Sierra Charts (SC) is an excellent product.

I stated on NT6 but left when NT8 came out.

SC out of the box allows you to do so much. It is highly likely what you could ever think up you can already do with SC. Yes it has a learning curve, but so does everything new to you. Once you get the hang of it, it's not so bad.

It is super stable. I do not recall a time where it has locked up. I used to have issues with NT, but never once has SC froze or even slowed down. I have 3 monitors and my laptop. I have had 10 charts up and running simultaneously without any issue.

I am a software developer. SC was not all that bad developing to. Yes it is C++ like. But again, I found I was able to do things with the out of the box system that I thought I had to do via development. Why re-invent the wheel, just learn how to drive it.

What really was eye opening is when I learned how you tie studies together from different charts which allows you use use study data from one of your charts as the input for a different study on a current chart, even if the two charts have different bar types and/or time periods. You do this via study configuration not development. You can even trigger alerts this way. Super cool feature.

The DOM is great. You can make it look and act somewhat like Jigsaw, again using out of the box configuration not development.

The DOM can be standalone or connected to a chart.

You can trade directly from the chart, DOM or a trade entry dialog. You can even trade from a spreadsheet looking format.

You can use hot keys that you configure as you want. I for example use the b key for buy orders, s key for sell orders and f key to flatten.

You can create nested orders where one triggers others, create stops, trailing stops, etc... This can be done using their configuration tool or you can write code to issue and manage orders. I suggest using the provided tools.

The code is updated every once in a while, you simply click update.

It also comes with extensive trading statics tools.

SC is feature rich to say the least.

I do agree their documentation is difficult to work with. Their support does respond, yet sometimes, seemingly somewhat overly aggressive or maybe it's how I read/interpret the response.

SC is not like NT from the UI perspective, sort of apple and oranges at times. Once you get the basics down you just need to "think" about what you want to do and apply the basics of SC operations. There are also a lot of youtube videos to check out as well.

SC is a great alternative for NT.

I waited a long time to switch to SC to build a better setup trading FDAX at EUREX. Sadly SC confirms that they will not add EUREX to their Teton Order Routing due to high implementation cost and a weak customer base.

So my top alternative solution end in smoke. I have answered them that the customers will be increasing after releasing the feature not before.



Koepisch

LaissezFaire 

Also, today is another day where Ninjatrader is partially freezing. I have 4 windows open (only one workspace and only one workspace anyway) and 1 of my windows are completely unresponsive. Thankfully, I'm on holiday and only watching the market today. In my view, this is completely unacceptable for a premium trading software which costs $$$. If it happened only once a year, fine, but it's happening a bit too often lately... Ninja

I trade on a dedicated desktop, connected to a fixed LAN line. I run multiple charts, each running multiple update-by-tick custom indicators because I trade orderflow on the full license version.

The only "hanging" I experience is when I (1) open NT8 and load the workspace and (2) save the workspace when I shut down. What I do is to open up the Windows task manager and see what is happening. The CPU% and memory% will show that NT8 is taking a lot of CPU and memory resources during the loading and saving of the workspace. For your info, my CPU is Intel i7 and RAM is 16Gb.

So what appears as "hanging" is that the CPU and memory is working in overdrive mode. I just need to wait for a while for the CPU % and memory % to go back to normal again.

You can troubleshoot to see which charts and/or indicators are giving the problems. You could do so by saving a duplicate copy of your workspace and running just one chart and then remove all indicators on that chart. If it does not hang, then it should be the indicator's fault.

For me personally, other than having to wait for loading and saving, the operation is very smooth.

I am sticking with Ninjatrader because my custom auto trade execution tools are not replicable on other platforms.

Dude -
You just need to change the Windows execution priority of NT from Normal to Above Normal or High.
There are utilities that will insure these settings "stick" all of the time.
Prio is one of them.

These directions are copied from another site, and they definitely will help your NT8 speed up.

1.) Clear the database - (First close the connection) then Go to TOOLS then select DATABASE MANAGEMENT:

https://gyazo.com/45039b35bb5834e435f5be753ac9492a these must be deleted each day (or each time you restart NinjaTrader).

2.) Clear the DB files - Go to your windows documents folder: Select NinjaTrader 8 and open the file. Next, find the folder called: DB once you have selected this open it and it will look like this: https://gyazo.com/f62d16bde196354ff803d42869d8e8fc Next, select the following folders: TICK, MINUTE, DAY, and CACHE... these must be deleted each day (or each time you restart NinjaTrader)


Give it a shot, it helped mine greatly. And i'm on an AMD Ryzen 7 5800x with 64GB of RAM.
@Rainmakersg and @LaissezFaire

Koepisch 

I waited a long time to switch to SC to build a better setup trading FDAX at EUREX. Sadly SC confirms that they will not add EUREX to their Teton Order Routing due to high implementation cost and a weak customer base. So my top alternative solution end in smoke. I have answered them that the customers will be increasing after releasing the feature not before. Koepisch

You could use SC for charting and use external data and routing services?

Great comments and discussion, guys. I have no doubt that SC is a great platform, but I pretty much decided to give NT another chance as it will be no doubt the most convenient route for me.

I do use some custom indicators, but all of them were made by guys that should know what they're doing and not just some free stuff lying around on the web. Also, the indicators shouldn't be very computer intensive.

Of course, there's a chance that some of these indicators can be the cause, although it should be said that my system have run very stable for long periods of time in the past WITHOUT any issues. So, that makes you wonder.

I've considered getting my indicators re-written/optimized in case there could be any issues, so if anyone knows anyone they'd recommend to do that, feel free to give me a recommendation.

Also, I'm going to buy a new laptop. I don't have an unlimitied budget, but I decided on an ASUS ROG STRIX G15 (Norwegian link):

https://www.netonnet.no/art/data-og-nettbrett/laptop/laptop-14-16-tommer/asus-rog-strix-g513rm-hq156w/1024657.10997/



The computer I already have is fairly decent, but this should be a good upgrade as my current laptop is nearly 5 years old now.

jmacc 

These directions are copied from another site, and they definitely will help your NT8 speed up. 1.) Clear the database - (First close the connection) then Go to TOOLS then select DATABASE MANAGEMENT: https://gyazo.com/45039b35bb5834e435f5be753ac9492a these must be deleted each day (or each time you restart NinjaTrader). 2.) Clear the DB files - Go to your windows documents folder: Select NinjaTrader 8 and open the file. Next, find the folder called: DB once you have selected this open it and it will look like this: https://gyazo.com/f62d16bde196354ff803d42869d8e8fc Next, select the following folders: TICK, MINUTE, DAY, and CACHE... these must be deleted each day (or each time you restart NinjaTrader) Give it a shot, it helped mine greatly. And i'm on an AMD Ryzen 7 5800x with 64GB of RAM. @Rainmakersg and @LaissezFaire

Thank you!

Actually, I already must have found that site a long time ago as I do know this procedure.

There's an additional tip on that page: Do not use workspaces, but only templates.

Regardless, both these "fixes" seems like a major headache to me and simply a reminder that NT8 have severe issues if a user needs to do this every day to have a functional platform.

Also, clearing out the DB means that you lose your trading history.

I've done this a few times when I've had issues and it always seems to help, though.

Concentrate on the software, not the hardware.
Buying more horsepower will not improve your trading.
You only need more horsepower if you are doing lots of optimization runs with tick data going back 2+ years or more.
Make sure your Windows environment is optimized and all non-essential processes and apps are disabled.

Quoting 

Also, clearing out the DB means that you lose your trading history.

Omigosh, that is a disaster if you are dealing with tick level data.
If that happens with Rithmic, they flag your account and you have to wait a week to retrieve more data.

tulanch 

Sierra Charts (SC) is an excellent product. I stated on NT6 but left when NT8 came out. SC out of the box allows you to do so much. It is highly likely what you could ever think up you can already do with SC. Yes it has a learning curve, but so does everything new to you. Once you get the hang of it, it's not so bad. It is super stable. I do not recall a time where it has locked up. I used to have issues with NT, but never once has SC froze or even slowed down. I have 3 monitors and my laptop. I have had 10 charts up and running simultaneously without any issue. I am a software developer. SC was not all that bad developing to. Yes it is C++ like. But again, I found I was able to do things with the out of the box system that I thought I had to do via development. Why re-invent the wheel, just learn how to drive it. What really was eye opening is when I learned how you tie studies together from different charts which allows you use use study data from one of your charts as the input for a different study on a current chart, even if the two charts have different bar types and/or time periods. You do this via study configuration not development. You can even trigger alerts this way. Super cool feature. The DOM is great. You can make it look and act somewhat like Jigsaw, again using out of the box configuration not development. The DOM can be standalone or connected to a chart. You can trade directly from the chart, DOM or a trade entry dialog. You can even trade from a spreadsheet looking format. You can use hot keys that you configure as you want. I for example use the b key for buy orders, s key for sell orders and f key to flatten. You can create nested orders where one triggers others, create stops, trailing stops, etc... This can be done using their configuration tool or you can write code to issue and manage orders. I suggest using the provided tools. The code is updated every once in a while, you simply click update. It also comes with extensive trading statics tools. SC is feature rich to say the least. I do agree their documentation is difficult to work with. Their support does respond, yet sometimes, seemingly somewhat overly aggressive or maybe it's how I read/interpret the response. SC is not like NT from the UI perspective, sort of apple and oranges at times. Once you get the basics down you just need to "think" about what you want to do and apply the basics of SC operations. There are also a lot of youtube videos to check out as well. SC is a great alternative for NT.

Another added benefit of SC is the direct routing (no routing/CQG fees).

Motive Wave , you can buy a life time multi broker license for 1500.00 when it goes on sale at years in . the platform is completely loaded .