Any way to have distinct charts for a single instrument with different time frames?

[ljyoung]

Is it possible to have DISTINCT charts for say ES-9-13-5 minutes with a 9:30 AM ET to 4:15 PM ET time frame (ES-5-RT) and ES-9-13-5 minutes with a 24 hour time frame (ES-5-24), such that if I do something (see below) to one time frame it is not automatically duplicated in the other time frame?

Presently, if I draw a channel with a user-developed NinjaScript 'indicator' (M1_Channels) on ES-5-RT, it is duplicated on ES-5-24 and vice-versa. This gets to be very messy when channel lines cross time boundaries.

Someone suggested to me that a way around this would be to have a 'chart time frame identifier' present which would then restrict the indicator to just the chart which had been specified, as in one with: an instrument = ES-9-13, a time interval = 5 minutes and a time frame = 9:30 to 4:15 or 24 hours.

So two questions:
(1) Does such a capability currently exist?
(2) If it does, is it immune to being 'over-ridden' by the indicator's code?

Although this may sound arcane it really isn't since there are a lot of futures traders who use NT.

TIA

[NinjaTrader_ChelseaB]

Hello ljyoung,

Thanks for your note.

Generally a chart even with the same instrument should be completely separate from any other chart. The exception to this is global drawing objects.

The indicator you have may be using global drawing objects. If so, the code would need to be edited so that the drawing objects are not global (removing the @ symbol at the beginning of the tag line).

If the script is drawing global drawing objects each new object would have this tag and you would not be able to prevent this from occurring by changing any settings.

If you would like me to look at this script and see if this is the case, please send me the original indicator file in your reply.

[ljyoung]

Thank you for your quick response. I have attached the indicator.

[NinjaTrader_ChelseaB]

Hello ljyoung,

Did you receive this indicator in an importable format?

If you have, please send the original .zip file this indicator was packaged in.

If not, please export this indicator so that I may have all dependencies for this script.

To export your script do the following:

1. Click File -> Utilities -> Export NinjaScript
2. Enter a unique name for the file in the value for 'File name:'
3. Select the strategy from the objects list on the left -> click the right facing arrow ">" to add the strategy to the export
4. Click the 'Export' button -> click 'yes' to add any referenced indicators to the export -> click OK to clear the export location message

By default your exported file will be in the following location:

• (My) Documents/NinjaTrader 7/bin/Custom/ExportNinjaScript/<export_file_name.zip>

Below is a link to the help guide on Exporting NinjaScripts.

http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/helpGuides/nt7/export.htm

[ljyoung]

Hi,

Here's the zip file.

[NinjaTrader_ChelseaB]

Hi ljyoung,

Thank you for your patience as I tested this script.

I have two charts open to the ES 09-13 5 Min instrument. I have applied this indicator to one of the charts and have replayed yesterday in the Market Replay.

I have not seen any objects appear on the chart however.

Does this script have to be run live? Do I need to change any settings for this to work?

Also, the code in this indicator is unsupported code. I will offer information to the best of my ability, however, a lot of this code is C# that is not supported by NinjaTrader.

I looked through the file looking for drawing objects but this indicator does not use the supported drawing objects. Instead, this script is using a custom Draw class, graphics class, and SmoothingMode class. These are all written custom and do not use any of the supplied NinjaTrader drawing objects.

You may be able to get more information in a more timely manner by contacting the author of this script and request a modification.

[ljyoung]

Hi ChelseaB,

Thank you very much for looking into this. My apologies for not providing these details earlier. The 'command buttons' like insert, /, +, -, etc are located on the right hand side of a Microsoft keyboard.

When constructing an upchannel for example, you have to first press "insert" on the keyboard, move the cursor to the low point (like the L in an OHLC stick) and click the mouse to give yourself what is called "point 1". You then drag the channel by dragging the mouse (fingers off any buttons) and positioning the bottom rail so that it passes through the next point in the channel which is called "point 3" and then click again. The top rail is automatically generated and where it touches the price bar ensemble is called "point 2". If you wish, you may then click on either rail and a menu will appear in the upper left corner of the chart which gives you options like changing the width, adding alerts, removing the channel altogether and several others.

That said it sounds like I'll need to contact the guy who constructed the script to see if it can be modified so that it is not global. Thanks again for all your effort.

[NinjaTrader_ChelseaB]

Hello ljyoung,

Below is a link to a video I made while testing this script.
http://screencast.com/t/jQSCCCeP5

Unfortunately, I was not able to reproduce the error.

Please let me know if I did not take the right steps to reproduce this.

If I did take the right steps, I recommend you start up NinjaTrader without your saved workspace, create two new charts, and test for the issue.

To start with out a saved workspace:

• Shut down NinjaTrader
• Navigate to (My) Documents\NinjaTrader 7\workspaces
• Delete the file named "_Workspaces.XML".
• After deleting this file, restart NinjaTrader which should startup without any workspaces.
• Once NinjaTrader has started on just the control center, please open a new chart and test for the issue.
  
  *Please note this will not delete your workspace however the new blank workspace will be named Untitled1. If you have a workspace already named Untitled1 however you will not want to save the workspace when exiting NinjaTrader, otherwise it will overwrite it.

If there are no issues on this new workspace, please try opening the previous workspace by going to File--> Workspaces--> Open workspace.

If this reintroduces issues, I would suggest rebuilding your workspace. Please keep track of what indicators you add back in so that we can narrow down what indicator is causing the issue if the issue returns. I also suggest making a backup of your workspace so we can restore a backup if the issue returns.

Below I have provided a link to the Backup and Restore section of our help guide.

http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/helpGuides/nt7/index.html?backup__restore.htm

Let me know if this is still not successful.

[ljyoung]

Hi ChelseaB,

Sorry for the delay. I feel like one of those weasels who feeds people info, one droplet at a time so that he looks to be something more than what he is. Be assured that is not so.
When you've added the channel as you did in the video, you must then close the workspace and then open it again. It is then that the duplication becomes obvious.
I've added a couple of attachments to show what it looks like.

The ellipses in the 24 hour chart are (sloppily) around stuff outside RTH. Then in the RTH chart you can see what happens - the stuff 'beyond RTH' gets squooshed into the ends of the time frame. So then to see this best, first do a long channel in a 24 hour chart, close the workspace which contains charts with both time frames and when you reopen there should be compressed data in the RTH chart.

Thanks again.

[NinjaTrader_ChelseaB]

Hello,

I attempted to give this another try using your posted instructions but was still unable to duplicate.

Please let me know if I am still not doing this right.

http://screencast.com/t/yb7L0vRFe8z

[ljyoung]

Hi again,

So what I did was to replicate what you did (which was the 'correct' protocol) and you can see what the result was in the attachments.

The only indicator was the M1_Channels. I checked the data series 'number of days to download' variable and got the same result.

Now me really confused.

[ljyoung]

Hi and hi,

I should say that I did nothing but add the indicator using the standard protocol. When I finished 'applying' it, you see what popped up.

[NinjaTrader_ChelseaB]

Hi ljyoung,

What process did you use to test this?

If you are comfortable sending me a video this would be really informative.

http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html

If not, let me know every step you take starting with a blank workspace.

[ljyoung]

Hi ChelsaeB,

Let me work on your request and then I'll get back to you. Thanks for your continuing interest.

[ljyoung]

Hi ChelseaB,

I looked again at your movie and noticed that you did not have the M1_Channel indicator in both your charts. Perhaps that was the problem. If not let me know and I'll send you my protocol.