Sierra Chart custom study · setup guide · v1.0

Market Watch

One file, one folder, three settings to check. Ten minutes from download to a live panel on your chart.

Platform
Sierra Chart 64-bit, Windows, version 2941 or later. Help › About shows yours; Help › Download Current Version updates it free of charge. Built and tested on 2947.
Current build
Version 1.0
You receive
A ZIP with MarketWatch_64.dll and your licence
Data feed
Any. The countdowns use the chart's clock and session times; the candle view uses the chart's own data feed.
Internet
Needed for the news row only. The calendar is downloaded once an hour from ForexFactory. Without it the countdowns and candles still work and the news row reads News unavailable.
Trading connection
None required. The study never touches an order.

1Install

  1. Close Sierra Chart

    Fully exit, not just the chart window. While it runs it holds study files open and Windows will refuse to write the file.

  2. Find your Sierra Chart Data folder

    It sits inside your installation folder. If you have never changed it: C:\SierraChart\Data\ Not sure? In Sierra Chart, Global Settings › General Settings › Paths shows the Data Files Folder.

  3. Unzip, then copy the file in

    Open the ZIP you downloaded and put MarketWatch_64.dll directly into that folder. No subfolder, and do not rename it: Sierra Chart finds studies by scanning this folder for DLLs.

  4. Start Sierra Chart and open a chart

    Any symbol. Any bar period, including tick, range and Renko charts: the countdowns count to the clock, not to your chart's bars.

  5. Add the study

    Analysis › Studies… › Market Watch › Add › OK. The panel appears at the top right of the chart with its three buttons beside it.

2Three settings to check

The panel works with Sierra Chart's defaults. These three decide how well.

Chart Update Interval

Global Settings › General Settings › Chart Update Interval. The countdowns can only redraw as often as the chart does. At 1000 ms or less they tick once a second; at 5000 ms they jump five seconds at a time. The study writes one line in the Message Log if the interval is too slow.

Session Times

Chart › Chart Settings › Session Times. The countdowns close their bars exactly where your chart closes its own, following the Session Times, the Evening Session and the New Bar at Session Start setting. If those are right for your market, the panel is right. If your 30 minute bars cut at 09:30 and 10:00, so will the 30M column.

Alert sounds

Global Settings › General Settings › Alerts. The study plays Sierra Chart's numbered alert sounds: number 1 before a news release, number 2 before a bar close. A number with no sound file assigned plays nothing. Pick a file for each, or change the numbers in the study's Alerts settings.

3The first minute

What you see, in the order it appears.

  • The news row fills within a few seconds of the first download and reads Loading news… until then. It shows the next release for the countries you chose, United States by default, and counts down to it.
  • The timeframe columns run at once: 1M, 5M, 15M, 30M, 1H and 4H by default, each with the time left on that bar. A column turns amber in its last 30 seconds. Closed means the market is closed by your Session Times or the weekend rule.
  • The candle view opens with the bottom button. The first time, the study opens one hidden chart per column and the columns read … then loading for a few seconds while those charts fill. After that they show the three bars ending now for each timeframe.
The buttons need the Pointer tool. Sierra Chart only delivers clicks to a study when the Pointer, Chart Values or Hand tool is active. With a drawing tool selected the buttons do nothing. Platform behaviour, not a setting.

4Moving it and making it yours

The middle button is the grip. Click it, move the mouse, click again to drop the panel. It stays where you left it, through restarts. The top button opens and closes the news list; the bottom button the candle view. The arrow on each button shows what a click will do.

Everything else is in Analysis › Studies… › Market Watch › Settings, in named groups: which timeframes to show, which countries and impact levels to list, the weekend rule for your exchange, sounds, font, size and colours. The reference manual covers every one.

Two copies on one chart are fine. Copies on different charts, and in different chartbooks, are independent of each other and share one news download.

5If something is wrong

Start with Window › Message Log. Market Watch writes plain-English lines there whenever it does something worth knowing about, each beginning Market Watch:. The troubleshooting guide lists every symptom, its cause and its fix, and every line the study can write.

SymptomFix
Sierra Chart says the study needs a newer versionYours is older than 2941. Help › Download Current Version, let it install, start again. Free, and it keeps your charts and settings.
Market Watch is not in the Studies listThe file is in a subfolder, was renamed, or was copied while Sierra Chart was running. Close Sierra Chart, put the DLL directly in the Data folder under its original name, start again.
The buttons do nothingSelect Tools › Pointer.
No sound playsAssign a sound file to alert numbers 1 and 2 under Global Settings › General Settings › Alerts.

Reference manual

Every setting with its default and range, the countdown rule, every Message Log line, the limits and the troubleshooting guide. Included with the purchase and linked in your order email. Already bought and lost the link? Have it resent.