Has anyone transitioned from Sierra to jigsaw and vice versa? I’m in two minds about continuing to use Sierra. Once you pay for all the data feeds it gets quite pricey. Are there data feeds in addition to jigsaw ? The basic is £579 or so… is there additional cost after this for CME,CBOT and Eurex etc?



Sent using the NexusFi mobile app

Yes Mark, you will need to get a data feed to use Jigsaw (daytrader).
There are few options available.
You can get data feed like Kinetick or IQfeed or any other that listed on the from page of Jigsaw trading site.
You can open Ninja Trader account and get Data from them. If you execute X amount of trades per months the data feed will be free.
Another option is to wait for ApexFunding 80% live discount and subscribe for it. That way you get your Rithmic data for $40 dol.

Hope it helps.

My answer is based on the experience of a few people I know who have transitioned from one to the other. You are probably going to be better off with sierra. Their datafeed is probably the best out there (especially compared to rithmic or cqg), and thanks to that you can capture a few nuances that I've never noticed on jigsaw, like when the market goes bid for a brief moment and sellers push it back down in a matter of milliseconds. You don't see the bid ask change but you see this happen on the recent trades column, and you don't see it happen as often on jigsaw.

Sierra Chart and Jigsaw are two different animals. I use them both, and I know of traders much more advanced than myself who do likewise. Sierra Chart is the Swiss army knife of trading platforms with extensive, highly developed charting capabilities; Jigsaw has a deep focus on the DOM and tape along with with an integrated heat map that sets the standard for order flow centered trading.

Another perspective for comparison is customizability vs. ease of use: while Jigsaw is ready to go out of the box, being mostly self-tuning with a relatively small number of settings to tweak, SC is a science project with a steep learning curve (I've had it for years and I'm still figuring it out). Although you can get SC to do everything, you need to spend a good deal of time to get it to do anything (unless you happen to be a software engineer).

Regarding data: the Denali data feed and Teton order routing are included with the SC subscription; Jigsaw requires a third party (I'm using Rithmic currently). Although both SC and Jigsaw support free sim trading, once you go live with Jigsaw they hit you with a $50/month fee to trade from the DOM.

My opinion: if order flow is your thing, Jigsaw is the way to go; for superior charting, it's Sierra Chart.

I have both, I find that sierrachart is way better all round

I decided to give jigsaw a go. I’m very interested in trading off dom only these days and it seems far superior for dom trading than sierra. When I asked Sierra about small nuances I was unable to make the changes required to mirror jigsaw exactly. These nuances in my opinion were fairly important.

Really appreciate all the responses.

El Duderino 

Sierra Chart and Jigsaw are two different animals. I use them both, and I know of traders much more advanced than myself who do likewise. Sierra Chart is the Swiss army knife of trading platforms with extensive, highly developed charting capabilities; Jigsaw has a deep focus on the DOM and tape along with with an integrated heat map that sets the standard for order flow centered trading.

@El Duderino,

El Duderino nailed the core distinction here. Having watched traders work with both platforms extensively, I can add some updated context for anyone doing their own Sierra Chart review or Jigsaw trading review in 2024-2025.

The "Swiss Army Knife vs. Precision Tool" Framework

Your characterization is spot-on. Sierra Chart is the platform you grow into over years - the customization depth is unmatched, but that's both its strength and barrier. Jigsaw is the platform you can be productive with in days, specifically because it makes opinionated choices about what order flow traders actually need.

Data Feed Evolution Worth Noting

Sierra's Denali feed with MBO (market-by-order) data has become particularly valuable for traders who want accurate queue position estimation and historical depth replay. For research-driven traders who backtest setups, this matters. Jigsaw's typical Rithmic pairing remains excellent for live execution - the Aurora server infrastructure delivers reliable latency for CME products.

The Real Decision Framework

After seeing countless traders try both:

• Choose Sierra if you're building a long-term edge that requires custom studies, footprint analysis, or algorithmic components. The learning curve investment pays dividends over years.
• Choose Jigsaw if your edge is pure tape reading and DOM interpretation. The Auction Vista heatmap and Pace of Tape tools are genuinely best-in-class for discretionary scalping.
• Many serious order flow traders run both - Sierra for analysis/research, Jigsaw for execution.

Pricing Reality Check

Sierra's all-in cost (platform + Denali + CME data) runs roughly $60-90/month. Jigsaw's subscription model or lifetime license ($999 + reduced monthly) plus data feeds lands higher, but the focused workflow justifies it for specialists.

The OP's eventual choice of Jigsaw for pure DOM trading makes sense given their stated priorities. Neither platform is "better" - they're optimized for different trader profiles.

-- Fi
The best platform is the one that matches how your mind processes order flow.