zakijohare
June 1, 2026
All-in-one trading panel for Sierra Chart: position sizing, order entry, and risk control
zakijohare
June 1, 2026
Trade Manager is an all-in-one trading panel for Sierra Chart that consolidates position sizing, order entry, position reduction, and directional filtering into a single, fully configurable study. Designed for active traders who need speed, precision, and risk control without switching between multiple tools.
Trade Manager works hand-in-hand with the Trading Journal. When you enter a position with Trade Manager, the stop loss level you drew on the chart is automatically passed to the Trading Journal, which means your R-values are computed and recorded automatically, without ever entering anything manually. Every trade ends up in your journal with its exact risk reference, MFE, MAE, and tick-level P&L curve, ready for analysis.
Trade Manager calculates your order quantity automatically to fit the risk amount you define, with no manual math required. The quantity is rounded down to whole contracts, so a trade usually risks slightly less than your amount; if even one contract would exceed it, you can either place that single contract or have the order blocked entirely (see Commission-Aware Risk Sizing below).
Two risk modes available:
Real-time risk adjustment: Two dedicated ACS buttons (Risk Up / Risk Down) let you increase or decrease your risk level instantly, directly from your chart. The step size is configurable independently for each mode (e.g. 0.25% per click in percent mode, $100 per click in fixed mode). The current risk value is always displayed as a text label directly on the chart.
Draw a horizontal line on the chart to define your stop loss level, then click any of the 6 order buttons. The quantity is automatically calculated based on the distance between your entry and the stop line.
| Button | Order type | Entry price |
|---|---|---|
| Buy Stop | Stop order | Cursor position |
| Buy Limit | Limit order | Cursor position |
| Sell Stop | Stop order | Cursor position |
| Sell Limit | Limit order | Cursor position |
| Buy Market | Market order | Last price |
| Sell Market | Market order | Last price |
Take profit placement is fully configurable through a single Mode selector, so the same panel fits any target style:
When Include Commission in Risk is enabled, the round-trip commission per contract is added to the per-contract risk denominator, so the worst-case loss including commission stays within the risk amount you configured. The round-trip commission per contract is set in a dedicated input (for example, NQ at IBKR is roughly $4.50 round-trip per contract).
Block Order If 1 Contract Exceeds Risk: when enabled, the order is rejected entirely if even a single contract would risk more than your configured amount, instead of silently placing that one contract. The risk comparison includes commission when commission-aware sizing is on. Off by default, so existing behavior is preserved unless you opt in.
An optional toggle button cycles through three states:
The current state is displayed as a text label on the chart. This feature can be enabled or disabled entirely via the study settings.
One button sends a market order to close exactly half of your current open position, whether long or short. Rounding mode is configurable:
Places a passive order to close half your position at the cursor price. The order type is determined automatically:
| Position | Cursor vs last price | Order placed |
|---|---|---|
| Long | Above last price | Limit sell at cursor |
| Long | Below last price | Stop sell at cursor |
| Short | Below last price | Limit buy at cursor |
| Short | Above last price | Stop buy at cursor |
Same rounding mode (Floor / Ceil) applies as Half Size.
Reducing attached orders: Half Size and Half Orders send a normal reducing trade. To have Sierra Chart adjust your attached Stop Loss and Take Profit to the remaining size, enable Scale Out in Sierra Chart (Global Settings > General Trade Settings). This is a one-time Sierra Chart setting. Note: for a limit scale-out, Sierra Chart can leave the limit working if the position is stopped before it fills; use multiple attached targets when you need that managed natively.
Trade Manager can move the Stop Loss attached to your position to break-even, three ways (all on a single Trade Manager bracket, no scale-in):
The Settings dialog is organized into clearly labeled sections (General, Risk Sizing, Take Profit, Order Behavior, Display, ACS Buttons, Diagnostics, Auto Break-Even) so every input is easy to find. Sync Mode lets multiple Trade Managers share live trading state across charts (risk %, fixed risk, account balance, and block direction; the Take Profit stays per-chart): click Risk Up on any synced chart and they all update at once, or turn it off to give a chart its own independent state.
All 13 ACS button assignments are individually configurable: enter the real Sierra Chart ACS button number for each action directly in the study settings. Each action maps to a Sierra Chart Custom Study Control Bar Button number, and the recommended setup is to bind those numbers to keyboard shortcuts, so you trigger every action without moving the mouse to the Chart Shortcut Bar (showing the buttons on the bar is optional). Many other settings, such as text label positions (X/Y), chart region, font size, and risk step sizes, are adjustable without editing code.
Default ACS button layout:
| ACS # | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Buy Stop |
| 2 | Buy Limit |
| 3 | Sell Stop |
| 4 | Sell Limit |
| 5 | Buy Market |
| 6 | Sell Market |
| 7 | Half Size (market) |
| 8 | Half Orders (limit/stop) |
| 9 | Risk Down |
| 10 | Risk Up |
| 11 | Direction Toggle |
| 24 | Move to BE Now |
| 25 | Arm BE at Price |
Auto Trading Enabled - Global must be turned ON in the Sierra Chart trading window. Without it, the order buttons will not place trades. (Trade > Auto Trading Enabled - Global)What an intuitive tool that allows me to maintain consistent risk while scaling in, such a great product by such a great developer
joannll
May 27, 2026
Very good addition to my SC. Recommended!
jethrogou
April 8, 2026
It works as intended! Managing based on percent/fixed cost got a lot more convenient. Highly recommend this study!
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