Free NinjaTrader 8 Indicators

Open-source trading tools by PhillyFrank

MIT License - Free Forever

Strategies

Read this before you download a strategy

These are not indicators. Each download contains a strategy that places real orders on whatever account you attach it to, and an indicator that tells you a direction, an entry price, a stop and a target. Both are trade signals in every sense that matters. Treat them that way.

The pass rates on this page are simulated, and they are not a track record. They come from simulated evaluation accounts filled by NinjaTrader's simulator, not from money at risk. Simulated fills do not model slippage, queue position, partial fills, rejected orders or a thin book, and they never miss a fill that a real broker would have missed. Results like these are also produced with the benefit of hindsight over the very period used to measure them. No claim is made or implied that any account will achieve results like these.
Most of these strategies failed. Across all 43 arena strategies, 88 of 326 attempts passed — about 27%. Even the three published here failed more evaluations than they passed, or close to it. The full final table shows every result, including the ones that went 0 for 6.
The samples are too small to rank. Ten to twenty-four attempts each means the difference between a 46% strategy and a 37% one is statistical noise. Do not read the ordering as a quality ranking, and do not expect any of these rates to repeat.
Automation can breach your funding agreement. Most prop firms restrict or prohibit fully automated trading on evaluation and funded accounts, and the rule is theirs to change without telling you. That is why each download includes a manual indicator. Read your own contract; a rule violation can cost you the account regardless of whether you were profitable.
The account guard is not a safety net. It only knows about orders it placed itself. It cannot see trades you take by hand, it depends on values you configure correctly, and like any software it can fail. It is not a substitute for reading your account rules.

Nothing here is financial advice. PhillyFrank is not a registered investment adviser, commodity trading advisor, or broker, and nothing on this site is a recommendation to buy or sell anything or a solicitation to trade. These files are published for education and research. Trading futures carries a substantial risk of loss, is not suitable for every investor, and you can lose more than you deposit. Past performance — simulated performance especially — does not indicate future results.

You are responsible for every order that reaches the market from your machine. Test in simulation first, for long enough to see the strategy lose, and never run anything here on money you cannot afford to lose.

Trend Pullback B Strategy + Indicator

"The best strategy of the arena, plus the indicator that lets you trade it by hand."

Trend Pullback B finished the Eval Arena with the best record in a field of 32: 20 simulated $50K evaluation attempts, 9 passed, 11 failed - 45%, between 8 July and 17 September 2026. It ships with a manual signal indicator, because most funding companies will not let a robot trade their account. The indicator marks the setup, prices the entry, the stop and the target, and places no orders - you do.

One set of rules, two halves - the strategy calls the indicator for its signals, so the chart cannot drift away from what the strategy does
Entry is a limit 25% back inside the trigger bar, live for one bar only - a setup that never comes back is declined, not chased
ATR-scaled bracket: stop 1.5 x ATR(14) clamped 15-40 points, target 2R
Hard clock rules compiled in: no new entry from 15:30 ET, flat at 15:45 ET
Account guard for funded rules: profit target, trailing drawdown, daily loss limit, and a resting limit exit that banks the target at an exact price
Three presets in one file - Variant B European, Variant A Asian, Variant A US
Includes CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md so an AI coding tool inherits the invariants instead of breaking them

Download Trend Pullback B

Read the record properly

Eleven of twenty attempts ended at the drawdown limit. A 45% pass rate was the best number on the board, which says more about how hard evaluations are than about how good any one strategy is. What produces passes is a modest geometric edge plus hard discipline plus an account guard that stops the moment the target is banked - take the discipline away and the number collapses. Simulated fills, one instrument, one ten-week window, no third-party audit.

Why a manual indicator

Funding companies generally allow tools but not full automation on an evaluation or funded account. The indicator is the strategy's own signal code with the order routing removed: same trend filter, same pullback measurement, same trigger, same entry price, same bracket. It draws an arrow and the limit line, sounds an alert, then tracks the trade with deliberately pessimistic assumptions - no target credit on the fill bar, ambiguous bars count as stops.

Requirements

NQ or MNQ on a 1-minute chart, ETH session template
NinjaTrader set to US Eastern - every session hour in the package is Eastern
Both files must be installed; the strategy does not compile without the indicator

Evaluation Traders Manual Execution NQ Scalpers Strategy Study

VWAP Reclaim Strategy + Indicator

"Price leaves VWAP, then takes it back. The reclaim is the trade."

A bar closes clear of the session VWAP by 5 points, then closes back through it by 3 within 30 bars - and the reclaim is entered in its own direction. 13 simulated $50K evaluation attempts on the Asian session, 6 passed, 7 failed - 46.2%, between 23 July and 17 September 2026. Like every strategy here it ships with a manual signal indicator, because most funding companies will not let a robot trade their account.

One set of rules, two halves - the strategy calls the indicator for its signals, so the chart cannot drift away from what the strategy does
The panel walks the state machine with you: broke below, reclaim above 24291.50 for a long, 21 bars left
Plots the session VWAP the setup is actually measured against - window-anchored, not a 24-hour VWAP
Two presets in one file - Asian with no ATR filter, US with the 15-30 ATR band
Entry is a limit 25% back inside the trigger bar, live for one bar only - a reclaim that never comes back is declined, not chased
Account guard for funded rules: Sim, Eval or Off, plus a resting limit exit that banks the profit target at an exact price
Includes CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md so an AI coding tool inherits the invariants instead of breaking them

Download VWAP Reclaim

Read the record properly

Seven of thirteen attempts ended at the drawdown limit, and thirteen attempts is a small sample - the gap between this and anything else in the roster is well inside the noise, so do not read the ordering as a ranking. What produces passes is a modest geometric edge plus hard discipline plus an account guard that stops the moment the target is banked. Simulated fills, one instrument, one nine-week window, no third-party audit. The US preset over its own run: 5 passes from 11.

Why the Asian preset has no ATR filter

Asian ATR runs low. An ATR floor derived on US data rejected most Asian signals and was a net loser out of sample, so the Asian preset takes every qualifying reclaim. The US preset keeps the 15-30 band: under 15 the move is too small to pay for the stop, at 30 and above is the instant-stop regime. On the US preset a reclaim rejected on ATR still consumes the break - the panel tells you when that happens.

Requirements

NQ or MNQ on a 1-minute chart, ETH session template
NinjaTrader set to US Eastern - every session hour in the package is Eastern
The ETH template matters here: the VWAP resets on the first bar of the session, so a different template moves the anchor and changes every signal
Both files must be installed; the strategy does not compile without the indicator

Evaluation Traders Manual Execution Overnight Sessions VWAP Traders

Donchian Breakout Strategy + Indicator

"Break the channel, but only with the higher timeframe behind you."

A close beyond the highest high or lowest low of the previous 30 bars, taken only in the direction the 5-minute EMA stack already points. 24 simulated $50K evaluation attempts, 9 passed, 15 failed - 37.5%, between 6 July and 18 September 2026. The US session entry in the set, and like the others it ships with a manual signal indicator so it can be followed where automation is not allowed.

One set of rules, two halves - the strategy calls the indicator for its signals, so the chart cannot drift away from what the strategy does
Plots the channel and tells you what is gating what: 5m trend direction, which sides are armed, and why a break was skipped
A stop-out disarms that direction until price trades back through the channel midpoint
The 5-minute trend gate fails closed - not enough history means no trade, never a free pass
Entry is a limit 25% back inside the trigger bar, live for one bar only - a break that never comes back is declined, not chased
Account guard for funded rules: Sim, Eval or Off, plus a resting limit exit that banks the profit target at an exact price
Includes CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md so an AI coding tool inherits the invariants instead of breaking them

Download Donchian Breakout

Read the record properly

This is the weakest of the three published here - Trend Pullback B passed 45% and VWAP Reclaim 46.2%, against 37.5% for this one. Fifteen of twenty-four attempts ended at the drawdown limit. It is still well above the 27% average across all 43 arena strategies, and with samples this size the ordering between the three is inside the noise rather than a ranking.

The same code on a different session passed 1 of 17

An Asian-session variant of this exact logic went 1-16 and is deliberately not included in this download. It is the clearest evidence in the whole roster that a session window is not a cosmetic setting: identical rules, different hours, near-total failure. If you move the window you are not tuning, you are testing something new.

The one place the chart can drift from your account

Because a stop-out disarms a direction, the signal depends on the outcome of the previous trade rather than on price alone. The indicator arms from its own simulated fills and the strategy uses the indicator's state, so the two halves always agree - but if your real fill differs from the simulation, your account's armed state and the chart's have parted company. No other strategy in this set has that coupling, and the panel always shows the current state so you can see it.

Requirements

NQ or MNQ on a 1-minute chart, ETH session template
A 5-minute series is added automatically; your data connection must be able to load it
NinjaTrader set to US Eastern
Expect the panel to report nothing allowed until the 5-minute series has enough history - that is the gate failing closed, not a fault
Both files must be installed; the strategy does not compile without the indicator

Evaluation Traders Manual Execution US Session Breakout Traders

Strategies Download - Under Construction

The Arena Is Closed

"One winner per session. That is the whole set."

Forty-three strategies ran simulated $50K evaluations on the live broadcast for ten weeks. Three are published above - the best of each session: VWAP Reclaim for the Asian hours, Trend Pullback B for the European, Donchian Breakout for the US. The rest of the field did not earn a place, and the full final table shows exactly how each one did.

Native NinjaScript strategy files - no external dependencies
The exact logic competing on the Eval Arena scoreboard
Session-aware: Asian, European, and US variants
Free and open source, like everything else in the Shed

Watch Them Compete in the Eval Arena

Session & Time Tools

WorldClock

"Which markets are ACTUALLY open right now - and why?"

A full market-calendar engine embedded in NinjaTrader. Not just a clock - it's 5 years of validated holiday logic (2026-2030) for 18+ global exchanges.

Real-time LIVE/CLOSED/MAINTENANCE status for NYSE, CME, LSE, JPX, and more
CME Globex handled correctly: Sunday opens, evening re-opens, early closes
Countdown timers to next session transition
Holiday awareness with same-day and next-day alerts
DST boundary handling for US and international markets

Download WorldClock

Markets Covered

CME Globex, NYSE/Nasdaq, Toronto (TSX), London (LSE), Frankfurt (Xetra), Paris (Euronext), Zurich (SIX), Tokyo (JPX), Hong Kong (HKEX), Singapore (SGX), Shanghai (SSE), Mumbai (NSE), Sydney (ASX), Wellington (NZX), Dubai (DFM), Riyadh (Tadawul), Johannesburg (JSE), Sao Paulo (B3)

Why It's Different

Most world clock indicators ignore holidays, break during early closes, completely mis-handle CME Globex, and fail around DST shifts. This one was built after those failures cost real trades - then rebuilt from the ground up with a 30+ test case harness.

Futures Traders Global Macro London/Overnight Sessions Holiday-Aware Trading

LocalClock

"I just need to see the time - on the chart - without leaving my workspace."

When NinjaTrader charts go fullscreen or overlap the taskbar, the system clock disappears. This indicator puts the time back where traders can actually see it.

Clean, always-visible digital clock directly on your chart
Multiple timezone support (Local, UTC, or custom)
12-hour or 24-hour format with optional seconds
Flexible positioning: top/center/bottom, left/center/right
DirectX rendering - no flicker, no lag

Download LocalClock

Full Customization

Font family and size, text color, optional background box with opacity control, date display toggle. It can be subtle or impossible to miss - your choice.

Why This Exists

NinjaTrader charts don't always respect the Windows taskbar. Depending on layout, scaling, or fullscreen behavior, the system clock disappears and you're forced to alt-tab during live markets. This solves that one real problem.

Fullscreen Charts Multi-Monitor Scalpers Session Traders

FloatingLocalClock

Draggable floating clock overlay showing multiple time zones on your chart.

Display local time and up to 3 additional time zones
Draggable positioning anywhere on chart
Customizable colors and font

Download FloatingLocalClock

FloatingBarTimer

Shows countdown timer for current bar completion, floating near the active bar.

Supports Tick, Minute, and Second chart types
Floats dynamically near current bar
Customizable font and positioning

Download FloatingBarTimer

AsianEuropeanNYSessionHighLow

"If you're trading without knowing where Asia, Europe, and NY actually did business, you're trading blind."

Precisely tracks and plots true Asian (7pm-3am ET), European (3am-8am ET), and New York (9:30am-4pm ET) session highs/lows using CME Globex trading-day logic, not naive calendar days.

All three major sessions tracked: Asian, European, and NY
CME Globex 5:00 PM ET trading-day rollover handled correctly
Dashed lines while session develops, solid when complete
Sunday evening opens and overnight sessions handled
Fully configurable colors, widths, styles, and labels per session
Exposes values programmatically for strategies/scanners

Download SessionHighLow

Why Most Session Indicators Fail

They break at midnight, mis-handle Sundays and Globex opens, reset incorrectly on holidays, and can't be trusted during real market transitions. This one was vibe-coded during live market use and refined by actual trading needs.

Now With NY Session Tracking

The original covered Asian and European sessions. This update adds full New York session high/low tracking - giving you complete 3-session context for the entire trading day. See where each session established its range and how NY interacts with prior session levels.

Trading Context

Gives you instant visual context for London fake-outs, NY open liquidity runs, prior session balance vs expansion, and mean reversion/breakout bias across all three major sessions.

ICT/Liquidity Traders NY Prep from Asia/London Session Structure Futures Traders

Analysis Tools

BollingerBandWidth

"Volatility tells the truth before price does."

A volatility state engine - not just a histogram. Measures true distance between Bollinger Bands and visualizes expansion, contraction, and squeeze conditions with clean color logic.

Dynamic coloring: Green (expanding), Red (contracting), Yellow (squeeze)
Intelligent squeeze detection using rolling average, not hardcoded magic numbers
Works on tick, minute, and range charts
Display as histogram bars or line graph
Keltner Channel squeeze method available

Download BollingerBandWidth

How Traders Use It

Identify pre-NY open compression
Spot London breakout potential
Confirm when market is dead vs primed
Filter chop vs expansion
Time entries after volatility re-awakens

Pairs Well With

Session levels, VWAP, Market Profile, and liquidity-based approaches.

Volatility Regime Trading Breakout Traders Mean Reversion System Developers

PFHistoricalDownloader

"If your edge depends on clean historical data, this tool exists for you."

A data pipeline component that extracts historical minute and tick data directly from NinjaTrader's data engine to clean, analysis-ready CSV files.

Downloads minute bars (1m/5m/15m) and tick data via official BarsRequest API
Chunked, throttled requests - safely pull months or years of data
Clean CSV output: Unix timestamps (ms), ISO-8601, OHLCV
Respects instrument trading hours, prevents phantom bars
Thread-safe file writing, automatic retry tolerance

Download HistoricalDownloader

Designed for Advanced Workflows

AI/ML model training
Quant research and backtesting outside NinjaTrader
Parquet/DuckDB/Pandas pipelines
Archival tick databases
External charting engines

Output Format

Minutes: ts_unix_ms, ts_iso, open, high, low, close, volume
Ticks: ts_unix_ms, ts_iso, price, volume

Quant Developers AI/ML Practitioners Data Engineers Research

AddOns

ChartExportAddOn AddOn

"Export NinjaTrader charts as PNG images for AI/ML vision model analysis."

Automatic chart export with off-screen rendering - works even when NT8 is minimized. Designed for AI vision systems that need clean, consistent chart images.

Exports on bar close, not fixed intervals (intelligent detection)
Multiple instruments and timeframes simultaneously
Off-screen WPF rendering - no visible windows required
Tick-aligned price axis respects native tick size
JSON metadata with timestamps and bar times
Archive system for images for the purpose of AI training
GUI configuration via Tools menu with DataGrid editor

Download ChartExportAddOn

Bar-Close Detection

The addon intelligently exports only when a new bar closes - 15-minute chart exports at :00, :15, :30, :45. This prevents redundant exports and ensures you always get complete bars.

Recommended Settings for AI Vision

High detail: 1280x720 - Full analysis, larger files
Balanced: 800x600 - Good quality, faster processing
Fast/VL models: 600x400 - Quick inference

Output

Each view exports to {Instrument}_{Period}{Type}.png with a meta.json file containing cycle timestamps and bar times.

AI/ML Vision Systems NQBot Integration Automated Analysis Stream Overlays

StrategyManagerAddOn AddOn

"Enable or disable every strategy on the Strategies tab with one click."

Running 20-40 strategies means every restart, recompile, or session break turns into minutes of checkbox clicking. This addon adds Enable All Strategies and Disable All Strategies to the Control Center Tools menu - one click, done.

Drives NT8's real internal enable/disable pipeline - strategies genuinely start and stop, not just checkbox visuals
Engine-state aware: skips strategies already in the target state
Skips rows whose account is disconnected (reported, not failed)
Summary popup plus per-strategy log lines in NinjaScript Output
Built-in fallback path for future NinjaTrader builds
Single .cs file, MIT licensed, no external dependencies

Download StrategyManagerAddOn

Why the obvious approaches don't work

The Strategies tab checkbox is bound to a WPF routed command - setting the row's IsEnabled property or raising a click event only toggles the checkmark while the strategy stays dead. This addon calls the same internal grid pipeline the checkbox handler calls (verified against NinjaTrader 8.1.5.2), so the full start/stop chain runs: historical load, transition to realtime, everything.

Safety notes

Enable All really starts every configured strategy - same as checking each box by hand. Know what is on your Strategies tab before clicking.
Strategies already running are left untouched, so a second click is harmless.
If NinjaTrader changes its internals in a future update, the addon automatically falls back to Select All + the grid's own Enable/Disable commands.

Usage

After import and compile, open Control Center > Tools. The two entries appear at the bottom of the menu. Progress and any skipped strategies are logged to the NinjaScript Output window (tab 1).

Multi-Strategy Operators Prop-Firm Eval Runners Algo Farms NT8 Power Users

Installation Instructions

Download the .zip file for the indicator you want
Extract the .cs file from the zip
Copy the .cs file to: Documents\NinjaTrader 8\bin\Custom\Indicators\
Restart NinjaTrader 8, or compile manually via Tools → New NinjaScript → Compile
Add indicators to charts: Right-click chart → Indicators → Look under PhillyFranksTools

For AddOns: Use Tools → Import → NinjaScript Add-on... and select the ZIP file directly.

Verify your download: Compare its SHA-256 digest with the published checksum manifest before importing it into NinjaTrader.

Disclaimer: Everything on this page is provided as-is for education and research, and none of it is financial advice or a recommendation to trade. The utility indicators display information and place no orders. The strategy downloads are different: they generate trade signals and can place live orders — read the risk notice in that section before using them. Any performance figures shown are from simulated accounts and are not a track record; simulated results have inherent limitations and do not indicate future results. Trading futures involves a substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. Use at your own discretion, verify critical data against official sources, and never risk money you cannot afford to lose.