No Historical Chart or Blank Chart | Historical Chart Not Updating | Missing Historical Chart Data

This help topic applies to Historical charts which are opened with File >> New/Open Historical Chart or File >> Find Symbol >> Open Historical Chart. The bar period for Historical chart bars are Days, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly.

For help with similar issues with Intraday charts, refer to Charts not Updating/Blank Charts and Missing or Incomplete Intraday Chart Data.

• 6.1: Blank Historical Chart
• 6.2: Current Bar Not Updating in a Historical Chart
• 6.3: Missing Data in a Historical Chart Due to Missing Data in the Data File
• 6.4: Missing Data in a Historical Chart Due to the Days to Load Setting to Low
• 6.5: Downloading Data Earlier than the First Date in the File
• 6.6: Missing Data in Historical Chart Due to Invalid Symbol
• 6.7: Missing Data in a Historical Chart Due to Not Scrolled to End of Chart
• 6.8: Missing Data in Futures Contract Charts Due to Not Using continuous Contract Option

6.1: Blank Historical Chart

When you create a new Historical chart and do not see any bars, this can be due to using an invalid symbol. Refer to help topic 1.3 (Symbols) about this.

Another problem is that you cannot connect to the data server. In this case, refer to help topic 1.1 (Data or Trading Service Setup Issue. Unable to Connect to Data or Trade Server) or help topic 1.2 (Network Communication or Server Problem).

The next possible problem is that the Global Symbol Settings need to be updated. Refer to Updating Global Symbol Settings. Once the Global Symbol Settings have been updated, re-download the data in the chart with Edit >> Delete All Data and Download.

If you still have a problem with a completely blank chart, then contact Sierra Chart Support. Otherwise, refer to the other sections on this page.

6.2: Current Bar Not Updating in a Historical Chart

If the current day's data does not appear in a Historical chart or the last bar is not updating and you are connected to the data feed, then there are several possible causes:

1. There is a problem with the data feed. Try reconnecting to the data feed by selecting File >> Disconnect on the menu, then File >> Connect to Data Feed on the menu. After this, select Window >> Current Quote Window. See if there is updating of the Last trade, Bid and Ask prices there. If not, then no real-time data is being received from the data feed for the symbol.
2. The symbol of the chart may no longer be valid. Refer to Help topic 1.3.
3. Trading is no longer occurring for the particular future symbol. Refer to Help topic 5.
4. This symbol is not known to the real-time data feed. Refer to Help topic 26.
5. Select Chart >> Chart Settings >> Chart Data and make sure that Disable Data File Updating is set to No.
6. Select Chart >> Chart Settings >> Chart Data. Make sure that Allow Real-Time Updating of Historical Chart is set to Yes.
7. Make sure the chart is scrolled to the end. To do this, select Chart >> Goto End of Chart.

6.3: Missing Data in a Historical Chart Due to Missing Data in the Data File

If there are days missing from your Historical chart, you see just the current day's data, or the Historical chart bars are not updating, then do the following:

In the case of futures contracts, they have a limited life and at most will only go back in time to when trading began for the particular futures contract year and month you are charting. The solution to this is to use the Continuous Futures Contract feature to create a chart which goes back much further in time.

1. Select Chart >> Chart Settings >> Chart Data and make sure that Disable Data File Updating is set to No. Press OK to close the Chart Settings window. This option no longer exists in newer versions of Sierra Chart.
2. It is necessary to have up-to-date Symbol Settings for historical data downloads to work in many cases. Update the Global Symbol Settings by referring to the Updating Global Symbol Settings instructions. This step needs to be followed only once.
3. If you are using a sub instance (started with File >> New Instance) of Sierra Chart, first follow the below steps in the main server instance of Sierra Chart and then follow them again in the sub instance. This must be done in this order.
4. Set Global Settings >> Data/Trade Service Settings >> Common Settings >> Historical Daily Data >> Maximum Historical Days to Download for Daily Data to 18250. Press OK. This step only needs to be done once.
5. Go to the Historical chart that has missing data. Select Edit >> Delete All Data and Download on the menu to fully re-download all data for the symbol of the active chart. Up to 50 years of Historical Daily data, if available, will be downloaded.
   
   If using the Continuous Contract option in Chart >> Chart Settings >> Symbol to create a Continuous Futures Contract chart, then follow the Continuous Futures Contract Chart Re-Downloading instructions instead. In this case stop here.
   
   If you have used either of the above options, skip the next step.
6. Or instead of the prior step, select Edit >> Download Data - Historical Chart, or Edit >> Download Data for All Historical Charts to download data for all Historical Daily data charts that are currently open.
   
   You will now see a window allowing you to select the starting Date. Select the Specific Date option and enter/select a Date that is earlier than the date of the missing data. If you wish to try to get data earlier than the starting Date in the chart data file, then enter that Date in the Specific Date box. Press the OK button to initiate the data download.
7. If there is any trouble connecting to the data server when historical data is being downloaded, refer to Network Communication or Server Problem for help with this.
   
   In some cases the HTTP protocol is used to download historical Daily data. For help with HTTP errors, refer HTTP Communication Errors.

6.4: Missing Data in a Historical Chart Due to the Days to Load Setting to Low

Select Chart >> Chart Settings >> Data Limiting on the menu. Make sure the Days to Load setting is set to the number of days that you want to view in the chart, otherwise data may appear to be missing from the chart.

In the case of futures contracts, they have a limited life and at most will only go back in time to when trading began for the particular futures contract year and month you are charting. The solution to this is to use the Continuous Futures Contract feature to create a chart which goes back much further in time.

6.5: Downloading Data Earlier than the First Date in the Data File

When Sierra Chart is initially downloading Historical Daily data for a symbol from the Data or Trading service you are using or from the set source for the particular symbol, the number of days downloaded will be according to the Global Settings >> Data/Trade Service Settings >> Common Settings >> Historical Daily Data >> Maximum Historical Days to Download for Daily Data setting. The default is 50 years.

However, if for some reason not all data was received and you want to try to get historical data earlier than the first date available in the chart data file for the symbol, then follow the steps below.

In the case of futures contracts, they have a limited life and at most will only go back in time to when trading began for the particular futures contract year and month you are charting. The solution to this is to use the Continuous Futures Contract feature to create a chart which goes back much further in time. In this particular case skip the steps below.

1. If you are using a sub instance (started with File >> New Instance) of Sierra Chart, first follow this procedure in the main server instance of Sierra Chart and then follow it again in the sub instance. This must be done in this order.
2. Set Global Settings >> Data/Trade Service Settings >> Common Settings >> Historical Daily Data >> Maximum Historical Days to Download for Daily Data to 18250. Press OK.
3. Go to the chart where you want to download more Historical Daily data into.
4. Select Edit >> Delete All Data and Download on the menu. The historical data will be downloaded. The chart will be reloaded when the download completes.
5. If you did this in the main Sierra Chart instance and you are using sub instances, then follow the procedure again in the sub instances.

6.6: Missing Data in Historical Chart Due to Invalid Symbol

One reason that a Historical chart may be missing data is because the symbol of the chart is no longer valid. You could have set Sierra Chart to use a different Data or Trading service and the symbol is no longer valid with that particular service.

It also could be that due to symbol changes or changes with the historical Daily data source that Sierra Chart uses, a symbol could become invalid (this particular reason is a less common reason).

In any of these cases you may still notice the last bar in the chart is up-to-date.

The solution to this problem is to go to the Historical chart and select Chart >> Chart Settings >> Symbol. Press the Find button beside the Symbol box and reselect the symbol from the available symbols in the list to make sure you have the correct symbol selected.

6.7: Missing Data in a Historical Chart Due to Not Scrolled to End of Chart

If there is missing data at the end of a Historical chart, then the problem could be that the chart is not scrolled to the very end and therefore the current data is not displayed.

To scroll a chart to the very end, go to the chart and then select Chart >> Goto End of Chart from the menu.

6.8: Missing Data in Futures Contract Charts Due to Not Using continuous Contract Option

In the case of a futures contract chart for a specific contract month (Example: ESH22, where H22 is March 2022), it has a limited life. Therefore, it will only go back so far in time.

To get data further back in time you will need to enable the Continuous Futures Contract option for the chart in Chart >> Chart Settings >> Symbol. This will load in multiple futures contracts in the chart.

For complete documentation, refer to Continuous Futures Contract Charts.