Welcome to NexusFi: the best trading community on the planet, with over 150,000 members Sign Up Now for Free
Genuine reviews from real traders, not fake reviews from stealth vendors
Quality education from leading professional traders
We are a friendly, helpful, and positive community
We do not tolerate rude behavior, trolling, or vendors advertising in posts
We are here to help, just let us know what you need
You'll need to register in order to view the content of the threads and start contributing to our community. It's free for basic access, or support us by becoming an Elite Member -- see if you qualify for a discount below.
-- Big Mike, Site Administrator
(If you already have an account, login at the top of the page)
I use Sierra with IB for execution. Naturally, you should not use IB data as its rather horrific. Sierra has its own data feed built-in to the platform, delivered via Barchart. It's the simplest to get working and is mostly good, although if you rely heavily on market internals it's still inferior to IQFeed.
Do you stilll need to subscribe to IB data if you use sierra datafeed. When you use sierra to execute trades, do you need to keep IB trade workstation on running?
Yes, you will need to run IB Gateway. It's the more compact version of TWS, it comes in the same installer. It just runs minimized in the background to facilitate communication to IB, and Sierra Chart communicates with Gateway. You will never see it, and you don't need TWS.
No I don't. I like IB a lot as a brokerage. It is not a discount brokerage, it is not for rookies, it is not for people who want ridiculous margins. But it is for professionals and has great analytical reporting. But don't use their data if you are an intraday trader.
Thanks for the advice. I've just chosen Sierra Charts as my front end for IB after reading some good reviews on futures.io, albeit some were a bit outdated, in order to decide whether to go with SC or Ninjatrader (or any other charting platform). Thanks to you and the other posters in those threads. Very happy with my choice and getting to grips with the platform and its multitude of menu options.
I use the Full CME Group (CME, CBOT, COMEX, NYMEX) with Market Depth feed from SC for the charts in Sierra after connecting to TWS. I read your comments above regarding IB Gateway and have some queries if you or anyone else would please address.
1) If you use IB Gateway and run it minimized, how do you track the status of your trades (or your account)?
2) If you use either IB Gateway or TWS, can you use the SC data feed for TWS (or Gateway) charts? I can't find anything on this topic on the internet.
3) If I use the TWS mobile app and have running trades, can I manage them on a mobile device if IB Gateway/TWS and SC are running on the PC at home and connected to the feed? Or will I require a separate IB feed for the mobile app?
I haven't used Gateway or mobile TWS recently, but I have in the past, so I'll try to help.
1) When I did use Gateway, I liked to run excel with TWS DDE API to get a few account parameters.
2) No.
3) If you login mobile, you will log out the desktop. It shouldn't matter unless SC is controlling your orders locally. I like to use exchange orders.
I'm thinking of going this route as well. It seems Sierra Charts Data feed is top notch. How is everyone finding the IB feed for order execution? I've read some not so great things however that was in the past. Just wondering how it is with current users and specifically with this set up. Thanks