Futures Operator 

Thanks for the comparison. Does MC not have Time & Sales? That seems like an important/simple component to implement in a trading platform/charting solution?

You would think so, wouldn't you? Apparently it's too difficult for them to implement, because it's been requested by about 1.5 bajillion people. But let's take MC discussions to another thread if you don't mind, as this is Sierra and NT.

josh 

[*]Built-in alerts -- SC seems to have alerts built into the system well. Meaning, I can use a stock study or create my own, and create alerts right out of the box for an indicator level, and just for a blank chart, for example, alert on a price being traded.[*]Attaching targets/stops to an open position -- can't do it in ninja. Yes, you can create a new OCO bracket, but it is not managed the same as if you had originally attached those orders when the position was opened. Or, heaven forbid I accidentally delete a stop... too bad, that's it. SC, however, allows you to attach orders to an already-open position.

Back on topic...can SC do the order fill/stop/target sound alerts like NT?

@josh, I remember the new OCO issue when I used NT6.5 a few years ago, to change the ATM strategy once a position was initiated, I had to cancel the OCO bracket (exposing a naked position), select the new strategy, then re-send the OCO. Trailing stop parameters also couldn't be modified I believe.

How is it managed differently if you do this though? And what do you mean if you delete a stop, that's it? How does SC handle this differently?

Futures Operator 

Back on topic...can SC do the order fill/stop/target sound alerts like NT?

Sierra has 4 internal alerts available:
Order Filled
Oder Cancelled
Target Filled
Stop Filled

Go to Trade >> Global Trade Settings and select the alert number.
You can assign any .wav file to alert numbers at Global Settings >> General1 tab >> Alert Sound Settings.

I added a Connection Lost alert using a spreadsheet study:
Sierra Chart - View Single Post - [Resolved] If I lose data feed connection while charting

tomgilb 

Sierra has 4 internal alerts available: Order Filled Oder Cancelled Target Filled Stop Filled Go to Trade >> Global Trade Settings and select the alert number. You can assign any .wav file to alert numbers at Global Settings >> General1 tab >> Alert Sound Settings. I added a Connection Lost alert using a spreadsheet: Sierra Chart - View Single Post - [Resolved] If I lose data feed connection while charting

That's great! I always wanted something like that, thanks for sharing. On that note, how do SC/NT/MC handle disconnects, do they automatically reconnect, and how quickly, etc?

Futures Operator 

That's great! I always wanted something like that, thanks for sharing. On that note, how do SC/NT/MC handle disconnects, do they automatically reconnect, and how quickly, etc?

In SC, go to Global Settings >> Data/Trade Service Settings and check/uncheck Reconnect on Failure.

It reconnects quickly.

tomgilb 

In SC, go to Global Settings >> Data/Trade Service Settings and check/uncheck Reconnect on Failure. It reconnects quickly.

Thank you! Curious, how quickly after connection is restored, few seconds, a minute or two?

Futures Operator 

Thank you for clarifying, great points and well explained. This is the first I've read of stability being mentioned as a negative for SC. Can you please elaborate, does it have stability/reliability issues? This is #1 for me, as I had a terrible past experience with NT6.5 and am still hesitant to NT7 because of it. Any stability/reliability/dependability issues in a trading platform are unacceptable and inexcusable to me. Why do you say MC if main objective is a trading platform? Which platform and why, would you suggest for multi timeframe charting with a focus on drawing tools rather than indicators, for discretionary futures trading/execution through DOM and chart trader?

Gods knows why but my computer seemed never liked SC.
I had a couple of problems with it since it constantly crashed my computer. SC staff said that the problem was coming from the RAM or the SSD. It ended up being the RAM but amazingly SC was the only program capable of generating a crash since MC and IRT never did. And MC can easily go to 300Mb of memory consumption.

So when I talk about stability I'm referring to how SC behaves on my computer since no other customer of theirs ever reported such a problem similar to mine.
It works fine now, never had a similar problem ever since but as you can imagine, every time I opened it I was looking for another crash.

I prefer MC for the trading platform because I've been trading with it since it was introduced back at version 6. I don't like SC's chart DOM. I prefer MC's DOM and if they add some of the features users have been requesting their DOM will become one of the best in the market.
Although sometimes slowly painful, MC has been able to implement their users requests at every new version.

For drawing tools definitely MC. You can select each object directly on the chart and edit its preferences. While on SC you're able to to the same with trendlines, indicators are quite painful to change its preferences since you need to hit F6 and then choose the indicator you want to modify. You cannot select an indicator directly on the chart.
SC's DOM it's a DOM, what more can I say. If you're used to work with another DOM you might find SC's a bit strange since it's on the chart. Like I said, I didn't like it.
Trading directly from the chart, put your orders there, without the DOM, I really never tested that on SC. I don't know if it's possible to trade directly from the chart.
With MC you can. With SC, I really don't know.

And like I said previously, if you trade based on charts not provided by your broker, but by an external data feed, IQFeed for example, that thing that you need to run 2 SC's instances and import one chart, although working seamlessly, I find it a bit cumbersome. MC's mapping option is much better and again, user friendly.

Naturally that I would advise you to go to MC but this is really a personal choice. I advise you to test both and see for yourself. You can test MC free for 30 days and you can test SC free for 15 days.

Futures Operator 

Thank you! Curious, how quickly after connection is restored, few seconds, a minute or two?

Seconds.

Quoting 

You cannot select an indicator directly on the chart.

Actually you can. This is documented here:
Sierra Chart - Chart Studies

This is a feature that has existed for quite some time.

We also do have a standalone Trade DOM. You can open it with File >> Find Symbol. You are able to fully trade from the charts and this is documented here:
Sierra Chart - Chart Trading and the Chart [AUTOLINK]DOM[/AUTOLINK] (TM)

Quoting 

And like I said previously, if you trade based on charts not provided by your broker, but by an external data feed, IQFeed for example, that thing that you need to run 2 SC's instances and import one chart, although working seamlessly, I find it a bit cumbersome.

This has been hugely simplified and improved dramatically in our newest releases. We also have additional improvements coming with this. Please contact us on our Support Board if you have any specific questions on what we currently offer.

SierraChart 

This has been hugely simplified and improved dramatically in our newest releases. We also have additional improvements coming with this. Please contact us on our Support Board if you have any specific questions on what we currently offer.

For arnie, specifically, the user does Find Symbol, and any running instances are available to select from. It's quite nice actually, although once I got the process of the other way it was not that difficult either.