DayTradeToWin Reviews

NinjaTrader 8 is one of the leading day trading software programs available today. The platform can empower regular people like yourself with the ability to directly interact with the markets. How do you install NinjaTrader 8? First, navigate to ninjtrader.com. In the download box, type in your email address and click the button. Within a few minutes, you should receive an email from NinjaTrader with the download link and other instructions. Once NinjaTrader has been downloaded, with your browser still open, use Ctrl+J on your keyboard to view your downloads. Click the NinjaTrader application. In most cases, this will be setup.exe. In this video, the installer was directly downloaded, so the instructions may look a little different. The installer should open. If the installer shows a .NET Framework error, that means you need to download the .NET framework. In this case, you should probably contact DayTradeToWin support for NinjaTrader installation assistance.

The default installation directory should suffice. Avoid installing to other hard drives, as this may break things later on. Once NinjaTrader is installed, desktop shortcuts will appear on the desktop. We recommend using the 64-bit version, as this will take more advantage of your computer’s resources, and thus possibly run faster. If you have an older computer, only the 32-bit version will be accessible via a desktop shortcut. Double-click the shortcut to launch NinjaTrader. The first time NinjaTrader opens, you may be asked to let it through your firewall. Allow the exception because NinjaTrader needs to connect to the Internet in order to receive market data. Also, if you are asked for connection details, click Skip. It’s best to set up the connection (aka data feed) later. The data feed is what allows you to connect to the markets and receive live data on your chart.

If at some point you want to uninstall NinjaTrader, the process is quite simple. In Windows 10, click the Start button in the bottom-left corner of the screen. Begin typing “uninstall” without quotes. Windows should show “Change or remove a program”. Click that option. Find NinjaTrader on this menu and continue with the options to uninstall.

To get the most out of NinjaTrader 8, you will need a data feed. Why? Without one, you will be limited to using historical data, that is, market data that has already occurred. You will want live, incoming data to practice with because it’s very close to the experience of live trading with real money. Presently, free data feeds are offered for two categories of markets: futures and forex. DayTradeToWin recommends futures trading, as forex is less regulated and can be subject to increased manipulation.

After installing NinjaTrader for the first time, NinjaTrader will ask if you’d like to set up a data feed. We recommend skipping this step. Why? Firstly, you probably don’t have a data feed yet. You’ll need to contact DayTradeToWin for a NinjaTrader data feed. Secondly, if you go forward setting up the data feed here, NinjaTrader will configure the feed to connect while starting up. This can hang or slow down the program’s launch time.

Once the main NinjaTrader Control Center window appears, you can set up the data feed. Go to Connections > configure. Select the data feed provider from the left list. You will probably use NinjaTrader Continuum or CQG. These are equivalent and the only two providers offering free, real-time data feeds for futures. Double-click NinjaTrader Continuum. Notice how the connection is now in the bottom-left panel and the right panel is accessible. In the right panel, configure the data feed to use the provided user name and password. Be sure to check the Demo box. Uncheck “connect on startup.” Click OK. Congratulations, you have successfully set up a data feed. Note that this data feed will probably expire in about two weeks. At that time, you can open a live account or check with your data feed provider to see if another two-week demo feed is available.

You will need to connect to the data feed every time you launch NinjaTrader. To connect, go to Connections > and connect to the previously configured data feed. Look in the bottom-left of the control center. There should be a circle icon. While connecting, the circle is yellow. When connected, the circle is green. Give the data feed a few seconds to connect. Upon connection, you should hear a sound. If you ever receive an error, your two-week data feed has probably expired.

With your data feed now successfully configured and connected, you can open a chart, a Dynamic SuperDOM, or any other feature of NinjaTrader that uses real-time data. You will also be able to place practice trades using a built in practice account, which NinjaTrader calls Sim101. To gauge your success, use the Account Performance tool available in the New menu.

Charts provide a visual depiction of price movement over time. They are the most powerful trading tool you’ll use. After you connect to a data feed, the next thing you’ll probably want to do is open a chart. To open a chart in NinjaTrader, go to New > Chart > select the desired market e.g. (ES aka E-mini S&P) > configure the chart settings in the right panel as desired, e.g. Type: Minute, Value: 5, Days to load: 14 > Click OK. A chart should appear. Providing you are connected to a data feed and the market is open, you should see price movement on the chart. Look at the right price column, and there should be a price label that’s moving up and down the vertical price axis. On the bottom of the chart, take a look at the time axis. You can drag the slider to go back in time all the way to the “days to load” value. If you want to go back to the current plotting candle, click the black triangle in the upper-right corner. Zoom in and out of the chart by clicking and dragging either axis. Most often, you will be zooming in and out by clicking and dragging the time axis. In case your chart gets too messed up, you can reset the view by clicking the small F button that appears in the upper-right corner of the chart. We call this the “focus” button.

Don’t like dark-colored charts? That’s easy to fix in NinjaTrader 8. Go back to the Control Center > Tools > Options > Under General, in the right panel, look for Skin. Change the skin to a different setting, e.g. Light > click OK and restart NinjaTrader. The next time Ninja loads, you’ll get the new skin color.

We have a few recommended chart adjustments. Instead of using the regular mouse pointer, switch to a crosshair. Go to the top of the chart > click the button that looks like a mouse cursor > select Local. With the crosshair, you can better gauge candle position and read price and time values accurately. Two buttons over to the right of the this button, change the Chart Trader setting to Chart Trader (Hidden). Chart Trader is a tool that lets you place trades directly from the chart. It’s a bit simplistic. We prefer using a SuperDOM, which offers better control over the type of trades you place. The reason why we recommend enabling Chart Trader, is that when combined with an ATM Strategy, you can see and adjust your trade’s profit target and stop loss directly on on the chart. You should also add a date display to the chart. To accomplish this, right-click the chart > Properties > check Show date range > Click OK. In the upper-left corner of the chart, you’ll see the current date based on the chart’s scroll position.

To switch between time frames, go to the top of the chart where it says 5 Minute and click the drop-down box. The chart types are listed in the left column and various value settings are listed on the right. Even if you use a 5 Minute chart, a day chart is useful for seeing if the week or multiple consecutive days are showing an up or down trend.

To open a SuperDOM, go to NinjaTrader’s Control Center > New > SuperDOM (Dynamic). The dynamic version is free to use; the Static version is not. Learn how to use NinjaTrader’s SuperDOM.

A plain chart with nothing on it can certainly tell you quite a bit about the market. However, for most traders, it’s not enough. Most traders want to add special software, called indicators, to a chart. Indicators usually provide visual markers, signals, or other advice to guide your trading. Not all indicators are created equal. Some can be misleading or not applicable to the type of market you’re trading. Many use formulas to try to find support and resistance levels. In any case, NinjaTrader includes around 100 of them by default. To access indicators and add them to your chart, right-click the chart > Indicators > find the desired indicator in the top-left list > double-click it > notice how it’s now in the bottom-left box (indicating it’s active) > configure the indicators settings in the right panel as desired > click OK.

As mentioned, there are many indicators and it’s not always clear what their purpose is or how to use them. We recommend the Bar timer and the ATR (Average True Range). The Bar timer lets you know how much time remains in the currently plotting candle. If you’re on a 5 Minute chart, the Bar timer will count down 5 minutes at the start of when a new bar appears (or opens). The bar will close when 0:00 is displayed. The Bar timer is useful for timing your actions with the trading strategies taught at DayTradeToWin.com. The ATR is useful because it averages the price activity over a specific period of time (the indicator’s Period value). We use a Period of 4 which tells the indicator to use the last four bars in its calculations. The ATR can indicate how volatile a market is. The higher the ATR, the greater the volatility. Watch this NinjaTrader trading video to learn more about the ATR.

After you install an indicator, you can optionally delete the file it was installed from. In most cases, it’s best to put the indicator download/install file into a folder for safe keeping in case you’re setting NinjaTrader up on a new computer in the future. Indicators are created from within NinjaTrader using the NinjaScript programming language. NinjaScript is basically C# with direct access to NinjaTrader’s programming. NinjaTrader 8 has really opened up creative possibilities for indicator programmers.

In video four, we covered how to install indicators that are included with NinjaTrader. What about indicators that do not come pre-installed with NinjaTrader? You can import indicators that are downloaded from third-party sources like DayTradeToWin.com. To import, go to NinjaTrader’s Control Center > Tools > Import > NinjaScript Add-On > Navigate to the folder containing the downloaded indicator and select it > proceed through any remaining screens or messages. If you received a success message, then the indicator is now imported and can be used on your chart. Add the third-party indicator to your chart just as you would a standard indicator. the same way as a standard indicator.

Traders who are less experienced with Windows may have difficulty finding the downloaded indicator. You can usually find your download folder by opening your browser and pressing Ctrl+J to open the downloads area. From here, there’s usually a link that says “show containing folder” or a similar variation. By the way, the term “folder” and “directory” really mean the same thing. Clicking this link will open the downloads folder. In newer versions of Windows, you can click near the top of an explorer window to display the path (your computer’s representation of the location of a file or directory). Once the path is highlighted, press Ctrl+C to copy and then paste this path within NinjaTrader’s the indicator import file open Window. You should be taken right to the containing folder to import the indicator.

Note that indicators are stored in ZIP (.zip) files. You do not need to open the .zip file or extract its contents. NinjaTrader will take care of all of this. All you need to do is point NinjaTrader to the indicator .zip file.

Free NinjaTrader indicators are available on the DayTradeToWin.com website. For example, the Free Downloads page provides a news indicator download. The news indicator shows news events on your chart. News events can change the volatility of a market. Remember that only planned news events appear in the news indicator feed. Unexpected news such as severe weather, catastrophes, and other big events may still change the market. It’s always good to look at multiple news sources. The news indicator shows events in three levels of severity: High [H], Medium [M], and Low [L]. News events are color coded and you can see up to a week’s news at one time. As time progresses, new events will appear and old ones will disappear.

Once you have configured and added an indicator to your chart, you probably want to save the indicator’s settings. For the free news indicator, the settings include the font size, color choices, maximum news events, and so on. Saving the indicator settings will save time in the event you want to use the indicator on a new chart. You may want to save the settings in case you close your current chart by mistake and want to avoid the hassle of remembering the indicator’s settings.

How can you save the settings? Simply click the preset button on the bottom-right of the indicator window. Then click save. This will make the values you configured the default values every time this indicator is applied to a chart.

If you use a more advanced indicator, such as DayTradeToWin’s Atlas Line trading software, you will have many more settings (also called parameters) to configure. Many traders use the Atlas Line across multiple markets. The Atlas Line has a setting for market open time. You can probably see why this presents a problem – each market has a different open time and saving a preset allows only one configuration to be saved. In cases like this, it’s best to save a preset for all the settings that will not be changed, such as color and other visual style preferences. Accept that you will need to change the market open time for every chart, but it will only take a few seconds. In addition, you can save a chart template, which will help speed things up. Chart templates are covered in a video after this one.