SabrTrader Documentation

Market Analyzer Setup: Watchlists, Columns and Linking

The Market Analyzer is SabrTrader's grid window for monitoring many instruments at once: each instrument occupies a row and each data field — last price, net change, volume, an indicator value, a sparkline, your open P&L — occupies a configurable column. It is the setup step that follows the SuperDOM in a standard SabrTrader workspace build, and its job is triage: organise instruments into asset-class groupings, spot what is moving, then drill into a chart, footprint or DOM for order-flow confirmation. This page documents every part of the window: symbol entry, saved symbol lists, instrument families, templates, the column chooser, sparklines, row formatting, indicator columns, freeze, filters, P&L, chart link colour groups and multiple tabs.

Overview: What the Market Analyzer Is For

The Market Analyzer is a grid window that displays live quote and analytic data for a list of instruments. Instruments are rows; data fields are columns. It is functionally a watchlist plus a lightweight screener plus a portfolio glance, in one window.

In a standard SabrTrader setup sequence, the Market Analyzer is configured after the SuperDOM. The reasoning is practical: the DOM is where you execute a single instrument, while the Market Analyzer is where you decide which instrument deserves the DOM. It answers three questions quickly:

• What is moving? Net change, percent change and a sparkline show direction and shape of the day per row.
• Is it worth trading? Volume, bid/ask spread and optional order-flow columns show whether participation and liquidity are sufficient.
• Where am I already exposed? A P&L column shows the running result of any open position in that instrument.

Key structural facts:

• The Market Analyzer opens as its own window and can be docked into a workspace beside charts, the SuperDOM, Market Watch, Depth Chart and Time & Sales.
• It supports multiple tabs. Each tab holds its own symbol set, columns, template, formatting and filters, so a futures tab and an equities tab never share configuration.
• It is an analysis and navigation surface, not an execution surface. You do not place orders from the grid; you click a row and let a linked chart or DOM open for execution.

Terminology note: the terms Market Analyzer and watchlist describe the same object in this documentation. "Watchlist" emphasises the list of symbols; "Market Analyzer" emphasises the analytic columns applied to that list.

Opening the Market Analyzer Window

The Market Analyzer is launched from the SabrTrader New window launcher in the Control Center menu, in the same list that creates charts, the SuperDOM, Market Watch, Depth Chart and Time & Sales. Selecting it opens a new, independent window.

On first open the grid is empty or shows a minimal default column set. Nothing is wrong: an unpopulated Market Analyzer has no symbols subscribed, so there is nothing to quote.

Docking and layout:

• Drag the window's title bar into a workspace region to dock it; drag it out to float it on a second monitor.
• A common layout places the Market Analyzer on the left or top of a monitor, a chart in the centre and the SuperDOM on the right, so a row click flows left-to-right into execution tools.
• Resize deliberately. The grid is width-constrained: the number of columns that stay readable is limited by the pixels you give the window, not by the number of columns SabrTrader offers.

Save the workspace after configuring the window. Symbol lists, columns, filters and link colours are part of workspace/template state; if the workspace is not saved, a restart can return you to an empty grid.

Adding Instruments: Three Methods

There are three ways to populate rows, and each suits a different situation.

1. Type or search a symbol directly

Click an empty row's symbol cell and type the ticker, for example MES (Micro E-mini S&P 500) or MGC (Micro Gold). The symbol search box resolves what you type against the instrument list of the connected data feed and offers matches. Use this method for one-off additions and for symbols you do not track daily.

Caveat: futures symbols carry a contract month. If typing the root does not resolve, use the search box or a list/family browser so the correct front-month contract is selected rather than an expired or illiquid month.

2. Load a saved symbol list

A symbol list is a saved group of instruments loaded in one click. Open the list selector, choose your list — for example the five or six futures you trade most regularly — and SabrTrader asks whether to Replace the current rows or Append to them.

• Replace clears existing rows and loads only the list. Use it when the tab is dedicated to that list.
• Append adds the list beneath existing rows. Use it when building a composite watch, for example your core futures plus two metals.

3. Load an instrument family or sector group

An instrument family contains every contract related to one underlying. Loading the ES family brings in the E-mini and Micro E-mini S&P 500 contracts together. Sector and market groups work the same way: metals, energies, US tech, FX majors, crypto pairs.

Method	Best used when	Risk
Type/search a symbol	One instrument, ad hoc, or a symbol not in any list	Wrong contract month if typed blind
Saved symbol list	Your daily traded set; repeatable workspace rebuilds	Replace wipes an unsaved manual row set
Instrument family / group	Comparing mini vs micro, or scanning a whole sector	Loads many rows, including thin months

Symbol Lists, Families and Asset-Class Groups

Symbol list is a user-curated saved group. The highest-value list for most traders is small: the five or six instruments actually traded intraday. A short list keeps every row visible without scrolling and keeps quote subscriptions low.

Instrument family is feed-defined rather than user-defined. It exposes all contracts on one underlying, including both sizes of the same product.

E-mini versus Micro contracts

E-mini and Micro contracts trade the same underlying index at different notional sizes. The micro is typically one tenth of the mini in notional value and in tick value. Practical consequences inside the grid:

• Price and percent change track almost identically between ES and MES; volume and P&L do not. Do not compare volume across sizes as if they were one product.
• Loading a family is the fastest way to compare liquidity between the mini and the micro before choosing which to trade.
• Position sizing differs by a factor of ten, which matters when reading the P&L column.

Contract expiration and the front month

Every futures symbol represents a specific delivery month. The front month is the nearest expiry that carries the bulk of volume; it is the contract a list should track. When volume migrates to the next month (rollover), a static list can leave you watching a dying contract with thin volume and misleading order flow. Verify the contract month in your futures list at each roll and update the saved list.

Asset-class grouping

Asset class grouping means organising instruments by market type — futures, equities, index ETFs, FX, crypto, options — so related products sit together and relative strength can be read within a group. It is the organising principle for tabs: one asset class per tab. Columns and filters that make sense for futures (volume in contracts, delta, front month) do not translate to FX, where forex volume is synthetic tick volume rather than exchange volume.

Templates: Instant Column Sets

A template is a saved column-and-format configuration that can be applied to a Market Analyzer tab in one action. SabrTrader ships built-in templates; Futures Overview is the one demonstrated, and it produces a sensible futures column set (identity, quote, session and volume columns) without any manual work.

Recommended workflow:

1. Load your symbols.
2. Apply the closest built-in template to get a working baseline.
3. Customise: remove columns you never read, add the sparkline, add one or two indicator columns.
4. Save the result as your own named template, for example Futures Scan, US Tech Scan, FX Majors.

Why save per asset class: a futures template that shows contract volume and delta is wrong for equities (where you may want percent change and relative volume) and wrong for FX (no consolidated volume). Separate templates prevent meaningless columns from occupying space.

A template stores columns, order, widths and formatting rules. It does not store the symbol list. Symbols come from a saved list or family; formatting comes from the template. Keeping the two separate lets you apply the same column layout to different symbol sets.

Column Configuration Reference

Columns are managed in the column chooser. It presents two lists side by side: available columns (everything the feed and platform can supply) and active columns (what is currently displayed). Arrow buttons move entries between the lists, and up/down controls reorder the active list, which sets left-to-right order in the grid.

Operations available in the chooser:

• Add — select in available, press the arrow toward active.
• Remove — select in active, press the arrow back toward available.
• Reorder — move an active column up (further left) or down (further right).
• Replace — remove one column and add another in the same position, the common way to swap a rarely read field for a new one.

Column categories

Category	Typical columns	What it answers
Identity	Symbol, description, exchange, contract month	Which instrument is this row?
Quote	Last, bid, ask, bid size, ask size, net change, % change	Where is it trading and how far has it moved?
Session	Open, high, low, prior close, volume, range	What has the session done so far?
Position	Position size, average entry price, unrealized P&L, realized P&L	Am I exposed here and by how much?
Analytics	Indicator columns (RSI, ADX, Volume), sparkline, delta	What is the state of momentum, trend and order flow?

Ordering, width and readability

• Put identity leftmost, then change columns, then session data, then analytics. The eye scans left to right; the most decision-relevant fields should need no horizontal scrolling.
• Set column width to the widest realistic value, not the widest possible. Truncated numbers are worse than a narrower column set.
• Screen real estate is the hard limit. If a tab needs horizontal scrolling to read net change, it has too many columns. A practical ceiling is 8–12 columns per tab on a 1080p-width window.
• Every added column and every added row is another live calculation or subscription. Trim aggressively rather than keeping fields "just in case".

Sparkline Column

A sparkline is a miniature intraday price chart drawn inside a single grid cell. It has no axes, labels or scale; it shows the shape of the day's move — one-directional trend, V reversal, sideways balance, late-session breakout.

To add it, open the column chooser (or the Sparkline control on the grid's configuration menu), move the sparkline entry into the active column list, and place it to the right of the change columns where it reads naturally against the numbers.

Why the sparkline is the fastest visual filter:

• Net change tells you how far price moved; the sparkline tells you how it moved. Two instruments both up 0.8% can be a clean trend and a failed spike.
• It removes the need to open a chart just to reject a candidate, which keeps the scanning workflow inside one window.
• Trend continuity is visible at a glance, which pairs naturally with an ADX column for confirmation.

Limits: a sparkline cannot show precise levels, volume distribution, or order flow. It is a triage graphic. Any decision requires a real chart, a footprint chart, or the DOM.

Row and Cell Formatting

Conditional row formatting applies colour or font rules to rows or individual cells so values meeting a condition stand out. Typical rules:

• Green text or background when net change is positive; red when negative.
• Highlight the whole row when a position is open in that instrument.
• Emphasise a cell when volume exceeds a threshold, or when RSI leaves a defined band.
• Dim or grey rows for instruments you monitor but do not trade.

Best practice: keep the palette minimal. Formatting works by exception. If every row is coloured, nothing is highlighted. Two or three rules per tab — direction, position held, one alert-like condition — is usually the limit before the grid becomes noise.

Formatting is stored in the tab's template, so a saved template reproduces the same colour rules on any symbol set you apply it to.

Indicator Columns (RSI, ADX, Volume and Others)

The Add Indicator control places the current numeric value of an indicator into a column, calculated independently for every row's instrument. Any indicator available to charts can generally be added, including the free indicator set and premium indicators.

Three commonly used indicator columns:

Indicator	What it measures	How it is read in a grid
RSI (Relative Strength Index)	Momentum, bounded 0–100, comparing average recent gains to average recent losses over a lookback (commonly 14 bars)	Values above 70 flag stretched upside, below 30 stretched downside. In a strong trend RSI can stay extreme for a long time, so treat it as a rank, not a signal.
ADX (Average Directional Index)	Trend strength irrespective of direction	Rising or high ADX marks instruments that are trending; low ADX marks balance. Pair with net change to get direction.
Volume	Total contracts or shares traded in the period	A participation and liquidity proxy. Low volume rows are usually not tradable regardless of how attractive their change looks.

Timeframe and period per column

Each indicator column has its own parameters: the bar interval it is calculated on and the indicator period. An RSI(14) on 5-minute bars and an RSI(14) on daily bars are different columns answering different questions. Label or order columns so the interval is unambiguous, and never mix intervals silently in one tab — that is the most common source of misread scans.

How many is too many

Indicator columns are the heaviest items in the grid: each one requires bar history and continuous recalculation per row. Two to four indicator columns per tab is a workable ceiling for both readability and performance. Beyond that, both the eye and the CPU degrade.

Triage, not execution

Indicator columns rank candidates. They do not confirm trades. A row showing RSI 78 and ADX 32 says "this instrument is trending and extended" — nothing about whether aggressive buyers are still being absorbed at the high. That confirmation comes from the footprint, SuperDOM and liquidity heatmap, or Time & Sales. If you want to be notified rather than to watch, convert the same logic into a rule on the conditional alerts builder.

Freezing Rows and Columns

Freeze pins selected rows or columns so they remain visible while the rest of the grid scrolls. Two uses:

• Freeze rows — keep your core instruments (for example ES, NQ, GC) at the top of a long sector list so they are always on screen while you scroll the remainder.
• Freeze columns — keep identity columns (symbol, description) locked at the left so that when you scroll right into analytics columns you can still tell which row you are reading.

Freeze is a display feature only. It does not change subscriptions, filters or calculations. It is most valuable on tabs with more rows than fit vertically — a full family or sector group — and unnecessary on a curated six-row list.

Filters: Turning the Grid Into a Screener

A filter (screener condition) is a rule that hides rows failing a numeric or logical test. The default example is a liquidity screen: Volume > 1,000,000, which removes illiquid instruments from view.

How to build one:

1. Open the filter control on the Market Analyzer tab.
2. Select the column to test, for example Volume.
3. Choose the operator, for example greater than.
4. Enter the threshold, for example 1000000.
5. Apply. Rows failing the test are hidden; the underlying symbol list is unchanged.

Conditions can be combined so the grid behaves as a lightweight screener — for example volume above one million AND percent change above 1% AND ADX above 25 to isolate liquid, trending, moving instruments. Add conditions one at a time and confirm the row count after each; combined filters are easy to over-tighten into an empty grid.

Two critical behaviours to internalise:

• A filter hides rows, it does not delete them. Removing the filter restores every symbol.
• A forgotten filter looks identical to missing data. If symbols "disappear", check the filter before checking the connection.

Filters are per tab. A volume filter appropriate for US equities is meaningless on an FX tab where volume is tick volume, which is another reason to keep one asset class per tab.

P&L Columns for Open Positions

P&L (profit and loss) is the running gain or loss on a position. Adding position columns turns the Market Analyzer into a portfolio glance alongside its scanning role.

• Unrealized P&L is the mark-to-market value of an open position: what it would be worth if closed at the current price. It changes tick by tick.
• Realized P&L is locked in after a position is closed and no longer moves with price.
• Position size and average entry price give the context needed to interpret the P&L number, especially when the same underlying is held in both mini and micro sizes.

Add the columns via the column chooser and, optionally, add a row-formatting rule that highlights any row with a non-zero position so held instruments stand out from watched instruments.

Scope and limits: the grid shows P&L per instrument row. It is not a substitute for the account/positions panel, which is authoritative for account balance, margin, aggregate exposure, working orders and per-account breakdowns. If you replicate trades across accounts with the Trade Copier, per-account results must be read from the copier's monitor tabs and the account panel, not from one instrument row.

Chart Linking With Colour Groups

Chart linking connects a Market Analyzer row to one or more windows using a link colour group. Assign a colour to a row (or to the analyzer) and the same colour to a chart window; clicking that row loads its symbol into every window sharing the colour.

Worked example from the demonstration:

1. Assign the gold row (GC) the colour gold/yellow, and assign a chart window the same colour.
2. Click the GC row. The linked chart immediately loads GC, no typing required.
3. Assign silver (SI) a different colour and a second chart that colour. Clicking silver now drives that second chart instead, leaving the first chart on GC.

Design patterns:

• One colour, one chart, many rows — a single "scratch" chart that any clicked row loads into. Best for fast scanning on one monitor.
• Colour per instrument group — metals to one chart, index futures to another. Best for multi-monitor layouts where each monitor owns a market.
• Link the analysis stack — put a chart, a footprint chart and a Depth Chart or Time & Sales window in the same colour group so one click retunes the entire order-flow view to the new symbol.

Critical safety rule: never link the chart or DOM you are actively trading from. A stray row click can swap the symbol under an open position and its working orders out of view. Keep at least one unlinked chart and one unlinked SuperDOM dedicated to the instrument you hold. Standardise your colour meanings across the whole workspace so "blue means the scan chart" is always true.

Multiple Tabs by Asset Class

new tab gives you a second, fully independent configuration in the same window.

The recommended structure is one tab per asset class:

Tab	Typical symbols	Typical columns beyond identity/quote
Futures	ES, NQ, MES, MNQ, GC, CL front months	Volume, delta, sparkline, ADX, contract month
US tech equities	Major large-cap technology names	% change, volume, relative volume, RSI, sparkline
FX	Major currency pairs	Bid, ask, spread, % change, sparkline (no exchange volume)
Crypto	BTC/USD, ETH/USD, perpetuals	24h change, volume, spread, sparkline
Options	Selected contracts on tracked underlyings	Last, bid/ask, volume, open interest

Why tabs beat one large grid:

• Filters stay meaningful. "Volume over one million" is a valid equity screen and a nonsense FX screen.
• Columns stay relevant. Contract month matters for futures and does not exist for spot FX.
• Each tab fits on screen without horizontal scrolling, because it carries only the fields its asset class needs.
• Switching context is one click and instant, with no re-configuration.

Building a new tab is fastest by copying an existing one: create the tab, load the new symbol list or group, apply the template you saved for that asset class, then adjust filters. Save the workspace afterwards so the tab set survives a restart.

Trading Concepts Used in the Grid

Net change and percent change

Net change is current price minus the prior session close, expressed in points or ticks. Percent change expresses the same difference as a percentage of the prior close. Percent change is the correct field for comparing instruments with different price levels; net change is the correct field for translating a move into ticks and dollars on one instrument.

Bid, ask and spread

The bid is the highest price a buyer is currently willing to pay; the ask (offer) is the lowest price a seller will accept. The spread is the gap between them. In a grid, spread is the fastest per-instrument liquidity check: a one-tick spread with meaningful size indicates a liquid market; a wide or erratic spread indicates a thin one where slippage will exceed your edge. In retail FX the spread is the primary trading cost.

Volume as participation

Volume is total contracts or shares traded over the period. It proxies participation and liquidity. Interpreting volume requires context: compare an instrument against its own typical volume, not against a different product, and never compare a mini contract's volume with its micro counterpart's as if they were the same product.

Delta in an order-flow context

Delta is the net of volume traded at the ask (buy aggressors) minus volume traded at the bid (sell aggressors). Positive delta means aggressive buyers dominated the period; negative delta means aggressive sellers did. As a Market Analyzer column, delta paired with volume separates "moved on real aggression" from "drifted on thin flow". Reading where that delta occurred, and whether it was absorbed, requires the footprint chart.

Scanning workflow

The scanning workflow is the disciplined sequence the Market Analyzer exists to support:

1. Scan the grid: change, sparkline, volume, indicator columns.
2. Shortlist one or two instruments.
3. Click the row to load the linked chart and read structure and levels — see volume profile and market structure.
4. Confirm with order flow: footprint, delta, SuperDOM and liquidity heatmap.
5. Execute from the DOM or Chart Trader, not from the grid.

Screen real estate

Screen real estate is the pixel space available across your monitors. It is the binding constraint on the grid: rows, columns, sparklines and indicator values all compete for it. Configuration decisions in the Market Analyzer are almost always trade-offs against this constraint, not against what the platform can compute.

Unrealized versus realized P&L

Unrealized P&L is the mark-to-market value of an open position and fluctuates with every tick; realized P&L is fixed once the position is closed. Reading a large unrealized number as though it were realized is a behavioural error the grid can encourage, since both appear as plain numbers in adjacent cells.

Tutorial: Build a Futures Scanning Tab, Then an Equities Tab

This walkthrough produces a working futures triage tab and duplicates the pattern for equities. Complete your data connection first; without a connected feed the grid will show rows with no quotes.

1. Open the Market Analyzer. From the SabrTrader New/window launcher menu, select Market Analyzer. An empty grid window opens. Dock it beside your chart area.
2. Load your futures symbol list. Open the list selector, choose your saved futures list, and select Replace so the tab contains only that list. If you have no list yet, type the symbols manually (for example MES, MNQ, MGC, CL) and save the result as a list for future use.
3. Verify contract months. Confirm each futures row is the current front month. Replace any expired or low-volume month before continuing.
4. Apply the Futures Overview template. Open the template selector and apply it. You now have a sensible identity/quote/session column set as a baseline.
5. Trim columns. Open the column chooser. Move any column you will not read from the active list back to available. Reorder so symbol and description are leftmost, then net change and percent change.
6. Add the sparkline column. Move Sparkline into the active list and position it immediately right of the change columns. Confirm each row draws a small intraday shape.
7. Add RSI. Use Add Indicator, choose RSI, set the period (14 is standard) and the bar interval you scan on (for example 5-minute). Confirm numeric values populate for all rows.
8. Add ADX. Repeat with ADX on the same interval as RSI so the two columns are comparable. Stop at two indicator columns for now.
9. Add a volume filter. Open the filter control and create Volume > 1,000,000 (adjust the threshold to what is normal for your instruments). Check which rows disappear and confirm the threshold is not hiding instruments you actually trade.
10. Enable P&L. Add Position size, Average price and Unrealized P&L columns at the right side of the grid. Add a row-formatting rule that highlights rows with a non-zero position.
11. Set the link colour. Assign a link colour to the analyzer, then assign the same colour to a scratch chart window. Click a row and verify the chart loads that symbol. Leave your execution chart and SuperDOM unlinked.
12. Freeze what must stay visible. Freeze the top rows holding your core instruments and freeze the identity columns at the left so scrolling never hides which row you are reading.
13. Save the template. Save the current column and formatting configuration as a named template, for example Futures Scan.
14. Create a second tab for equities. Click New Tab. Load your US tech group or saved equities list. Apply (or build and save) a US Tech Scan template with percent change, volume and RSI. Set a filter appropriate to equity volumes.
15. Save the workspace. Save the workspace so both tabs, their symbols, columns, filters and link colours persist across restarts.
16. Test the full workflow once. Scan the futures tab, click the strongest row, read the linked chart, then open the footprint or SuperDOM for the same symbol and confirm the order flow agrees before considering a trade.

Optional practice step: run the same workflow against recorded data using Market Replay so you can rehearse the scan-to-confirm sequence without live risk.

Best Practices

• One tab per asset class. Futures, equities, FX, crypto and options each get their own tab, template and filters. It keeps every column and every threshold meaningful.
• Cap columns at what fits without horizontal scrolling. If you must scroll right to read net change, the tab is over-built. Roughly 8–12 columns is the practical readable range.
• Identity and change columns leftmost. Symbol, description, net change, percent change, then session data, then analytics.
• Two to four indicator columns maximum. Indicator columns are the most expensive and the most easily misread; keep only those that change decisions.
• Use a single bar interval per tab for indicator columns. Mixing a 5-minute RSI with a daily ADX in the same grid produces incoherent rankings.
• Keep the formatting palette minimal. Two or three rules so exceptions actually stand out.
• Standardise link colours across the whole workspace. The same colour should always mean the same target window on every monitor.
• Never link the chart or DOM you trade from. Reserve dedicated, unlinked execution windows.
• Use the analyzer for triage only. Confirm every candidate with footprint, delta or DOM before execution; the grid shows aggregates, not aggression.
• Save templates and symbol lists. They make a workspace rebuild after a reinstall or monitor change a two-minute job.
• Check contract rolls on a schedule. Update futures lists to the new front month as volume migrates.
• Prune rows. Fewer rows means fewer live subscriptions, faster recalculation and less scrolling. A curated six-row core tab beats a fifty-row sector dump for daily trading.
• Convert repeated manual watching into alerts. If you keep staring at a column waiting for a value, build a condition in the alerts builder instead.

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Why it hurts	Correction
Overloading a tab with dozens of columns and indicators	Nothing is read because everything competes for attention; performance degrades	Cut to the fields that change decisions; move the rest to a second tab or remove them
Mixing asset classes in one tab	Filters and columns stop making sense (volume in contracts vs shares vs FX tick volume)	One asset class per tab with its own template and filter set
Leaving a filter active and assuming symbols vanished	Time lost troubleshooting a data connection that is working correctly	Check the filter first whenever rows are missing; clear it to confirm the full list
Using Replace when you meant Append	A manually built row set is wiped in one click	Read the prompt; save manual sets as symbol lists before loading anything else
Linking the chart you are actively trading	A stray row click swaps the symbol away from an open position and its working orders	Keep dedicated unlinked execution chart and SuperDOM windows
Trading directly off indicator columns	RSI or ADX values describe past bars, not current aggression or absorption	Use columns to shortlist, then confirm on footprint/DOM before entry
Tracking stale or expired contract months	Thin volume, misleading order flow, and quotes that do not reflect the market being traded	Verify the front month at every roll and update the saved list
Comparing mini and micro volume as one product	Liquidity is misjudged because the two contracts have different notional and volume scales	Compare each contract to its own history; use the family view to see both explicitly
Reading unrealized P&L as if it were realized	Open profit is treated as banked and risk management loosens	Display both P&L columns and label them clearly; manage risk on the open position
Never saving the workspace or templates	An hour of configuration is lost on restart or crash	Save the template after building a tab and the workspace after building the tab set

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I open the Market Analyzer in SabrTrader?

Open the SabrTrader New/window launcher menu from the Control Center — the same menu that creates charts, the SuperDOM, Market Watch, Depth Chart and Time & Sales — and select Market Analyzer. It opens as its own window with an empty or minimally configured grid, which you can then dock into a workspace. Populate it by typing symbols, loading a saved symbol list, or loading an instrument family.

What is the difference between adding a symbol list and adding an instrument family?

A symbol list is user-curated: a saved set of instruments you chose, typically the five or six products you trade daily. An instrument family is feed-defined: every contract related to one underlying, for example the ES family containing both the E-mini and Micro E-mini S&P 500 contracts. Use a list for your routine trading set; use a family when you want to see all sizes and months of one product, or a sector group (metals, energies, US tech) when scanning a whole market segment.

How do I add RSI or ADX as a column in the Market Analyzer?

Use the Add Indicator control on the Market Analyzer tab. Select the indicator (RSI, ADX, Volume or any other available indicator), set its period and the bar interval it should be calculated on, and confirm. The indicator is calculated per instrument and its current value appears as a numeric column for every row. Keep all indicator columns on the same bar interval within one tab so the values are comparable, and limit yourself to roughly two to four indicator columns for readability and performance.

What is a sparkline column and how do I enable it?

A sparkline is a miniature intraday price chart drawn inside one grid cell, showing the shape of the day's move without axes or labels. Enable it by moving the Sparkline entry into the active column list in the column chooser (or via the Sparkline control on the grid configuration menu), and place it to the right of your net change and percent change columns. It is the fastest way to distinguish a clean trend from a spike-and-fade without opening a chart.

How do link colours connect a Market Analyzer row to a chart?

Link colours define a group of windows that share a symbol. Assign a colour to a Market Analyzer row (or to the analyzer) and assign the same colour to a chart window. Clicking that row loads its symbol into every window in that colour group. In the demonstration, gold (GC) is linked to one colour so clicking it opens GC in the linked chart, while silver is assigned a different colour and drives a different chart. You can put a chart, footprint chart and Depth Chart in the same group so one click retunes the whole order-flow stack. Never assign a link colour to the chart or SuperDOM you are actively trading from.

Can I show my open position P&L in the Market Analyzer?

Yes. Add the position columns — position size, average entry price, unrealized P&L and realized P&L — through the column chooser. Unrealized P&L is the mark-to-market value of an open position and updates with every tick; realized P&L is fixed once the position is closed. The grid gives a per-instrument glance; the account/positions panel remains authoritative for balance, margin, aggregate exposure and working orders.

How do I filter the Market Analyzer to only show instruments with volume over one million?

Open the filter control on the tab, select the Volume column, choose the greater than operator, enter 1000000 and apply. Rows below the threshold are hidden; the symbol list itself is unchanged. You can add further conditions — for example percent change above 1% and ADX above 25 — to make the tab behave as a lightweight screener. Add conditions one at a time and check the resulting row count so you do not over-tighten into an empty grid.

How many columns and rows can I add before the grid becomes hard to read?

The practical limit is set by screen real estate, not by the platform. As a working guide: 8–12 columns per tab on a standard 1080p-width window, so that identity and change columns are readable without horizontal scrolling; two to four indicator columns; and enough rows to fit vertically without scrolling for your core tab (six to fifteen rows is typical). Larger sector or family lists are fine, but use frozen rows and columns so the important entries and identity fields stay visible.

Should I use one tab for everything or separate tabs per asset class?

Use separate tabs per asset class. Each tab keeps its own symbols, columns, template, formatting and filters, so a futures column set with contract month and contract volume does not collide with an equities set using percent change and share volume, or an FX set where volume is synthetic tick volume. Separate tabs also keep each grid narrow enough to read and make switching context a single click.

Can I save my column layout as a template and reuse it?

Yes. A template stores the column set, column order and widths, and formatting rules. Start from a built-in template such as Futures Overview, customise it, then save it under your own name (for example Futures Scan). Templates do not store symbols, so the same template can be applied to any list or family. Save your symbol lists separately; together they let you rebuild a full workspace in minutes.

Why are some rows showing no prices?

The usual causes, in order of likelihood: an active filter is hiding or blanking rows; the data connection is disconnected; the instrument is not subscribed or not entitled on your feed or plan; the symbol resolves to an expired or non-trading contract month; or the market for that instrument is closed (for example FX between the Friday close and Sunday open). Clear filters first, confirm connection status in the Control Center, then verify the symbol and contract month.

Does the Market Analyzer replace the SuperDOM or footprint chart for entries?

No. The Market Analyzer aggregates: it reports summary values such as last price, net change, volume and indicator readings. Entries require order-flow detail — where aggressive volume printed, whether it was absorbed, and where resting liquidity sits — which comes from the footprint chart, the SuperDOM with liquidity heatmap, or Time & Sales. Use the grid to shortlist candidates and the order-flow tools to confirm and execute.

How do I keep key symbols visible while scrolling a long list?

Use Freeze. Freezing rows pins your core instruments at the top of the grid so they remain on screen while the rest scrolls. Freezing columns pins identity columns such as symbol and description at the left so you can scroll right into analytics columns and still know which row you are reading. Freeze affects display only; it does not change subscriptions, filters or calculations.

Do futures lists update automatically when a contract rolls?

Do not assume so. A saved list that names a specific contract month keeps pointing at that month, which becomes thin and eventually expires as volume migrates to the next expiry. Check the contract month in every futures tab around each roll period, replace expired months, and re-save the list. Loading the instrument family is a quick way to see which month currently carries the highest volume.

What is the difference between Replace and Append when loading a symbol list?

Replace clears the tab's existing rows and loads only the selected list — correct when the tab is dedicated to that list. Append adds the list beneath the existing rows — correct when composing a mixed watch, for example your core futures plus two metals. Replace is destructive to any manually typed rows that were not saved as a list, which is why saving lists first is recommended.

Can I trade directly from the Market Analyzer?

The Market Analyzer is an analysis and navigation window, not an order-entry surface. The intended path is to click a row, let the linked chart or DOM load the symbol, and place the order from the SuperDOM or Chart Trader. This keeps execution on a surface designed for precise price selection and order management.

What does a Delta column tell me that Volume does not?

Volume shows how much traded; delta shows who was aggressive. Delta is volume traded at the ask (buy aggressors) minus volume traded at the bid (sell aggressors), so a positive value means aggressive buyers dominated the period and a negative value means aggressive sellers did. Volume with near-zero delta suggests two-sided churn; heavy volume with strongly one-sided delta suggests directional aggression. To see where that delta occurred and whether it was absorbed, open the footprint chart.

Why does the same product appear twice in an instrument family?

Because families include every contract on the underlying, which normally means both the E-mini and the Micro E-mini version and multiple delivery months. E-mini and Micro contracts track the same index but the micro is typically one tenth the notional and tick value. They are different tradable instruments with different volume and different P&L per tick, so do not treat their rows as duplicates.

How does the Market Analyzer relate to Market Watch?

Both display lists of instruments with live quote data. The Market Analyzer emphasises grid analytics — a configurable column matrix with indicator columns, sparklines, conditional formatting and screener filters — while Market Watch, documented alongside the Depth Chart and Time & Sales, emphasises quick quote monitoring and per-row actions such as Open Chart. Many traders run both: Market Watch for a compact quote board and the Market Analyzer for scanning and screening.

Can I use the Market Analyzer to build alerts instead of watching columns?

The grid itself displays values; it does not notify you. If you find yourself repeatedly watching a column for a threshold, translate that condition into a rule in the conditional alerts builder, which can combine price, indicator, volume, session and order-flow conditions with AND/OR/NOT logic and notify you when they are satisfied. That frees the Market Analyzer for scanning rather than staring.

Troubleshooting

Rows appear but show no quotes or blank price cells

Check in this order: (1) connection status in the Control Center — a disconnected feed leaves all rows blank; (2) whether an active filter is hiding rows or a formatting rule is rendering text invisibly; (3) whether the symbol is entitled on your data plan or subscription tier, since a symbol can resolve without being subscribable; (4) whether the market is open — FX is static between the Friday close and Sunday open, and futures have daily maintenance breaks; (5) whether the contract month has expired. Reconnect the feed and reload the tab after fixing the cause.

Symbol not found when typing a ticker

Typed roots frequently fail for futures because the tradable symbol includes a contract month, and for other asset classes because each provider uses its own symbol syntax. Use the symbol search box and select from the suggestions, or load the instrument family or a saved list and pick the row from there. Also confirm the instrument type or exchange filter is set to the right asset class for the connection you are on.

A filter is hiding every row and the grid looks empty

Open the filter control and clear or disable all conditions to confirm the symbols are still present. Then rebuild the filter one condition at a time, checking the row count after each. Common causes: a volume threshold set for equities applied to a futures or FX tab; a threshold entered with the wrong number of zeros; and multiple AND conditions that together no instrument can satisfy.

An indicator column is empty or shows no value for some rows

Indicator columns need bar history. If the requested period exceeds the number of bars available for that instrument on the chosen interval, the value cannot be computed. Reduce the period, choose a shorter bar interval, or increase the history depth the platform loads. Also check that the instrument is quoting at all — an unsubscribed or expired contract produces no bars, so its indicator cell stays empty. Illiquid instruments with sparse trading may populate slowly.

The sparkline cell is blank or draws nothing

A sparkline requires intraday bar data for the current session. It will not draw if the session has just opened with too few bars, if the instrument has not traded, if history for that symbol failed to load, or if the row's column width is too narrow to render. Widen the column, confirm the instrument is quoting, and reload the tab. If other rows draw correctly, the problem is instrument-specific rather than configuration-wide.

Clicking a row does not change the linked chart

Verify that the row's link colour and the chart window's link colour are the same group, and that linking is enabled on the chart (a chart set to no link group ignores all row clicks). Confirm you clicked the row's link-active area rather than editing a cell. If the chart changes symbol but shows no data, the issue is data entitlement for that instrument, not the link. If the wrong chart changes, two windows share the colour — reassign one.

A chart I was trading suddenly switched symbol

That chart is in a link colour group and a row click retuned it. Remove the link colour from any chart or SuperDOM you use for execution so it can never be repointed. Keep at least one unlinked chart and one unlinked DOM per instrument you hold, and check for working orders on the original symbol immediately, since a symbol swap hides the order display without cancelling the orders.

Tab configuration, columns or filters were lost after restart

Column layouts and formatting live in templates; symbol sets live in symbol lists; tab arrangement lives in the workspace. If none were saved, a restart reverts to defaults. Save the column configuration as a named template, save the symbol set as a list, then save the workspace. Repeat the workspace save after any structural change such as adding a tab or changing link colours.

The grid or platform slows down after adding rows and indicators

Each row is a live subscription and each indicator column is a continuous per-row calculation, so cost grows with rows multiplied by indicator columns. Remove rows you do not trade, cut indicator columns to the two or three you actually read, use a longer bar interval for indicator columns, reduce history depth, and split large lists across tabs so only the visible tab is dense. Also check whether your feed limits concurrent streaming symbol subscriptions — exceeding that limit causes throttled or dropped quotes that look like a performance problem.

Loading a list wiped the symbols I had typed in

You selected Replace instead of Append at the prompt. Replace clears existing rows. Re-enter the symbols and immediately save them as a named symbol list so the set is recoverable, then use Append when combining a saved list with manual rows.

P&L column shows zero although I have an open position

Confirm the row's instrument exactly matches the instrument held, including contract month and contract size — a position in ES will not appear on an MES row, and a position in an expiring month will not appear on the new front month's row. Also confirm the Market Analyzer is reading the correct account if your setup has multiple accounts, and that the position columns added are the ones you expect (unrealized versus realized). Verify against the account/positions panel, which is authoritative.

Volume numbers look wrong or incomparable between rows

Check what the rows actually contain. Mini and micro contracts on the same underlying have separate volume; equities report shares while futures report contracts; FX reports synthetic tick volume rather than consolidated exchange volume. Separate asset classes onto their own tabs and compare each instrument against its own normal volume rather than against other rows.

Glossary

ADX (Average Directional Index)

A trend-strength indicator that rises when directional movement is strong, regardless of whether the direction is up or down.

Asset class grouping

Organising instruments by market type — futures, equities, FX, crypto, options — so related products are monitored together and relative strength can be read within a group.

Bid / ask and spread

The bid is the best resting buy price, the ask is the best resting sell price, and the spread is the gap between them — a quick per-instrument liquidity check.

Chart linking / link colour group

Assigning a colour to a row and to one or more windows so that clicking the row instantly loads that symbol into every window sharing the colour.

Column

A single data field displayed for every row in the grid, such as last price, net change, bid, ask, volume, position size or an indicator value.

Column chooser

The configuration dialog that lists available columns beside currently active columns, with arrow controls to add, remove and reorder fields in the grid.

Conditional row formatting

Colour or font rules applied to rows or cells so that values meeting a defined condition stand out visually.

Delta

The net difference between volume traded at the ask (buy aggressors) and volume traded at the bid (sell aggressors) over a bar, session or range. Positive delta indicates aggressive buyers dominated; negative delta indicates aggressive sellers dominated.

E-mini vs. Micro futures

Two contract sizes on the same underlying index, where the micro contract carries a fraction — typically one tenth — of the mini's notional value and tick value.

Filter / screener condition

A rule that hides grid rows failing a numeric or logical test, such as displaying only instruments with volume above one million.

Footprint chart

A chart type that displays traded volume split by buy and sell aggressor at each individual price level within each bar, used to read absorption, imbalance and delta.

Freeze

Pinning selected rows or columns so they remain visible while the rest of the grid scrolls.

Front month

The nearest futures delivery month that carries the majority of traded volume, and therefore the contract a watchlist should normally track.

Futures contract expiration

The defined date on which a futures contract ceases trading; because each futures symbol represents a specific delivery month, lists must be updated as contracts expire.

Indicator column

An indicator such as RSI or ADX calculated per instrument on a chosen bar interval and displayed as a numeric column in the grid.

Instrument family

All contracts related to one underlying, exposed as a single loadable group by the data feed.

Market Analyzer

A grid window in SabrTrader that displays live quote and analytic data for a list of instruments, with instruments as rows and configurable data fields as columns.

Net change

The difference between the current price and the prior session close, expressed in points or ticks.

P&L (profit and loss)

The running gain or loss on an open or closed position, displayed per instrument row in the grid.

Percent change

The difference between the current price and the prior session close, expressed as a percentage of that close; the correct field for comparing instruments at different price levels.

Realized P&L

Profit or loss locked in after a position has been closed; it no longer changes with price.

RSI (Relative Strength Index)

A bounded momentum oscillator scaled 0–100 that compares the average size of recent gains to the average size of recent losses over a lookback period, commonly 14 bars.

Scanning workflow

Using a broad grid to spot movement, then drilling into a chart, footprint or DOM for order-flow confirmation before executing.

Screen real estate

The available pixel space across your monitors, which limits how many rows, columns and windows remain readable at once.

Sparkline

A miniature intraday price chart drawn inside a grid cell that shows the shape of the day's move at a glance, without axes or labels.

SuperDOM

A depth-of-market ladder that displays resting bid and ask liquidity at each price level and allows orders to be placed, modified and cancelled directly from price.

Symbol list

A saved group of instruments that can be loaded into a window in one click instead of typing each symbol individually.

Template

A saved column-and-format configuration that can be applied to a Market Analyzer tab instantly. It stores columns, order, widths and formatting rules but not symbols.

Unrealized P&L

The mark-to-market value of an open position: what it would be worth if closed at the current price. It changes with every tick.

Volume

The total number of contracts or shares traded over a period, used as a proxy for participation and liquidity.

Workspace tabs

Tabbed containers inside a window that let separate configurations — symbols, columns, formatting and filters — coexist and be switched instantly.

Related Documentation