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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.

• 2706 Release Date: 2024-11-17

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  • The change with timers made in 2702 has been temporarily reverted in version 2706. Based upon user feedback, we believe it is best that for charts there is an option to use Windows based timers or Sierra Chart based timers. Therefore, a user can choose between either.
    
    Throughout the rest of the program only Sierra Chart timers will be used because it is not possible to have an option to implement different types of timers in other parts of the program.
    
    Currently in 2706 only Windows-based timers are used. In the next release, Sierra Chart timers will be used throughout the program. However, for charts you will have the option to use Windows-based timers or Sierra Chart based timers.

• 2702 Release Date: 2024-11-04

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  • This version uses, Sierra Chart generated timer events, rather than by the operating system. These timer events, primarily are used to update charts. For example, if the Chart Update Interval is 100 ms, then up to 10 timer events per second will update a particular chart. Timer events are used for various other functions as well in Sierra Chart. The advantage of using Sierra Chart timers is because they completely eliminate all operating system resource usage related to timers, and they are completely stable and accurate. It is a huge advantage in our server environments for us to use Sierra Chart generated timers in order to lower Windows resource usage.
    
    Increasing Windows resource usage causes sluggish behavior, of the Windows desktop.
    
    If you notice, that Sierra Chart is less responsive, in this version and higher, you need to increase the global Chart Update Interval and/or the chart specific Chart Update Interval. This will be the solution.
    
    There are no performance changes, one way or another with Sierra Chart generated timer events. However, what may be happening is that the timer events, are more frequently occurring rather than getting disregarded by the operating system, meaning the chart is more faithfully updated according to the Chart Update Interval. So if you have a performance issue in this version and higher, increase the Chart Update Interval.
    
    For the record, we notice no changes in performance with this version.
    
    Sierra Chart generated timer events, will be dropped/ignored for charts when the chart is not able to be updated as often as the Chart Update Interval. For example, if the Chart Update Interval is 10 ms, which would mean this is 100 updates per second, and a chart is taking 100 ms to calculate and draw at each update, then the most number of events that can occur would be less than 10 per second. Therefore, at least 90 or more of the Chart Update timer events in a second would be ignored in this scenario.
    
    If you notice Sierra Chart is less responsive, with this version and higher our recommendation is to use a higher global Chart Update Interval like 800 ms or higher or even higher. And only those charts which you want to have updated very fast, specify a lower chart specific Chart Update Interval on those. Specify a chart specific Chart Update Interval of 0 on other charts. So you reduce the updating load.
    
    Additionally, refer to Improving Performance Of Chart / Trade DOM.
  • Changed Input for Enable Diagonal Bid Ask Compares to be two new items - Enable Diagonal Bid/Ask Compare with No Data at High/Low and Enable Bid/Ask Ratios with Zeros as Ones.
  • Added two new Numbers Bars Text Types to the Numbers Bars study - Ask Vol Bid Vol Diagonal Difference Ask Side and Ask Vol Bid Vol Diagonal Difference Dominant Side.
  • New study named Numeric Information Reference. This study uses the same tool that is used for the Numbers Bars Calculated Values to allow for up to 10 studies to be displayed in the Numeric Information table. This also allows for the use of coloring the background based on the Minimum and Maximum values found for the referenced study.

• 2679 Release Date: 2024-09-19

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  • Resolved issues, with the chat message list that arose in 2678.

• 2678 Release Date: 2024-09-17

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  • In version 2675, new high-performance Sierra Chart implemented timer functionality was released that significantly lowers the use of Windows resources. This makes a significant performance improvement of Sierra Chart on our servers. We reverted this change, in 2677 for user builds due to some users reporting higher CPU usage. This can be managed by increasing the Chart Update Interval. Apparently this new timer functionality ensures chart updates, at the set Chart Update Interval and not slower if possible. We will be adding this functionality back later.
  • Added new Chart >> Chart Settings >> Display setting: Replay Update Interval in Milliseconds. This is implemented for the above change regarding timer functionality even though that has been reverted for the time being.
  • Performance improvements with chat.
  • Performance improvements with rectangle highlight drawings.
  • EUREX real-time data, must now come from the Denali Exchange Data Feed for all Trading and Data services including Interactive Brokers. It can be activated here.

• 2669 Release Date: 2024-08-16

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  • In Global Settings >> Tool Settings there is this new setting: Display Text Tab on Chart Drawing Properties Window.
  • Add a new setting to Global Settings >> Chart DOM Settings: Chart Trade DOM Recenter Using Bid Ask.
  • Added Flatten Action submenu to the Trade Window menu with three options to control the behavior of the Flatten button action. This also applies to custom studies performing a Flatten.
  • Implemented new ACSIL function: GetAttachedOrdersForACSIL for getting Attached Orders configured on the Trade Window for the chart. This function is likely to be changed in the near future with a new function, that is directly compatible with the Attached Orders on the chart Trade Window.
  • Resolved a problem with the Chart/Trade DOM market data columns, where an exception could occur based on unexpected price configuration.

• 2656 Release Date: 2024-07-11

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  • Implemented solution to issue where some Time and Sales record rows would display when they should be filtered according to filtering settings.
  • Implemented accurate time span calculations for TPO Profiles based on actual time span of bars contained within the profiles.

• 2646 Release Date: 2024-06-13

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  • Resolved a problem with the Text Tool Properties/Configuration window where it was not properly initializing causing unexpected behavior, with the Text drawings and configuration. This is now resolved.

• 2642 Release Date: 2024-05-21

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  • Resolved issues from recent releases with the File >> Open Chat Window >> Commands >> New Chat | Edit Chat windows.
  • Implemented Global Settings >> General Settings >> GUI >> Use Alternate Window Placement Method. Enable this option if there are problems with chart and other windows which are not part of the main Sierra Chart window, not being restored to their correct size and position. Changes to this setting require a restart of Sierra Chart. It needs to be understood with this option that when the window placement is saved and a window is maximized, it is not known what the restored size and position is. The maximized position will only be saved in this case.

• 2628 Release Date: 2024-04-16

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  • The Trade Activity Log Settings window (Trade >> Trade Activity Log >> DisplaySettings), now requires that you set whether you want to view Simulated or Non-Simulated Trade Activity. There is a new Simulation State setting that controls this. This is no longer determined from the selected Symbol or Trade Account to determine if Simulated or Non-Simulated trade activity is queried. Additionally, the Symbol setting, also in the Trade Activity Log Settings window, needs to be reselected to be a valid specific symbol or exactly "All Symbols" (with no other text like [Sim] which is now unsupported).
    
    Internally, it is more organized and better structured in this version to perform the checks for determining what records to include and not include when a query is performed when reading the records from the files.

• 2627 Release Date: 2024-04-05

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  • Added support for the TWS Positions request and response messages which support all trading accounts without having to stop and start account updates for the different accounts. We saw issues with implementing support for this function in the past, but we have now worked out a solution.
  • Corrected a compatibility issue between the Sierra Chart chat client messages and server messages. This version is required to be used effective as of the evening of April 5, 2024 to connect to the chat when using the Chat Window (File >> Open Chat Window).

• 2617 Release Date: 2024-03-17

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  • Resolved some issues with the new Trade Activity Log settings window. This settings window replaces the previous controls at the top of the Trade Activity Log to control what is displayed in the various Trade Activity lists. This Settings Window is opened with DisplaySettings on the Trade Activity Log menu.
  • Added automatic color management for the Chart Values Tool price and time boxes text color. So that if it is set to a color which is very similar to the background color for the price and time boxes, it will be changed to the chart background color automatically.

• 2615 Release Date: 2024-03-14

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  • Resolved a problem from a recent release, where the delayed market orders data from exchanges was not successfully connecting due to invalid login data. This is resolved.
  • Various enhancements to Chat functionality and Telegram integration.
  • New Period Type for TPO Profile Chart study added.

• 2604 Release Date: 2024-02-17

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  • In Global Settings >> General Settings >> Chart, added new Interactive Scale Range Percent Change for Full Region Move (Fractional: .1 = 10%) setting. This controls the sensitivity when using Interactive Scale Range. A larger number is higher sensitivity. A lower number is lower sensitivity. It is a fractional value. You can use as small of a number as you want, even .01. Or you can use a large of a number as you want, even 10. The default value is 1 which you will find will be less sensitive, than what you are used to in Sierra Chart. Adjust this as necessary.

• 2595 Release Date: 2024-02-03

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  • Added new Drawing Tool/Chart Drawing Configuration and Properties windows for some of the drawing tools. There is a known issue with the Anchor fields. Do not edit those. This issue will be corrected with a new release which will be out February 4.
  • New text color setting for the Price and Time boxes for the Chart Values tool. This color setting is in the Graphics Settings window. The name of the color setting is Chart Values: Price and Time Boxes Text Color. You may need to change this color setting to set it to what you require. Otherwise, the text may not be visible.
  • Added in a previous release: Added support for combining the Recent Bid and Ask Volume data when the main Bid and Ask Market Depth data is combined. A new Chart Setting named Apply Combine Increment in Ticks to Recent Bid/Ask Volume Columns controls whether this is applied or not.

• 2591 Release Date: 2024-01-26

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  • Added new option in Global Settings >> Chart Trade Settings to disable the order quantity button functionality on order lines.
  • Add a new setting in Global Settings >> General Settings >> Chart named Interactive Scale Range Movement Adjust Direction. The choices are: Move down decreases range. Move up increases range | Move down increases range. Move up decreases range.

• 2590 Release Date: 2024-01-25

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  • Resolved a problem from a recent release with the Chart Values tool, not displaying rounded prices in the Chart DOM scale. Various performance improvements with the Chart Values tool have also been implemented.
  • Resolved a problem from a recent release, where the font size on Settings type Windows is not correct and was getting cut off at the bottom.
  • Various improvements to real-time Chartbook sharing for this functionality is still not quite ready for general use. We expect it will be ready, by February 1, 2024.
  • The NTP (Network Time Protocol) functionality can now be used and is configured through Global Settings >> NTP Settings. This provides high precision, clock synchronization to a NTP server. Further improvements are being worked on.

• 2577 Release Date: 2024-01-01

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  • Various performance improvements related to chart updating and market depth data.
  • There are these new Chart Settings related to ACSIL: Chart >> Chart Settings >> Performance >> Minimum Chart Update Interval In Milliseconds For ACSIL UpdateAlways | ACSIL Pointer Events Minimum Calling Interval In Milliseconds. They are documented in the corresponding sections in the ACSIL documentation. There is no reason to change these from defaults unless you specifically need to do so.
  • Some internal changes to the implementation of the Message Log. Timestamps are now left aligned.
  • Further performance improvements coming in next release in about two days.
  • Other general development.

• 2569 Release Date: 2023-12-07

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  • When updating to version 2569 or higher, and you are using one of the Spreadsheet studies, it is necessary to check the "Use Column I and J Values Version 2" Input with the studies and make sure it is set as required. This version will reset this back to No.

• 2567 Release Date: 2023-12-01

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  • Corrected a problem from a recent version with the sc.UseTool function that would cause a stack corruption internally in Sierra Chart. This corruption did not create any noticeable problem but it was caught under our debugger. It is resolved. It is very important update to the current version of Sierra Chart.

• 2564 Release Date: 2023-11-09

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  • Some changes with the ACSIL graphics functions. If you are using these functions in a custom study, it is necessary to recompile your custom studies on this version or higher.

• 2560 Release Date: 2023-10-24

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  • Resolved issue with the downloading of historical market depth data.

• 2557 Release Date: 2023-10-11

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  • Corrected problem with Cumulative Delta Bars - Volume rolling calculation functionality.
  • Added new option in Global Settings >> General Trade settings named "Simulated Orders: Use Last Trade Price for Fill when Bid Ask Beyond Last Trade Price". It is self-explanatory.
  • Updates to Gann Fan and Fibonacci Fan drawing tools to give more freedom for cutting.
  • New option to support Scale In functionality when there are not active Attached Orders and only pending Attached Orders. The option is : Global Settings >> Chart Trade Settings >> Support Scale In With Pending Attached Orders Only. When enabled, Scale In functionality is supported with Attached Orders that are in a pending state. It also works with the Attached Orders that are not pending and actually working and Open.

• 2551 Release Date: 2023-09-23

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  • Added full support for graphics functions in ACSIL to support drawing to a chart, using the nearly full functionality of the Windows GDI. These functions are located within the s_sc::s_Graphics structure. Refer to the /ACS_Source/SierraChart.h file for the available functions. These functions are modeled according to the Windows GDI API. Refer to the Windows API documentation for further information on the parameters. Example usage is found in the /ACS_Source/GDIExample.cpp file supplied with Sierra Chart. The huge advantage of these functions is that they provide a very easy and safe to use interface for graphics unlike working with the Windows GDI directly. These functions also work when Sierra Chart is set to use OpenGL. So now custom drawing done by an ACSIL function also works with OpenGL. We still have to implement support for transparency. And we are seeing about the best way to support transparency.
  • Revision 47616: It was needed to disable the ACSIL variable: sc.TransparencyLevel. This has been renamed to sc.TransparencyLevel_Unused and it is no longer used. You need to use these ACSIL functions instead: sc.GetChartStudyTransparencyLevel(sc.ChartNumber, sc.StudyGraphInstanceID), sc.SetChartStudyTransparencyLevel(sc.ChartNumber, sc.StudyGraphInstanceID, 50). The 50 is just an example transparency percentage.

• 2547 Release Date: 2023-09-15

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  • Resolved an exception issue related to periodic monitoring of Futures contract rollovers. It is strongly recommended to update to this version or higher.
  • Resolve an issue with OpenGL related to fonts related to the most recent font changes. This may resolve the exception/crash issue some users have experienced when using OpenGL.
  • Added High resolution coordinates for relative window positioning for chart drawings in ACSIL. s_UseTool::UseHighResolutionForWindowRelativeCoordinates. With this set to 1, the range of coordinates is now from 0 to 10,000, both vertically and horizontally.
  • Various enhancements to the chat functionality. This will soon support screen sharing and remote control.
  • Added support for user set server-based risk management. This is only currently available the trading evaluator service. Will become available for Teton order routing soon.
  • Changes to Font Size handling within Sierra Chart.
  • Continued development related to adding trade window functionality to the Control Bars.
  • Added the ability to enable Control Bars on attached charts through Window >> Control Bars-Chart.
  • Various other development, an issue is resolved. For example, various things requested on the Support Board and issues presented, have been added and resolved.

• 2516 Release Date: 2023-06-27

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  • There has been an issue reported from time to time mainly among users using Sierra Chart on Wine. This is when adding accounts to the Order Allocation to Trade Accounts interface, that Sierra Chart abnormally shuts down. We always have believed that this looks like a problem in Sierra Chart but we just could not find it. We had reviewed the code more than once and we could not identify the issue. However, once we were able to reproduce the issue, it then became clear where the problem was. It was deeper in the code then than we had looked previously. This problem is now resolved in this version.
  • Improvements to the Chart Studies window. It is now possible to "Load" Study Collections directly from that window. When you load a Study Collection it will be applied to the chart immediately. The window has also been reorganized so that the Studies to Graph list is larger.

• 2504 Release Date: 2023-05-18

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  • Improvements with the Spread Order Entry study: 1. Identified a problem where the order quantities after triggering that are displayed in the Chart Region where the study is, were just showing a zeros. This is resolved. 2. There was no price multiplier applied in the case of Trading services which use a multiplier other than 1 for market orders for symbols different than the chart, but that did not affect order fills in any way. This was just a display issue in the Trade Orders window. This is fixed. 3. We added what price the spread was at when the study triggered, to the on chart display.
  • Added support for real-time and delayed data for the new US Equities Consolidated Tape data feeds. Added support for delayed data for the NASDAQ Global Indexes data feed.
  • With the Order Allocation to Trade accounts functionality, when performing a Flatten operation from a chart set to a particular Symbol and Trade Account, that Flatten operation will be copied to the other Trade Accounts for the same symbol and there will be a re-determination as to what the Position quantity is for that other Symbol and Trade Account. Rather than copying the identical order from the controlling chart, the appropriate quantity to Flatten the Position will be used for the Position, if any, for the symbol in the other Trade Accounts.

• 2494 Release Date: 2023-04-21

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  • The following ACSIL member variables are no longer supported: sc.ChartBackgroundColor, sc.UseGlobalChartColors, sc.ScaleBorderColor. They have been replaced with the following ACSIL functions: sc.GetGraphicsSetting(), sc.SetGraphicsSetting(), sc.SetUseGlobalGraphicsSettings(). These new functions provide a full comprehensive access to all color and graphic settings of the chart. Documentation will be added for these new functions as soon as possible.

• 2492 Release Date: 2023-04-11

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  • Added support for the new NASDAQ Global Indexes data feed and the new United States Equities Consolidated Tape data feed.
  • Corrected issue with modifying trade order price through the modify order window that use fractional values. Previously, the fractional price was not included in the modification. This is now resolved.
  • Added new chart shortcut menu command for starting a replay from the point in the chart that you right-click at with your Pointer to display the chart shortcut menu.
  • New ACSIL functions for getting and setting colors, line widths, and line styles, for charts graphics.
  • Removed support for Trading Technologies order routing.
  • Added new Blank Volume Profile style for the Volume by Price study to prevent the drawing of the Volume Profile itself. You can use this in case where you want to have the extension lines but not the volume profile itself.

• 2480 Release Date: 2023-02-07

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  • Updated the interface to Interactive Brokers TWS to resolve compatibility issues. The updates done in 2474 were incomplete and there were numerous other changes required. In version 2474 through 2479, there was essentially broken compatibility with TWS due to breaking changes by Interactive Brokers. At this point we do not expect there to be further compatibility issues with Interactive Brokers TWS with version 2480 and higher. For more and complete details, refer to this support board posting.

• 2478 Release Date: 2023-01-31

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  • Added new Control Bar buttons to select order types.
  • Add a new setting the Chart Settings to include or exclude a chart from the Trade Statistics for Charts tab on the Trade Activity Log.
  • Numerous enhancements to the Chat (File >> Open Chat Window) functionality including Telegram integration.
  • Corrected a problem affecting the Teton order routing service, where under some conditions which are not common, when there is a reconnection to Teton order routing server, the Intraday chart data for one symbol may not update. This is resolved.
  • Included Trailing Stop as an order type for the Chart DOM.
  • Working on updating integration to Interactive Brokers TWS to resolve compatibility issues related to changes by Interactive Brokers. This is not completed and we cannot guarantee any successful elimination of compatibility issues.
  • Subaccount support for Simulated Trading Service and Teton order routing.
  • Various other development including new ACSIL functions. And minor issues resolved.