Sierra Charts

[RogerM]

One of the problems that we all encounter after awhile as new services become available is that we end up wirth a mish-mash of services, all of which cause grief to your monthly visa statement. Also I tend to find that I am paying more than once for the same service and a clearout is required.

For some time now I have been using r/t charts from prophetfinance.com ($19.95 per month), but these have recently been less reliable than before and I'm looking to change to a system that has a greater range of tools and a more user friendly interface - and it must have Fibs - which are not available in prophetfinance Java charts.

I use AIQ for eod in the UK, but I can't have a database of US stocks on the UK version, and I am told that I cannot install 2 versions of AIQ (one for UK and one for the US) on one pc. So I use TC2000 for US eod charts ($29.95 per month), and use the cut-down version of AIQ thru MyBroker (free Silver for ODL clients who trade at least once online per month) for r/t dynamic updating charts ($15 per month). This is OK, but you are limited to 4 charts only at any one time, and they are slow to load.

I know quite a few of you use Sierra Charts (Chartman, Skim, Helen, Options?) and would be grateful for some feedback. I see that MyBroker offers Sierra Charts for $25 per month. Is this just the feed, or is it inclusive of the Sierra s/w? I also understand that you can power Sierra thru IB which is my online broker for the US. I can see that there could be a definite advantage in having charts powered by the same price-feed as the broker whose prices you are trading.

Can you have multiple chart windows open in Sierra charts (as you can with CMC)?

Would this also give me a Sierra eod database to browse offline, or just r/t data? If so, would it be a viable replacement for TC2000, which I quite like for its facility to scan the entire market, or a single index, or a sector based on a list of inbuilt routines, plus those that you can build for yourself.

Of course I could just go for the AIQ TEP r/t from MyBroker for $59 per month, but that seems a bit pricey, particularly as I have already paid a one-off for the eod licence.

Any info offered by existing Sierra users much appreciated.

 

[ChartMan]

The one downside of sierra is that it doesnt hold EOD data on your hard drive, it has to download them on the fly each time you want one. Even worse is the fact that having done titivation with trendlines etc, they are gone when the program closes. OK for me daytrading but really useless for EOD.
The EOD expert is Mr. Mooms who is always in the chat room- pop in and ask him.

 

[Skimbleshanks]

I use separate programs for EOD and real-time, to utilise the best aspects of each.

It's horses for courses, and I find this combination suits me best.

 

[options]

Can't comment on the eod side Roger as up to now I have never used it.
I use Sierra at present for our futures a.m. and mini dow p.m. but all analytic settings are saved and you can scan back days/weeks etc dependent on the settings, once you have begun saving data.
(Though I have never gone back more than one month with these.)
And I haven't delved into the way to download historic data. Take a look at the site because it goes into detail about how to do it. I should think that once you have saved the historic stuff to the system it shouldn't be a problem to keep it updated through the daily feed. Though don't quote me on that.
The standard fib settings work well, and yes, to have a chart being fed by the rt system you trade through is a dream. Would have to think very hard about having seperate data and charting vendors ever again.
It beats my market eye rt feed and charts, which is sad because I prefer the charts through Mkt eye, and all my historic charts came from that.
The only gripe I have is that if you turn the computer off, the chart stops saving and you have gaps when you go back. (Unless I am missing something in the set up of the charts that is? If anyone is saving the the chart data while not having Sierra and IB running please let me know.)
If it were like the java stuff from cmc/lycos etc the missing gaps would not be a problem.
Overall though a small price to pay for rt feed/charts and trading at the price you see.
I think you can trial Sierra and IB together without laying out any dosh.


Good fortune.

Options.

 

[RogerM]

Thanks guys - all very helpful. I'll download Sierra and try the trial with IB. Then I can kick Prophetfinace into touch and have some drinking vouchers left over.

 

[Skimbleshanks]

Ahhh ... this is all very different if you are using the IB feed.

Although I don't do it this way, I understand from those who do, that the IB data contains no historical intraday data. So, if you are online with Sierra and IB for 45 mins then you will have 45 mins data to view, etc.

 

[RogerM]

Options - on re-reading your post, are you saying that if the connection drops (for whatever reason) you have a gap in your chart corresponding to the time spent offline?

 

[RogerM]

Gosh - an answer from Skim before I even asked the question.

Skim - do I take it then that you use MyTrack and that the "hole in the chart" problem doesn't occur with them?

 

[ChartMan]

I get no gaps Roger- Sierra+ MyTrack RT feed.

 

[dsmodi]

For those with IB, you can install medved from quotetracker.com for free. This comes across as having descent charting on which you can draw fibs as well. Apart from the possible "hole" in data, it actually doesn't seem to be bad. There's a whole bunch of other info on there as well, such as level II etc... And, possibly best of all, it's FREE!

Definately well worth a look!

 

[Henry]

The one downside of sierra is that it doesnt hold EOD data on your hard drive, it has to download them on the fly each time you want one. Even worse is the fact that having done titivation with trendlines etc, they are gone when the program closes. OK for me daytrading but really useless for EOD.

Um, not convinced on either of these points. I have EOD files stored locally on the hard drive, and can draw trendlines on them which are saved in the chartbook and still there next time I open it. Maybe this is a recent feature, currently running version 32 here. TickCharts also due out any day now in the next release.

I'm another satisfied Sierra customer - switched from RealTick. Does everything I need, good support, cheap, and a wealth of knowledge available here and on other BBs. As CM says, Mooms is the expert if you need to know more.

H.

 

[dsmodi]

... and another thing about medved - if u have to close down medved mid-way, then there is no "hole" in data.... seems quite good peeps....

 

[Henry]

... and another thing about medved - if u have to close down medved mid-way, then there is no "hole" in data.... seems quite good peeps....

Was about to ask if you're on commission, but as it's free that wouldn't be much of a deal

 

[dsmodi]

lol - no commission mate - but I think peeps here should try it with IB anyway... there's quite a lot there ,and all for FREE as i said... ;0)

 

[dsmodi]

oops - even if they had commission, they wouldn't give it to me......

Many apologies folks - even medved will give the "holes"...

sorry - thousand apologies

 

[Miki]

My combination of eSignal and IB is pretty solid.

Not cheap, but certainly one of the best deals in town.

Also, having two independent feeds is always better than one.

I use real-time and historical data to daytrade and swingtrade.

Coding your own strategies and testing them within eSignal is very useful too.

 

[grobag]

Hi
Just to clear up a few things with Sierra.You can use sierra with mytrack and IB and anothe rprovider for EOD. Mytrack can provide historical EOD and intraday data for sierra and it depends on your mytrack subscription and exchanges you define as to whether the data is realtime. Some indices are RT for free and delayed data is free. Once you have data in chart package it will be saved locally on your Hard drive as long as you save it.

IB will provide only realtime data and no historical data. So if you use IB and you want more historical data you need another provider such as mytrack or the other one mentioned on sierra's site. Of course if you leave your PC on continuously you will build up your own historical data, but as soon as you turn off from IB you will have gaps in the data.

Custom studies/analysis/scans can all be easily saved and every chart is saved with its current trendlines/analysis that you have put on. If you have a standard TA that you want to apply to a chart you can do it easily by saving the study from one chart and applying it to any chart you like.

Hope this helps and all info is on sierras site.

 

[bennie83]

I am kind of confused and wondered if someone could help. I'm looking to trade futures contracts, such as e-mini S&P on CME. What is the best way of doing this?

a) I simply find a broker who supply me a data feed, trading platform, simple charting and charge me commission every time a trade.

b) I find a charting package, such as Sierra Chart and link this to a data feed (I don't know which one - any ideas?) and get direct access to the exchange?. Do I still need a broker or does this by-pass them?

What configuration(s) do you need? Forgive me if this is silly question, but I am new to this.

 

[nine]

There are a number of brokers who supply data that can be used by Sierra Chart.

Interactive Brokers is one. I get my data from them (free) and I place my orders with them (using SC to chart the info and place and manage the orders). They are a direct access broker.

 

[bennie83]

There are a number of brokers who supply data that can be used by Sierra Chart.

Interactive Brokers is one. I get my data from them (free) and I place my orders with them (using SC to chart the info and place and manage the orders). They are a direct access broker.

So you have to use a broker in some capacity, i.e. to place the trade on the exchange, even though it can be managed through Sierra Chart?

Sierra Chart would be like an add-on, extra help? IB's charts are not that good then?