Adding Indicators to Strategies

[NinjaTrader_JoshP]

Applies to: NinjaTrader 7

When backtesting strategies it can be useful to add the indicators you use for calculations onto the chart to make it easier to check your strategy for accuracy. Instead of doing this step manually every time you run the strategy you can program it to automatically load the indicators for you.

For example:

To add a volume indicator to your charts you need to add this code snippet into the Initialize() section of your code.

Add(VOL());

To choose which panel you want your indicator plotted on you can use this code snippet into the Initialize() section:

VOLMA(20).Panel = 2;
Add(VOLMA(20));

To customize plot colors:

EMA(13).Plots[0].Pen.Color = Color.Blue;     // Plots the EMA as a blue line

To customize plot width:

EMA(13).Plots[0].Pen.Width = 2;     // Plots the EMA line with a width of 2

To customize the plot dash style:

RegressionChannel(60, 2).Plots[0].Pen.DashStyle = DashStyle.Dash;

To customize lines you can do it the same way as above.

RSI(14, 3).Lines[0].Value = 20;
RSI(14, 3).Lines[0].Pen.Color = Color.Green;

Remember, you need to use the Add() method to add your indicator if you wish to use any of plot/line indicator customizations.

[NinjaTrader_Jesse]

Applies to: NinjaTrader 8

When backtesting strategies it can be useful to add the indicators you use for calculations onto the chart to make it easier to check your strategy for accuracy. Instead of doing this step manually every time you run the strategy you can program it to automatically load the indicators for you.

For example:

To add a volume indicator to your charts you need to add this code snippet into the OnStateChange section of your code for the State: State.DataLoaded

protected override void OnStateChange()
{
     if (State == State.DataLoaded)
     {
           [B]AddChartIndicator(VOL());[/B]
     }
}

To choose which panel you want your indicator plotted on you can use this code snippet into the State.DataLoaded state:

VOL().Panel = 2;
AddChartIndicator(VOL());

To customize plot colors:

VOL().Plots[0].Brush = Brushes.Red;     // Plots the VOL with a red plot

To customize plot width:

VOL().Plots[0].Width = 4;    // Plots the VOL bars with a width of 4

To customize the plot dash style:

VOL().Plots[0].PlotStyle = PlotStyle.Dot;

To customize lines you can do it the same way as above.

RSI(14, 3).Lines[0].Value = 20;
RSI(14, 3).Lines[0].Brush = Brushes.Green;

Remember, you need to use the AddChartIndicator() method to add your indicator if you wish to use any of plot/line indicator customizations.