Sierra Chart trading journal

Exporting your Sierra Chart trade history

Sierra Chart keeps its trade export under Trade > Trade Activity Log > Export. Choose the widest date range you can and download the CSV or TXT file. You do not need to reorder columns, rename headers or delete rows first — TradeStack fingerprints the header row and maps the fields itself.

What the importer does with a Sierra Chart file

One quirk worth knowing: tab and comma separated activity logs are both detected. That matters because a journal that pairs fills incorrectly will report a win rate and average win that do not match your statement. After import you can open any trade, edit it, add a screenshot, tag a playbook and write the note that explains the decision.

Working with the Sierra Chart Trade Activity Log

Sierra Chart's Trade Activity Log is the source of truth for everything the platform executed. The export can be comma or tab separated depending on how it is produced, and both layouts are detected automatically on import. The log is fill-level: every execution is its own row with a precise timestamp, so round-turn trades are rebuilt by pairing fills FIFO per symbol.

That FIFO pairing matches how Sierra Chart itself reports completed trades, which means the P&L in your journal matches the Trade Stats for Charts numbers you already trust — including commissions when they are present in the export.

Journaling systematic and semi-systematic strategies

Sierra Chart is home to a lot of automated and semi-automated strategies running through ACSIL or the spreadsheet study. When a system takes two hundred trades a month, manual journaling is not an option — the weekly CSV import is the review loop.

Import the week, then filter the history by symbol and read the stats per instrument first. Automated strategies tend to degrade one instrument at a time as volatility regimes change, and per-instrument profit factor is the earliest reliable warning sign. Tagging trades by playbook works the same way for systems: one tag per strategy variant, and the per-playbook expectancy becomes your strategy scoreboard.

What futures traders should review after importing

Start with the calendar: the daily dollar result printed on each day makes overtrading visible immediately, because five-lot days and one-lot days with the same P&L tell very different stories. Then the holding-time breakdown — Sierra Chart scalpers live and die by whether their average winner is held longer than their average loser.

If you trade a funded account on top of Sierra Chart's routing, the consistency percentage matters as much as the totals. Prop firms check it before paying out, and TradeStack computes it automatically from the imported days.

Common Sierra Chart import problems and fixes

Metrics you get from Sierra Chart trades

• Daily P&L calendar with the dollar result printed on each day
• Win rate, average win, average loss and profit factor
• Expectancy per trade and a running equity curve
• Stats per instrument and per holding time
• Consistency %, which prop firms check before paying out

New to the terminology? Profit factor, Expectancy, R multiple, Drawdown.

Who this is for

Sierra Chart is used mainly by systematic futures traders, trading futures. If that is you, the fastest useful review loop is a weekly import: export the week, import it, and read P&L by session and by setup rather than by single trade.

Frequently asked

Questions traders ask about journaling

• What should you write in a trading journal?
• How often should you review your trades?
• Is a spreadsheet good enough as a trading journal?
• How do you journal scalping trades without spending hours?
• How should you tag trades by setup?

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