through the Sierra Chart Exchange Data Feed or the Denali Exchange Data Feed and other Sierra Chart market data services.
  • Corrected an issue with the Edit >> Translate Symbols to Current Service feature where non-futures symbols on a Quote Board would have been cleared rather than left as is. Also the Symbol Input in the Add Additional Symbol study would be cleared if it was not a futures symbol.
  • Removed support for the TD Ameritrade trading service. If Sierra Chart has been previously set to use TD Ameritrade, the service is then changed to SC Data - All Services. If you are using the Sierra Chart/Denali Exchange Data Feed you will still have access to the futures data. In the case of stock charts, they can be set to periodically update. Refer to step 15 in the Sierra Chart Historical Data Service Instructions.
  • This has been removed in version 2028: When a Chartbook is opened, the symbols are automatically translated to match the current service. So this removes the need in most cases to use Edit >> Translate Symbols to Current Service. This command still needs to be used to convert the symbols for Symbol Alerts and the Intraday File Update List.

• 2021 Release Date: 2019-12-02

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  • Corrected an issue with the starting calculation index for studies when they need to start at an earlier calculation index and when that index is not a valid value. This could happen when using the Current Price Line study in combination with the Color Bar Based on Alert Condition study. This is one scenario. There could be others. This problem would be causing a performance issue and is now resolved.
  • In this release and recent releases, when using a Trade and Current Quote Symbol during a chart replay, this symbol will be ignored. There are complications with using this during a replay. However, this also creates a problem that when the replay finishes any remaining open orders, and all of the trading activity is no longer going to be loaded into the chart. We are still working on a solution to this. Most likely the Trade and Current Quote Symbol will be used for replay and we will find another way to resolve the related issues.
  • This version finalizes changes related to the routing of historical data requests for futures data. This is due to some background changes with historical data infrastructure for futures data.

• 2017 Release Date: 2019-11-27

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  • Corrected a problem from version 2010 where when your operating system has been running for 50 days or more, historical data downloads would improperly timeout causing missing data. This is resolved.
  • The function signatures for ACSIL functions: sc.OpenFile, sc.WriteFile, sc.CloseFile have been changed to make the return type an integer rather than a boolean type. Since a boolean type has different sizes based on the compiler. So this is not safe and can cause a custom study to have unstable behavior. This change requires that any custom study using these functions be recompiled for version 2017 or higher.

• 2015 Release Date: 2019-11-22

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  • Working on support for historical data downloading for custom formula symbols. Later it is intended to support trading for custom formula symbols.
  • Within the Numbers Bars study, added a new Input for Highlight Nonzero Bid&Ask at High/Low Threshold that can be used to establish a minimum value that both the Bid and Ask must meet in order to highlight the Nonzero Bid&Ask at High/Low.
  • In the Numbers Bars Calculated Values, corrected an error when determining the coloring for the developing bar in the chart when using the Background Coloring Based on Value Percent.
  • Support for delayed streaming CME Group exchange data.
  • Support for direct integration between Sierra Chart and Microsoft Excel has been removed. One reason among others that support for Excel has been removed is that Sierra Charts internal core is no longer going to be using MFC and interfacing to Excel becomes very complicated using the lower level windows COM functionality and it is not a well-documented area of the operating system. We are working on alternatives to this feature, like automatic saving of the data on a Sheet used by the Spreadsheet Study to a tab delimited file.