PowerMeter — User Guide

Version 1.2 | Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit) | Sierra Chart compatible

A free, open-source Sierra Chart implementation of the power meter concept popularised by Jigsaw Trading's DayTradr platform. If you trade with Sierra Chart and miss DayTradr's bid/ask power meters, this is the tool for you.

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Table of Contents

1. What Is PowerMeter?
2. System Requirements
3. What's in the Package
4. Quick Start (5 minutes)
5. Installing the Overlay (PowerMeter.exe)
6. Installing the ACSIL Study in Sierra Chart
7. Configuring the Study
8. Reading the Overlay
9. Choosing Between the Two Study Variants
10. Study Parameter Reference
11. CI / CD Workflows
12. Rebuilding the DLLs from Source
13. Installer (Windows Setup EXE)
14. Troubleshooting

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1. What Is PowerMeter?

PowerMeter is a free, open-source Sierra Chart implementation of the bid/ask power meter made popular by Jigsaw Trading's DayTradr platform. If you already use Sierra Chart and want the same at-a-glance order-flow pressure display without a separate DayTradr subscription, PowerMeter gives you that natively inside SC.

It is a two-component tool:

Component	What it does
PowerMeter.exe	Always-on-top Win32 overlay that displays three live bar-meters
ACSIL Study (DLL)	Sierra Chart study that reads live execution and DOM data and pushes it to the overlay via Windows shared memory

The overlay shows three columns of data, each with a red (bearish / sell-side) bar and a blue (bullish / buy-side) bar. The relative size of the bars indicates directional pressure in the market at that moment.

Vertical layout (default)

+------------------------------+
|  [R] [=]      (o)   [pin][X] |  <- Reset / Orient / StatusDot / Pin / Close
|                              |
|  TBV   ASK   Bear P/S        |  <- top labels
|  ####  ####  ####            |  red  (sell-aggressor / bearish)
|  --------------------------  |  <- 50% midline (yellow, spans all columns)
|  ####  ####  ####            |  blue (buy-aggressor / bullish)
|  TAV   BID   Bull P/S        |  <- bottom labels
+------------------------------+

Horizontal layout (press the green orient button to toggle)

+--------------------------------------------------------+
|  [R] [|||]          (o)                    [pin] [X]  |
|                         TBV                            |
|  #################### | ############################  |
|                         TAV                            |
|                         ASK                            |
|  ################################ | ###############    |
|                         BID                            |
|                      Bear P/S                          |
|  ##################################################    |
|                      Bull P/S                          |
+--------------------------------------------------------+

The vertical yellow line at the horizontal 50% centre spans all three rows in horizontal mode. Each bar is the same thickness in both orientations.

No SierraChart connection? The overlay shows animated demo data automatically and switches to live data as soon as the study is loaded.

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2. System Requirements

Item	Requirement
OS	Windows 10 or Windows 11 (64-bit)
Sierra Chart	Any recent version with Market Depth (DOM) data enabled
Sierra Chart data feed	Any feed that provides Level 2 / DOM data (CME, Rithmic, Tradovate, etc.)
GPU / display	Direct2D-capable GPU (any GPU from 2010 onward)
.NET / runtimes	None — PowerMeter.exe is a native Win32 app with no runtime dependencies

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3. What's in the Package

PowerMeter_v1.1/
+-- PowerMeter.exe              <- The overlay application (just run it)
+-- README.md                   <- This file
|
+-- ACSIL/
|   +-- PowerMeterFeed_64.dll   <- Pre-built ACSIL study (custom algorithm)
|   +-- PowerMeterFeedJS_64.dll <- Pre-built ACSIL study (Jigsaw-style)
|   +-- build_acsil.ps1         <- Script to rebuild DLLs if needed
|   +-- src/
|       +-- PowerMeterFeed.cpp
|       +-- PowerMeterFeedJS.cpp
|
+-- docs/
    +-- README.md               <- This file
    +-- ALGORITHM_NOTES.md      <- Technical description of both algorithms

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4. Quick Start (5 minutes)

1. Run the overlay — Double-click PowerMeter.exe. A narrow dark panel appears. Drag it to a corner of your screen.
2. Copy the DLL — Copy ACSIL\PowerMeterFeed_64.dll (or PowerMeterFeedJS_64.dll) to C:\SierraChart\Data\.
3. Add the study in Sierra Chart — Open a chart with DOM data. Go to Analysis → Add Custom Study, search for "PowerMeter Feed", and click OK.
4. Watch the bars move — The overlay connects automatically within 1–2 seconds and starts showing live data.

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5. Installing the Overlay (PowerMeter.exe)

Placement

PowerMeter.exe is fully portable — no installer is required. Place it wherever is convenient, for example:

• C:\PowerMeter\PowerMeter.exe
• %USERPROFILE%\Desktop\PowerMeter.exe

Starting with Windows

To have it launch automatically:

1. Press Win + R, type shell:startup, press Enter.
2. Create a shortcut to PowerMeter.exe in the Startup folder.

Window controls

Control	Action
R button (top-left, red)	Resets Col 0 accumulator to zero with full rebase — persistent across live updates
Orient button (top-left, green)	Shows ☰ (three horizontal bars) when vertical — click to go horizontal. Shows ⦀ (three vertical bars) when horizontal — click to go vertical.
Status dot (top-centre)	Green = live Sierra Chart data. Red = demo/animated mode (no feed connected).
Pin button (top-right, turns gold)	Toggles always-on-top mode
X button (top-right, red)	Closes the overlay
Drag the top strip	Moves the window anywhere on screen

Window position, pin state, and orientation are saved to the registry (HKCU\Software\PowerMeter) and restored on next launch.

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6. Installing the ACSIL Study in Sierra Chart

Step 1 — Copy the DLL

Choose one variant (see Section 9):

Variant	DLL file	Description
Custom algorithm	PowerMeterFeed_64.dll	Full-featured: decay, persistence, burst detection, continuation
Jigsaw-style	PowerMeterFeedJS_64.dll	Plain pull/stack sums — simpler, more direct

Copy the chosen DLL to:

C:\SierraChart\Data\

If Sierra Chart is installed in a different drive/folder, copy the DLL to the Data subfolder inside your Sierra Chart installation directory (e.g., D:\SierraChart\Data\).

Running both at the same time is not supported. Both studies write to the same shared memory object (Local\PowerMeterLiveData). Only load one.

Step 2 — Enable Market Depth in Sierra Chart

The study requires Level 2 / DOM data:

1. Open the chart you want to analyse (e.g., ESH25 - CME Globex).
2. Right-click the chart → Chart Settings → Market Depth tab.
3. Set Number of Bid Levels and Number of Ask Levels to at least 12 (20 recommended).
4. Click OK.

Step 3 — Add the Study

1. In Sierra Chart menu: Analysis → Add Custom Study.
2. In the search box type "PowerMeter".
3. Select "PowerMeter Feed" (or "PowerMeter Feed JS") and click Add.
4. The study appears in the Studies list. Click OK to apply.
5. Because sc.AutoLoop = 0 and sc.UpdateAlways = 1, the study fires on every DOM update — no bar close is needed.

Step 4 — Verify the Connection

Enable the Debug Log input (set to Yes) temporarily. In the Sierra Chart Message Log (Analysis → Message Log) you should see lines like:

PM | ExecAsk=1420 ExecBid=980 | BearPS=142.3 BullPS=188.5 | AskDOM=2340 BidDOM=3100 | IPC=OK

IPC=OK confirms the overlay has connected. Turn Debug Log back to No for live trading.

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7. Configuring the Study

Open the study settings (click the study in the Studies list → Settings):

Recommended starting configuration

Input	Recommended value	Why
DOM Levels Per Side Cap	10	Limits how deep the DOM scan goes
Include Best Bid/Ask Level	Yes	Level 0 (best bid/ask) is usually the most informative
Depth Levels (P/S)	6	How many DOM levels to scan for pulls and stacks
Snapshot Levels (DOM)	12	DOM levels included in the total volume bars
Stack Persistence (ms)	900	How long a stack must hold before its weight ramps up
Pull Burst Window (ms)	900	Window to detect rapid successive pulls
Debug Log	No	Keep off during live trading

For the JS variant only DOM Levels Per Side Cap, Include Best Bid/Ask Level, Depth Levels (P/S), Snapshot Levels (DOM), and Debug Log are available.

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8. Reading the Overlay

Column layout (left to right)

Col 0  Col 2  Col 1
 TBV    ASK    Bear P/S
 ---    ---    ---     <- 50% mid-line (yellow)
 TAV    BID    Bull P/S

Column	Red	Blue	What it shows
Col 0	TBV — Traded Bid Volume	TAV — Traded Ask Volume	Executed trade volume split by aggressor side, accumulated since last reset. Red = sell-aggressor trades (hitting the bid). Blue = buy-aggressor trades (lifting the ask). Source: sc.BidVolume / sc.AskVolume (bar-level execution arrays, same as footprint chart).
Col 1	Bear P/S	Bull P/S	Composite Pull/Stack score. Red dominating = bearish DOM pressure (bid pulls + ask stacks). Blue dominating = bullish DOM pressure (ask pulls + bid stacks).
Col 2	ASK DOM total	BID DOM total	Raw resting volume on the ask vs bid side across the configured snapshot levels. A much larger BID total suggests a defensive buy wall; larger ASK total suggests supply overhead.

Interpreting signals

• Red > Blue across all columns: concentrated selling pressure — potential downside.
• Blue > Red across all columns: concentrated buying pressure — potential upside.
• Col 0 and Col 1 agree, Col 2 opposite: order flow fighting a passive wall — watch for absorption or sweep.
• Bars close to 50/50: balanced market, low conviction either way.

The Reset button and Col 0 persistence

The R button performs a persistent reset for Col 0:

• The local accumulator (Traded Bid / Traded Ask counts) is zeroed.
• The previous-raw-value anchor is rebased to the current live reading so the very next tick produces a delta of zero.
• Cols 1 and 2 are also zeroed visually on reset.

This means the reset holds — it does not snap back to the session total on the next timer tick.

Demo mode

When no live data is available (PowerMeter.exe started before the SC study, or after Sierra Chart closes), the bars animate randomly. This confirms the overlay is running.

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9. Choosing Between the Two Study Variants

PowerMeter ships with two ACSIL study variants. The JS (Jigsaw-style) variant is designed to produce output closest to what DayTradr's power meter shows — plain bid/ask pull and stack sums with no extra filtering. The Custom variant adds configurable signal processing on top.

Feature	PowerMeterFeed (Custom)	PowerMeterFeedJS (Jigsaw-style)
Column 0 (Executed Vol)	Same	Same
Column 1 P/S — exponential depth decay	Configurable	Flat (all levels equal weight)
Column 1 P/S — pull weight / stack weight	Separate sliders	Fixed at 1.0
Column 1 P/S — stack persistence ramp	Yes	No
Column 1 P/S — pull burst detection	Yes	No
Column 1 P/S — continuation confirmation	Yes	No
Column 1 P/S — minimum thresholds	Yes	No
Column 2 (DOM totals)	Same	Same
Number of configurable inputs	18	5

Use PowerMeterFeedJS if you:

• Are new to DOM analysis and want a clean, unfiltered signal.
• Prefer results closest to how Jigsaw Depth & Sales reads DOM pull/stack data.
• Want fewer settings to tune.

Use PowerMeterFeed if you:

• Want signal filtering to reduce noise from tiny pull events.
• Want to give more weight to stacks that persist over time.
• Want burst detection to flag rapid successive DOM pulls.
• Are comfortable tuning the decay, weight, and timing parameters.

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10. Study Parameter Reference

PowerMeterFeed inputs

#	Input name	Type	Default	Description
0	DOM Levels Per Side Cap	Int	10	Global cap applied to all level counts. 0 = no cap.
1	Include Best Bid/Ask Level	Yes/No	Yes	Whether level 0 (best bid/ask) is included in DOM scans.
2	Pull Sum Decay Constant k	Float	0.10	Exponential weight exp(-k x level_offset). 0 = flat. Higher k = inner levels dominate.
3	Debug Log	Yes/No	No	Writes a line to SC Message Log on every tick. Enable briefly to verify IPC=OK.
4	Pull Weight	Float	1.1	Multiplier applied to all pull contributions in Col 1.
5	Stack Weight	Float	1.0	Base multiplier applied to stack contributions before persistence ramp.
6	Depth Levels (P/S)	Int	6	How many DOM levels (per side) are scanned for P/S calculation.
7	Snapshot Levels (DOM)	Int	12	How many DOM levels are summed for Col 2 total volumes.
8	Stack Persistence (ms)	Int	900	Time (ms) a stack must hold before weight ramps toward Persistent Weight.
9	Stack Weight When Persistent	Float	1.6	Final weight after full persistence window. Ramps linearly from Stack Weight.
10	Pull Burst Window (ms)	Int	900	Time window to count pull events per DOM level for burst detection.
11	Pull Burst Count Threshold	Int	3	Number of pulls within the window required to trigger the burst multiplier.
12	Pull Burst Boost	Float	1.2	Multiplier applied to a pull when the burst threshold is met.
13	Continuation Window (ms)	Int	1300	Time window for direction continuation tracking.
14	Continuation Boost	Float	1.4	Multiplier applied to the dominant side when dominant for 2+ consecutive ticks.
15	Minimum Pull Threshold	Int	15	Pulls with absolute value below this are ignored (noise filter).
16	Minimum Stack Threshold	Int	20	Stacks with value below this are ignored (noise filter).
17	Use Continuation Filter	Yes/No	Yes	Master switch for continuation boost.

PowerMeterFeedJS inputs

#	Input name	Type	Default	Description
0	DOM Levels Per Side Cap	Int	10	Same as above.
1	Include Best Bid/Ask Level	Yes/No	No	JS default is No (skips level 0 as in standard Jigsaw behaviour).
2	Depth Levels (P/S)	Int	4	Fewer levels than the custom variant by default.
3	Snapshot Levels (DOM)	Int	6	Fewer snapshot levels by default.
4	Debug Log	Yes/No	No	Same as above.

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11. CI / CD Workflows

The repository includes two GitHub Actions workflows in .github/workflows/.

ci.yml — Continuous Integration

Runs on every push and pull request (excluding version tags).

Job	What it does
build-overlay	Builds PowerMeter.exe (Release | x64) via MSBuild
build-acsil	Builds both ACSIL DLLs (Debug | x64) after downloading Sierra Chart headers
ci-passed	Summary gate — set this as the required status check in branch protection rules

Smoke tests (run automatically):

• MZ / PE header validation — confirms a real Windows binary was produced
• Machine type check — confirms AMD64 (64-bit), not x86
• Minimum file size check — catches empty or truncated outputs
• dumpbin /exports — verifies scsf_PowerMeterFeed and scsf_PowerMeterFeedJS are exported from their respective DLLs

release.yml — Release publishing

Triggered by pushing a version tag:

git tag v1.2.0
git push origin v1.2.0

Step	What it does
Parse version	Extracts version string from tag (e.g. v1.2.0 → 1.2.0)
Build overlay	PowerMeter.exe Release x64
Build DLLs	Both ACSIL DLLs Release x64 (SC headers downloaded automatically)
Smoke tests	Same PE / AMD64 / size checks as CI
Assemble ZIP	Builds PowerMeter_v1.2.0.zip with exe, DLLs, sources, docs
GitHub Release	Creates a GitHub Release, attaches the ZIP, auto-generates changelog from git log

Pre-release tags — any tag containing a hyphen (e.g. v1.3.0-rc1) is published as a pre-release automatically.

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12. Rebuilding the DLLs from Source

The pre-built DLLs target x64 Windows. If you need to rebuild:

Option A — PowerShell script (easiest)

Requirements: Visual Studio 2022 or 2026 with the Desktop development with C++ workload.

# From the ACSIL\ folder inside the package:
.\build_acsil.ps1

The script:

1. Detects MSVC automatically via vswhere.
2. Compiles each .cpp with the exact flags from Sierra Chart's own VisualCCompile.Bat.
3. Writes the DLLs to C:\SierraChart\Data\ (or specify -SCRoot "D:\SierraChart").

Option B — Sierra Chart's built-in compiler

1. Copy the .cpp files from ACSIL\src\ to C:\SierraChart\ACS_Source\.
2. In Sierra Chart: Analysis → Build Custom Studies DLL.
3. The DLLs appear in C:\SierraChart\Data\ automatically.

Option C — Visual Studio project

Open ACSIL\PowerMeterFeed.vcxproj or ACSIL\PowerMeterFeedJS.vcxproj in Visual Studio and build with Release | x64.

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13. Installer (Windows Setup EXE)

PowerMeter includes an Inno Setup installer definition at installer\PowerMeter.iss and a helper build script installer\build_installer.ps1.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio 2022 (Desktop development with C++)
• Inno Setup 6 (provides ISCC.exe)

Build command

./installer/build_installer.ps1 -Version "1.2.0" -SCRoot "C:\SierraChart"

If you already have a prepared package folder and only want to rebuild the installer:

./installer/build_installer.ps1 -Version "1.2.0" -SkipPackage

Installer output:

• dist\PowerMeterInstaller_v<Version>.exe

Installer behavior

• Setup type options: UI only, UI + ACSIL, or Custom
• Installs PowerMeter.exe + docs to Program Files
• Shows Sierra Chart path page only when ACSIL component is selected
• When ACSIL is selected, copies DLLs into <SierraChartRoot>\Data\
• Creates Start Menu shortcut (optional desktop shortcut)

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14. Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Overlay stays in demo mode	Study not loaded or IPC not connected	Check DLL is in C:\SierraChart\Data\, study is applied to an active chart with DOM data. Enable Debug Log and check for IPC=OK.
Study does not appear in Add Custom Study	DLL not in Data folder	Copy .dll to C:\SierraChart\Data\ and restart Sierra Chart.
"Failed to load study" error in SC	DLL built for wrong architecture	Confirm the DLL is 64-bit (_64.dll suffix). Rebuild with build_acsil.ps1.
Bars always show 0	DOM data not enabled	Right-click chart → Chart Settings → Market Depth → set Bid/Ask levels to 12+.
Col 0 (TBV/TAV) stays near zero	Bar just started or no trades yet	sc.BidVolume / sc.AskVolume reset at each new bar. The accumulator picks up as trades execute.
Col 0 does not reset persistently	Old version of overlay	Ensure you are running the current build. Reset now rebases the delta anchor — it will not snap back on the next tick.
Col 1 (P/S) is very noisy	Thresholds too low	Increase Minimum Pull Threshold and Minimum Stack Threshold (start: 15 and 20).
Two studies loaded simultaneously	Both writing to same shared memory	Remove one study. Only one PowerMeterFeed variant should be active at a time.
Overlay crashes / disappears	OS DPI scaling issue	Right-click PowerMeter.exe → Properties → Compatibility → Override DPI scaling → "Application".
Window position lost after restart	Registry permission issue	Run PowerMeter.exe once as Administrator to allow registry write, then run normally.

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Comparison with Jigsaw DayTradr Power Meters

	Jigsaw DayTradr	PowerMeter
Platform	Standalone (works with multiple brokers)	Sierra Chart only
Cost	Subscription	Free / open-source
Source available	No	Yes (MIT licence)
Power meter display	Built-in UI	Always-on-top overlay (any layout)
JS-style algorithm	Yes	Yes (PowerMeterFeedJS)
Custom/extended algorithm	No	Yes (PowerMeterFeed)
Configurable decay / persistence	No	Yes
Rebuild from source	No	Yes (MSVC / SC built-in compiler)

PowerMeter is not affiliated with or endorsed by Jigsaw Trading. DayTradr is a trademark of Jigsaw Trading Ltd.

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Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. For significant changes, open an issue first to discuss the approach.

To build everything locally:

# Overlay (requires Visual Studio 2022)
msbuild PowerMeter.vcxproj /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64

# ACSIL DLLs
cd ACSIL
.\build_acsil.ps1

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Licence

PowerMeter is dual-licensed:

• Free for non-commercial use under the PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 licence — covers individual traders, hobbyists, researchers, and non-profits.
• Commercial licence required if you bundle, redistribute, or use PowerMeter as part of a revenue-generating product or service. See COMMERCIAL_LICENSE.md for details and contact information.

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For technical details about the algorithms, see docs\ALGORITHM_NOTES.md.