Installing and Configuring – Tick Speedometer for NinjaTrader 8

General – getting started

The Quantum Tick Speedometer indicator has been designed with one simple objective. To place the power of tick trading in your hands. It does this in several unique ways.

First, the indicator is dynamic. This is not a static indicator which only displays data based on history. It is dynamic, counting and displaying tick activity in realtime as the market moves tick by tick, and minute by minute.

Second, the indicator acts as the bridge between time and tick. Apply the indicator to a time based chart and it will display the current tick speed for that instrument, at that precise moment in the session. It’s a time tick converter if you like. So for example if you are an index trader and prefer the 1 minute chart, apply the indicator and this will then display the equivalent tick speed for the index dynamically. This will change throughout the trading session allowing you to see the momentum changes as tick speeds increase or decrease accordingly

Third, the indicator displays both the actual and the closest Fib number. This gives you the option to trade using the actual tick speed, or the closest Fibonacci number to the actual. The Fibonacci number will change less often requiring fewer changes to the tick chart setting, whilst the true number will change more frequently. It’s your choice.

Fourth, the indicator includes a traffic light system which gives a visual signal of whether the tick speed for that timeframe is speeding up or slowing down. When the red traffic light is displayed it’s a strong signal of low volatility, and a warning signal of possible danger ahead as the price action moves into congestion.

Fifth and last, the indicator displays the levels of tick activity graphically, showing those areas of high medium and low volatility.

The indicator works in all timeframes from seconds and minutes, and with all instruments and markets. So whether you are a scalping trader on the ES E-mini or other indices, or perhaps a swing trader of commodities, stocks, or bonds, the indicator will deliver all the tick information you need to start trading with the professionals.

The Quantum TickSpeedometer indicator finally puts the power of tick trading within your grasp. No more guesswork, no more asking other traders – soon they will be asking you! The Quantum TickSpeedometer indicator is easy to install and configure, then presents all the tick data for you simply and graphically. All you have to do is start trading and join the professionals today.

Installation

Open your NinjaTrader 8 platform and select a chart.

Right click the chart to bring up a menu which looks like the following image:

Select Indicators… which will open the following window. (Alternatively, you can open this window by clicking the Indicators button in the chart toolbar or by pressing Ctrl + I while focused on the chart.)

In the Indicators window, scroll down to the QuantumTickSpeedometer indicator and click it to select the indicator. Once selected, click add in the Configured frame which will put it on the list of active indicators to be added in the chart.

Before clicking the OK or Apply button to complete, the indicator has a number of options which can be configured. You can click the Apply button at any time, and this will apply any changes you have made to the indicator without closing the window. This will allow you to see the changes you have made to the indicator, without closing with the OK button or the Cancel button.

Configuration

All of the user configuration is found on the right hand side of the Indicator window. These are the default setting when you first install the indicator to a chart.

Parameters

Period – this is the number of bars the indicator processes to calculate the relative speed or rate of incoming ticks in a given timeframe. The default is 30. You can change this if you wish, but please do bear in mind, that any increase will also increase the processing load on the indicator, and may slow it down as a result.

AlertOnSpeedChange – When this property is ticked, the indicator sends alerts to inform the user that the tick speed has changed whether it becomes Slow, Medium or Fast. All alerts can be found in the NinjaTrader Alerts window.

Data Series

Input series – this shows the timeframe for the indicator and will be displayed according to the chart time.

Set up

Calculate – please DO NOT change this setting and leave as the default of On each tick

Label – this is the label which will display on the chart once the indicator is attached.

Maximum bars look back – this is the maximum number of bars in the look back for the indicator. We suggest you leave this as the default of 256 as it is memory friendly

Visual

Auto ScaleDO NOT change this setting and leave this as the default of True (checked)

DisplacementDO NOT change this setting and leave this at the default of 0

Display in Data Box – we suggest you leave this at the default of True (checked)

Panel – this specifies the panel number where the indicator will appear. We suggest you leave this as the default of 2

Price Marker(s) – please DO NOT alter this setting and leave as the default of True (checked)

Scale Justification – please DO NOT alter this setting and leave as the default of Right

Visible – this shows or hides the plots of the indicator. Please leave it checked to make the indicator visible.

Plots

This is where you can change various properties of the indicator’s plots:

  • Ticks – shows the number of ticks for each bar in the form of a histogram

A list of plot styles or properties will be shown to you by clicking the arrow graphic beside the plot for you to customize the appearance of the plot to your liking:

  • Color – default is white
  • Dash style – default is Solid
  • Plot style – default is Bar (it is not recommended to change this setting)
  • Width – default is 2

Once you have made any changes to the settings for the Trends indicator, left click the OK button to complete and update the indicator.

Changing timeframes

IMPORTANT NOTE

The Quantum Tick Speedometer indicator has been designed to work on time based charts, converting these dynamically to their tick equivalents for all markets. The NinjaTrader platform offers you two primary ways to change timeframes, either from the drop down menu, or using the Data Series option. However, it is important to understand that the indicator will only work when the timeframe is specified in minutes. The daily, weekly, monthly and yearly selections offered in the drop down menu will not work with the indicator. If you do wish to use these very long timeframes, they will need to be specified in minutes, but please be aware of the data load required, which will take some time, and during trading hours, this will also be restricted by NinjaTrader in order to ensure their servers are not overloaded with data requests.

Using the Data Series option to change timeframes

The Data Series option can be accessed in two ways, either by clicking on the data series icon in the toolbar, or right click on the chart and select Data Series from the pop up menu. The following window will then be displayed:

The timeframe for the chart and the indicator is changed in the Data Series section at the top of the window via the Type and Value fields.

Finally, please note that the default setting under the Time frame – ‘Days to Load’ option is 5. This is more than sufficient for fast timeframes of a few minutes and indeed can be reduced to 1 or 2 days for very fast timeframes such as 1 minute or 5 minutes. This will also help to speed the loading process and reduce the load on the NinjaTrader servers. As you move to the slower timeframes such as 15 minute and up to 60 minutes and beyond, you will need to increase the days to load accordingly.

Removing the indicator

These are the steps to remove an indicator from a chart.

Right click on the chart then select Indicators from the menu. Select QuantumTickSpeedometer from the Configured frame and click remove. Click OK to confirm and the indicator should be unloaded from your chart.