Constant Time-Based Vertical Grid for NinjaTrader 8

Guide

Adding the indicator to your chart:
The Time Grid indicator can be added into your chart either by clicking the Indicators icon on the chart title bar or by right-clicking on the chart and selecting ‘Indicators…’ from the context menu.

When utilizing the Time Grid indicator, it is recommended to deactivate the default NinjaTrader grid lines. Right-click on your chart, choose ‘Properties,’ go to the ‘Lines’ section, expand ‘Grid line – vertical,’ and uncheck the ‘Visible’ setting.

Configuration:
The Time Grid indicator properties window contains the following settings:

The Time Grid properties are organized into distinct sections, each corresponding to a specific chart interval (timeframe). These sections include:
– Yearly divider
– Quarterly divider
– Monthly divider
– Weekly divider
– Daily divider
– Hourly divider
– Minute divider
– Intraday fixed time divider style 1 to 3

Each divider type displays the last trading day within its specified interval. For instance, the yearly divider highlights the last trading day of each year, while the monthly divider highlights the last trading day of every month.

To toggle the visibility of divider lines, select the corresponding checkbox for each divider type. For instance, deselect the ‘Yearly’ checkbox under the Yearly divider section to hide Yearly dividers, or select the ‘Weekly’ checkbox under the Weekly divider section to display Weekly dividers.

You have the flexibility to customize the line style (including color, dash style, opacity, and width) for each divider type independently. This allows for easy differentiation of each divider type when viewing a chart. By default, a unique color is assigned to each divider type.


The ‘Minimum pixels’ setting allows to automatically conceal grid lines when the average distance in pixels between lines is less than this specified value. This feature helps maintain a clean and uncluttered chart by hiding grid lines that would otherwise be too closely spaced.

The ‘Minimum bars’ setting allows to automatically conceal grid lines when the average number of bars between lines is less than this specified value. This feature helps maintain a clean and uncluttered chart by hiding grid lines that would otherwise be too closely spaced.

The Minute divider type includes a setting titled ‘Minute every ?? minutes.’ In this field, specify the desired interval, indicating how often you want to display the minute divider lines. For instance, if you prefer a divider line every 15 minutes, input ’15’.

The ‘List of times’ settings within the ‘Intraday fixed time divider style 1 to 3′ sections enable you to specify times of day for displaying divider lines on your chart. The time format must be in HH:mm using the 24-hour format. For example, to show a grid line at 1:30 am, input ’01:30,’ and for 3:47 pm, input ’15:47.’ You can list multiple times by separating them with commas, like ’09:30, 09:35, 09:45, 10:00, 10:30′.

In the ‘Zoom levels preset’ section, define up to 5 zoom levels by setting both the bar width and bar spacing values. It’s important to note that the bar width is not in pixels and the bar spacing represents the distance (in pixels) between the left edge of one bar and the left edge of the previous or subsequent bar, with a minimum value of 1.

If you’re uncertain about the values to input, you can check the box for ‘Print the bar width and spacing values’. After activation, open the NinjaScript Output window from the ‘New’ menu in the Control Center window to view the current bar width and spacing for your chart. To adjust the zoom level, use either the Chart Style icon with Bar Spacing +/- and Bar Width +/- or perform a left mouse click in the x-axis margin and move the cursor left or right. Alternatively, utilize the Hot Keys CTRL + Up and CTRL + Down.

After defining your preferred zoom levels, effortlessly zoom into a preset level by right-clicking on the chart and selecting the desired zoom setting. Please note that the zoom presetting feature is exclusive to charts configured with ‘Equidistant bar spacing.’ Right-click on your chart, choose ‘Properties,’ go to the ‘General’ section, and check the ‘Equidistant bar spacing’ setting.

After activating the ‘Time Grid’ indicator on your chart, you’ll notice a button labeled ‘Toggle Time’ on the chart title bar. Click this button to toggle the display of time information in the lower right corner of the chart. The time information includes the current time on the first line, and on the second line, you’ll find the date and time of the first and last visible bars on the chart. This feature is particularly useful when capturing screenshots for your trading journal. To modify the color of the time information text, navigate to the indicator properties and adjust the ‘Time text color’ setting under the ‘Misc’ section.

We recommend keeping the ‘Calculate’ setting, located under the ‘Setup’ section, on ‘On bar close’ to minimize CPU usage.