NinjaTrader Automated Trading by Algo Futures Trader

hybrid algorithmic automated futures trading for prop firm traders, day & swing traders

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NinjaTrader fully automated futures trading or hybrid algo trading?

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Hybrid AFT Trading or Pure AFT Fully Automated?

How to decide which model to choose for your trading success?

Hybrid Futures Trading: Man + Machine

Session breakout workspace

The fastest and easiest way to get funded and start trading with the best profits and least drawdown. Achieve the best control and hit a small target! Traders learn the level of automation to suit their plan, typically 50% to 80% automated. Smallest risk capital of 25K is acceptable. AFT Workspaces 1 to 4 guide you from zero to hero in Discord.

Hybrid Trading Time to Market

  • This is the fast track to success with day trading! It can be done in 1 week to 1 month, though most take 1 to 3 months, and some take 1 year or more. That’s okay; it’s 100% free, and you can go at your own pace!

Pure 100% Fully Automated Trading

NinjaTrader fully automated trading with advanced hybrid controls for algo entry and exit execution

Yes, it can be done, but note that this is the hardest and longest way to trade. Generally, it is not viable or permitted for prop firm trading, offering the least control over profits and drawdown. It takes 3 months for a veteran already successful, to 1 year or more for a new trader still on the success quest. Medium to long-term goals are essential. Hit very large, easy targets far off; asset stream diversification is key. Swing trading is really the only way to start, with large risk capital of 100 to 250K being acceptable. AFT Workspaces 5: put workspace 1 on a server and leave it for 1 month. Practice how to stop and start, and go from there. Create variants of the baselines and test and compare back.

Pure Algo Trading Time to Market

  • There are no shortcuts when done right!
  • 1 to 3 years is a realistic time to focus on mastering and tweaking a system that suits a trader.

For Both Traders’ Journeys: Hybrid or Pure Algo Trading

7-day Free Trial with Full Feature Access! Self-assisted and interactive support is provided when required. Free forever Freemium for sim/demo trading! Go at your own pace! For the fastest learning, traders begin with our “Zero to Hero” program to methodically navigate through the control set stages. This can be leveraged for hybrid and pure fully automated trading.

Alternate Routes for Traders Who Want Fully Automated Trading

Some links here for you to consider for your trading journey decisions. We do not earn from these links or endorse them; this is for informational purposes to see what is out there, the cost, and so on. Check out the stats and costs of these parties and analyze the pros and cons.

The Advantage Here:

Your stats and settings are your own. There is no sales gimmick here; no leap of faith required. Skill, commitment, and time are the costs. You have control of your trading destiny. As a self-directed trader using AFT, it’s 100% free forever on sim, as it really takes a whole lot of time. There is no shortcut; time and learning to be a pro are required! Some of our traders do it and are in years 1 and 3, being patient and working towards the end goal of a small fund of their own with transparent systems—no smoke and mirrors! Do they have drawdowns? Yes, and they have a plan in place and use diversified asset streams to minimize risk and drawdowns.

21 Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Futures Traders

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  1. I want a trading system that performs well in all market cycles. (Holy Grail unicorn hunter – learn when to trade with a system and when not to, or implement diversified asset streams.)
  2. A fully automated robot can trade my prop firm account to get funded and stay funded. (BS alert! Prop firms mostly do not allow robots, and their rules are so tight this is 99% likely to fail.)
  3. The system stats look great; I will buy it as I have found the best system and will be a winner. (Victim of your financial aspirations – only believe the facts and evidence firsthand of what it does with you as the driver.)
  4. I want money, and trading is the best way to get it. If I buy a robot to do it for me, I can be rich. (Get a job; you are a loser already – do not trade for money, trade with a passion for the love of trading!)
  5. I need to trade all day; more is more. (We are taught at school and work to do more – in trading, less is more – FOMO, Fear, and Greed.)
  6. I will watch the market all day and all night if I have to learn an edge. (Just watch and learn the hours you are going to trade – focus on your trade session and trade plan rules.)
  7. If I trade more instruments, I will do better and make more money. (Better to focus on one or at most a few, two to three to start.)
  8. I am a bad discretionary trader, so a robot will cure my problem. (No, cure your problem first as it will still manifest in auto trading. 99% fail at auto trading who rush it.)
  9. I have a dream; I want this more than anything, so that means I will be successful. (Then it means too much – stop caring about money and honey – focus on getting good and enjoying the game; the rest will follow.)
  10. I will trade the market economic news announcement; results in a good means buy and bad means sell. (No, it doesn’t – market catalysts can be a boost to trading; your systematic rules will enter long or short.)
  11. The market sees me and knows where my stops are; it makes me lose; this is a war; I am cannon fodder. (This is trader vanity – focus on the system and take care not to leave stops around obvious levels.)
  12. I don’t need to understand the system in automated trading. (If you learn the game of golf and then use a golf robot, you will do far better.)
  13. I don’t need to take stats or keep a diary in automated trading. (You need to know when it is winning and why and when it’s losing and why – you can adjust your trade plan settings based on this info.)
  14. I should attend a large group in Discord to learn from people. (In the valley of the blind, the one-eyed man is king! 99% is the blind leading the blind over the cliff or to a peak with each market phase.)
  15. I can leave a system on forever and not monitor, attend, or pause it. (Market price news shocks, internet & PC faults occur! Monitor it!)
  16. The system started to lose; the vendor is a fraud, or the system is broken. (Systems all will have a drawdown period; you should know this inside out before trying on live.)
  17. Fully automated means no work and no interaction, just set-and-forget trading and go play golf. (Around about 90% fully auto with 10% manual interaction due to news, rollovers, and price exposure, etc., is about the right level for pro mode auto for full automation – there is a lot of ongoing work for auto trading – performance monitoring, optimization, preparation, or R&D.)
  18. These system stats are great; I can be confident of winning in the future as it has proven in the past. (Luck, curve fitting, data sample, market shifts, slippage, errors, human interaction – there is NO guarantee.)
  19. I am a prop firm trader; I mirror 20 accounts; I made 100K on NQ in the last month; now I am ready for live cash trading. (Slippage, broker limits, real cash margin, and real pressure, real risk are very different; you will probably blow up in a day.)
  20. I trade manually and win, so I know if I automate my trading, it will be a winner. (No, in most cases, this is not the result at all; you would need to trade like a robot, then automate it.)
  21. The best trading software, settings, and trade plan are the ones I see others doing well with. (No, the best system and best stats are what you do with a system over time via direct hands-on experience.)

There are many others, but you get the gist…!

Trading is an art and skill, not an exact science. Anyone who sells you the easy dream or this BS above is either delusional, chasing a pipe dream, or a malign Machiavellian. Sadly, most vendors, brokers, coaches, and influencers are the latter, knowingly taking advantage of your financial aspirations and desperations! Statistically, the facts are no secret; day trading is, for 80% of people, the worst way to make money compared to getting a proper job and career. You never know if the market will be in a winning phase and what you will win or lose from week to month. It takes a whole lot of money and time to reach this pinnacle of trading for a living. Yes, you can be a winner, but you have to be in the correct winning mindset and environment to do it, alongside an income, something that provides stability and risk capital, or get funded to trade via a prop firm, or you are guaranteed to lose and burn! No matter how good the system is, due to psychology!

Credit for the article title:
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

tip for the best results ninjatrader automated trading futures

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What can set you apart and put you in the top 20% of traders – the winners?

Get a routine and make it a habit; it will make you or break you! So make sure it is a good habit!

Have a Trade Plan:

  1. Define capital and risk per trade.
  2. Set trading goals and loss limits for the day and week.
  3. Select the system and instruments.
  4. Prepare system templates and workspaces.
  5. Schedule when to be at the trading desk, set the system in action, and know when to pause.

Pre-Session

  • Check the prior session and view a higher time frame analysis to get the bigger picture of the market.
  • Set a bias for the session, long or short.
  • Prepare the system with lots, risk, and limits for one trade or multiple trades.
  • Get the trade controllers ready for action with the controls you use at the ready.
  • Assess if the open is a high probability setup and entry.
  • Decide to go in with half clip or full risk according to your plan.
  • Decide whether to wait for the first 30 minutes, 5 minutes, or 1 minute of the open.

Tactics

  • Let trades run to the close – scale out.
  • Increase accuracy and limit drawdowns.
  • Use AlphaWebTrader for correlations and technicals.
  • Trade less, not more – trade smarter!

Trade Diary Stats and Notes

  • For each trade, make a screenshot of the entry and any other timeframes.
  • Note the levels, trends, and correlations of technicals, price cycles, and market news cycles.
  • Do this for the exits too, and note whether it was a winner or loser, mistake or fair trade.

Maintenance Routine
View help desk article on NinjaTrader Bars and Data

  1. Futures contract rollover.
  2. Instrument data
    1. Each day pre-session, download and get fresh data.
    2. Use the instrument manager and a list.
    3. Or refresh the data on the charts!

AFT Session Breakout needs 7 days of data downloaded to get the best consistent results of signals, range, and bars. To stay in sync across multiple desktop PCs, this task needs to be performed each day pre-session. Typically, download the last 2 days, and on weekends, download the last 7 to 7 days to get the corrections and backfills.

Where is the information on how to change account for AFT8

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FAQ: Finding Information to Change the Account for AFT8

A very common question for all traders getting started with AFT8.

How to find the answers? Full details are provided in:

Help Desk Help Center Articles

Browse the Help Center AFT8 Articles

Search the Help Center
Help Center Search

🚀 Get Started 100% FREE!

100% FREE Get Started Trading

Get your 100% FREE day trading futures hybrid automated trade system, attend the discord-free trading group, and learn at your own pace, oriented, ready to trade with all the information & resources you need & and the right system to suit you.
  • 7-day Free Trial Ultimate universal license
  • Self Assist or Get Assisted download & installation
  • Turnkey workspaces setup ready to trade
  • Free Discord Trading Group Zero to Hero
  • VIP Trading Groups with AI Co-Pilot
  • Get Funded Accelerator!

how did the fib grid technology and trade systems get invented?

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Daily Fib Grid Session

The proprietary Fib Grid and Range Grid technology first came to mind in 2007 when working for TCA Futures (RIP) in a trading arcade in the City of London – UK’s Wall St. It was conceived in response to a reprimand from the S&P500 desk head trader. He was fuming and publicly criticized me in front of some 120 other traders after hours in the daily retrospective. He’d seen my appalling trade via his CQG trade desk admin module, questioning why I was trading long at the top of the market, one hour out, quite near the end of the session. It was obvious, but I thought, how do you know where the top of the market is? Later that night, I envisioned the Fib Grid and Range Grid to show me. Back then, it was Excel and CQG, and here we are with NinjaTrader from 2009 to 2024. It’s still my core methodology, battle-tested in institutional, hedge fund, and retail trading.

Fib Grid Multi Time Frames
  • YSFG – Yearly Session Fib Grid
  • MSFG – Monthly Session Fib Grid
  • WSFG – Weekly Session Fib Grid
  • DSFG – Daily Session Fib Grid
Now combine this with structured price action, time, and a catalyst to provide the conditional trade setup for a high-probability move. Then use the signals/rules as the trade entry method and let the system do the rest.

Fib Grid Session Breakout Basics

Around 2008/2009, I then worked on the concept of the Fib Grid session breakout, using it to prevent my ludicrous out-of-control scalping. Up to 1200 trade operations in one day was my record, plus burnout after TCA Futures as a privateer with MFGlobal. It made my broker rich and me a 35% account loss – Emini ES trading, not small change, it hurt badly. So I stopped and later was reborn as a day/swing trader, making 1 to 3 trades per day on the DSFG. This method is used in the ATS Discord groups as a core method to teach good habits and run the trades. Fib Grid made me and saved me, thank you to the head trader.

Note: From 2015, when I traded for managed futures/futures hedge funds, I used WSFG breakouts and MSG breakouts and let that go for several weeks/months. You could get up to 100K per lot sometimes on NQ or ES FDAX, etc. So some quite serious trades have gone down, and a good lot of time too. https://algotradingsystems.net/About I guess I could follow tradition and call it the Leeson lines after my surname, as some did and still do, but to me, FibGrid has more meaning. AlgoFuturesTrader contains all the latest evolution of the FibGridTrading systems and is 100% free for sim/NT demo and prop firm evaluation trading. Enjoy & happy trading. Tom Leeson

🚀 Get Started 100% FREE!

100% FREE Get Started Trading

Get your 100% FREE day trading futures hybrid automated trade system, attend the discord-free trading group, and learn at your own pace, oriented, ready to trade with all the information & resources you need & and the right system to suit you.
  • 7-day Free Trial Ultimate universal license
  • Self Assist or Get Assisted download & installation
  • Turnkey workspaces setup ready to trade
  • Free Discord Trading Group Zero to Hero
  • VIP Trading Groups with AI Co-Pilot
  • Get Funded Accelerator!

Turnkey settings and workspaces for hybrid trading and automated trading

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AFT Workspace settings sync - turnkey workspaces and VIP automated trading system baselines Workspace and Settings Sync

For traders logged into AFT Desktop, workspaces will download to the PC automatically with any changes or rolled-over contracts, including:

  1. Turnkey Workspaces
    1. Any downloaded workspace is refreshed.
    2. Existing Workspaces for each stage of Zero to Hero.
  2. VIP Workspaces
    1. New and existing VIP settings.
    2. Downloaded and available.
    3. Details in the Discord VIP sections.
Hybrid Trading Turnkey Workspaces

ATS provides and supports turnkey workspaces for hybrid trading. Traders elect the level of automation in attendance on the day to suit their trade plan and approach. Traders use the workspaces released in the “Zero to Hero” stages within Discord to learn and use features progressively over time, avoiding information overload.

Baseline Automated Workspaces

VIP members get access to workspaces used to run baseline tests to show different premises and features and the natural phase of market winning and drawdown. These take all trades and are not optimized for trading. Baselines are to compare back to for your variants/settings or to guide hybrid trading. A trader could optimize and tweak the supplied settings to suit their trading preference of style and risk.

Flexible Levels of Automation

The AFT system can suit day, swing, and intermediate trading over one day or many months, maintaining context and control even after a reboot and restart, with 100% unattended execution and trade management. However, the vast majority of traders use the system from 50% to 80% automation. Note: In fund trading with a $5 million account, 100% fully automated trading was engaged for a client CPC with the forerunner of the AFT system today. Even that was controlled for news and rollovers, so 90% automation was feasible/sensible. This is also a statistic used by Ray Dalio for their Alpha trading systems.

Classic Automated Trading Systems versus AFT Hybrid Trading Systems

The reason 95% fail at automated trading is they do not have any control over the system—100% classic full automation—switch on or switch off. The majority of systems worked that way until ATS developers pioneered hybrid automated trading in 2009 for NinjaTrader. Old school strategies are like sitting in the back of a rally car with no controls, steering, or brakes, no driver going over the Alps in snow and shine. The sensible majority exit the vehicle at the first series of bumps, or the bold stay in the whole way and take a full drawdown and then run out of capital. If the market phase was suitable for the system, then the remaining few percent might make it through for a quarter or a year. All systems will draw down at some point as the market phases change—the question is when the wall is hit and how long it lasts.

AFT Hybrid trading lets you control and steer past this without total switch off or on. It allows super fine control in the live market, avoidance of price risks and the doldrums, and continuation for the high probability of winning runs after the losing runs. AFT provides full control and transparency of the system, allowing the trader to use it in the way that is best for them.

What are the best settings?

This is a guessing game or a gamble. Never take it for granted that someone’s subjective best settings work for you. Only by hands-on experience and thousands of hours of chart time, stats, testing, and practice will the “best settings” and trade plan be revealed for each trader, custom-fitted to suit them. Turnkey workspaces and baseline settings make this task easier and are a base to start from and to measure back to. Some traders run with the settings provided in the turnkey workspaces and do okay, some even say great! But note that hybrid mode interaction is employed over the top to suit the trader—not something that is qualitatively repeatable by a pure robot. We cannot say if that will be the case for you.

🚀 Get Started 100% FREE!

100% FREE Get Started Trading

Get your 100% FREE day trading futures hybrid automated trade system, attend the discord-free trading group, and learn at your own pace, oriented, ready to trade with all the information & resources you need & and the right system to suit you.
  • 7-day Free Trial Ultimate universal license
  • Self Assist or Get Assisted download & installation
  • Turnkey workspaces setup ready to trade
  • Free Discord Trading Group Zero to Hero
  • VIP Trading Groups with AI Co-Pilot
  • Get Funded Accelerator!

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