MarketPosition Flat and SetProfitTarget

[PN720]

Hey fellas,

For my strategy, I have it set to execute OnBarClose and have a question about how SetProfitTarget is processed.

During Bar Update, I've been using MarketPosition.Flat with EnterStopMarket and SetProfitTarget orders and all of that is working fine. However, I noticed that the bar that's processed if the profit target is hit is processed as if it's flat. Shouldn't that bar be processed as if MarketPosition.Long or Short? Meaning the bar after it should be the start of the Flat bar.

[NinjaTrader_AlanP]

Hello PN720,

Thank you for your note.

Without the code I wouldn’t be able to tell you what’s going on, there are too many variables. Live vs realtime, secondary data series, calculate settings, etc.

If you’d like to upload a copy of the script I could take a look.

I would suggest seeing the notes in the following two samples which submit profit targets,

https://ninjatrader.com/support/forum/showthread.php?t=3222

https://ninjatrader.com/support/forum/showthread.php?t=7499

I look forward to your reply.

[PN720]

Hi Alan,

I've attached a very simple script that just enters Long on an EMA crossover with a profit target of 20 ticks out. I'm printing to the Output Window whenever I'm Flat or Long. You'll notice that on the bar that satisfies the profit target, I'm seeing that it's reporting as Flat instead of Long. Shouldn't the next bar be the flat bar?

[NinjaTrader_AlanP]

Hello PN720,

When you call Enterlong your order needs to be submitted to the broker/exchange, filled and returned. This needs to happen before you can call SetProfitTarget, otherwise no PT will be submitted, because NT does not know you are in a position. So it’s likely this is being skipped then never being called again, since on the next OBU you are not flat.

You should call SetProfitTarget in State.Configure as the example below shows,

https://ninjatrader.com/support/helpGuides/nt8/en-us/?setprofittarget.htm

Or follow the approach used in either of the following two examples,

https://ninjatrader.com/support/forum/showthread.php?t=7499

https://ninjatrader.com/support/forum/showthread.php?t=3222

After you’ve made that change, does your strategy behavior work as expected?

[PN720]

Hi Alan,

I've moved the SetProfitTarget into the Configure section and still see the same thing. Maybe I'm not explaining my problem correctly in that when the profit target is hit, shouldn't the bar that fills the profit target still be considered Long and the bar after it will be considered Flat?
I've attached what I see on my example where the profit target is hit with the 11:58:51 bar and the Output window reports that I'm flat with that bar.

[NinjaTrader_AlanP]

Hello PN720,

If your profit target is hit on a bar, the position becomes flat on that bar, not the next bar. If we are trading the last 15 minutes of soybeans and our profit target gets filled, our position is flat on that closing bar, not the open of the night session requiring us to have overnight margin.

Please let us know if you need further assistance.

[PN720]

Ok, thanks for confirming what I'm seeing as intended behavior.

I want to take some action on market position flat but exclude that bar when the profit target is hit. Is there an order state or something that I can filter on?

[NinjaTrader_AlanP]

Hello PN720,

Yes, you can use BarsSinceExitExecution() to prevent action on the exit bar.

if(BarsSinceExitExecution() <1) return;

https://ninjatrader.com/support/helpGuides/nt8/en-us/?barssinceexitexecution.htm

Please let us know if you need further assistance.

[PN720]

Worked out perfectly, thanks for your help!