NinjaTrader Position Sizing

NinjaTrader is unmatched in the ability to customize your trading platform. Compared to TradeStation, TradingView, Think or Swim, or anything other platform, this is why we continue to prefer NinjaTrader.

The Essential Tools for our Enhanced Chart Trader adds position sizing to the NinjaTrader platform. The position size is automatically calculated based on the Stop Loss size for your selected ATM Strategy.

It is possible to select between percent risk based on your total account size, or total dollars risk for each individual trade.

As you select a new ATM Strategy, the position size automatically adjusts.

The NinjaTrader platform is supercharged with position sizing features of our Enhanced Chart Trader.

You can get started by checking out the Essential Chart Trader Tools, a starter package of features for the Enhanced Chart Trader.

How the position size is worked out

Position sizing divides the amount you are willing to lose on a trade by what one contract would lose if the stop is hit. One contract’s risk is the stop distance in ticks times the instrument’s tick value. For example, risking $500 with a 10-tick stop on ES, where one tick is worth $12.50, gives $125 of risk per contract, so the size is 4 contracts. For the same dollar risk, a tighter stop gives a larger size and a wider stop gives a smaller one.

Percent risk works the same way, except the dollar amount is a percent of the account value. Risking 1% of a $50,000 account is $500 per trade.

Setting it up in the Enhanced Chart Trader

1. Pick an ATM Strategy that has a stop loss. Sizing needs the stop to calculate; with no stop it falls back to the ATM’s own quantity.
2. Click SIZE OFF so it reads SIZE ON.
3. Use the $ / % button to choose dollar risk or a percent of the account.
4. Type your risk amount in the box, or nudge it up and down with the hotkeys (Ctrl+K and Ctrl+M by default).

The ATM quick-select buttons and the plan on the chart update straight away, so the quantity you see is the quantity that will be sent. Minimum and maximum quantity settings keep the result inside limits you choose, and with more than one target the contracts are split across all targets in the ATM’s own proportions.

Common questions

I set a percent risk, but it still sizes in dollars. Switch the $ / % button to %, or set Calculation Mode to Percent in the settings.

The size is different from what I expected. Check the stop distance on the active ATM Strategy; the size is the risk divided by that stop. To manage the stop once you are in the trade, see NinjaTrader Trailing Stop.