Trade Entry Strategy For NinjaTrader 8

As soon as this Trade Entry strategy is added to your chart, it will plot swing high and swing low dots on the chart as shown in Images 1 and 2. These dots are marked with red up and down arrows in Image 1. Note that these swing high/low dots are based on the chart type and timeframe selected in “Trading Chart Type” and “Trading Chart TF” (Images 21 and 22). If you are planning trades on a specific chart timeframe, these parameters should reflect your analysis timeframe, even if the strategy is added to a lower timeframe chart for precise entry execution. By default, the “LongTermPositionBuilding” option (Image 15) is selected, which displays the chart as in Image 1. If “ShortTermTrading” (Image 15) is selected, the chart will show additional elements: a daily price percentage change indicator in the top-right corner (marked with a white arrow in Image 2) and an info bar with “Get Ready Countdown” and “Entry Ready Countdown” details at the centre-top (highlighted with red arrows in Image 2). For more information on using these features, review the tutorial video referenced above.

If you select the “LongTermPositionBuilding” option alongside “NewAccumulation” (Image 16), the strategy operates in new position-building mode. Pressing the “Long Entry” button (Image 3, red right arrow) triggers the strategy to display “Long Entry in progress” text (marked with a red down arrow in Image 3), indicating it is scanning for optimal long entry conditions. When conditions are met, it places a pending order for Long Entry at a distance selected in “Entry Distance in Ticks” (Image 17 and Image 4, down red arrow). The order quantity is determined by the “Entry Order Quantity” parameter (Image 17).

This pending order is placed based on the distance above or below the latest closed bar and trails dynamically until executed. To cancel entry, click the Chart Trader “Close” button or manually close the pending order. If “Long Entry in Progress” is active but you don’t want to enter now, click the “Long Entry” button again.

Upon execution, the strategy disables itself (shown in Image 5, sky blue rectangle and white arrow) and plots a green line at the entry price (Image 5, down red arrow) to show you at what price your entry was executed. It also auto-generates profit target and stop-loss orders of the same quantity of your filled position (Image 5, white up and down arrows) based on swing highs/lows from the selected “Trading Chart Type” and “Trading Chart TF” (Image 21) and the strategy’s algorithm. You can manually adjust these orders post-execution if needed.

Now, if you are building on an existing position and have selected the “ExistingAccumulation” option (Image 16) and enabled your strategy, it will keep the previous entry lines to show you where your previous entries took place. Ignore the NinjaTrader 8 Strategy Tab’s “Sync” column showing ‘False’—this does not affect strategy execution. If you want to add to your existing Long position, press the “Long Entry” button (Image 6), repeating the entry process (Images 7-8). Multiple entries plot multiple execution lines (Image 8). Switching to “NewAccumulation” removes historical entry lines and resets the accumulation process.

Images 9 and 10 demonstrate short entry execution, which mirrors the long entry process but in the opposite direction. To initiate a short trade, press the “Short Entry” button (marked with a white right arrow in Image 9). Upon execution, the strategy plots red lines at the entry price (indicated by a white downward arrow in Image 10).

If you select “ShortTermTrading” (Image 15), the strategy plots additional informational elements as previously outlined. You retain the ability to execute Long/Short entries for both new and existing accumulations. However, this mode provides extra volatility-based signals to assist entry decisions.

Under the strategy settings, the “1st Level Daily % Change” and “2nd Level Daily % Change” parameters (Image 24, red rectangle) require decimal inputs, which are converted into percentages and compared to the current day’s price change relative to the prior day’s close. If the current day’s daily price change % change compared to previous day is higher than “1st Level Daily % Change”, it will start changing the color of the bar to Golden (Image 11) and if it’s higher than “2nd Level Daily % Change”, it will change the bar color to purple (Image 12). This assessment applies to both positive and negative price movements (i.e., above or below 0%).

In Short Term Trading mode, the “Get Ready Countdown” and “Entry Ready Countdown” indicators (top chart centre) provide timing cues. When the “Get Ready Countdown” reaches 0, a yellow zone is plotted (Image 13, red down arrow), signalling potential entry conditions for your short term entry. A red zone with the text ‘Short Term Long/Short Entry Ready’ appears (Image 14, red down arrow) once the “Entry Ready Countdown” hits 0. Traders then decide whether to act on the signal or wait. These alerts are tailored to short-term trading, leveraging real-time volatility metrics.

If you are not going to be on your trading desk or for any reason and want to receive an email notification when an entry order is executed, you can simply check the box beside “Send Email Alerts” in strategy settings (Image 18). To get email alerts for Short Term Trade Alerts for only Red Zone plots, discussed above, check the box beside “Short Term Trade Alerts” (Image 18). For both alert types, ensure your email address is entered in the “Email Address” field (highlighted by a red arrow in Image 19). Critical Note: Email functionality requires a pre-configured email sharing service in NinjaTrader 8. If unconfigured, contact NinjaTrader support for guidance on setting this up.

The “Stop Loss – Ticks Displacement” and “Profit Target – Ticks Displacement” parameters define the number of ticks added to/subtracted from swing highs/lows when automatically placing stop-loss (SL) or profit-target (PT) orders post-execution.

The “Swing Strength” parameter (Image 23) determines how swing highs/lows are calculated for the selected chart type and timeframe in the settings, which in turn defines where stop-loss (SL) and profit-target (PT) orders are placed. If no valid swing levels are detected, the strategy will place SL/PT orders using the strategy’s algorithm at a predefined distance, allowing manual adjustment if needed. To assess swing availability, the strategy checks a historical range of bars defined by the value entered in the “No Previous Swing Range Period” field (Image 23).

You must not modify any default settings of NinjaTrader 8.0.x.x or 8.1.x.x versions marked within the red rectangle in Image 25, except for the “Account” and “Enabled”. When enabling/disabling the strategy, only adjustments to these two fields are permitted. Altering other settings in this section may disrupt strategy functionality.

Warning: If testing the strategy on market replay data, remove it from the chart before rewinding the data. Failure to do so may generate errors. If an error occurs, remove the strategy and restart NinjaTrader. Note: This precaution does not apply to live markets, as rewinding is not possible in live trading.