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Thanks for your detailed response. I use TS (TradeStation) and SC, but TS for live trading (long story....). SC has been so incredibly stable and fast, unlike TS. I plan to move to SC once I can learn it well enough. The main thing that intimidates me is learning ASCIL. Your feedback is very helpful.
Do you use SC for automated strategies, chart trading, or both?
If I can jump in here, if you have an interest in programming in Sierra Chart, I think what matters the most is how much programming experience you have under your belt already. (I write indicators in SC, and did in NT and in TS before it. I don't write automated strategies because I'm too chicken to let my code trade for me . I wrote code for a living for quite a while in various languages in a previous life, though.)
If you have experience outside of trading platforms, in regular programming in any language, you will have some hurdles but will be OK. It would be better, of course, to have experience in a C-based language like C# or C++ (which SC uses.)
If you just know EasyLanguage coding in Trade Station, or a similar trading-platform script language, you will have the basics of logic down well enough, but you may take a while to get used to the different structure of C++ programming. You will definitely find that accessing the functionality of the base program will take some learning. It's not a matter of better or worse compared to TS, for example, just different.
One thing that I expect everyone experiences is that the "Help" pages in the SC web site are pretty hard to use if you don't know how they have organized things (in other words, if you need them .) I had to spend a lot of time with sample code (they do provide code for all or most of the built-in indicators, so you've got working examples to study.) This is just a matter of gutting it out, and may be grim for a while.
Since programming is essentially always logical, eventually it will become clear.
I don't know why it is, but, excellent though SC is, they do a poor job, in my view, of making it easy to learn. Once you've gotten it down, it's great though.
I used TS years and years ago, and would not go back.
Your mileage, of course, may vary. That's why there's more than one trading platform.
I have some programming experience, mostly around database procedural languages, but not so much object oriented programming. I am actually learning C just for fun and as a mental exercise. If I can tackle C, maybe then I can move on to an easier language like Python.
Yeah, already started muddling through that.
If I were so inclined and there were a large enough market for it, I would write a manual for SC once I learn it.
I will move away from TS because of some recent problems and other ongoing problems. I just have to learn it first.
Disclosure: This communication is sent to you by NinjaTrader, LLC, a software development company which owns and supports all proprietary technology relating to and including the NinjaTrader trading platform.
I started with NT8 in about 2017, learned an awful lot and got a lot of great support form the people at Ninja. The problem was when I tried to add external C# libraries and tried to customize my platform too much, I'd invariably hit a problem, be required to reinstall and I'd lose all my customization or my whole rig would stop compiling and lose metafiles, 2 hour teamviewer support sessions to fix it etc etc. (again, phenomenal support)
I use tradestation 9.5 now, never thought I'd use it before but I like it alot. Workspaces are easy to use, its fast enough, but the data is filtered ticks and I don't like the programming language.
Tl;dr every platform will have problems or shortcomings.. you're a retail trader, expect an imperfect product.
In my opinion, the approach should be from a different angle. It is not what does not work for a trader, rather what are the true functionalities that a trader needs and what does work on that platform.
You seek those functionalities that you truly need, and investigate which platform is "best" for that.
This has always been my approach when trying to find solutions for traders.
Kind regards,
Matt Z
Optimus Futures
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Well, sure. Obviously a trader should and will look for the best fit that can be had, and clearly there are some that fit one person better than others do, and it will be a somewhat individual decision. Nor are they all exactly the same.
I'm just pointing out that the search for perfection is going to come up empty. You should search for "good enough" for what you want.
Also, I've tried a whole bunch of them. Almost all were good enough, depending on how you want to look at that, in that they would show prices and take trades, and usually had the normal bells and whistles. They all had some things that you had to accept, although not "perfect."
The one I like the best, Sierra Chart, also drives me crazy with its (many) odd points.
So did TOS, TradeStation, CTS T4, OEC, TradingView, and NinjaTrader 6.5, 7 and 8, . And I didn't try a lot of the other ones.