Open previous contracts in charts

[arguru]

Hello, in previous versions of Ninjatrader 8 I was able to open past contracts on my chart by entering the contract information as follows, "ES 03-19." I was able to load contracts to charts from 5+ years ago. Currently when I do it, I get 2 problems. First problem is an error message that says:

"Unable to load chart template: the file named C:Users\Documents\NinjaTrader 8\Templates\Chart\Default.xml was either designed for an earlier version of NinjaTrader or the file is not formatted correctly. Please contact [email protected] for assistance."

and the second problem is when I load it with another template, the chart opens, but it won't load the chart data and I get no candles populated. In the previous version, all I had to do was enter which contract I wanted and it would open in charts.

Is there another way I can open these past contracts? or maybe I'm doing something wrong? for example, I'd like to open ES 03-19 in charts to review past trades.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

[NinjaTrader_Clayton]

Hello arguru,

Thank you for the message.

It sounds like your "Default" chart template is either corrupted or made for another version of NinjaTrader. To resolve this message:

• Either save a new "Default" chart template by right-clicking on the chart > Templates > Save As > Save as Default
• Or, remove the current Default template from the platform:
  • Close NinjaTrader
  • Go to the Documents Folder > NinjaTrader 8 > templates > Chart > Find the "Default" template and Delete it
  • Reopen NinjaTrader and test if the error continues.

Since you are trying to look at the ES 03-23 contract, you would need to make sure the chart parameters are set up to look that far back.

• By default, the chart is going to have the end date set to today. So, if there are only 5 days to load, that would show data for the past week.
  • Since the ES 03-23 wasn't charting within the past week, nothing would show.
• The ES 03-23 stopped plotting on 3/17/2023. So, you could set the "End Date" of that chart to that date. Then, set the days to load as desired and it would load in the chart.
• Or, create a new chart and set the "Days to load" to a big enough number to go back to when the desired contract was plotted.

Please let us know if we may provide any further assistance.

[arguru]

Thanks for the reply. I deleted the default template and it still has the same problem. The chart I am trying to open is ES 03-19 (ESH9). In the past, I would open data series and write ES 03-19 (ESH9) in the instrument field and change the end date to 03-30-2019 and the chart would load at that previous contract. Now when I do it, I get invalid instrument.

Basically I am trying to open contracts from 4 years ago to review trades and follow along to a video I am watching that was made in March of 2019.

I can't seem to get any of the older contracts to load.

[NinjaTrader_Clayton]

Hello arguru,

Thank you for the message.

Did you close NinjaTrader when you deleted the file? If not, close NinjaTrader and delete the file. Then reopen NinjaTrader.

• If you already did that, please try saving a new "Default" template instead:
  • Right-click on the chart > Templates > Save As > Click Save as Default
  • Does the error still appear?

As for your charts loading in, please make sure the data type you are looking at goes back that far. You will only be able to load the chart as far back as the amount of Historical Data that is saved for that instrument.

If you are using NinjaTrader Brokerage for market Data:

• Tick data: Tick Data is held on the Servers for 1 year and is then removed.
• Minute data: Goes back to 2006 (Forex back to late 2008)
• Daily data: Goes back to 2009 (Forex back very far, varies per instrument) (Index back to 2011)
• Market Replay data: Recorded for the Futures Instruments supported by NinjaTrader Brokerage and will only go back 90 days from the current date.
• Everything from 07/9/2016 back will be NinjaTrader 7 data, not having millisecond granularity.
• Daily data from 07/9/2016 back will be RTH

If the ES 03-19 chart is still not loading in or is still giving an error, please use the following steps to Update/Reset the Instruments within your platform and then Restart NinjaTrader:

1. Disconnect from any data providers by navigating to the Control Center > Connections menu, and left-click on “disconnect” that appears to the right when hovering your mouse over any active connection
2. Reset your instruments by navigating to the Control Center > Tools > Database Management
3. In the Database Management window, under the “Update instruments” section, ensure that “General properties”, "Futures expiries" and “Symbol mappings” options are checked and then click Update
4. Restart NinjaTrader

Reconnect to your data and test if the chart loads in as expected.


Please let us know if we may provide any further assistance.

[arguru]

Ok, the default chart layout is fixed and I do not get the error anymore, thanks for that!

And I seem to have figured out why past contracts are not loading on the charts. In the old versions of ninjatrader, I would write the instruments like this, ES 03-19. In this new version, I chose to display the instrument contract the exchange way, ESH9. So, when I type the instrument in the data series the old way (ES 03-19), it automatically changes it to the new way (ESH9) and I get invalid instrument. I think this is where my problem is, ninjatrader is not recognizing the exchange display symbology style of writing the instrument.

In my Ninjatrader account settings, under preferences I changed the symbology display style from exchange (ESH9) to numeric (ES 03-19). I've just tested this and opened a new chart, loaded ES 03-19 and everything worked. Im not sure if its a bug or something else is wrong, but I will just leave the symbology on numeric style.

Thanks for your help!