The best Indicators and Strategies for NinjaTrader
Until now, we’ve seen how institutional logic is changing the way traders read the market.
It’s no longer about following traditional retail indicators — it’s about understanding how Smart Money moves, and letting automation detect that logic for us.
But if you’re new to this type of trading, the first big question is:
Where do I start?
Which institutional indicator should I use first?
Here’s a simple, practical roadmap to help you make the right first choice.
Institutional Order Blocks are one of the core elements of Smart Money Concepts (SMC).
They represent zones where large orders remain unfilled after a significant price move, often causing the market to return to those areas before continuing in the original direction.
In this guide, we break down:
what an order block is
how it forms
why price returns to these zones
how to validate them
how sensitivity affects the number of signals
and how to read order blocks in the context of trend and structure
Everything here can be applied manually using price action or analyzed with technical tools.
An Order Block is an institutional zone created when:
The market is trending
A single candle forms against the trend (a small pullback)
A strong impulsive move follows immediately after
This small pullback candle marks an area where:
institutions placed orders
some were executed
others remained unfilled
and price may later return to complete them
In an uptrend:
the last bearish candle before the impulsive move is the bullish order block
In a downtrend:
the last bullish candle before the impulsive move is the bearish order block
These zones often act as strong points of reaction.
A valid order block usually requires four elements:
Multiple strong candles in the same direction.
This is the "source" of the block.
It marks institutional orders being placed before an impulsive displacement.
A certain number of ticks or pips helps confirm that the move truly had institutional force.
For example:
50–150 ticks for smaller moves
300–500 ticks for strong displacements
Example:
Price must move at least 3–5 bars in the direction of the impulse.
This avoids labeling every micro-movement as a block.
The logic is simple:
Large players cannot execute all of their orders in one candle.
So price often comes back to:
fill unexecuted orders
rebalance supply/demand
mitigate inefficiencies
capture liquidity
When this happens:
bullish order block → price dips into the zone and rejects upward
bearish order block → price rallies into the zone and rejects downward
This dynamic is one of the most common reactions in institutional trading.
A widely used confirmation technique is:
A candle closes outside the block
The next candle closes inside the block
This confirms:
the zone was retested
price reacted in a meaningful way
an entry could be available
If price only touches the block but doesn't close inside, some traders still consider it valid—but confirmation rules vary:
some require a wick inside
others require a CHoCH afterward
others combine it with trend confirmation
Not all order blocks hold.
When price breaks through the zone:
it is considered mitigated
pending orders are assumed filled
the block becomes invalid as a reaction point
However, even after being invalidated:
the area often acts as support or resistance
it still serves as a structural reference level
The market tends to remember these zones.
When studying order blocks systematically, the following parameters matter:
Smaller numbers → more blocks, more noise
Larger numbers → fewer blocks, cleaner signals
Controls the strength of the impulse required.
Helps prevent the chart from becoming overcrowded.
“Close inside the block” creates fewer but higher-quality signals.
Adjusting these settings helps traders filter out weak movements and focus only on institutional-level activity.
In an uptrend → bullish blocks mark possible long zones
In a downtrend → bearish blocks mark possible short zones
The strongest setups often combine:
a BOS confirming continuation
an order block marking the institutional zone
a return to the block
and a CHoCH that confirms reaction
This is pure SMC logic.
Even old or invalidated blocks frequently act as:
reaction zones
retest levels
liquidity points
Order blocks help identify:
institutional rebalancing
inefficiency fills
liquidity sweeps
continuation zones
❌ Treating every opposite candle as a block
❌ Using no minimum movement filter
❌ Assuming all blocks must produce trades
❌ Overdrawing blocks until the chart becomes unreadable
❌ Not validating with structure (trend, BOS, CHoCH)
❌ Entering at the first touch without confirmation
Order blocks are powerful when used correctly, but require context.
Institutional Order Blocks are one of the most important concepts in Smart Money trading.
They help traders understand:
where institutional orders originated
why price returns to specific zones
how to identify high-probability reaction points
and how to combine trend, structure, and liquidity for deeper insight
Used alongside market structure (BOS/CHoCH), order blocks reveal how and why price behaves the way it does — allowing for more informed analysis and better interpretation of price action.
Smart Money Concepts (SMC) has become one of the most precise ways to interpret market structure. But applying SMC manually is slow, subjective, and nearly impossible to automate.
This is why we created TIS_MarketStructure, a professional-grade NinjaTrader 8 indicator that automates structure analysis using institutional logic, pivot detection, premium/discount zones, and real-time trend confirmation.
The indicator automatically detects:
BOS (Break of Structure)
CHoCH (Change of Character)
Institutional discount/premium zones
Fibonacci retracement areas
Trend direction (+1 / –1)
Long/short activation plots
…and exposes them as plots compatible with Markers Plus, Strategy Builder, and NinjaScript, making this tool ideal for automated systems or high-precision discretionary trading.
TIS_MarketStructure uses the same robust pivot logic from the TIS Swing Indicator:
Strength Left
Strength Right
Each pivot must be the highest/lowest point of the previous n bars AND the following n bars.
This ensures clean, confirmed pivots with no repainting and minimal noise.
Once pivots are confirmed, the indicator evaluates how price interacts with them:
Represents continuation of the trend.
Example: price breaks the previous high in an uptrend.
Represents a possible reversal in trend direction.
The indicator evaluates every pivot and labels it automatically on the chart, making structure reading objective and consistent.
After a BOS, the indicator:
Marks the relevant pivot-to-break range
Draws institutional zones
Plots retracement levels (61.8%, 78.6% default)
Zones are colored as:
Green = Discount (Buy zone)
Red = Premium (Sell zone)
These levels represent where institutions tend to rebalance orders.
You can customize the Fib levels (e.g., 50, 61.8, 70.5, 88.6, etc.).
You can decide how strict the structure break should be.
Close → Only candle close beyond pivot counts
Wick → A wick breaking the pivot counts
“Wick” creates more early signals.
“Close” is cleaner for automation.
TIS_MarketStructure provides plots usable in:
Markers Plus
Strategy Builder
NinjaScript
Plots include:
EnableLong
EnableShort
Trend (+1 / –1)
Long/Short Areas
These allow rules such as:
“Take longs only when price is inside discount zone AND trend is +1.”
Or:
“Enable another indicator's signal only if MarketStructure confirms BOS.”
MarketStructure + OrderBlocks = institutional confluence.
When BOS/CHoCH zones align with order blocks, the trading setups become extremely powerful.
✔ Day traders
✔ Swing traders
✔ Algo traders
✔ Traders using Markers
✔ Anyone wanting objective SMC rules
✔ Traders tired of drawing everything manually
✔ Users wanting structure-based filters
100% objective market structure
No drawing required
Instant institutional zones
BOS & CHoCH automatic labeling
Full automation support
Works across all markets (Futures, Forex, Crypto, Stocks)
In Part 1 of our Smart Money series, we explored how to track institutional movements by detecting structural breaks (BOS and CHOCH).
Once you know when the market is about to move, the next logical question is: where exactly should you enter?
Today, we take a crucial step forward — identifying with surgical precision the zones where institutional money enters and exits the market.
“Smart Money doesn’t chase price — it creates zones where price returns.”
This post will show you how to identify these zones and, more importantly, how to fully automate their detection and execution in NinjaTrader 8.
Forget about traditional support and resistance lines for a moment.
Supply and Demand Zones are the true blueprint of institutional activity.
These are price areas where major buyers (banks, hedge funds) have aggressively entered the market, often leading to sharp upward moves.
These mark where institutional sellers took control, absorbing all buying pressure and causing a significant drop.
This is where many retail traders fall short.
A support or resistance is a fixed price level.
A supply or demand zone is a range — and that difference is critical.
Why? Institutions can't just "click buy" with a market order — they would push the price against themselves.
Instead, they patiently place limit orders ahead of time, accumulating positions within a zone to attract the liquidity they need.
These zones are the footprints left behind by Smart Money.
You can spot them visually or automate their detection. A high-probability institutional zone typically forms under three key conditions:
After an Impulsive Move
Strong bullish or bearish momentum sets the stage.
From a Consolidation Base
The move usually originates from a prior consolidation or “base.”
With a Structural Break (BOS)
The zone is validated when the move breaks through a previous market structure.
Imagine price breaks a bullish structure with force.
Days or weeks later, price returns to the original base of consolidation — this is a validated Demand Zone.
Institutional traders often wait for this retest to re-enter or scale into their positions.
Yes, you can mark these zones manually — but it’s slow, subjective, and exhausting.
You spend hours staring at charts, second-guessing your zones, and often reacting late.
What if you could automate this entire process?
This is where The Indicator Store’s technology changes the game.
With tools like Markers, you go from manual observer to automated institutional trader.
✅ Detect BOS/CHOCH structural breaks automatically
✅ Draw relevant supply and demand zones using templates
✅ Trigger alerts or entry signals when price returns to the zone for a retest
“Markers doesn’t just show you structure — it lets you automate institutional reactions.”
Use this logic directly in your automated trading strategy:
Base Indicator: TIS_ReversalZone or TIS_PriceAction
Condition: Detect a structural break (BOS) emerging from prior consolidation
Action: If price returns to the validated demand zone, Markers triggers an automatic Buy signal — aligning you with institutional logic
Supply and demand zones are not theory — they are the true language of Smart Money.
These are the areas where real market-moving decisions are made.
Shifting your focus away from market “noise” and toward these zones is the first step.
Automating that focus is the next.
With Markers and institutional-grade indicators from The Indicator Store, you stop guessing — and start trading in sync with the institutions.
💸 Automating Smart Money: How to Detect Institutional Moves in NinjaTrader 8
In modern trading, traditional indicators like RSI or MACD are losing relevance. The reason is simple: they are lagging indicators — they show what has already happened.
High-frequency traders and large institutions don’t rely on them.
Instead, the market moves according to the Smart Money Concepts (SMC) — a methodology that reads price action from the institutional perspective.
This approach allows traders to spot the footprints left by smart money, anticipating market moves instead of merely reacting to them.
Smart Money Concepts are not a single indicator — they are a framework for understanding price behavior through three key pillars:
Structure is everything.
SMC focuses on two key events that define trend direction:
BOS (Break of Structure): confirms the continuation of the current trend when price breaks a previous high or low in the same direction.
CHoCH (Change of Character): signals that the current trend may be weakening and about to reverse — marked by a break of the internal structure in the opposite direction.
Smart money doesn’t operate anywhere.
It accumulates and distributes positions in very specific areas, leaving clear traces on the chart:
Order Blocks: supply or demand zones where institutions initiated large moves, creating price imbalances.
Imbalances or FVGs (Fair Value Gaps): fast, strong moves (large candles) that price often tends to “fill” before continuing.
Institutions need liquidity — a high volume of orders — to execute million-dollar positions without moving the market against themselves.
Where do they find it? Right where retail traders place their stops:
Liquidity Grabs: sharp wicks that “sweep” previous highs or lows, triggering retail stop-losses before the price moves in the real direction.
Spotting all these structures, zones, and liquidity sweeps in real time — across multiple timeframes — is no easy task.
A CHoCH can be subjective. An Order Block can be too wide.
Manual analysis is slow, exhausting, and prone to human error.
Without objective tools, traders risk seeing patterns that aren’t really there.
This is where NinjaTrader 8 truly shines — especially when combined with advanced SMC tools such as Markers Plus or Markers Pro.
Instead of drawing lines manually and second-guessing every structure, you can configure your platform to do the heavy lifting:
🔹 Automatic detection of BOS and CHoCH events in real time.
🔹 Real-time marking of liquidity zones and order blocks.
🔹 Labels and alerts when price enters a key area or breaks structure.
This turns SMC from a manual theory into a practical, automated trading system.
✅ Total Objectivity: no emotional bias — a BOS is a BOS, defined by the algorithm.
✅ Speed and Precision: instant alerts exactly when a setup forms.
✅ Advanced Confluence: combine SMC logic with other institutional tools like VWAP, Volume Profile, or Delta for higher-quality confirmations.
Context: Price was in a minor bullish structure. The indicator detects the first break of a key low — a bearish CHoCH.
Inducement: Price retraces, performs a Liquidity Grab above a previous high (trapping buyers), and reacts to a pre-marked Supply Zone (Order Block).
Entry: Once confirmed, the system generates a SELL signal with the stop above the zone.
The move is later confirmed by a BOS to the downside — validating the new bearish trend.
What used to take several minutes of manual analysis is now detected within seconds by the automation.
Adopting Smart Money Concepts transforms your trading from reactive to predictive.
You stop chasing the price — and start understanding why it moves.
Automation in NinjaTrader 8 bridges the gap between complex SMC theory and real-world execution,
allowing you to trade with institutional logic — and the speed of technology.
“You can apply these concepts with any setup in Markers Plus or Pro.”
👉 Ready to trade like Smart Money?
Explore Markers for NinjaTrader 8 and turn market structure into actionable trades.
TIS_SuperTrail is a simplified and optimized version of the well-known SuperTrend indicator, designed for traders who value clarity, speed, and precision.
Unlike the original SuperTrend, which allows selecting between several moving average types (EMA, SMA, HMA), SuperTrail relies exclusively on the Hull Moving Average (HMA).
This design eliminates unnecessary complexity and provides a smoother, more responsive visualization of market trends.
The TIS_SuperTrail features only three adjustable parameters:
HMA Period: controls trend smoothness.
ATR Length: adjusts trail sensitivity to volatility.
Multiplier: defines the trail’s distance from price.
These simple settings allow traders to tailor the indicator to their own trading style — from fast scalping to conservative swing trading.
Beyond its trend line, SuperTrail generates precise end-of-trend signals, clearly identifying when a long or short trend has lost strength.
These can be used visually or as automatic exit conditions within Strategy Builder, NinjaScript, or Markers.
The main goal of SuperTrail is to help traders manage positions mechanically, reducing emotional influence and improving consistency.
📈 Discover TIS_SuperTrail and simplify your trend management in NinjaTrader 8:
👉 https://theindicatormarket.com/depot/TIS_SuperTrail
In this tutorial, we compare the classic Supertrend indicator with its improved version — ATR BarColor, both designed for NinjaTrader 8.
The traditional Supertrend follows a moving average (like the HMA) at a distance proportional to volatility (ATR).
Its main limitation is that it only has two states — bullish or bearish — which often leads to false or premature signals during market consolidations.
ATR BarColor solves this by introducing a third state: Neutral (yellow bars) and requiring the price to break a strength pivot before confirming a trend reversal.
When both indicators use the same settings, ATR BarColor clearly shows better performance by filtering out market noise and providing more reliable entries once a decisive breakout occurs.
🔹 In this video you’ll see:
• Supertrend vs ATR BarColor (same parameters)
• HMA 21, ATR 14, multiplier 2.618
• How ATR BarColor avoids false flips
• How to use the Neutral state to stay out of choppy zones
✅ Why ATR BarColor is better
• Three clear states: Uptrend, Downtrend, Neutral
• Filters out noise in sideways markets
• Works on any instrument and timeframe
• Fully compatible with Strategy Builder and Markers
• Exposes all signals for automation (entries, exits, trend state)
📊 Automate your setups
All signals are exposed as plots — ready to be used in Strategy Builder or Markers, so you can automate your strategies without coding.
