EKlecticCoreV4™ NinjaTrader Add-on

Getting Started

Thank you for wanting to install the EKlectiCoreV4™ NinjaTrader Add-on Indicators and Strategy system. For the rest of the documentation, we will abbreviate EKlecticCore as EKC.

• Legal stuff:
  • By using our software, you are acknowledging that you have read and accepted our Terms, Conditions, and Disclaimers located on our website at www.eklecticcore.com/termsandconditions.
  • Use at your own risk.
• Important information about trading indicators and automated strategies:
  • Indicators attempt to provide entry signals based on many factors.
  • Different market conditions can cause even good indicators and strategies to send false-positive signals.
  • Therefore, you should never trade based solely upon automated signals.
  • When using an automated strategy, you should monitor and manage it as it runs.
  • You are responsible for your own results.

Tip: Before beginning installation and activation, be sure you have received the order confirmation email containing the license number, and have it handy.

Installation

• In the confirmation email, click the download link to save the EKC package file to your local Desktop (or anywhere you prefer) on your computer.
  • It should be named: EKlecticCoreV4_16d80b.zip (where “16d80b” is the build number, and may be different).
• In the NinjaTrader Control Center menu, click Tools -> Import -> NinjaScript Add-On …
  • Select the EKlecticCoreV4_16d80b.zip file, and click OK.

• Click “Yes” on both popups that will appear, asking you to authorize the EKlecticCoreV4 addon.

• You will also be asked to restart NinjaTrader to complete the add-on installation.

Activation

• In the NinjaTrader Control Center menu, click the Help option to open the Help menu.
• Click the new new option at the bottom: EKlecticCore Licensing …
  • Copy and paste your license key from the order confirmation email, and click OK.
  • The information box will list all of your activated “apps” (i.e. indicators and strategies).

Deactivation

Users licenses are activated for a single machine. If you need to transfer your license to a different machine, you will first need to deactivate the existing machine.

• Select the menu item: Help -> EKlecticCore Licensing …
  • Follow the on-screen instructions (i.e. type the word “deactivate” in the input box without the quotes and click OK).
    • If you accidentally deactivate the machine, you can easily reactivate it.
      • Simply follow the instructions in the “Activation” section above.

Indicators

The EKlecticCore NinjaTrader add-on package provides more than 30 indicators.

• We consider some of our indicators to be staples: those that we include on every chart we create. Of notable mention are:
  • Chart Clock
  • Instrument Report
  • Market Summary
• Several indicators in our package are our own unique innovations, or our special take on visualizing data. We suggest you check out these indicators first:
  • Channels
  • Level 1 Stream (add it twice, once for each display mode)
  • PMA
  • Smart Price
  • Speedometer (only useful on Tick charts)
  • Trend Lines

Keep reading to learn all the details of every indicator included in our package.

Common Options

When you add an EKlecticCore Indicator to a chart, the NinjaTrader parameters on the right will contain applicable options. Options that are common to many or all of the EKC indicators are listed here:

• Display Entries: Most indicators can display signal dots for possible entries.
  • Long entry signals are displayed in shades of light blue, and include small-print text with the bar index, indicator name, and “ENTER long.”
  • Short entry signals are displayed in shades of yellow/gold, and include small-print text with the bar index, indicator name, and “ENTER short.”
• Display Exits: Several indicators also include signal diamonds for possible exits.
  • There are three types of exit signals, and each type is displayed in a different shade:
    1. Exit unprofitable trades
    2. Exit profitable trades
    3. Exit all trades (regardless of profitability)
  • (Note: The EKV4UniversalStrategy allows the ability to override exit signals to be a different type, or to ignore them completely.)
  • Each indicator may provide one or more of these exit signals, or none at all.
  • By using this option, you can see on the chart if the indicator provides these signals, and analyze whether or not you’d like to use them.
• Period: The period used by the indicator (i.e. “number of look-back bars to calculate”).
  • To prevent duplication, “Period” is not included in the options list of any of the indicators below that implement it, namely:
    • Angle, Bands, CMO Smooth, Candle Size, Channels, Crossover EMA, Crossover WMA, Current Trend, Custom Oscillator, DM, Frequency, Instrument Report, MPP, PMA, Scalper, Separation, Simple Candle Entries, Smart Price, Speedometer, Squeeze, Trend Lines, VWAP, Volume Trend, and Wave GRaB.

Some of the indicators may give a trend signal, as well. Up-trends are usually colored green, and down-trends are usually colored red. Non-trends are usually colored dark yellow (“goldenrod”). (One notable exception to these colors is the EKV4WaveGRaB which uses blue for non-trend.)

Angle

This indicator attempts to display the angle of the current bar’s moving average compared to the previous bar. When the angle begins to wane, this indicator generates entry signals. The plot displays the run of the angle.

• A run is defined as a series of numbers moving in the same direction, and allows us to emphatically visualize when an EMA line has waned. (When an EMA is waning in value, it is often easy to overlook this subtle change. By using the run value of the EMA, we can clearly see when the value trend has just begun to reverse.) In other words, using the run concept helps visualize the subtle beginning of a reversal that might not be apparent when using a traditional EMA.

Separation is the current fast-average value (Period/4) compared to the current average. Depending on the Display Mode, this indicator plots the run values of one of these two numbers.

Bands

This indicator plots the standard deviation (1, 2, and 3) of the current bar in relation to the period. The color of the middle band indicates the interpreted trend. Entry signals are generated intrabar (e.g. on each tick) when the price crosses the average. Exit signals are generated when the previous bar’s price was beyond the standard-deviation–2-or–3 line and has now crossed back within it.

• By default, only the standard-deviation–2 and standard-deviation–3 lines are displayed.
• The standard-deviation–1 line can be optionally displayed:
  • Open the indicator settings, and go to the “Plots” section.
  • Change the color of the “High1” and “Low1” plots from “Transparent” to “Gray” (or whatever you prefer).

Although similar to the classic “Bollinger Bands”, this indicator is NOT the same (indeed, we believe it to be a improvement). In the image below, we have overlaid Bollinger bands in black to help illustrate the difference visually.

Bollinger bands are calculated from the standard deviation of a simple moving average of a single price (usually the Close). Our bands attempt to improve upon Bollinger’s concept by using an exponential moving average, and incorporate three candle prices (Typical, High, and Low) into the plot. Although this is a subtle difference, we think it makes the bands less “laggy,” and more accurately reflect the deviation of the current price movement.

The following is a quick guide to help understand how to interpret this indicator:

• First, note the position of the current price within the bands. And to reiterate:
  • By default, Band 1 is transparent, Band 2 is white, and Band 3 is gold.
  • The middle band is gold, green, or red, depending on the interpreted trend.
• In a typical trend, the price tends to bounce near the middle line and the band 2 line.
• If the price is bouncing within the first bands, the market is consolidated.
• If the price is bouncing between the upper and lower band 2, the market is “choppy” (not trending).
• If the price is pushing above band 2, there is a “rally” (a strong move) in a particular direction.
• If the price has pushed beyond band 3, and the market should be considered overbought or oversold.

For an in-depth look at standard deviation (i.e. to understand the indicators that use it), the following links may prove useful:

• Standard Deviation" page at Wikipedia
• “68–95–99.7 rule” page at Wikipedia

Candle Size

This indicator displays the current candle size (High-Low) as a vertical bar, the period-average size as a horizontal plot line, and upper-and-lower standard deviation lines as tiny horizontal cross-bars. This is a trend-only indicator where the color of the vertical bars indicates the trend direction.

• In simple terms, the trend follows the price, and is broken if the current candle size is “too big” or “too small”.
  • This is intended to filter out both highly volatile and consolidating markets.
• Technically, the trend direction is determined by a TEMA(Period*2), and then the trend is validated if the current candle size is within the standard deviation lines.

Channels

This indicator displays three overlaid channels that represent the market movement within fast, medium, and slow time periods.

• This indicator attempts to predict reversals, and is best used in “sideways” or flat markets.
• Because this indicator is a “reversal hunter,” when used in trending markets, entry signals will often appear opposite of the trend.
• Also, please note that when this is used as the Entry Indicator in an automated strategy, using the Trend Indicator called “IGNORE_TREND” might be necessary (since reversals are essentially “against the trend” entries).
  • Because of the increased risk when using “IGNORE_TREND,” any automated strategy using this indicator should never be run without manually watching and monitoring the chart at the same time.

OPTIONS

• Period and Period Multiplier (default 5, 2): These values define the channel time frames. The fast channel is based on the Period. The medium channel is based upon the Period * the Period Multiplier. The slow channel is based on the Period * the Period Multiplier * 2.
• Use Smooth Averages: Smooths out the channel lines and generally improves the visualization. However, while disabling this makes the channels more rigid, it can also be a useful way to view. This option only affects how the channels are displayed, and doesn’t affect indicator signals in any way.
• Display Trend: When checked, the fast channel will be colored to represent the interpreted trend.
• Channel Opacity: Defines how opaque each channel’s background color appears.

  • Tip: Set to 0 (zero) to disable backgrounds (which can also greatly improve performance if working with large amounts of bars).

Chart Clock

This is an informational indicator that no chart should ever be without. It displays the date and time of the first chart bar, last chart bar, and the currently visible left-and-right bars. If placed on a non-Daily chart, it also includes the current time down to the second. This indicator is particularly useful when taking screen shots of charts.

CMO Smooth

As the name describes, this indicator is our smoothed-out and color-enhanced version of the CMO indicator.

Crossover EMA

This is an enhanced EMA crossover indicator that displays a fast and slow EMA, and generates improved signals by filtering out “choppy” crossovers.

Crossover WMA

This is a WMA crossover indicator that displays a fast WMA (Period/3) and slow WMA (Period), and generates signals based upon the two.

Current Trend

This is a minimalistic yet powerful trend indicator that displays a small colored trend bar. (After adding this indicator to your chart, you will need to click the chart and press F5 to auto-resize its panel.) The displayed trend attempts to be “highly conservative” and filter out “choppy” or sideways price action.

• Internally, the trend is determined from a combination of the default MACD, ADX, and ChoppinessIndex values.
• This indicator also generates entry and exit signals based on the default ParabolicSAR dots.

Custom Oscillator

This is actually a powerful indicator utility which can take any NinjaTrader indicator as its input, and will plot the difference between the values of the most recent 2 bars. The most practical application for this is to remap as an oscillator an indicator that typically appears as a price-overlay.

• For example, try this:
  • Add the CustomOscillator indicator to a chart.
  • In the indicator parameter settings, click the “Input series” option:
    • On the left side of the popup, double-click on “Indicators” to open the folder.
    • From the list, click the built-in “Bollinger” indicator (note: single-click only, do not double-click).
    • While “Bollinger” is selected, change the “Plot” dropdown option on the right side to “Middle band”, and click OK on all windows until you’re back at your chart.
  • Congratulations: you just created a brand new indicator!
    • It is an oscillator that shows trend based upon the middle Bollinger band.
• Experiment with other Input Series’ to create your own indicators!

OPTIONS

• Smooth plot with EMA: Checking this applies an EMA to the indicator’s plot.
• EMA Period for Smoothing: The EMA period used for smoothing when Smooth plot with EMA is checked.
• Invert Value: Choose this option to multiply the values by –1 (negative one). This not only reverses the plot, it also reverses the entries.
• Plot Name: The name of the plot to display in the Data Box.
• Display entry on crossover: If both this and Display Entries are checked, entry signals will be displayed when the plot crosses the zero-line.
• Display entry on peaks: If both this and Display Entries are checked, short entry signals will be displayed when there is a “peak” on the plot line above the zero-line, and long entry signals will be displayed when there is a “valley” (upsidedown “peak”) below the zero-line.
• Up Color: The color to use when the plot is above zero.
• Down Color: The color to use when the plot is below zero.

DM (Directional Movement)

This is an EKlecticCore-enhanced version of the built-in DM indicator with the main line colored to display trend, and the DM entry signals displayed on the chart. Per the DM indicator description, “A buy signal is generated when the +DI crosses -DI to the upside. A sell signal is generated when the -DI crosses +DI to the downside.”

EKV4Ind

This is not a real indicator, and should never be added to a chart. It is the EKlecticCore base indicator, and contains the code common to all of our other indicators (such as displaying entries, exits, and trend).

Frequency

This is an “outside-the-box” EKlecticCore indicator that uniquely visualizes volatility. It plots the frequency of reversals of each of the candle values (Open, High, Low, Close) within the selected Period. For example:

• Let’s say that a bar closes with a price of 5, then the next bar closes at a price of 6, then the next price closes at a price of 5.5. In this case there has been ONE OSCILLATION in the past THREE BARS, which means the FREQUENCY IS “1” for the Close.
  • If the price steadily moves down for 15 more bars, then oscillates once more over the next 3 bars, we would have 2 oscillations over a 21-bar period (i.e. a frequency of 2).
• As another example, if we had 21 bars where the Close price steadily declined from bar-to-bar, then we would have a frequency of ZERO (because the price never reversed).

The frequency indicator displays four smoothed frequency lines, one each for Open, Close, High, and Low. The High-and-Low frequencies form a background “stream” that is shaded white if High frequency is higher than Low frequency, and black otherwise. The Open-Close frequencies for a foreground stream that is shaded cyan if Close is higher than Open, and magenta otherwise.

Instrument Report

This is a display-and-output-only indicator that produces a comprehensive technical analysis of the current instrument. A summary of this analysis can be displayed on the chart itself, or all details can be output to the Output Window. See the options below for more information. The “Full Report” numbers are for all the bars on the chart. The “Last Bar Report” displays the same statistics, but analyzes the selected period bars only.

OPTIONS

• Hide Internal EMA Lines (default true): When unchecked, all of the internal EMA’s used for analysis will be displayed on the chart.
• Display Summary Overlay On Chart (default true): Displays a summary of the technical analysis on the chart which includes the following data:
  • Candle Size (High-Low): average, largest, smallest, and standard deviation.
    • If “Full Report Only” is checked, then “(all)” will be displayed (to indicate all bars analyzed).
    • If not, then the period will be displayed in parenthesis (to indicate how many bars were analyzed).
  • Standard run values of the EMA(8). (See the “AngleAndSeparation” section for more info on what “run” means.)
    • When Up is greater than Down, the chart is “bullish” for the bars analyzed.
    • When vice versa, it is “bearish.”
  • Bars Up and Down is a simple count of green vs. red bars for the analyzed bars, and can also represent if the chart is “bullish” or “bearish.”
  • “EMA X-Overs” summarizes the number of times the EMA(8) has crossed over EMA(13), EMA(24), and EMA(34) respectively.
    • High crossover counts can indicate instrument volatility in the analyzed bars.
  • “Reversals every X bars” is an average of how many bars each run lasts in the analyzed bars.
• Display Full Report To Output Window (default true): In addition to all of the summary information, the Full Report in the Output Window also provides higher precision numbers than the summary, and includes the following data:
  • “ALL BARS (X)”, where “X” is the total number of bars analyzed.
  • The Instrument name and description.
  • The instrument Tick Size, Point Value (in dollars), and Dollars-Per-Tick value.
  • The Bars Period for the chart analyzed.
• Display Last Bar Report To Output Window (default false): When checked, every new bar that prints to the chart will cause an updated report to be generated for the current period bars, and displayed in the Output Window.
• Full Report Only (default true): Unchecking this will cause a new report to be generated for the current period bars every time a new bar prints to the chart.
  • Note: Unchecking this option can slow performance when loading historical data (since every bar’s period is analyzed).

Level 1 Stream

This indicator plots two different types of Market Data (aka Level 1 data) depending on the “Level 1 Display Mode” option selected. Like most Market Data indicators, this indicator defaults to be run “On Each Tick,” and provides real-time (intrabar) information for the current bar. (It should never be run “On Each Price Change” since it calculates volumes.)

OPTIONS

• Level 1 Display Mode: Buy And Sell Volume or Top Rung Averages.
  • Buy And Sell Volume displays the total count of buys and sells reported.
    • We plot and color these volumes as a stream, showing not only the actual values, but both how they relate to each other, and how the market itself is “flowing.”
  • Top Rung Averages: Displays an average of the current Bids-Asks value.
    • Level 1 Market Data provides only the top “rung” from the Level 2 price ladder.
    • This mode takes the (painful) experience of trying to monitor the bid/ask numbers on the SuperDOM/MarketAnalyzer, and simplifies it into a single plot.
      • The plot moves above zero when there are more bids than asks, and below zero when vice versa.

Level 2 Stream

This indicator plots three types of Market Depth data (aka Level 2) depending on the “Level 2 Display Mode” option selected. Like most Market Depth indicators, this indicator defaults to be run “On Each Tick,” and provides real-time (intrabar) information for the current bar. The “streams” are all based upon weighted averages, so that the price ladder rows closest to the current price receive greater weight than those further away. This greatly simplifies Level 2 analysis, and visualizes it in an fast-and-intuitive way.

• If you add this indicator to a chart and it doesn’t update:
  • First, confirm that you have subscribed to receive Level 2 data on your current connection for the current instrument.
  • Second, try refreshing the chart by clicking on it and pressing F5.

Tip: The free Coinbase connection provides Level 2 data for BTCUSD. So if you’d like to see this indicator in action, you can use Coinbase to do so.

INDICATOR CHART BUTTONS

The following buttons appear in the indicator’s upper-left corner:

• ? (question mark) button: This button displays quick-reference help for the indicator to the Output Window.
• Mkt Depth: This button is a TOGGLE to start and stop the display of raw Level 2 Market Depth data to the Output Window.
• Mkt Data: This button is a TOGGLE to start and stop the display of raw Level 1 Market Data to the Output Window. This button only appears if the Display Mode is “Volume Sold vs Waiting” (because that is the only mode that uses Market Data).

OPTIONS

• Number Of Ladder Rows (default 10): This option sets the number of rows from the price ladder to be used in the calculations.
• Level 2 Display Mode: Bid Ask Spread, Price Ladder Averages, or Volume Sold vs Waiting.
  • Bid Ask Difference: displays weighted averages of the difference between all bid rows, and the difference between all ask rows. This quickly visualizes if one side of the ladder is spreading out more than the other.
  • Price Ladder Averages displays weighted averages of the price ladder bids and asks volume.
  • Volume Sold vs Waiting: Displays the average sold volume in the same “stream” as the average number of those “waiting on the board.” Can be useful to see when high volume orders are placed “out of nowhere.”

COMPUTER PERFORMANCE

Please note that all indicators using Market Depth data require a lot more processing power. And because this indicator is doing a lot with that data, it could cause performance issues on older or low-tier machines.

MACD (EKlecticCore-styled)

This is our stylized version of the MACD with colors to make it easier to quickly interpret.

OPTIONS

• Fast (default 12): The period to use for the MACD fast EMA.
• Slow (default 26): The period to use for the MACD slow EMA.
• Smooth (default 9): The period to use for the smoothing EMA
• Include Trending Entries (default false): By default, the MACD indicator provides potential entry signals whenever the fast EMA crosses the slow EMA (i.e. when the histogram crosses zero and changes color). Enabling this option will display additional entries whenever the histogram “peaks” (i.e. upper bars go down then up, or lower bars go up then down).
  • Note: When this indicator is used on an automated strategy, this option is always false.

Market Summary

This indicator adds several data boxes at the top-center of the chart which display the current (On Each Tick) value of several popular indicators. The boxes are colored to indicate the directional significance of each data box. Data boxes can be added or removed in the indicator options.

OPTIONS

• Show Stacked EMA: Displays the color and value of the Overall Trend line from the Stacked EMAs indicator (e.g. –1/red for down trend, 0/gold for neutral, and 1/green for up trend).
• Show CCI: Displays the current value of the default CCI indicator (period 14).
• Show Stoch: Displays the “D” line value of the default Stochastics indictator (with parameters 7, 14, and 3).
  • Displays as green if the current value is higher than the previous bar’s value, and red if vice versa.
• Show RSI: Displays the value of the default RSI indicator (with parameters 14, and 3).
  • Displays as green if the current average RSI value is higher than the previous bar’s average value, and red if vice versa.
• Show MACD Diff: Displays the current DIFF value of the default MACD indicator (with parameters 12, 26, and 9).
  • Displays as green if the MACD Diff is above zero, and red if vice versa.
• Show Bands: Displays the standard deviation of the current price (i.e. the current position of the price within a 21-bar EKV4Band indicator’s 1–2-and–3 standard deviation bands).
  • Displays as green if above zero, and red if vice versa.
  • See the Bands indicator documentation for more info.
• Show MACD (default false): Displays the current value of the default MACD indicator (with parameters 12, 26, and 9).
  • Displays as green if the MACD Diff is above zero, and red if vice versa.
  • Note: Since the MACD Diff is more common, this box is NOT displayed by default.
• Show ATR (default false): Displays the value of a fast-moving ATR with period 4.
  • The color of the box represents the volality based upon two ATRs:
    • If the ATR(4) is higher than the ATR(12), the color will be reddish, indicating that volatility is higher than usual.
    • If the ATR(4) is lower than the ATR(12), the color will be greenish, indicating that volatility is lower than usual.
  • The value displayed is for the last closed bar.
• Show FibPos (default false): Displays the Fibonacci Pivots position of the price.
  • The color of the box is greenish above PP, and redish below PP.
    • Displays as dark green if position is above R3.
    • Displays as regular green if position is between R2 and R3.
    • Displays as lime green if position is between R1 and R2.
    • Displays as turquoise if position is between PP and R1.
    • Displays as rosy brown if position is between S1 and PP.
    • Displays as hot pink if position is between S2 and S1.
    • Displays as red if position is between S3 and S2.
    • Displays as dark red if position is below S3.

Momentum Trade Channel

This is a highly visual indicator that colors channels on the price panel to identify trends versus momentum shifts. It displays two additional plot lines: one subtle “Retrace Line,” and a more prominent “Price Move” line. The color of the Price Move line indicates the interpreted trend.

OPTIONS

• Buy Channel Color and Sell Channel Color: The colors to be used when the trade channel is moving up and down, respectively.
• Enable Sounds (default false): Enabling this will play sounds when the channel changes color, or when there are entry signals.

Momentum Trend Lines

This indicator attempts to interpret trend based upon its own three moving averages (Trend Lines plus Filter Line), as well as using its own style Bollinger bands.

OPTIONS

• Display Trend Lines: The Trend Lines are the two primary lines of this indicator, colored light blue and purple by default.
• Display Filter Line: The Filter Line is a slow-moving average line, colored orange by default.
• Display Bollinger: The Bollinger bands are slightly different than default Bollinger’s, and are colored white by default.

MPP (Market Properties Percentages)

This indicator displays three market properties as percentages for the selected Period. Although this indicator isn’t necessarily the most visually inspiring, it provides some of the most practical datapoints for each bar, namely:

• Candle Size %: A measure of the current candle size percentage.
• Volatility %: The current volatility percentage (using the ATR as a basis).
• Volume %: The current volume percentage.

Please note that percentages are capped at 200% so that radical market changes do not ruin its effectiveness.

OPTIONS

• Display Smooth Value (default true): When checked, the percentages are smoothed using a TEMA. Unchecked displays the actual percentage for each bar.
  • Although the smoothed values look nicer, unchecking this option removes the lag caused by smoothing.

News Events

This indicator integrates fundamental data with technical analysis by displaying signals for upcoming economic news announcements and events on the chart. A line is drawn from the news event text to the actual bar location where the event is to occur.

OPTIONS

• Only Show These Currencies (default USD,GBP,EUR,CAD,CNY,HKD,JPY,INR,CHF): You can limit the indicator to these currencies. Multiple currencies can be entered separated by commas.
  • If you delete all currencies from this list, then news events for all currencies will be displayed.
  • These currencies also affect which market opens-and-closes are displayed when the “Show Markets Open/Close” option is checked.
    • Specifically, USD=NYSE (will be displayed), GBP=London Exchange, CNY=Shanghai/Shenzhen exchanges, HKD=Hong Kong exchange, and JPY=Tokyo exchange.
• Display Full News List In Output Window (default false): The indicator retrieves the current week’s news events. Enable this option to have the entire list summarized in the Output 1 window.
  • You must have an Output window open in advance.
  • On the Control Center menu, select New -> NinjaScript Output to open one.
  • To have the indicator re-output the Full News List, click the chart and press F5 to refresh.
• Display Popup News In Output Window (default true): If a bar contains a news event signal, you can click anywhere on that vertical bar’s slot to get “popup news” for that specific event. This option will display the news summary in the Output window.
• Launch Browser When News Clicked (default false): Just like the previous option, but this option will open a web browser where you can get all of the details for the event (including all other events happening on the same day).
• Show Low Impact News (default false): Displays news events listed as “Low Impact.”
• Show Medium Impact News (default false): Displays news events listed as “Medium Impact.”
• Show High Impact News (default true): Displays news events listed as “High Impact.”
• Show Holiday News (default true): Displays news events listed as “Holidays.”
• Show Market Open/Close (default true): Adds the New York Stock Exchange Open and Close as additional News Events.
• Minutes before event to display news on chart (default 15): Enter the number of minutes before the event begins when you would like to see the “News Event” box appear on your chart.
  • For example, if you’d like 2 hours “warning” before a news event occurs, enter 120.

PMA (Price Movement Average)

The EKlecticCore PMA uses our own algorithm to detect changes in price movement rapidly. The PMA is displayed as an “all-in-one” visually-intuitive oscillator. Those who like to trade using CCI, RSI, and/or Stochastics will likely love our PMA.

When price action has been “out of balance” in a particular direction, the indicator also attempts to predict a reversal by displaying “pressure bars” in the opposite direction.

Renko WMA

Specifically designed for Renko charts, but it can be used on any chart. (On non-Renko cahrts, this indicator does tend to send a lot of extra entry signals. Therefore, we recommend our CrossoverWMA or CrossoverEMA indicators as alternatives on non-Renko charts.)

Scalper

As the name implies, this indicator attempts to identify sclaping opportunities. Unlike most of our indicators, this one displays “what it’s thinking” beforehand. When it thinks it sees a potential trade, it will display “Long” or “Short” with the target line that it is monitoring. It continues to monitor that price point throughout the period, and if the price action moves away and back again, this indicator generates and entry signal. It is intended to be run On Each Tick as signals are for intrabar entries. (Because of the intrabar-nature of this indicator, any automated strategy using this indicator must be tested using live or Playback data in your Sim account.)

Separation

Separation is the current Typical price compared to the current average of Typicals. This indicator generates entry signals when the separation changes directions (i.e. when the current price crosses the current average).

Simple Candle Entries

This indicator looks for a few simple candlestick patterns to generate entry signals. Internally, it uses a simple EMA(90) to identify trend.

Smart Price

This indicator chooses which price to use for the current bar based upon the values from the previous bar. In simple terms, it attempts to follow higher highs, and lower lows.

• Tech facts: Technically speaking, most price-action indicators are based upon one of the seven price tiers available on each candle: Close, Open, High, Low, Median, Typical, or Weighted. For this indicator, instead of just using one tier, we made it “smart” so that it chooses which price tier to use depending on the previous movement as well as the current price.

OPTIONS

• Smart EMA Display Mode: Price Overlays, Separation, Channel Size Ration, or Smart Price Overlay Only.
  • Price Overlays: Display the Smart Price itself, an EMA of the Smart Price, MAX/MIN lines for the Period * 2, and EMAs based on the Period, Period * 2, Period * 3, and Period * 4.
  • Separation: Display the separation values (i.e. difference) of the various EMAs.
    • IMPORTANT: You must change the NinjaTrader “Panel” option to “New Panel” when using this option.
  • Channel Size Ratio: Display the ratios of the various MAX/MIN channels in relation to one another.
    • IMPORTANT: You must change the NinjaTrader “Panel” option to “New Panel” when using this option.
  • Smart Price Overlay Only: Display just the Smart Price itself.
• Smart EMA Entry Mode: Changes how far the Smart Price EMA has to retrace for an entry signal to be generated.
  • First EMA Retrace: Generate a signal if price retraces to the first EMA. If this indicator is used on an automated strategy, it always uses the “First EMA Retrace” option.
  • Second EMA Retrace: Generate a signal if price retraces to second EMA.
  • Third EMA Retrace: Generate a signal if price retraces to third EMA.
  • Fourth EMA Retrace: Generate a signal if price retraces to fourth EMA.

Speedometer

This indicator is only useful for non-time-based charts (e.g. Tick, Volume, Renko, etc.) as it plots how fast bars are being printed in relation to the period average speed. This indicator only plots ZERO on time-based charts (since every bar prints at the same speed).

Squeeze

This indicator displays bright yellow dots during times of market consolidation as determined by the outer Bollinger Bands existing inside the Keltner Channel (commonly known as the “squeeze”). Otherwise, it displays green dots when momentum is moving up, and red dots when momentum is moving down. It also displays a momentum histogram with blue-ish lines above zero, and red-ish lines below zero. The histogram colors are emphasized when momentum is “stronger” (i.e. bright blue lines when momentum above zero is increasing, and bright red lines when momentum below zero is decreasing).

Entry signals are generated in the momentum direction on the second bar after consolidation has “broken out.”

Stacked EMAs

• Displays three lines representing the relative position of four fast Fibonacci EMAs in relation to one another, and one thicker line to represent if they are all aligned:
  • The lines are green if the faster EMA is above the slower EMA, and red otherwise.
  • The strength of the trend is determined by how many lines are the same color.
  • The first line is for periods 8 and 13.
  • The second line is for periods 13 and 21.
  • The third line is for periods 21 and 34.
  • The fourth line is the “Overall Trend” line. It is green when all EMAs are stacked upward, red when all EMAs are stacked downward, and is goldenrod otherwise.

Trending Entries

This indicator attempts to identify good entry points in trending markets. Internally, it uses the common technique of looking for retracements along the average price. The entry signals should be validated by a trend indicator.

Trend Lines

Trend lines are often drawn by traders by connecting the high and low points of a chart. Unfortunately, this can only be done after the fact. Thus, while it gives a nice visual of what has already happened, it doesn’t actually provide any help is projecting where the market is pointing now.

This indicator attempts to accomplish both a historical and projected view of the market trend lines. It displays high lines and low lines that are projected at the current high/low angle until a new high or low is reached. It also projects its interpretation of the current trend (i.e. where it “thinks” the market will go) by plotting a thicker mid-line based upon an average of the current high/low projections. The “jumps” of the plots occur whenever a new high or low has occurred, and when projections are recaculated. The color of the center line indicates the interpreted trend, and is based upon the position of the current price in relation to the mid-line projection. Entry signals are always in the direction of the current trend, and occur a few bars after a high/low touch has occured.

Volatility

This indicator displays the “proper” logarithmic volatility for the period.

Volume Trend

This indicator combines volume with price in an innovative way to attempt to predict price movement.

VWAP

This indicator can display either anchored or rolling Volume Weighted Average Price for the current period, as well as volume-weighted “bands” for High, Low, Min(8), and Max(8).

OPTIONS

• Reset Mode (default “Do Not Reset”): Three options: Do Not Reset, Reset Daily After NYSE Close, and Reset At Configured Time.
  • Technically, VWAP is supposed to be calculated based on “cumulative volume” for the day (i.e. “anchored” to the start-of-day). But depending on the instrument, a trader may prefer to not reset the volume on a daily basis. Or they may prefer to reset the VWAP at a different time than when the exchange closes. This option allows the indicator to be used with any preference.
  • Do Not Reset (default): Only the price and volume for the Period is considered.
  • Reset Daily After NYSE Close: Every day at 5:00pm EST, the indicator will reset its cumulative price and volume.
  • Reset At Configured Time: Every day at the Reset Time (below), the indicator will reset its cumulative price and volume.
• Reset Time: The time IN YOUR LOCAL TIME ZONE when the indicator should reset its cumulative price and volume.
  • Times are in 24-hour format:
    • “_00_00” means “midnight.”
    • “_23_59” means “eleven fifty-nine P.M.”
• Display VWAP Bands (default true): When checked, displays the High, Low, Min/Max lines. Uncheck to hide these lines.

WaveGRaB

We offer a shout-out to Raghee Horner for the WaveGRaB bars. This indicator is our implementation of her concept, and enhanced with the options below. It displays the three “Wave Lines” for EMA(High,34), EMA(Typical,34), and EMA(Low,34). It also displays a “Retrace Line” for EMA(Typical,21). And lastly, it recolors the bars.

WaveGRaB candles are colored GREEN when plotting above the EMA(High,34), colored RED when plotting below the EMA(Low,34), and are colored BLUE when any part of the candle is inside the EMA(High/Low,34) channel. (Light green and light blue indicate the candle closed HIGHER. Light red indicates that the candle closed LOWER. [Note: the darkness/lightness of our red bars is opposite of Raghee’s original GRaB bars which we believe is a minor improvement.]) The “Wave” in WaveGRaB refers to the EMA(34) “wave,” and the capitalization of “GRaB” in WaveGRaB stands for the colors: Green, Red, and Blue.

OPTIONS

• Period (default 34): Ordinarily we don’t list the “Period” option, but in this case, we’d like to point out that it can be changed. (Raghee suggests fixing the period at the Fibonacci value of 34, but we decided to made it an option anyway.)
• Show Channel Lines (default true): Displays the Wave lines.
• Show Retrace Line (default true): Displays the Retrace line.
• Gray Out Overnight Bars (default false): If checked, bars plotting outside of the 9:30am–4:00pm EST time period will be gray/black (gray when bar closes higher).
• Enable GRaB bar colors (default true): While the colored bars are one of the primary benefits of this indicator, we found that there were times we wanted to temparily disable then re-enable the color bars without having to completely remove-and-reinstall the indicator.

Strategies

The EKlecticCoreV4™ provides two programs that appear under NinjaTrader’s “Strategies” section: EKV4Strat and EKV4UniversalStrategy.

EKV4Strat

This is not a runnable strategy, and should never be added to a chart. It is the EKlecticCore base strategy code library, and contains the functions common to every indicator combination, for example, entry placement, statistical tracking, text output, alerts, etc.).

EKV4UniversalStrategy

As the name implies, this is our “one-stop” strategy that can automate any one of our enabled Entry indicators, and validate those entries with any one of our enabled Trend indicators. The strategy settings options are broken into six categories, each of which we will go through here.

EKV4AutoSwitchingStrategy

This strategy allows you to define two different automated strategy “setups,” which we refer to as “Setup ONE,” and “Setup TWO.” At the beginning of each session, this strategy resets itself to use Setup ONE. When one or more entries have failed consecutively, you can configure the strategy to either switch to the opposite setup, or to simply stop trading for X number of bars. See the Options below for more details.

OPTIONS

• EKlectic Auto Switching Setup ONE parameters:
  • Entry Indicator One: Entry indicator to use for Setup ONE.
  • Entry Period One: Period to use for Entry Indicator One.
  • Trend Indicator One: Trend indicator to use for Setup ONE.
  • Trend Period One: Period to use for Trend Indicator One.
• EKlectic Auto Switching Setup TWO parameters:
  • These parameters are identical to Setup ONE, but are for Setup TWO instead.
• EKlectic Auto Switching General Options:
  • Max Consecutive Fails: Set this to the number of consecutive failed entries that will trigger the “Auto Switch” to occur.
    • “Failed entries” are defined as entries that closed at a loss.

    • Tip: Entering a ZERO (0) in this option disables auto switching. In this scenario, the Auto Switching Strategy is identical to configuring a Universal Strategy with the same parameters as Setup ONE.

  • Auto Switching Mode: Choose from the following dropdown options. The mode selected determines the action that the strategy will take every time Max Consecutive Fails have occurred.
    • 
    • Switch To Opposite Setup: If Setup ONE is currently active, then the strategy will stop using Setup ONE, and start using Setup TWO instead. And vice versa.
      • A golden vertical line will be drawn on the chart when this switch occurs.
    • Sleep For (X) Bars: In this mode, only Setup ONE is used. The strategy will “sleep” (stop trading) for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, or 60 bars, depending upon which option you select.
      • A purple vertical line will be drawn on the chart when the strategy begins sleeping, and a slightly brighter purple line will be drawn when the strategy “wakes up” (and begins placing trades again).
    • Sleep For Remainder Of Session: In this mode, the strategy will stop trading for the remainder of the current session. (See the “Trading Times” section for more details on “sessions.”)

EKlecticCore Strategy Configuration and Parameters

Indicator and Trend for Automated Trading

The strategy will place entries when both the ENTRY and the TREND signals are pointing in the same direction. For example, if a long entry signal happens, but the trend is NOT pointing long, then the signal will be ignored. And vice versa for shorts. (The exception to this rule is explained in the “Trend Ignore” option.) If a long entry signal happens, AND the trend is pointing long, THEN the signal will be executed, and an entry will actually be placed. (The exception to this rule is explained in the “Auto-Calc Profit/Stop” option below, in the “Advanced Trading Options” section.)

• Entry Indicator: Select an indicator to use for entry signals.
• Entry Period: Enter the period to use for the Entry Indicator.
  • Indicators that are displayed on the chart are NOT used in the strategy.
    • If you want the strategy to receive the same signals that you’re seeing on the chart, then you must be sure to configure the indicator here identical to how it is configure on the chart.
    • If an indicator has other options that affect entry signals (e.g. Smart Price), you cannot change them here.
      • The indicator documentation will explain what default option is used by the strategy.
• Trend Indicator: Select an indicator to use for trend signals.
• Trend Period: Enter the period to use for the Trend Indicator.
• Trend Ignore: Select this to ignore the trend signal, and place all entries solely based upon the entry signal.
  • Since most indicators generate entry signals under the assumption that they will be vetted by a trend indicator, this option should never be checked unless you understand exactly why you are checking it.

Automated Trading Options

• Contracts To Enter: The number of contracts to enter on each entry.
• Enable Long Entries: Allow this strategy to place long entries. Unchecking this will ignore all long entry signals.
• Enable Short Entries: Allow this strategy to place short entries. Unchecking this will ignore all short entry signals.
• Profit Target in TICKS: Every entry made by this strategy will include a Profit Target order, as well. Set the number of ticks profit you would like for that order.
• Stop Loss in TICKS: Every entry made by this strategy will include a Stop Loss order, as well. Set the number of ticks (as a positive number) you would like for that stop loss order.
• Exit Strategy: Some indicators provide exit signals in addition to entry signals. By default, those signals are disabled. If you would like to enable them, choose one of the other exit strategy modes listed:
  • Use Entry Trend Indicator Exit Signal: Use the exit signal from the entry indicator as-is.
  • Use Trend Indicator Exit Signal: Use the exit signal from the trend indicator as-is.
  • Use Entry Exit but Force to Exit Profitable Only: Use the exit signal from the entry indicator, but only exit positions are are currently profitable.
  • Use Trend Exit but Force to Exit Profitable Only: Use the exit signal from the trend indicator, but only exit positions are are currently profitable.
  • Use Entry Exit but Force to Exit Unprofitable Only: Use the exit signal from the entry indicator, but only exit positions are are currently unprofitable.
  • Use Trend Exit but Force to Exit Unprofitable Only: Use the exit signal from the trend indicator, but only exit positions are are currently unprofitable.
  • Use Entry Exit but Force to Exit Always: Use the exit signal from the entry indicator and exit no matter the state of the current position.
  • Use Trend Exit but Force to Exit Always: Use the exit signal from the trend indicator and exit no matter the state of the current position.

Abort Trading Options

Think about the Abort Trading Options as if they are the “SESSION Profit Target and SESSION Stop Loss.”

Tip: For more information on “sessions,” see the “Trading Times” section below.

The Universal Strategy keeps track of how many ticks are actually won and lost on each entry. If three entries in a row all lose 4 ticks, then the session itself has lost 12 ticks. If the “Negative TICKS Disable” is set to 12, then no more entries will be placed for the current session.

Note: If the “Enable GUI Items” option is checked, the chart will display red lines on all bars while it is disabled.

OPTIONS

• Negative TICKS Warning: The number of ticks lost that triggers a warning alert.
  • Warning alerts are informational only, and the strategy will keep trading even after a warning.

    • Tip: If you do not want to receive any warning alerts, set this value to the same as the “Negative TICKS Disable” option below.

  • (To learn how to email or text these alerts, see the “Email Alerts To” option under the “Display and Output Parameters” section.)
• Negative TICKS Disable: The number of ticks lost that disable the strategy for the current session.
• Positive TICKS Disable: The number of ticks won that disable the strategy for the current session.

Trading Times

The Universal Strategy defines three “sessions” in every 24-hour period. These session are defined by you the user, and have nothing to do with the trading sessions of particular markets. The strategy sessions are defined by setting the First, Second, and Third Start and Stop time options in this section. The automated strategy will only place entries within the defined Start and Stop times.

Note: If the “Enable GUI Items” option is checked, the chart will display white lines on all bars that fall outside of all sessions’ start and stop times.

The dropdown boxes list 24-hour times in the following format: _HH_MM

• “_00_00” means “midnight.”
• “_23_59” means “eleven fifty-nine P.M.”

OPTIONS:

• First Start Time (local time) (default _00_00): Enter the time IN YOUR LOCAL TIME ZONE when you want the automated strategy to start placing entries.
• First Stop Time (local time) (default _06_15): Enter the time IN YOUR LOCAL TIME ZONE when you want the automated strategy to stop placing entries.
• Second Start Time (local time) (default _08_00): same as First Start Time, but for Second session.
• Second Stop Time (local time) (default _13_30): same as First Stop Time, but for Second session.
• Third Start Time (local time) (default _08_00): same as First Start Time, but for Third session.
• Third Stop Time (local time) (default _13_30): same as First Stop Time, but for Third session.

Tip: To completely disable a session, set the sessions’ STOP Time to be BEFORE the START Time.

Advanced Trading Options

The options here are for advanced traders who understand what they mean. To learn more, click here to visit the ninjatraderbrokerage.com site’s explanation of Order Types. (Honestly, you really should take the time to learn about Order Types before you begin any real trading.)

OPTIONS

• Use Limit Order For Entry (default false): By default, entries are placed as Market Orders (which can cause slippage on entry, but ensures that they are filled). If this option is checked, entries will be placed as Limit Orders.

• Use Market If Touched For Exit (default false): By default, Profit Target orders are placed as Limit Orders. If this option is checked, Profit Target orders will be placed as Market Orders (which can cause slippage on exit, but ensures that they are filled).

• Use Simulated Stops (default false): By default, all entries are accompanied by real Stop Loss orders. Those orders are visible on the price ladder to other traders. Checking this option will NOT place a Stop Loss order when the entry is made, but will instead wait until the price has touched the Stop Loss price before it places the stop order. If anything stops your NinjaTrader software from working (i.e. connection loss, power outage, or NinjaTrader software turned off), YOUR STOP LOSS ORDER WILL NEVER BE PLACED. While this risk might be negligible to most traders, it is vital to understand how Simulated Stops work before checking this option.

• Auto-Calc Profit/Stop (default false): When this option is checked, the strategy will calculate what it thinks the current Profit and Stop should be (both values will be the same). It will also SKIP TRADES where the calculated Stop is greater than the configured “Stop in TICKS” value. Auto-calc’d profit/stop are never less than 4 ticks regardless of all other options below.
  • By default, the calculation takes the ATR(8) value and rounds it to the current tick size, and then adds in any “Ticks To Add” (configured below).
  • In summary:
    • The calculated profit is compared to the configured “Profit in TICKS” value, and the SMALLER OF THE TWO is used for the entry.
    • The calculated stop is compared to the configured “Stop in TICKS” value, and IF the calculated stop is less than or equal to the configured amount, it is used.
      • If the calculated stop is greater than the configured “Stop in TICKS” value, the entry is skipped.
  • Mathematically, it is like this:
    • Calc’d Profit = ATR(8) rounded to TickSize + Profit Ticks To Add
      • If Calc’d Profit > Profit in TICKS, then use Profit in TICKS for entry.
      • If Calc’d Profit <= Profit in TICKS, the use Calc’d Profit for entry.
    • Calc’d Stop = ATR(8) rounded to TickSize + Stop Ticks To Add
      • If Calc’d Stop > Stop in TICKS, then skip this entry.
      • If Calc’d Stop <= Stop in TICKS, then use Calc’d Stop for entry.
  • And, in case it’s not already clear, here it is explained in detail:
    • If the calculated stop loss (with any Ticks To Add) is greater than the “Stop Loss in TICKS” value, the entry will NOT be placed.
      • The system interprets the configured “Stop Loss in TICKS” to mean “the most risk I am willing to take on an entry.”
      • If “Enable GUI Items” is checked, a pink diamond will appear on the bar to indicate that the entry was skipped.
    • If the calculated profit target (with any Ticks To Add) is less than or equal to the “Profit Target in TICKS” value, the entry WILL be placed, but the profit target will be reduced to match the calculated value.
      • If the calculated profit target is higher than the “Profit Target in TICKS” value, the entry will also be placed, but the profit target will be reduced to the configured profit ticks.
      • The system interprets the configured “Profit Target in TICKS” to mean “the highest target I want on an entry.”

• Ticks To Add To Auto-Calc Profit Target (default 0): If you find that the auto-calculated profit is too large or too small, you can enter a TICK value here that will be ADDED to the calculated profit. NEGATIVE NUMBERS CAN BE USED to reduce the calculated profit

• Ticks To Add to Auto-Calc Stop Loss (default 0): Same as above, but for Stop Loss. Positive numbers increase the stop loss amount (which means you are risking more), and negative numbers reduce the stop loss amount.

• Trailing Stop Enabled (default false): Our strategy has a complicated trailing stop algorithm that “compresses” the stop loss value as the profit increases. This can work well in high-momentum markets (with low volatility), but tends to “take away the breathing room” in most markets. Before enabling this, you should carefully backtest against your instrument and chart first, testing both with this option on and off for comparison.

Display and Output Parameters

• Commission Rate to Estimate Cost (default 0): When this value is 0 (zero), commission rates for the master instrument are automatically calculated IF the account has a Commission profile configured (under Control Center -> Account Tab -> (right-click on account) -> Edit Account… -> Commission dropdown).
  • If you would like to override the default calculation, you can enter a non-zero value here.
    • Enter the SINGLE-CONTRACT ONE-WAY ALL-IN-RATE you would like to use for estimating the commissions on all entries placed by the strategy.
      • (i.e. if trading in MES 09–22 on a Lifetime license you’d enter 0.56, or 0.82 if using a Free license).
      • This value is different for each instrument, and can be found in the All-In-Rates section on NinjaTrader’s Futures Contracts Details PDF.
      • This value is only used for calculating the estimated final earnings, and doesn’t affect the actual trading of the strategy in any way.
      • To view the estimated final earnings, you must have an Output Window open before enabling the strategy.
• Enable GUI Items: When checked, the strategy will display informative bars, diamonds, lines, trade result summaries, and other text in the main chart window when the strategy is running.
• Verbose Output: When checked, the Output 1 window will contain tons of details about the system’s internal view of every bar and entry.
• Enable Statistics Tracking: When checked, the Output 2 window will receive technical details for every entry placed.
  • These details are output as tab-delimited text that can be easily copied and pasted into a spreadsheet program (e.g. Excel).
  • BEFORE ENABLING THE STRATEGY, YOU SHOULD CLEAR THE OUTPUT 2 WINDOW.
• Automatically Rename Strategy (default true): When this option is checked, the strategy will automatically rename itself to reflect the name of the configured indicators.
  • The first part of the name is the entry indicator and entry period.
  • If the trend indicator is different from the entry indicator, or the trend period is different from the entry period, then the trend indicator and period will be append to the name, as well (separated by “/” slash).
    • If the trend indicator and period are identical to the entry indicator and period, then nothing will be added.
• Email Alerts To: Enter an email address (or a list of email addresses) to receive alerts.
  • Alerts occur when entries are placed or closed, when sessions end (the session statistics are sent), when “Negative Ticks Warnings” occur, and when “Negative Ticks Disable” are exceeded.
  • Multiple addresses can be entered comma-delimited.
  • YOU MUST CONFIGURE AN EMAIL SHARE SERVICE FOR THIS TO WORK.
    • On the NinjaTrader Control Center menu, choose: Tools -> Options -> General -> Share Services
    • For more information, click here to learn how to configure Share Services.

Important Info on Back-Testing vs Real-Time

• Back-tested trades are ESTIMATES, and real-time trades can perform differently (due to real-time market factors like slippage, volume, order fulfillment, etc.).
• Therefore, if an automated strategy ran in real-time, disabling it and re-enabling it might show different back-tested results when compared to the real-time results.
  • These are issues that affect any automated strategy.
  • Therefore, the best way to test an automated strategy (although not the fastest) is to run it against real playback data.
    • You should never test an automated strategy on a real account–always use the Sim account for testing and validation.

Contact Us

To submit bug reports, feature requests, or user feedback, click here to visit our website at EKlecticCore.com, and click on the Contact link. Thank you for reading!