Strategy settings

This page explains every setting in the PowerFib strategy’s Properties window, in the order you see them. The strategy trades the swing you mark with the PowerFib Retracement drawing: it waits for price to pull back to your entry level, then manages the stop and targets for you.

Right-click the chart and select Strategies. Find PowerFib in the list and double-click it. It loads in the Properties window with every setting below listed on the right-hand side.

Some settings only appear when another setting needs them. For example, the volume profile trail settings only show when Trail Mode is VolumeProfile. Hidden settings keep their values. Dropdown choices are written below exactly as they appear in the dropdown.

Quick start

Most traders only need to check these before turning the strategy on:

1. Direction — Long for a swing up, Short for a swing down - or against the swing, to trade a reversal.
2. Fibonacci Level Set — the same set as your drawing.
3. Entry Level and Target Level 1.
4. Number of Contracts.
5. Initial Stop and Trail Mode. The defaults (FibLevel for both) are a sound place to start.

The default Entry Mode, Standard, needs nothing extra, and PowerFib needs no NinjaTrader add-on subscription.

A few terms used below:

• Swing — the move between your drawing’s two anchors, 0 and 100.
• Tick — the smallest price step of the instrument (0.25 on MNQ).
• Risk — the distance from your entry to your first stop. “1R” means price has moved one risk’s worth in your favour.
• Volume profile — how much volume traded at each price. It comes from your PowerFib drawing.

01. Direction

Direction

Trade long or short. With the swing, a swing up is traded long and a swing down short. Against it, you trade a reversal: on a swing down, go Long from an extension such as 200 and target a retracement level such as 38.2, back inside the swing. The strategy trades one direction at a time.

Either way, the targets must sit on your side of the entry - above it for a long, below it for a short. If they don’t, the status card turns red (“Direction doesn’t match the swing”) and it won’t trade until you change Direction or the levels.

Default: Long.

02. Fibonacci Levels

Fibonacci Level Set

Which set of fib levels to use. It must match the level set on your PowerFib drawing; if they differ, the strategy prints a message, turns its status light red and won’t trade until you change one to match.

• Classic — the standard fib levels (23.6, 38.2, 50, 61.8, 78.6, and extensions such as 138.2 and 161.8).
• ICT — Inner Circle Trader levels (50, 62, 70.5, 79, and negative extensions such as -27 and -62).
• SexyAF — PowerFib’s own set, which adds 19.1, 80.9 and 119.1 to the usual levels.
• Custom — your own levels, set in Control Center > PowerFib > Level sets (see the drawing tool guide’s Custom level set section). The level lists below show them once they’re saved.

Default: SexyAF.

Important: after changing the set, the level dropdowns below list only the levels of the new set (if they still show the old ones, click OK and reopen). Levels picked under the old set are kept, so check them: if an entry or target isn’t in the new set (38.2 carried over to ICT, say), the strategy tells you when you turn it on, lists the set’s levels, and won’t trade until you pick one of them.

Entry Level

The fib level the setup forms at. A setup is a bar that trades through this level and closes back on your side of it (for a long, dips below and closes above). The entry itself comes on the next bar — see Entry Mode.

Default: 38.2.

Target Level 1

The fib level for your first profit target.

Default: 138.2.

Target Offset (Ticks)

Places your targets this many ticks before the target level, so they fill even if price only just reaches the level.

Default: 2.

Enable Target Level 2

Splits your position across two targets, so some contracts can run further.

Default: off.

Works with: Target Level 2 and Target 1 Ratio (%), which appear when this is on.

Target Level 2

The fib level for the contracts not taken off at Target 1. Shown when Enable Target Level 2 is on.

Default: 161.8.

03. Position Size

Number of Contracts

Total contracts per trade.

Default: 3.

Target 1 Ratio (%)

The share of your contracts taken off at Target 1; the rest run to Target 2. Choices are 25, 33, 50, 67, 75 and 100. Contracts are rounded down for Target 1, and each target always gets at least one contract unless you choose 100. Shown when Enable Target Level 2 is on.

Default: 100, which sends every contract to Target 1. Lower it when you turn Target 2 on, or Target 2 gets nothing. Example: 3 contracts at 67 puts 2 on Target 1 and 1 on Target 2.

04. Stops

Initial Stop

Where your first stop goes when the trade opens. Listed from the most room to the least:

• FibLevel — a set number of fib levels behind your entry level (see Fib Levels Behind).
• LocalSwing — beyond the most recent swing high or low, never inside the setup bar. If no swing has been found yet, it uses the FibLevel stop.
• SetupBar — beyond the low of the setup bar (the high, for a short).
• UserDefined — a fixed number of ticks from the entry level (see Initial Stop Distance).

An Enter Long / Enter Short click has no entry level of its own, so its stop is found from where price is when you click. FibLevel counts Fib Levels Behind back from the fib level price is sitting on (or has just passed); LocalSwing uses the latest swing. A click has no setup bar, so SetupBar uses the FibLevel stop instead. Only UserDefined is a fixed distance, measured from the price at the click. From there your Trail Mode manages the stop exactly as it does for a signal entry.

Default: FibLevel. In testing with a fixed number of contracts, FibLevel made the most — the tighter stops risk less per trade but get stopped out more often.

Initial Stop Distance (Ticks)

How many ticks from the entry level the stop sits. 0 puts the stop at the entry price. Shown when Initial Stop is UserDefined.

Default: 10.

Fib Levels Behind

How many fib levels behind price your stop sits. It sets the FibLevel initial stop (counted back from the entry level) and the FibLevel trail (counted back from the last level price passed). Shown when Initial Stop or Trail Mode is FibLevel.

Default: 2. A lower number keeps the stop closer; a higher number gives more room.

Stop Loss Offset (Ticks)

Extra ticks added beyond each stop level, so a stop isn’t hit by price just touching the level. It applies to the FibLevel, LocalSwing and SetupBar stops and to every trail. It does not apply to a UserDefined initial stop, which is measured straight from the entry level.

Default: 2.

Trail Mode

How the stop follows price once you’re in a trade. The stop only ever moves in your favour.

• FibLevel — steps the stop along the fib levels. Each time price passes a level, the stop moves to the level Fib Levels Behind it.
• Fractal — moves the stop just beyond each new confirmed swing high or low behind price.
• VolumeProfile — moves the stop along the volume profile’s shelves (see below). Needs the PowerFib drawing’s volume profile.
• None — keeps the initial stop until the target or the stop is hit. The tighten stop, if on, still works.

Default: FibLevel.

Fractal K (ATR multiple)

How far price must turn back before a high or low counts as a swing, measured in multiples of the average bar range (ATR, average true range). Smaller numbers find more, smaller swings, so the stop sits closer. Shown when Initial Stop is LocalSwing or Trail Mode is Fractal.

Default: 2.0. This was the tested setting — 1.0 was far too tight in testing.

Volume Profile Trail Profile

Which volume profile the trail reads its shelves from. A shelf (high volume node, HVN) is a band of prices where a lot of volume traded. Shown when Trail Mode is VolumeProfile.

• Combined — the swing’s volume plus everything traded since, for the whole trade.
• SwingThenCombined — the swing’s own profile (0 to 100 only) while price is inside the swing. Once a bar closes past the 100 level, it switches to the combined profile for the rest of the trade.

Default: Combined.

Volume Profile Trail Rule

How the stop steps along the shelves. Shown when Trail Mode is VolumeProfile.

• BeyondShelf — shelf to shelf. Once a bar closes past a shelf’s far edge, the stop moves to that shelf’s near edge, so it always sits one whole shelf behind price. On a short: once a bar closes below a shelf’s bottom edge, the stop goes to its top edge. A long is the mirror image.
• NearestLvn — tighter. The stop sits at the edge of the thin area just behind price. A thin area (low volume node, LVN) is where little volume traded, between shelves.

Default: BeyondShelf.

Works with: the drawing’s Node smoothing and Node prominence %, which decide what counts as a shelf. Stop Loss Offset is added to the stop, and the stop is rounded away from price, so the offset is never shaved.

Nearest LVN - Room To Leave Price (% of risk)

How much room the NearestLvn stop leaves price before tucking in behind the next shelf, as a share of your risk. At 25 on a 50-point risk, the stop ignores any shelf edge within 12.5 points of price. Lower follows price more closely and moves more often; higher keeps the stop further back. Shown when Volume Profile Trail Rule is NearestLvn.

Default: 25.

Draw Volume Profile Trail Lines

Draws what the trail is working with on the chart: shelves red dotted, their edges blue dotted and labelled with their price, the edge the stop is following in solid cyan, and an orange dashed line at the price whose close moves the stop next. Shown when Trail Mode is VolumeProfile.

Default: on.

Log Volume Profile Trail

Prints what the volume profile trail saw on each closed bar to NinjaTrader’s Output window (New → NinjaScript Output): the shelves, the stop it proposed, and why the stop did or didn’t move. Useful when dialling the rule in. Shown when Trail Mode is VolumeProfile.

Default: off.

Log Fractal Trail

Prints what the fractal trail is waiting for on each closed bar: the leg it’s following, the swing it’s tracking, and the price that would confirm it. Useful when dialling in Fractal K. Shown when Trail Mode is Fractal.

Default: off.

05. Tighten Stop

The tighten stop pulls your stop in close as price nears the target, so a trade that almost reaches its target doesn’t give most of the profit back. It works alongside the trail and only ever makes the stop tighter.

Enable Tighten Stop

Turns the tighten stop on.

Default: on.

Works with: the tighten settings below appear only when this is on.

Tighten Trigger

When the tighten stop switches on. Shown when Enable Tighten Stop is on.

• Percentage — once price has covered a set share of the way from entry to the target (see Tighten Stop % Threshold).
• HighVolumeNode — when price reaches the last shelf (high volume node) before the target, the last place price is likely to stall. For Target 2 it only looks between Target 1 and Target 2. If there is no shelf, it uses the percentage instead.

Default: Percentage.

Tighten Stop % Threshold

How far toward the target, as a percentage of the distance from entry to target, price must get before the tighten stop switches on. Choices run from 50 to 95 in steps of 5. The HighVolumeNode trigger also uses it when there is no shelf to use. Shown when Enable Tighten Stop is on.

Default: 80.

Tighten Stop Offset (% of entry to target)

Once switched on, the stop follows this far behind price, as a percentage of the distance from entry to that position’s target. Because it’s a percentage, the same setting suits small and large swings, and a Target 2 position (aimed further) gets more room. The T/S button uses it too. Shown when Enable Tighten Stop is on.

Default: 8, which keeps about 90% of the profit made when the tighten switches on. On an average MNQ trade that’s about 24 ticks.

Tighten HVN Min Distance (% of entry to target)

With the HighVolumeNode trigger, a shelf closer to the target than this is ignored and the percentage threshold is used instead. A shelf right next to the target would switch the tighten on too late to protect anything. Shown when Enable Tighten Stop is on and Tighten Trigger is HighVolumeNode.

Default: 20.

06. Entry

Entry Mode

How a setup is confirmed. A setup is a bar that trades through your entry level and closes back on your side of it. That close is the confirmation: the trade goes in on the first tick of the next bar, provided price hasn’t already fallen back through the level.

• Standard — every setup that confirms is taken.
• ValueAreaConfluence — only where the entry level lines up with the swing’s value area: VAL, POC or VAH, whichever you tick below.
• HighVolumeNodeConfluence — only where the entry level lines up with a shelf (high volume node).

Default: Standard.

Both confluence modes read the swing’s own profile (0 to 100) from the PowerFib drawing, so they need its volume profile. Entries on extensions (past 100) rarely pass, because the swing’s profile only holds volume from 0 to 100. Your own entries with the Enter Long / Enter Short buttons are never filtered.

Single Trade Mode

Takes one trade, then stops. The chart shows “STRATEGY DISARMED - Single Trade Complete”; turn the strategy off and on again to trade again.

Default: off.

Use Value Area Low

Counts VAL (value area low, the bottom of the range where most of the volume traded) as a confluence level. Shown when Entry Mode is ValueAreaConfluence.

Default: on.

Use POC

Counts the POC (point of control, the price with the most volume) as a confluence level. Shown when Entry Mode is ValueAreaConfluence.

Default: on.

Use Value Area High

Counts VAH (value area high, the top of the value area) as a confluence level. Shown when Entry Mode is ValueAreaConfluence.

Default: on.

Confluence Zone (% of swing)

How close the profile level must be to the entry level, as a percentage of the swing. At 4, a 38.2 entry accepts a profile level anywhere from 34.2 to 42.2. Shown in either confluence mode.

Default: 4.

Require Sweep

The setup bar must trade through both the entry level and the profile level before closing back. Shown in either confluence mode.

Default: on.

07. Manual Controls

Break Even Offset (Ticks)

How many ticks into profit the B/E (break even) button moves your stop. If price hasn’t got that far yet, the stop goes a tick behind the market instead. A stop that is already past break-even isn’t moved.

Default: 2.

08. Display

Show PnL and R/R

Shows your open profit or loss and the trade’s risk/reward (how far the target is compared with the stop) in Chart Trader.

Default: on.

Show Tighten Stop Line

Draws a line where the tighten stop will switch on, labelled T1 or T2 for the target it belongs to.

Default: on.

NinjaTrader’s own settings

The Properties window also has NinjaTrader’s standard strategy settings, such as Account, Start behavior and Exit on session close. PowerFib turns Exit on session close on by default (closing 300 seconds before the session ends). See NinjaTrader’s help for the rest.

The PowerFib panel in Chart Trader

Once the strategy is running, PowerFib adds its own panel to the chart’s Chart Trader (show Chart Trader from the chart’s toolbar if it’s hidden).

• Status card — says in words what the strategy is doing, with a coloured light:
  • green — watching your entry level (“Watching 38.2 · 27,952.50”), or a setup that is about to enter.
  • blue — in a trade: side, size, average price and how many R it’s up or down, then the stop (and what’s moving it) and the targets.
  • grey — entries paused, or Single Trade Mode’s one trade is done.
  • yellow — there’s no PowerFib drawing on the chart yet.
  • red — it has stopped and why: the drawing and the strategy on different level sets; an entry or target that isn’t on the drawing (“Level not on the drawing”, naming the level); a Custom level set with no levels yet; or Direction set against the swing (“Direction doesn’t match the swing”).
• Enter Long / Enter Short — enter now, with the strategy’s stop and targets. Only the one matching Direction is active; the other is greyed out, because its targets would sit on the wrong side of price.
• Exit All — close the position.
• B/E — move the stop to break even plus Break Even Offset. A stop the trail has already moved past break-even stays where it is - B/E never loosens a stop. Shows B/E ✓ once it’s on.
• T/S — tighten the stop now, trailing Tighten Stop Offset behind price. It takes over from the trail but never sets a stop looser than the one you already have. Shows T/S ✓ once it’s on. B/E and T/S are greyed out while you’re flat, since there’s nothing to move.
• Pause entries — stops the strategy taking new entries from its signals, and drops a setup that’s waiting to enter. An open trade is still managed as normal, and the Enter buttons still work. The button turns amber and reads Resume entries while paused. A pause isn’t saved: the strategy starts unpaused when it’s enabled again.

Before you trade live

• Start in sim. Run your exact settings on a sim account, or in Market Replay, until the trades are what you expect. The strategy behaves the same on a live account.
• Close trades with Exit All. Use PowerFib’s Exit All, or let the stop and target do their work. NinjaTrader’s own Close button on Chart Trader closes the position behind the strategy’s back and can leave the two out of step.
• Keep the instrument to PowerFib. Don’t run PowerFib on an instrument and account that already hold a position - from manual trading or another strategy. NinjaTrader tracks each strategy’s own position, so the two would mix in your account while PowerFib’s stops cover only its own contracts.
• What PowerFib refuses to do. It won’t send an entry when a target would sit on the wrong side of price, when Target 1 has no contracts, or when the stop would be at or past the market - the NinjaScript Output window says why. If something unexpected goes wrong inside PowerFib while a trade is open, it keeps running with the stop and target in place and sends you an alert.

Every chart at a glance

Control Center → PowerFib → Strategies lists every PowerFib strategy running in NinjaTrader, whichever chart it’s on, with the same status as its card. Show brings that chart to the front and Pause / Resume work like the chart’s own button. The tab also shows how long your licence runs, and Copy diagnostics puts versions, licence date, recording status and each strategy’s status on the clipboard - no account names, keys or trades - for an email to [email protected].

Next: Alerts