A trading journal for Sierra Chart. The Trade Activity Log in, graded trades out.
Sierra Chart traders are precise about data. The Trade Activity Log has every fill, and the Trade Statistics tab has profit factor, drawdown and period stats. What it does not have is a place to say the trade was a D, that the stop was moved, or that you traded a setup that was not in your plan. Actal reads the log and does that part.
Does Sierra Chart have a trading journal?
No. Sierra Chart has the Trade Activity Log, with Trade Statistics, Trades, Period Stats and Account Stats tabs computed from your fills. That is a detailed record and a solid stats screen. There is no grade, no mistake tag, no rule check, no plan and no way to see what a habit has cost you. The log saves to a text file in two clicks, and that file is all a journal needs.
Where Sierra Chart traders get stuck, and what a week with Actal looks like.
Profit factor, drawdown, period stats. I know my numbers to the tick and I still do not know what to change tomorrow.
Every trade gets a grade on execution and a mistake tag if there was one. The most expensive mistake becomes the one thing you work on this week, with the count on the dashboard every morning.
I exported the log once and every price was 2345025 instead of 23450.25. I gave up.
Actal spots the unscaled prices on the preview and asks once whether to divide by 100. Or use Save Log As, which writes prices already adjusted, and the question never comes up.
My rules are in my head. Sierra Chart will fill the sixth trade of the day just as fast as the first.
Rules are checked on every import: max trades, daily loss, cooldown after a loss. The sixth trade is red on the day it happened, with what it cost.
Several Trade Accounts in one log. The stats blend them unless I filter every time.
Trade accounts are kept apart when trades are rebuilt, so fills from two accounts never become one trade. Put each in its own account in Actal and see them side by side.
I plan the session on the chart. By 10:30 I am trading a different idea.
A, B and C scenarios before the open, a closeout after. Within a month you know how often you traded against your own plan, and the P&L splits into in-plan and off-plan.
I tried a stats journal. It showed me the same stats Sierra Chart already had, in nicer colours.
Actal adds what Sierra Chart cannot compute: grades, mistake costs, rules kept and broken, plan adherence and one focus a week.
Charts, studies, the DOM and the Trade Statistics tab stay in Sierra Chart. Actal reads one saved log and grades the trades in it.
How to get the file out of Sierra Chart.
Written from Sierra Chart's own documentation and checked against real files where we have them. The same guide shows on the import page and next to any error.
Set Trade Activity Type to Fills for one row per execution, or to Orders or All Activity for the order view. Both import. With Orders, only filled rows are used and duplicates from amended orders are removed by their Service Order ID.
File, Save Log As writes prices as shown on your charts. File, Export writes a tab-delimited file with prices before the Symbol Price Multiplier. On a CME direct feed that means 2345025 for 23450.25. The preview catches it and asks before dividing.
A log with several Trade Accounts is rebuilt per account, so fills from different accounts never blend into one trade. Filter to one Trade Account before saving if you want separate journals.
The Trades tab is Sierra Chart's processed summary. Actal wants the Trade Activity tab so it can rebuild the trades from the fills themselves and check them against your rules.
- 1Open Trade >> Trade Activity Log from the main menu and stay on the Trade Activity tab.
- 2Open Display Settings in the log window, set Trade Activity Type to Fills, and set the date range and the Trade Account.
- 3In the log window's own menu choose File >> Save Log As to write the visible rows to a text file (prices as shown on your charts), or File >> Export for a tab-delimited file (prices unadjusted, see below).
- File >> Export writes prices before the Symbol Price Multiplier is applied. On a CME direct feed that means 2345025 instead of 23450.25; the preview spots this and asks you to confirm dividing by 100.
- File >> Save Log As writes adjusted prices, so no scaling question appears. Either file imports.
- Multiple Trade Accounts in one file are kept apart during reconstruction; filter to one Trade Account before saving to keep journals separate.
- 1Open Trade >> Trade Activity Log from the main menu and stay on the Trade Activity tab.
- 2Open Display Settings, set Trade Activity Type to Orders or All Activity, and set the date range and the Trade Account.
- 3In the log window's menu choose File >> Save Log As (prices as shown) or File >> Export (tab-delimited, prices unadjusted) and save the file.
- Only rows with Order Status Filled are used; duplicates from resubmitted or amended orders are removed by their Service Order ID.
- Blank Filled Quantity cells fall back to the order Quantity, which is how Sierra writes many filled rows.
- With File >> Export, symbols on a CME direct feed (often ending in _FUT_CME) come out price-scaled x100; the preview asks before dividing. File >> Save Log As writes them already adjusted.
- The Trades tab of the log is a processed summary; import the Trade Activity tab so the fills themselves are reconstructed.
Logs you saved before sit in the SavedTradeActivity folder inside your Sierra Chart installation. Drop those files in as they are.
If your account routes through Rithmic, R | Trader Order History also works, one day per file. Sierra Chart's log is usually quicker for a longer range. Pick one source per account.
The log looks the same whatever the feed or route. Symbols ending in _FUT_CME are recognised, and price scaling is handled the same way.
Every trade checked against your rules, then graded.
Daily loss limit, max trades, size and cooldowns are checked the moment the file lands. Then each trade gets a grade on execution with your own setup criteria as the checklist, a mistake tag if there was one, and the chart marked up so the lesson sticks.
Five things that happen with Sierra Chart files, and the fix.
You used File, Export on a CME direct feed. Confirm the divide-by-100 prompt on the preview, or save the log with File, Save Log As instead, which writes adjusted prices.
You saved the Trades tab or a spreadsheet. Go back to the Trade Activity tab, set Trade Activity Type to Fills, and use File, Save Log As.
The log only saves what Display Settings shows. Check the date range and the Trade Account in Display Settings, then save again. Anything already imported is skipped.
Sierra Chart leaves Filled Quantity blank on many filled rows in the Orders view. Actal falls back to the order Quantity. If a trade still looks off, use the Fills view instead, which has one row per execution.
The log is written in the time zone set in Sierra Chart's global settings, with no zone in the file. Set your Actal profile timezone to match and import again.
Sim, eval, funded and live, side by side.
Each Sierra Chart account becomes an account in Actal with its own rules where they differ, and one dashboard across all of them. A habit that shows up on every account is easy to see.
Sierra Chart questions
Import today's Sierra Chart session. Grade it tonight.
One export, one minute, and the rules tell you how the day actually went. Free while in beta, no card, everything unlocked.