SabrTrader Documentation

SabrTrader Platform Setup: Workspaces, Charts, and Indicators

This page documents the complete first-run setup of SabrTrader: replacing the demo workspace and its delayed dxFeed connection with a real broker or data-feed connection, opening a first chart, configuring chart properties, applying indicators, switching bar types, building a drawing-tool favourites set, and saving the result as a reusable chart template. Every dialog, toggle and field touched in the 10-minute walkthrough is defined here, together with the trading concepts behind each choice. Read it as the reference for how a SabrTrader chart workspace is assembled before any order-flow tool is added.

Overview: what a fresh SabrTrader install looks like

When SabrTrader is launched for the first time it opens a default workspace. A workspace is a saved arrangement of windows — charts, DOM ladders, watchlists and analysis panels — that opens, closes and restores as a single set. The default workspace exists to demonstrate what a working layout looks like; it is not a trading configuration.

The default workspace automatically establishes a connection to dxFeed, a market-data vendor bundled with SabrTrader so that new users see prices immediately without configuring anything. That connection delivers delayed market data: prices published on a fixed lag, commonly 10–15 minutes behind the exchange. Delayed data is adequate for learning the interface, arranging panels and configuring indicators. It must never be used for execution decisions, because the last price on the chart is not the price the market is currently trading.

The goal of this page is to move from that showcase state to a working setup:

1. Disconnect the delayed dxFeed demo connection and verify which connections remain.
2. Close the default workspace so no unnecessary subscriptions or windows remain.
3. Open one chart on a real connection — the example uses a Rithmic futures connection and the MNQ contract.
4. Configure the chart: colours, grid lines, time format, account selection.
5. Apply indicators (RSI as a sub-panel, EMA as an overlay, Price Line as a default).
6. Change interval and bar type, learn where each control lives.
7. Build a drawing-tool favourites set and mark a consolidation area.
8. Save the whole configuration as a named chart template and optionally as the default template.

The source video covers this path in roughly ten minutes. This page documents every setting the video touches plus the options it passes over, the trade-offs of each choice, and the mistakes that commonly follow from getting them wrong.

What this page does not cover

Order-flow tooling is configured on top of this foundation and is documented separately: the footprint chart, the SuperDOM and order book liquidity heatmap, volume profile, Market Watch, Depth Chart and Time & Sales, and the AI provider setup that powers the AI panels docked to the chart.

Platform surfaces: every control used in setup

This section defines each SabrTrader surface involved in first-chart setup. The tutorial that follows references these definitions rather than re-explaining them.

Control Center

The Control Center is SabrTrader's primary window. It hosts platform-wide functions rather than market analysis: the Connections menu and connection status list, workspace management (open, close, save), and the New menu that launches every window type — Chart, SuperDOM, Market Watch, Depth Chart, Time & Sales, Market Analyzer, Trade Copier and analysis panels. If a window cannot be found, the Control Center is where it is created.

Connections menu and connection types

The Connections area lists SabrTrader's pre-configured broker and data-feed templates, your saved connection profiles, and Connect / Disconnect controls plus a status panel. Two categories of connection exist and the difference matters:

Connection type	Supplies	Can route orders	Examples
Market-data-only feed	Quotes, trades, sometimes depth	No	dxFeed (delayed by default), Massive.com / Polygon
Broker / routing connection	Data, accounts, balances, positions, order routing	Yes	Rithmic, Interactive Brokers, Schwab, OANDA, Coinbase

A data-only feed cannot place orders and will not populate the account selector. A broker connection populates the account list, including any simulated (SIM) accounts, and enables Chart Trader and the DOM.

Connection status and the data-lag indicator on the chart header

Every chart header echoes the name of the connection feeding it, so you can confirm at a glance whether a chart is drawing from a live routing connection or a delayed demo feed. Beside it, SabrTrader displays a data-lag indicator: a measure of latency between the exchange event and its arrival in the platform. A value that stays near zero indicates a healthy feed. A rising or elevated value indicates network congestion, an overloaded machine, or a vendor problem — and means every chart, indicator and order-flow reading is running behind the market.

New > Chart dialog

Creating a chart requires three decisions in one dialog:

• Instrument — the symbol to load, selected from the connected feed's symbol list. For futures this means choosing the correct expiry (see front month in the trading concepts section).
• Interval / bar type — the aggregation for each bar, for example 2 minutes.
• Days to load (lookback) — how much history the platform requests from the feed when the chart opens, for example 7 days.

Chart Properties dialog

Chart Properties holds per-chart visual and behavioural settings, grouped in tabs:

Tab	Key settings	Purpose
Colors	Grid line toggle, chart background, candle body (up/down), candle outline, wick colour	Visual legibility; removing grid lines reduces clutter behind drawings and footprint data
General	Show tabs, always on top, 12-hour vs 24-hour time display, crosshair behaviour	Window behaviour and time-axis readability

Apply commits the change and leaves the dialog open so you can keep adjusting. OK commits and closes. Closing with the window control instead discards uncommitted edits. All Chart Properties settings are per chart until they are saved into a chart template — a new chart opens with the default template's settings, not with the last chart's settings.

Chart-side panels: Chart Trader, AI Chat Analysis, AI Chart Pattern Detector

Chart Trader is an order-entry panel docked to the right edge of the chart. It places, modifies and flattens orders against the price axis and acts on the same position as the DOM. If it is not visible, a slide-out handle on the chart's right edge opens it in one click. At the bottom of the panel are tabs:

• Trade — order entry, working orders, position and P&L for the selected account.
• AI Chat Analysis — a conversational panel that sends the chart's instrument, timeframe and recent price data to a configured large language model and returns written analysis. It requires an AI provider API key.
• AI Chart Pattern Detector — automated recognition of recurring chart formations on the loaded data series, presented as structured detections rather than conversation.

The panel's width is adjusted by dragging its inner edge; it can be made as narrow or as wide as preferred without changing chart settings.

Indicator browser and configuration dialog

The indicator icon in the chart header opens the bundled indicator list — every free indicator and any premium indicator your plan includes. Selecting an indicator adds it to the chart's applied list and exposes its parameter dialog. Overlay indicators (such as EMA and Price Line) draw on the price panel; oscillators (such as RSI) draw in their own sub-panel below price. Multiple instances of the same indicator can be applied with different parameters.

Pencil (quick-edit) icon

Each applied indicator is listed on the chart with a small pencil icon. Clicking it reopens that indicator's parameter dialog directly, without going back through the indicator browser. It is the fastest way to change a period, colour or line style, or to add a second instance.

Quick-access timeframe buttons vs the Data Series dialog

The header's quick-access interval buttons change time-based intervals only — 1, 2, 5, 15 minutes and the other configured defaults. Everything that is not time-based, plus lookback, lives in the Data Series dialog: bar type (time, tick, volume, range and other supported types), the bar-type value, and days to load. Changing bar type through Data Series preserves applied indicators and drawings; the indicators simply recalculate on the new series.

Header quick-access cluster

The chart header collects the controls used most often during a session:

• Time / interval selector and default interval list
• Indicators
• Data Series
• Connections
• Bar spacing increase and decrease (horizontal distance between bars; does not change data)
• Chart style — candlestick, hollow candles and other render styles
• Connection name and data-lag readout

The right-click context menu on the chart reaches the same commands for users who prefer menus to icons.

Left drawing toolbar and the star (favourites) system

The left toolbar groups drawing tools by family — lines, channels, Fibonacci tools, shapes, text and measurement tools. Opening a group reveals every tool in it. Each tool has a star checkbox: starring a tool adds it to the favourites set reached from the star icon. The intended workflow is that the four to eight tools you use daily live under the star for one- or two-click access, while rarely used tools stay in their group.

Chart templates and workspaces

A chart template saves one chart's configuration: bar type and value, lookback, indicators and their parameters, colours, grid and time settings, and chart style. It can be reapplied to any instrument. A workspace saves the whole layout: which windows are open, their sizes, positions, symbols and linked groups. Templates are per-chart; workspaces are per-screen. Both are reopened from the Control Center.

Trading concepts behind the setup choices

Each setup decision encodes a trading assumption. This section defines the concepts so the choices are deliberate rather than copied.

Delayed vs real-time market data

Delayed market data is exchange data republished after a fixed lag, commonly 10–15 minutes. Charts build normally and indicators calculate normally, but every value describes the past. Real-time market data is delivered tick by tick as trades print at the exchange. Order-flow analysis — reading executed trades and resting liquidity through footprint, delta and the DOM — is impossible on delayed data, because the entire value of the technique is knowing what is happening now. Real-time futures data normally requires an exchange entitlement purchased through your broker or vendor.

Front month and contract rollover

A futures contract expires on a defined date. The front month is the nearest expiry that carries the majority of traded volume, and it is the contract a chart should load. Rollover is the migration of volume from the expiring contract to the next quarter. Loading an expired or back-month contract produces a chart that either shows no data or shows thin, unrepresentative activity. On CME index futures rollover occurs quarterly (March, June, September, December), and volume typically shifts in the week before expiry.

MNQ, MES and micro versus mini contracts

MNQ is the Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures contract on CME, one tenth the notional size and tick value of the E-mini NQ. MES is the equivalent micro on the S&P 500. Micros are the standard learning instruments because they are liquid enough for order-flow practice while keeping per-tick risk small. MNQ ticks in 0.25 index points, so a range setting expressed in ticks must be converted when comparing instruments.

Bar types: time, tick, volume and range

A bar type defines the condition that closes a bar. Choosing it is choosing what the chart normalises.

Bar type	Closes when	Normalises	Behaviour
Time-based	A fixed clock interval elapses (2 min, 5 min)	Clock time	Bar count is predictable; quiet periods produce many small bars, fast periods compress information into few bars
Tick	A fixed number of trades has printed	Number of transactions	Bar formation accelerates as activity rises, slows when the tape is quiet
Volume	A fixed number of contracts has traded	Participation	Each bar represents equal traded size, aligning bars with committed volume
Range	Price has travelled a fixed number of ticks	Price movement (volatility)	Each bar is the same height; trends produce many bars, balance produces few

The video's worked example is an 80-tick range bar on MNQ: each bar closes only after price has covered 80 ticks (20 index points). Range bars remove the visual distortion where a violent two-minute bar and a dead two-minute bar occupy the same chart width.

Lookback period and why more is not better

The lookback period (days to load) is how much history the platform requests when the chart opens. On a 2-minute time chart, seven days is a few thousand bars and loads instantly. On tick, volume or range charts the bar count scales with activity, not with time, so the same seven days can mean tens of thousands of bars and a large tick-history request from the feed. Symptoms of excessive lookback are slow chart opening, high memory use, sluggish redraws and — on some vendors — history request throttling. Load only as much history as your analysis references.

24-hour versus 12-hour time display

Index futures trade nearly around the clock on Globex, with the regular US cash session forming one segment of a 23-hour day. A 24-hour clock makes overnight and cash-session bars unambiguous and matches the way session windows (RTH, ETH, Asia, Europe) are normally written. 12-hour display duplicates every hour label and forces AM/PM reading, which is why 24-hour is the SabrTrader default for futures work.

RSI and EMA as context, not signals

RSI (Relative Strength Index) is a bounded momentum oscillator, conventionally on a 14-period lookback, that compares average gains to average losses and plots the result between 0 and 100. Readings above 70 are described as overbought and below 30 as oversold, but in a trending futures market RSI can remain pinned at an extreme for hours. Its practical use is measuring whether momentum is expanding or fading relative to prior swings.

EMA (Exponential Moving Average) is a moving average that weights recent prices more heavily than older ones, so it reacts faster to new information than a simple moving average of the same period. A 21-period EMA on an intraday chart is commonly used as a dynamic trend reference: price holding above it defines an up-leg, repeated closes through it signal a change in short-term control.

Neither indicator reads order flow. Both are derived from closing prices and therefore lag. In an order-flow workflow they supply context and bias; the entry decision comes from the tape, the footprint or the depth ladder.

Price line (last-price line)

The price line is a horizontal line drawn across the full chart width at the most recent traded price. It makes the current price comparable to levels far to the left of the chart — a prior day's high, a marked consolidation zone — without measuring by eye.

Support, resistance, consolidation and retest

Support and resistance are price areas where prior trading activity has repeatedly halted or reversed movement. A consolidation or balance area is a range in which price rotates with little net progress; because a large amount of volume traded there, it becomes a reference zone that price often reacts to when it returns. A retest is price returning to a previously broken or defended level to test whether it still holds. Drawing a rectangle around a consolidation and extending it to the right converts that observation into a forward reference: when price approaches the extended box in a later session, the level is already marked and can be watched with order-flow tools instead of rediscovered under pressure.

Fibonacci retracement and Fib Channel

Fibonacci retracement draws horizontal levels at fixed ratios (commonly 23.6%, 38.2%, 50%, 61.8%, 78.6%) of a prior swing, used to anticipate where a pullback may find buyers or sellers. A Fib Channel applies the same ratios to a parallel channel projected along a trend, so the levels slope with the trend instead of sitting flat. Both are geometric constructions; they identify candidate areas, not signals.

Multi-timeframe analysis

Multi-timeframe analysis is using more than one interval or bar type on the same instrument, so context and timing are separated: a higher interval defines structure and bias, a lower interval or an activity-based bar type defines entry location. In SabrTrader this is implemented as two charts in one workspace, each with its own template, rather than by constantly switching one chart's interval.

Simulated (SIM) accounts

A simulated (SIM) account routes orders to SabrTrader's internal simulator instead of the exchange. Fills are modelled from live or delayed data and no capital is at risk. SIM is the correct account for learning the interface, testing Chart Trader clicks, rehearsing ATM brackets and validating a template. The risk it removes is specific and real: an accidental double-click on a price ladder is a live market order if a funded account is selected.

Where this setup leads: order flow

Order-flow analysis reads executed trades and resting liquidity — the footprint chart, delta, the DOM and liquidity heatmap — rather than only price bars. Those tools require a correctly configured chart underneath them: a real-time connection, the front-month contract, a bar type that suits the instrument's volatility, and a saved template so the configuration is reproducible tomorrow. That is what this page builds.

Step-by-step: from default workspace to saved template

Step 1 — Disconnect the demo feed and review connections

1. Open the Control Center.
2. Open the Connections menu. It lists every configured connection with its current state.
3. Select the dxFeed demo connection and choose Disconnect. SabrTrader stops the delayed subscription; any chart drawing from it will stop updating.
4. Confirm in the connection status panel that only the connection you intend to trade on remains connected — in this example a Rithmic connection.
5. If you have not yet created that connection, do so before continuing. SabrTrader ships pre-configured templates for Rithmic, Interactive Brokers, Schwab, OANDA, Coinbase, Massive.com / Polygon and dozens of others.

Why disconnect rather than ignore: every connected feed holds symbol subscriptions and consumes bandwidth, and having two feeds connected makes it possible to open a chart on the delayed one by accident. One feed connected means the chart header can only report the feed you intend.

Step 2 — Close the default workspace and start clean

1. With the demo feed disconnected, close the default workspace from the Control Center's workspace controls.
2. Confirm the desktop is empty of sample charts and panels.
3. Create or open the workspace you will actually use. Workspaces can be reopened at any time, so closing the sample loses nothing.

Name workspaces so their purpose is obvious without opening them. A workable convention is instrument – bar type – session, for example MNQ – 80 range – RTH, or ES – order flow – overnight. Save the workspace after arranging windows; unsaved layout changes are lost when the platform closes.

Step 3 — Open your first chart (New > Chart)

1. In the Control Center choose New > Chart.
2. Search the instrument. For this example select MNQ and pick the front-month expiry — the contract carrying current volume. If the symbol does not appear, the connection is either not connected or the instrument family has not been loaded for that feed.
3. Set the interval to 2 minutes.
4. Set days to load to 7. Seven days of 2-minute bars gives a full week of structure with an instant load.
5. Confirm. The chart opens and the connection name appears in the chart header alongside the data-lag readout.
6. If the crosshair cursor obstructs the view, switch to the plain arrow cursor from the chart's cursor control.

Trade-off to keep in mind: the same 7-day lookback on an activity-based series (tick, volume or range bars) on a heavily traded instrument can request far more data and produce a far higher bar count. Reduce lookback when you change bar type.

Step 4 — Chart Properties: every tab and option

1. Open Chart Properties from the chart header or the right-click context menu.
2. Go to the Colors tab.
3. Set the grid lines toggle off if you prefer an uncluttered background. Grid lines are a personal preference; removing them helps when footprint numbers, heatmap bands or many drawings sit behind price.
4. Optionally change the chart background, the candle body colours for up and down bars, the candle outline colour and the wick colour. Keep up/down colours strongly distinct; if you later use hollow candles, the outline colour carries the direction information.
5. Click Apply to see the change without closing the dialog.
6. Go to the General tab. Here you control show tabs (whether the chart window displays tab headers for multiple charts), always on top (keep the chart above other windows), and time display.
7. Leave time display at 24-hour for futures. Choose 12-hour only if you exclusively trade a single cash session and prefer AM/PM labels.
8. Click Apply, then OK to close.

These settings apply to this chart only. To make them universal, save them into a chart template and set that template as the default (Step 11).

Step 5 — Select the SIM account before doing anything else

1. Locate the account selector in the Chart Trader panel (and in the SuperDOM if one is open).
2. Choose the simulation (SIM) account while learning or testing.
3. Verify the selection visually: SIM accounts are named distinctly from funded accounts and their balances are simulator balances. Read the name, not the position in the list — list order can change when connections reconnect.
4. Re-verify after every reconnect and at the start of every session.

Rationale: Chart Trader and the DOM place orders on a single click at the price under the cursor. If a funded account is selected while you are experimenting with panel layout, a stray click is a live market order. Selecting SIM first removes that failure mode entirely.

Step 6 — Chart Trader and the chart-side panels

1. If Chart Trader is not visible, click the slide-out handle on the chart's right edge. It is always one click away; it is never removed by a template.
2. Drag the panel's inner edge to set its width.
3. Use the bottom tabs to switch the panel's function: Trade for order entry, AI Chat Analysis for written analysis of the loaded chart, AI Chart Pattern Detector for automated formation detection.
4. The AI tabs require a configured provider API key. Complete the AI provider setup before expecting output.

Step 7 — Applying indicators (RSI and EMA walkthrough)

1. Click the indicator icon in the chart header to open the indicator browser.
2. Scroll or search the bundled list. Select RSI and add it. RSI is an oscillator, so it is drawn in its own sub-panel below price. Leave the period at its default (14) unless you have a reason to change it.
3. Select EMA and add it. EMA is an overlay and is drawn on the price panel.
4. In the EMA parameter dialog set Period to 21.
5. Set the colour to red (or any colour that contrasts with your candle colours). The colour picker also exposes brightness/shade control.
6. Set line style to dash so the average is visually distinct from price and from any drawn levels.
7. Set thickness to 2 so it remains readable at wide bar spacing.
8. Click Apply to preview, then OK to commit.
9. To add a second EMA (for example a 50-period), add another EMA instance rather than editing the first. Multiple instances of the same indicator with different parameters are supported.

To change anything already applied, click the pencil icon next to the indicator's label on the chart. It reopens that instance's dialog directly — the fastest route for adjusting a period, colour or style mid-session.

Step 8 — Changing timeframe versus changing bar type

1. To move between time intervals — 2 minutes to 5 minutes, for example — use the quick-access interval buttons in the header or the default interval list. These only change time-based intervals.
2. To use any non-time bar type, open Data Series from the header or the right-click menu.
3. Set bar type to Range.
4. Set the value to 80 — an 80-tick range bar, meaning each bar closes after price travels 80 ticks (20 index points on MNQ).
5. Reduce days to load to 5. Activity-based bars produce far more bars per day than a 2-minute chart, so trim lookback in the same dialog.
6. Confirm. The chart rebuilds on the new series and the RSI and EMA remain applied, recalculated on the new bars.

The same dialog exposes tick and volume bar types and the other supported bar types, always alongside the lookback setting — which is why bar-type changes and history changes are made together.

Step 9 — Chart toolbar and display shortcuts

1. Use bar spacing increase/decrease to compress or expand the horizontal distance between bars. This is a display change only; no data is reloaded.
2. Use the chart style control to switch render style. Candlestick draws a filled body between open and close with high/low wicks. Hollow candles draw up-closing bars unfilled, colouring by close relative to the prior close, which emphasises direction changes.
3. Use the connections control in the header to inspect or change which feed the chart uses.
4. Use the time, indicators and data series icons as shortcuts to the corresponding dialogs.
5. If you prefer menus, right-click anywhere on the chart. The context menu reaches the same commands, including Chart Properties, Data Series, Indicators and template operations.

Step 10 — Drawing toolbar and building a favourites (star) set

1. On the left toolbar, click a tool group to expand it. Clicking the Fibonacci retracement group reveals every Fibonacci-family tool, including Fib Channel, Fib extensions, arcs and time zones.
2. Tick the star next to Fib Channel. It is now part of your favourites set.
3. Star every tool you use daily, and leave the rest in their groups. A favourites list of four to eight tools stays scannable; a list of thirty defeats the purpose.
4. Click the star icon in the toolbar at any time to access the favourites set in one or two clicks.
5. Select the rectangle tool and draw a box around a consolidation area — a range where price rotated without net progress.
6. Extend the rectangle to the right so the zone projects forward across future bars. When price returns, the level is already on the chart as a candidate support or resistance area to watch for a retest.
7. Repeat for any other balance area or level that earns attention. Keep the count low; a chart covered in boxes provides no prioritisation.

Step 11 — Save a chart template and set a default

1. Add any final personal defaults. In this example, add the Price Line indicator so the last traded price is always drawn across the chart.
2. Open the template controls from the chart header or the right-click context menu and choose save template.
3. Name it descriptively. A durable scheme is instrument – bar type – purpose, for example MNQ 80 Range – order flow or ES 2min – context. Names that describe only the indicator set become ambiguous once you have a dozen templates.
4. Optionally save it as the default template so every newly created chart opens with these colours, indicators, bar type and lookback.
5. To reuse the configuration on another instrument, open a chart on that instrument and load the saved template. Everything except the symbol is reapplied.
6. Arrange the chart and any companion windows, then save the workspace so the whole layout returns next session.

Remember the distinction: a template restores one chart's configuration; a workspace restores the entire screen. A trader typically has a small number of templates and several workspaces that combine them.

Best practices

Before the session

• Verify the connection state and the account selection before the open, not after the first setup appears. Read the connection name in the chart header and the account name in Chart Trader.
• Confirm the loaded contract is the current front month, especially in rollover weeks.
• Glance at the data-lag readout in the chart header. A healthy feed sits near zero; anything elevated invalidates order-flow reads.

Templates and workspaces

• Maintain one clean template per instrument and bar type rather than one template you constantly edit.
• Name templates by instrument + bar type so the list is self-documenting.
• Set the template you use most as the default so new charts open configured.
• Save the workspace after arranging windows. Layout changes that are not saved do not survive a restart.
• Use workspaces for context separation: one for pre-market preparation, one for the cash session, one for review.

Data and performance

• Keep exactly one data source connected per instrument. Two connected feeds create ambiguity about which one a chart is using.
• Load only the lookback your analysis references. Increase it deliberately when you need more history, then reduce it again.
• On tick, volume and range charts, start with a short lookback (2–5 days) and extend only if load time stays acceptable.

Chart configuration

• Use 24-hour time for futures so overnight and cash-session bars are unambiguous.
• Keep the favourites (star) tool set short — the tools you reach for every day.
• Treat RSI and EMA as context. Reserve execution decisions for order-flow evidence from the footprint, tape or depth ladder.
• Extend marked consolidation rectangles to the right so they function as forward references rather than historical annotations.

Risk and account hygiene

• Keep a SIM account selected whenever you are configuring, testing panels or rehearsing order entry.
• Switch to a funded account as an explicit, deliberate action at the start of trading — never as a leftover state from yesterday.
• Practise unfamiliar workflows in Market Replay on SIM before running them live.

Common mistakes

Mistake	Consequence	Correction
Analysing or trading from the default workspace's dxFeed connection	Every price is 10–15 minutes stale; order flow is meaningless and levels are already broken	Disconnect dxFeed and open charts on a real-time broker or vendor connection
Leaving dxFeed connected alongside a live feed	Charts silently drawn from the delayed feed; conflicting last prices between windows	Keep one connection per instrument; verify the feed name in each chart header
Loading an expired or back-month contract	Empty chart, frozen last price, or thin unrepresentative volume	Select the front-month expiry; re-check during rollover weeks
Using a large lookback on tick, volume or range charts	Very slow chart load, high memory use, possible vendor history throttling	Reduce days to load in the Data Series dialog when changing to an activity-based bar type
Expecting the quick interval buttons to change bar type	Confusion when range/tick/volume options cannot be found	Non-time bar types are only in the Data Series dialog
Closing a properties dialog without pressing Apply or OK	Edits are discarded and appear not to have worked	Press Apply to preview, OK to commit and close
Configuring a chart perfectly and never saving a template	The whole configuration must be rebuilt manually on the next chart	Save a named template; set the most-used one as default
Leaving a funded account selected while experimenting with Chart Trader or the DOM	An accidental single click sends a live market order	Select SIM before touching order-entry surfaces; verify by name
Starring dozens of drawing tools	The favourites bar becomes as slow to scan as the full tool groups	Star only daily tools; leave the rest in their groups
Treating RSI extremes as entry signals in a trending market	Repeated counter-trend entries against sustained aggression	Use RSI for momentum context; confirm with order flow
Never checking the data-lag indicator	Decisions made on a feed running seconds or minutes behind	Include the lag readout in your pre-session check and glance at it after any network event
Saving layout work only as a template and expecting the whole screen to return	Windows, sizes and symbol links are lost	Save the workspace as well; templates cover one chart only

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does SabrTrader open a dxFeed connection automatically on first launch?

So that a new installation shows live-looking charts immediately instead of an empty screen. The default workspace is a showcase layout, and dxFeed is bundled as its data source. It requires no credentials and no subscription, which is why it is used for the first-run experience. It is a data-only feed: it cannot route orders and will not populate the account selector.

Is the default workspace data real-time or delayed?

Delayed. The bundled dxFeed connection publishes prices on a fixed lag, commonly 10–15 minutes. Charts and indicators build normally, but every value describes the market as it was, not as it is. Delayed data is suitable for learning the interface, arranging panels and configuring templates. It is not suitable for execution decisions or for any order-flow analysis, because footprint, delta and DOM readings depend on knowing what is trading right now.

How do I connect SabrTrader to Rithmic for futures data and order routing?

Open the Control Center, go to the Connections area, select the pre-configured Rithmic template, enter your Rithmic credentials and gateway, save the profile, then press Connect. Rithmic is a broker/routing connection, so once connected it supplies market data, account balances and positions, and order routing — including any prop-firm evaluation or funded accounts running on Rithmic infrastructure. Full field-by-field instructions are on the Connecting SabrTrader to Rithmic page.

How do I know which data feed a chart is using?

The connection name is displayed in the chart header, next to the data-lag readout. Every chart shows the feed it is drawing from, which is why it is worth keeping only the intended connection connected — with a single feed connected, the header can only report that feed.

Where do I switch between a SIM account and a live account?

In the account selector at the top of the Chart Trader panel, and in the equivalent selector on the SuperDOM. Both surfaces act on the same selected account. SIM accounts route orders to SabrTrader's internal simulator; funded accounts route to the broker. Verify the selection by reading the account name rather than by its position in the dropdown, because list order can change after a reconnect.

How do I turn off chart grid lines?

Open Chart Properties (chart header or right-click menu), select the Colors tab, switch the grid line toggle off, press Apply to preview, then OK. The change applies to that chart only. To make it permanent for all new charts, save the chart as a template and set that template as the default.

How do I change from a 2-minute chart to range, tick, or volume bars?

Open the Data Series dialog from the chart header or the right-click menu. Set bar type to Range, Tick or Volume, enter the value (for example 80 for an 80-tick range bar), and adjust days to load in the same dialog. Applied indicators and drawings are preserved and recalculated on the new series. The quick-access interval buttons in the header cannot do this — they only switch between time-based intervals.

What is the difference between the quick interval buttons and the Data Series dialog?

The quick interval buttons are a shortcut for time-based intervals only (1, 2, 5, 15 minutes and the other configured defaults). The Data Series dialog controls the full data definition of the chart: bar type (time, tick, volume, range and other supported types), the bar-type value, and lookback days. Any change that is not simply a different clock interval is made in Data Series.

How many days of history should I load on a tick or range chart?

Start with 2–5 days and extend only if load time and responsiveness stay acceptable. On activity-based bars the number of bars scales with trading activity rather than with calendar time, so a busy week on a liquid contract can generate tens of thousands of bars. Excessive lookback shows up as slow chart opening, heavy memory use, sluggish redraws and — on some vendors — throttled history requests. On a 2-minute time chart, seven days is comfortable.

How do I edit an indicator after it has been applied?

Click the small pencil icon next to that indicator's label on the chart. It reopens the parameter dialog for that specific instance, where you can change period, colour, line style, thickness and any other exposed setting. Press Apply to preview and OK to commit. You can also reopen the indicator browser, but the pencil is faster and unambiguous when several instances of the same indicator are applied.

How do I add drawing tools to the quick-access favourites bar?

On the left drawing toolbar, expand the group that contains the tool (for example the Fibonacci retracement group), then tick the star checkbox next to the tool — Fib Channel, for instance. It then appears under the star icon, which is your one- or two-click favourites set. Star only the tools you use daily; leave situational tools in their groups so the favourites list stays fast to scan.

What is the difference between a chart template and a workspace?

A chart template saves the configuration of one chart: bar type and value, lookback, indicators and their parameters, colours, grid setting, time format and chart style. It can be applied to any instrument. A workspace saves the whole layout: which windows are open, their positions and sizes, the symbols loaded and any link groups. Templates are the unit of chart configuration; workspaces are the unit of screen configuration. Most traders keep a few templates and several workspaces that combine them.

How do I make every new chart open with my preferred settings?

Configure one chart exactly as you want it — colours, grid, time format, indicators such as EMA and Price Line, bar type and lookback — then save it as a template and save that template as the default. Every chart created afterwards from New > Chart opens with those settings, and you only choose the instrument.

Where is the Chart Trader panel if I cannot see it?

On the right edge of the chart there is a slide-out handle; one click opens Chart Trader. It is never permanently removed, and a template does not delete it. Once open, drag its inner edge to set the width, and use the bottom tabs to switch between Trade, AI Chat Analysis and AI Chart Pattern Detector.

What are the AI Chat Analysis and AI Chart Pattern Detector tabs?

AI Chat Analysis is a conversational panel: it sends the chart's instrument, timeframe and recent price data to a large language model along with your prompt, and returns written analysis and optional price levels. AI Chart Pattern Detector performs a structured detection task instead — it scans the loaded data series for recurring chart formations and reports what it finds. Both require a paid AI provider API key configured under AI setup. Related AI functionality is covered on the alerts page.

How do I tell if my market data is lagging?

SabrTrader displays a data-lag indicator in the chart header beside the connection name. It measures the delay between an exchange event and its arrival in the platform. A healthy real-time feed reads near zero. An elevated or climbing value means the platform is behind the market — check network stability, close unnecessary symbol subscriptions and oversized lookbacks, and if it persists, disconnect and reconnect the feed. Do not read order flow while lag is elevated.

Does SabrTrader work like NinjaTrader for chart setup?

The workflow is deliberately familiar to users of established desktop platforms: a Control Center with a New menu, Connections management, per-chart properties dialogs with Apply/OK, an indicator browser with parameter dialogs, a Data Series dialog for bar types and history, a left drawing toolbar, and chart templates plus workspaces for persistence. Terminology and dialog structure will be intuitive if you have used NinjaTrader or comparable platforms. SabrTrader adds chart-docked AI panels and built-in order-flow tooling on top of that structure.

Should I display chart times in 12-hour or 24-hour format for futures?

Use 24-hour. Index futures trade nearly around the clock on Globex, so a 12-hour clock duplicates every hour label and forces AM/PM interpretation when comparing overnight and cash-session activity. 24-hour matches the way session windows (RTH, ETH, Asia, Europe) are conventionally written and is the SabrTrader default. The setting is on the General tab of Chart Properties.

Can I keep the default workspace and just add my own charts to it?

You can, but it is not recommended while learning. The sample workspace carries windows and subscriptions you did not choose, and it is bound to the delayed demo feed, which makes it easy to analyse stale data by accident. Closing it and building a named workspace of your own gives a known state you can reproduce. The default workspace can be reopened at any time from the Control Center.

Why are RSI and EMA the recommended starting indicators?

Because they are minimal, well understood and answer two different questions: EMA gives a dynamic trend reference (a 21-period EMA on an intraday chart), and RSI gives a bounded momentum reading. Both are computed from closing prices and therefore lag, so they establish bias and context rather than trigger entries. Once the chart foundation is in place, the confirmation layer comes from order-flow tools such as the footprint chart and the DOM and liquidity heatmap.

Troubleshooting

Chart shows no data, or the last price is frozen

Check three things in order. First, the connection: is the feed still connected in the Control Center, and does the chart header show the feed you expect? Reconnect if the status shows disconnected. Second, the contract: for futures, an expired or back-month expiry produces an empty or static chart — reload the front month. Third, the session: outside trading hours no new ticks arrive, so the last bar legitimately does not move. If the connection is up, the contract is correct and the market is open, disconnect and reconnect the feed to rebuild the subscription.

The data-lag indicator in the chart header is elevated

Elevated lag means the platform is receiving exchange events late. Reduce load first: close charts you are not using, trim excessive lookback in the Data Series dialog, and reduce the number of streaming symbols. Then check the network — wireless links and VPNs are the usual causes. If lag persists on a wired, otherwise idle machine, disconnect and reconnect the feed, and if it remains, check the vendor's status. Suspend order-flow reading while lag is elevated; footprint and DOM interpretation require current data.

Chart Trader is not visible on the chart

It is collapsed, not removed. Click the slide-out handle on the right edge of the chart to reveal it. If it opens too narrow or too wide, drag its inner edge to resize. If the Trade tab shows no account, the routing connection is not yet connected — a data-only feed cannot populate the account list.

Indicators seem to disappear or look wrong after changing bar type

Indicators are preserved through a bar-type change but they recalculate on the new series, so a 21-period EMA on 80-range bars covers a very different amount of time than the same EMA on 2-minute bars. If a sub-panel indicator such as RSI appears missing, check that the sub-panel has not been collapsed to zero height and drag the panel divider. If values look implausible, confirm the new series has loaded enough bars to satisfy the indicator's lookback — a very short days-to-load setting can leave an indicator with insufficient history.

A saved template does not appear in the template list

Confirm the save actually completed with a name entered — cancelling the naming dialog aborts the save. Then check you are looking at the chart template list rather than the workspace list; the two are separate. If the template was saved while a different profile or installation was in use, it will not be present. Re-save from the currently configured chart and verify it appears in the list before closing the chart.

Grid lines or colours revert to defaults on a new chart

Chart Properties settings are per chart. A new chart opens with the default template's settings, not with the previous chart's settings. Configure one chart the way you want, save it as a template, then save that template as the default. Also confirm you pressed Apply or OK rather than closing the dialog with the window control, which discards uncommitted edits.

The instrument cannot be found in the symbol search

Symbol lists come from the connected feed, so first confirm the intended connection is connected — a disconnected feed exposes nothing. Next check the instrument type filter (future, stock, option, crypto) matches what you are searching. For futures, search the root (for example MNQ) and select the expiry from the results; searching a full expiry string that does not match the vendor's format returns nothing. If the instrument family has not been loaded for that connection, load it, then search again.

The account dropdown in Chart Trader is empty

Accounts are supplied by broker/routing connections, not by data-only feeds. If only a market-data feed such as dxFeed or a vendor data connection is connected, the list will be empty by design. Connect the broker connection (Rithmic, Interactive Brokers, Schwab, OANDA, Coinbase) and wait for the account download to complete; the list populates a moment after the connection reports connected. If it stays empty on a connected broker, the credentials may be authorised for data but not for trading, or the account may not yet be funded or enabled.

Disconnecting dxFeed stopped a chart from updating

That chart was subscribed to dxFeed. Either close it and open a new chart on the intended connection, or change the chart's connection from the connections control in the chart header. Verify afterwards that the header shows the correct feed name.

The chart is unreadable — bars too wide, too narrow, or drawings lost in the background

Use the bar spacing increase/decrease controls in the header to set horizontal density; this is a display-only change and does not reload data. If drawings and indicator lines are hard to separate from the background, turn grid lines off on the Colors tab, raise indicator line thickness, and choose overlay colours that contrast with both candle colours. Save the result into your template so you do not repeat the adjustment.

Glossary

AI chart pattern detection

Automated recognition of recurring chart formations on the loaded data series, exposed in SabrTrader as a dedicated panel because it performs a structured detection task rather than open conversation.

AI Chat Analysis

A chart-docked panel that sends the chart's instrument, timeframe and recent price data plus your prompt to a configured large language model and returns written analysis and optional price levels.

Bar spacing

The horizontal distance drawn between bars on a chart. Adjusting it changes display density only and does not reload or alter data.

Broker connection

A connection that supplies market data, account balances, positions and live order routing. Required before the account selector, Chart Trader and the DOM can place orders.

Candlestick bar

A bar drawn with a body spanning the open and close prices and wicks extending to the high and low, coloured by whether the close was above or below the open.

Chart template

A saved combination of bar type, interval, lookback, indicators and visual settings for a single chart, which can be reapplied to any instrument or set as the default for new charts.

Chart Trader

An order-entry panel docked to a SabrTrader chart that places, modifies and flattens orders against the price axis. It shares the selected account and position with the SuperDOM and slides out from the chart's right edge.

Consolidation / balance area

A price range in which the market rotates with little net progress. Because significant volume trades there, it is frequently revisited later as a reference zone.

Contract rollover

The migration of traded volume from an expiring futures contract month to the next one. Charts must be moved to the new front month when rollover occurs, typically quarterly for index futures.

Control Center

SabrTrader's primary window, hosting platform-wide functions: the Connections area and status list, workspace management, and the New menu that launches charts, SuperDOMs and other panels.

Data feed connection

A connection that supplies market prices only, with no order routing and no account access. Adequate for learning the platform, building layouts and configuring indicators.

Data lag / latency

The delay between an exchange event and its arrival in the platform, displayed in the chart header so feed problems can be detected. A healthy real-time feed reads near zero.

Data Series dialog

The SabrTrader dialog that defines a chart's data: bar type (time, tick, volume, range and other supported types), the bar-type value, and lookback days. All non-time bar types are set here.

Delayed market data

Exchange price data republished after a fixed lag, commonly 10–15 minutes. Suitable for learning, layout building and template configuration, but not for execution decisions or order-flow analysis.

dxFeed

A market-data vendor bundled with SabrTrader and used by the default workspace to display sample delayed prices on first launch. It supplies prices only and cannot route orders.

EMA (Exponential Moving Average)

A moving average that weights recent prices more heavily than older prices, so it responds faster than a simple moving average of the same period. Commonly used as a dynamic trend reference.

Favourites (star) system

SabrTrader's mechanism for promoting frequently used drawing tools out of their toolbar groups into a single star-icon set for one- or two-click access.

Fib channel

A parallel-channel variant of Fibonacci levels projected along a trend, so the ratio lines slope with the move instead of sitting flat.

Fibonacci retracement

Horizontal levels drawn at fixed ratios of a prior swing — commonly 23.6%, 38.2%, 50%, 61.8% and 78.6% — used to anticipate pullback zones.

Front month

The nearest futures delivery month carrying the majority of traded volume, and therefore the contract a chart or watchlist should normally load.

Hollow candles

A candle style in which up-closing bars are drawn unfilled and colouring is referenced to the prior close, emphasising direction changes rather than intrabar direction alone.

Lookback period / days to load

How much historical data the platform requests from the feed when a chart opens, expressed in days. Greater depth gives more context but increases load time, memory use and the risk of vendor history throttling.

MNQ (Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100)

The micro-sized CME futures contract on the Nasdaq-100 index, one tenth the notional size and tick value of the E-mini NQ. Its tick increment is 0.25 index points.

Multi-timeframe analysis

Using more than one interval or bar type on the same instrument so that context and timing are separated: a higher interval defines structure, a lower or activity-based series defines entry location.

Order flow analysis

Reading executed trades and resting liquidity — footprint, delta, DOM and the liquidity heatmap — rather than inferring intent from price bars alone. It requires real-time tick data.

Price line / last-price line

A horizontal line drawn across the full chart width at the most recent traded price, making the current price directly comparable with levels marked far to the left.

Range bars

Bars that close only after price has travelled a fixed number of ticks, so every bar has the same height. Range bars normalise volatility instead of time.

Real-time market data

Quotes and trades delivered tick by tick as they print at the exchange, with no artificial delay. Required for live execution and for order-flow tools such as footprint, delta and DOM.

Retest

Price returning to a previously broken or defended level to test whether it still holds. Marking a zone and extending it forward turns an observation into a retest reference.

Rithmic

A low-latency futures market-data and order-routing provider used to connect SabrTrader to a futures broker or prop-firm account. It supplies real-time data, accounts, positions and order routing.

RSI (Relative Strength Index)

A bounded momentum oscillator, conventionally on a 14-period lookback, that compares average gains to average losses and plots the result between 0 and 100. It measures momentum expansion or fading, not entry timing.

Simulated (SIM) account

A paper-trading account that routes orders to SabrTrader's internal simulator rather than the exchange, so mechanics can be practised with no capital at risk.

Support and resistance

Price areas where prior trading activity has repeatedly halted or reversed movement, used as reference zones for future reactions.

Tick bars

Bars that close after a fixed number of trades have printed, so bar formation accelerates when the tape is active and slows when it is quiet.

Time-based bars

Bars that close after a fixed clock interval such as 2 or 5 minutes, so bar count is predictable but each bar can contain very different amounts of activity.

Volume bars

Bars that close after a fixed number of contracts have traded, so each bar represents equal participation rather than equal time.

Workspace

A saved arrangement of charts, DOMs, watchlists and panels in SabrTrader that can be opened, closed and restored as a single set, including window positions, sizes and loaded symbols.

Related Documentation