Charts don't match charts of other traders or other software

When users trade with an educator or a trading group, questions sometimes arise about charts that do not precisely match the charts of others in the group. Here are some possible causes:

1. One party is using a broker data source and the other is using data from a subscription data source like IQFeed or DTNMA. Read the support article Brokers Data vs. other Feeds to understand the differences between broker supplied data and IQFeed or DTNMA.
2. One party has a different Start Date/Start Time set in the chart than the other. Being off by even a single minute can cause indicator calculations to differ in subtle ways. Starting date/time must always match precisely.
3. Different Session settings between users. When you exchange chart setups (definitions) with others, Investor/RT shares the session numbers in the shared chart definition. Differences will arise if the session times on User A's machine differ from session times on User B's machine. For example, User A might have Session 31 setup to start at 6PM and end at 4:15 PM whereas User B might have the same session number setup to start at 4:30PM and end at 4:15PM. See Setup > Sessions and ensure that your session start and end times match those of other in your group.
4. One party is using a time independent chart (e.g. Volume Bars) and the other uses a time-based chart (e.g. a 5-Minute chart. For example, a 5000 Volume bar chart with a start time of 9:30am, may not start right at 9:30am because each candlestick in the chart will not start and stop based on the time. Hypothetically, if a 5000 Volume bar starts at 9:29:59 and requires 30 seconds to complete that require volume, the next bar will start at 9:30:29. In this case, the chart will differ from a time-based chart where bars are timed to start precisely at fixed intervals. See this related Help Desk Article to learn more about how periodicity effects indicators that rely on time.
5. If the indicator that you are trying to match is the Profile Indicator, please take a screenshot of each Indicator Preferences window and compare every indicator setting.
6. One chart is a Daily periodicity and one is time based built with One minute bars. Charts with a "Daily Periodicity" are constructed using the Open, High, Low, Close and Volume for the entire session. The exchange sends these 5 values to Investor/RT to use to display a Daily bar. These bars have no knowledge of what transpired at any particular time or price during the session. If User A is using a Daily periodicity chart and User B is using a 5 Minute chart, the charts will not match. The solution is to change the periodicity of the Daily chart to 1 Day* (as shown below). Using 1 Day* vs Daily as shown below will provide greater accuracy. For 1 Day* periodicities, Investor/RT requests 1 Minute date and builds the bar using each minute from the session:

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