LukeGeniol 

I don't see sierrachart graphical apparence so terrible, sure there is better. But when I see one like @johndee I think he's an advance troll or spammer, he doesn't know what he speaks about. Especially cause it seems he use MC that is not really user friendly. SC in comparison is a breeze.

Look, one thing is to support "your football team" (which is not very good attitude for trading btw), and then there's reality. I'm perfectly neutral, saying my concerns. They are valid. BigMike summed it up nicely in the long post. No need to check my history posts and talk childish stuff, it's not relevant. Sierra is the ugliest trading software, can't deny it. I saw many apps and i'm just making a new round of checks this year. I wish they improve this to attract more people. I don't have anything against them, I'm not going to use it in this shape, because I'm simply not into outdated stuff, like many other people. I hope it's clear now.

sierra chart can handle vast numbers of data input streams without taking any resources. other platforms take gigs of memory, look nicer, but dont have any additional functionality. I trade full time, i would use a blue coconut and a rusty sprinkler key if it helped me focus on trading rather than technology. SC just works, and i rarely think about my 'platform'. Highest praise i have to give.

The only complaint i have with SC is the terrible need to have a chart open for every timeframe and symbol you want to track. You want to overlay a 1 hour MA on a 5 min chart, add a chart. You want to subgraph the VIX and ADVDEC onto a futures chart, add two more charts. Its simple, and its fast and straightforward in how to do it, but just goofy. I have two chartbooks with over 50 graphs on them just to power 3 visible charts. Never noticed a slowdown because of it, but it can make for very complex relationships and data/bar matching challenges.

Someone above said it best, when you get serious about certain kinds of trading, you eventually find your way to SC. They are lucky however, that ninja continuously ruined their business models though. i thought for a few years there that NT was going to take over the market.

cory 

I know because they are very busy, see here

@cory

Not trying to pick an argument - but they always say that

Here is a message from 2008 saying exactly that: https://www.sierrachart.com/supportboard/showthread.php?t=16169

I suspect you are right - that they are growing. I was just chasing to see if you (or anyone else) had some actual numbers that supported the view that they are growing and Big Mike has now pointed to some ancillary evidence.

Playing devils advocate, one could argue that SC posting messages like you highlighted could be because they are having trouble finding staff or have laid off staff - it does not automatically 'prove' they are growing.

I've recently started using SC after being with Ninja for several years and I have to say that BM is right, out of the box I found it to be a nightmare. Maybe I'm just used to Ninja, but it seems like SC has gone out of their way to make finding/doing the simplest things as difficult as possible. But after a month of use I am getting better with it.

I'm sure in a year it'll be the greatest thing since sliced bread!

bigdaddy 

I've recently started using SC after being with Ninja for several years and I have to say that BM is right, out of the box I found it to be a nightmare. Maybe I'm just used to Ninja, but it seems like SC has gone out of their way to make finding/doing the simplest things as difficult as possible. But after a month of use I am getting better with it. I'm sure in a year it'll be the greatest thing since sliced bread!

@bigdaddy

You might like to update your profile (the bit to the left of your post) to reflect you use Sierra Chart. Helps to reflect the increasing popularity of SC on this forum. New members benefit as they can get a better idea of what are the most popular trading software solutions used by members on the forum.

@steve2222

Thanks! I forgot about changing my profile. It should be taken care of now.

What I would like is a 64 bit version of Sierra Chart. The application´s Ram usage is currently limited to 3 GB / 4 GB.

If you are working with numerous big spreadsheets and charts , you´ll encounter performance issues, due to the Ram limitation.

If you are serious about automated strategies or write substantially computational intensive indicators, (in my opinion) there is no competition to SierraChart. I found NinjaTrader was a massive resource drain when using their interface methods and attempting to reverting to lightweight C# helper implementations to alleviate some of the overhead didn't seem to help much. MultiCharts was better but hit limits with the use of C#.

SierraChart on the other hand, remains a native C++ architecture with the inclusion of their custom DLL (ACSIL). It's extremely lightweight (well of course, it's C++) and with the study loading approach using DLL's, it gives you the freedom to basically do anything you like.

As for the graphical interface, it's not pretty. If you go to their support board however, you can see the questions seem to be more technical than with other platforms. Maybe that's by design, the less shiny you make the graphical interface, the less likely you are to have beginner traders using your system and more likely to focus your support on legitimate issues. Making a general assumption here but beginner traders will likely place ease of use and graphical appeal above performance during the beginning stages of their career.

I'm not a client of Sierra but I was about to tried it (especially since a lot of people here say a lot of good about their platform).

So as any prospect client I went to the web site and more importantly to the forum and tech support. What I have read has horrified me (I did not even try to ask any questions, I was afraid that one of their tech support guy came at my door in order to slap my face for having asked a question he did not like ).

What they need first is just basic education, basic politeness I'm not even speaking of client service. And I came from Europe and we a 100x time less picky than North American about client service.

Maybe with that they can increase greatly their client base, hire more staff, update the look and feel of the interface ?

Okina 

... What they need first is just basic education, basic politeness I'm not even speaking of client service. And I came from Europe and we a 100x time less picky than North American about client service. Maybe with that they can increase greatly their client base, hire more staff, update the look and feel of the interface ?

no, it is designed to separate the men from the boys.