The complete reference for Fusion Strategy in NinjaTrader 8 — every property in the strategy window, and every button on the on-chart control panel.
This guide is written for someone who has never opened NinjaTrader’s strategy properties window. The first half explains every checkbox, dropdown, and text box you can change, in the order you see them on screen, in plain English, with the reason it exists and the consequence of changing it. The second half — The On-Chart Control Panel — documents every button, toggle, and readout on the panel you actually use to run the strategy day to day.
If a property in the grid is grey or read-only, this guide tells you that too.
1. Fusion Strategy is a NinjaTrader 8 strategy. That means everything NinjaTrader can do with any strategy — historical backtests, live trading, optimization — works here. The Fusion-specific properties sit on top of NinjaTrader’s normal strategy properties, in the same window.
2. You design the strategy somewhere else. The actual trading logic — your entries, exits, conditions, gates, risk rules — is built visually in Fusion Builder (the indicator). When you save that design, Fusion Builder produces a long text string called a SetupID and a .fus template file. The Fusion Strategy properties window is where you tell NinjaTrader to use that design.
3. Nothing in this window changes the strategy logic itself. Every property here controls how NinjaTrader runs the design: which account it uses, whether it remembers your last setup, what it does at session close, how it shows you what it’s doing. The math, the conditions, the risk thresholds — those are inside the SetupID, designed in Fusion Builder.
You can reach the Fusion Strategy properties from two places:
From the chart:
From a saved chart that already has a strategy:
After you finish editing properties:
You can also right-click the strategy name in NinjaTrader’s Control Center → Strategies tab to access the same window for live or sim-running strategies.
NinjaTrader groups the properties by GroupName. In the Fusion Strategy window, you will see these groups, in roughly this order:
| Group | What It Is | Owned By |
|---|---|---|
| (NinjaTrader’s own properties at the very top) | Account, Calculate mode, Bars required, Exit on session close, etc. | NinjaTrader |
| Real-Money Trading Safeguard | One checkbox that prevents accidental live orders | Fusion |
| Control Panel | Whether to show the on-chart panel, how AUTO TRADE starts, and historical/live start behavior | Fusion |
| Fusion Strategy | SetupID, Template File, quick-paste, runtime summary | Fusion |
| Hosted Fusion Indicator | Whether and how to show signal backgrounds on the chart | Fusion |
Many of NinjaTrader’s properties are also present but are hidden because Fusion sets them automatically. You will only see the ones that matter for you to make a decision about.
These are NinjaTrader’s own properties. They sit at the top of the grid and they are not Fusion-specific. They appear on every NinjaTrader strategy you ever run. Understanding them is essential because they decide whether and where your strategy can place orders.
Which broker account the strategy submits orders to. Click the dropdown to see all accounts NinjaTrader knows about. Typical options:
The single most important property on this page. If you select your real broker account, every entry the strategy generates becomes a real order at your broker. There is no “preview mode.”
Fusion has an additional safeguard — see Real-Money Trading Safeguard below — that will refuse to run on a real broker account unless you explicitly opt in. But the Account dropdown itself is where the risk starts.
How often the strategy evaluates the market. Options:
Recommendation for beginners: Leave on On bar close. Most Fusion templates are designed and tested at this setting.
How many historical bars must load before the strategy is allowed to start trading. Fusion’s default is 50. If your design uses a 200-period moving average, you need to raise this to at least 200, otherwise the strategy will try to trade before the indicator has enough data.
What to put here: The longest lookback period of any indicator in your design, plus a small buffer. Fusion’s runtime configuration line (see Section 6) will warn you if this is too low.
How many simultaneous entries in the same direction NinjaTrader allows. Fusion sets this to 1 by default. If your design has multiple Entry blocks that can fire on the same bar, you may need a higher number. The Fusion Builder design tells you which value to pick.
What NinjaTrader does when a new entry signal arrives while another is still pending. Fusion’s default is All Entries — every signal is honored. The alternative, Unique Entries, blocks duplicates within EntriesPerDirection.
If you build separate one-sided Entry chains, for example one Entry that only receives long signals and another Entry that only receives short signals, keep the Entry block’s One Entry Per Signal setting turned on when you want one entry per new signal episode. New Entry blocks turn this on by default.
Do not use OnePerDirection for a one-sided +1/0 or -1/0 chain unless you intentionally want it to fire once and stay latched until that same chain sees the opposite sign. A long-only chain never sees -1, and a short-only chain never sees +1, so OnePerDirection can make each side trade once and then stop.
Use OnePerDirection when you specifically want same-stream opposite-sign re-arm behavior. Use EdgeDetect AnyEdge only when you want the pulse to remain visible as its own upstream block or you need custom edge/duration behavior. One Entry Per Signal re-arms after that Entry’s input goes flat and rises again, and a move back to flat outputs 0, so it does not submit an Entry.
Quick test in NinjaTrader:
If checked, NinjaTrader will automatically flatten any open positions some number of seconds before the trading session ends. Fusion’s default is True with ExitOnSessionCloseSeconds = 30.
This setting interacts with Fusion’s risk rules. Read the Overlap section carefully if you have configured a Session End Flatten rule in Fusion Builder’s Strategy & Risk tab.
How many seconds before session close NinjaTrader fires the auto-flatten. Default 30.
How many bars of history any custom code in the strategy can look back at. Fusion sets this to 256 (TwoHundredFiftySix). Almost never needs to change.
In backtests, when an order’s price target is hit between two bars, how should the fill price be calculated? Options: Standard, High, Low. Fusion uses Standard — the bar’s open or close price depending on direction. Affects backtests only, not live trading.
In backtests, how many ticks of “slippage” (price disadvantage) to assume per fill. Default 0. If you want pessimistic backtests, raise this.
What the strategy does when it transitions from historical to live. Fusion sets this to Wait Until Flat — if the historical replay left an open position, the strategy waits for it to flatten before processing live signals. Other options exist but generally should not be changed.
How long submitted orders stay alive at the broker. Fusion uses GTC (Good Till Cancelled) — orders survive between bars at the broker. Some brokers also require GTC to be enabled on the account side. Do not change.
What happens if the strategy throws an error in live trading. Fusion uses Stop Cancel Close — stop the strategy, cancel pending orders, close any open position. The safest setting. Do not change.
How NinjaTrader links protective stops/targets to their entries. Fusion uses Per Entry Execution — each entry has its own stop and target. Required for Fusion’s risk model. Do not change.
These are NinjaTrader’s manual order entry helpers used when you place orders via Chart Trader while the strategy is running. They do not control automated orders. Leave at defaults.
A single checkbox that exists for one reason: to stop you from accidentally clicking Enable on a real broker account.
Default: Unchecked (false).
What it does when unchecked:
What it does when checked:
When to check it:
Plain rule: If you are not 100% sure what this strategy will do on the next 1,000 bars, leave this unchecked. The strategy will not break. It will simply refuse to trade live. That is the point.
This group controls whether and how the on-chart “Fusion Strategy” panel appears inside NinjaTrader’s Chart Trader — the panel with the big AUTO TRADE toggle, the close/flatten buttons, position display, and live P&L. The buttons on that panel are documented in their own section: The On-Chart Control Panel.
Default: Checked (true).
When checked: The panel appears docked on the right side of the chart (in its own column; on some chart setups it appears inside NinjaTrader’s Chart Trader area instead) when the strategy is enabled. You can arm/disarm trading, flatten, load setups, place manual bracket trades, and see live status.
When unchecked: Headless mode. No panel. The strategy runs invisibly. Useful for:
Important consequence of unchecking: Headless mode has no on-chart way to arm or disarm trading. Fusion forces Start With Auto Trade ON = true automatically in this case, otherwise the strategy would be inert with no way to fix it.
Default: Unchecked (false).
When checked: Every time the strategy reaches the realtime moment (after historical replay finishes), the AUTO TRADE toggle is automatically ARMED. The strategy starts placing live orders right away.
When unchecked: The toggle starts DISARMED. The strategy is alive, watching the market, processing signals — but does not place any new entry orders until you click the AUTO TRADE button on the panel.
Recommendation for new users: Uncheck this. Watch the strategy run live for a few bars, confirm the signals look right, then click AUTO TRADE manually. This catches a whole class of “I didn’t realize it would do that” mistakes.
Note: If Show Chart Control Panel is unchecked (headless mode), this setting is forced to true regardless of what you set, because there is no panel to use for arming.
Default: Unchecked (false).
When checked: The panel remembers whether you last had AUTO TRADE armed or disarmed for this account-and-instrument combination, and restores that state after F5 reloads or NinjaTrader restarts.
When unchecked: F5 reloads always use Start With Auto Trade ON as the source of truth. Past toggle clicks are not remembered across reloads.
Why “off” is the safer default: Pushing a new template to a strategy that was previously armed would silently arm trading on the new template. Off forces every reload to go through the explicit Start With Auto Trade ON decision.
Default: Unchecked (Live Trading Mode).
This is the most consequential mode setting in this section. It controls whether Fusion uses the chart’s historical replay only for indicator warm-up, or also uses it to create historical strategy trades for review.
During NinjaTrader’s historical startup replay: No strategy entries fire. Fusion still warms up calculations on the historical bars, but it suppresses entries so the enabled strategy reaches realtime from a clean live baseline.
At the moment historical replay finishes and realtime begins:
Visible effect: The chart does not show historical entry markers from this enabled live instance. NinjaTrader’s Strategy Performance for that chart is not populated with historical strategy trades. The control panel P&L starts from the live seam.
Use this when: You are about to trade live or practice live in Simulated Data Feed / Playback. You do not want surprises from inherited historical strategy state.
During NinjaTrader’s historical startup replay: Fusion allows the strategy’s historical entries and managed exits to run. This lets NinjaTrader populate chart Strategy Performance and show what the setup would have done over the loaded historical bars.
At the moment historical replay finishes and realtime begins:
Visible effect: The chart can show historical entry/exit markers and NinjaTrader’s Strategy Performance can be populated, but the panel reports CURRENT MODE: BACKTEST REVIEW and live trading controls are locked or limited to cleanup tools.
Use this when: You want to inspect historical strategy behavior on the chart. Before placing new live trades or planner trades, stage a switch back to Live Trading Mode and reload.
The default exists for a reason. If you ever feel unsure, leave Backtest Review Mode unchecked and use Live Trading Mode.
This is a read-only summary, not an editable field. It shows a one-line text summary of how your current settings will behave. Looks something like:
Live Trading clean start | Auto: DISARMED
If you change the three settings above (Show Chart Control Panel, Start With Auto Trade ON, Backtest Review Mode), this line updates to reflect the new combined behavior. Use it as a sanity check before clicking Apply.
Default: Unchecked (false).
When checked: When the control panel loads, all dollar amounts in the P&L grid are hidden behind a privacy mask (you see ▒▒▒▒▒ or similar). Useful for:
You can toggle visibility in the panel itself via a small eye icon in the header. The per-session toggle state is remembered across reloads.
Default: Unchecked (false).
When checked: If the strategy’s tracked position differs from the actual broker account’s position (for example, because you placed a manual trade in Chart Trader while the strategy was armed), the strategy refuses to submit any new entries until you re-align — click Sync / Reduce Account or Flatten All (Keep Strategy) on the panel.
When unchecked: The strategy continues to make its own decisions independently of any manual trades you place in the same instrument.
When to enable: If you actively trade manually in the same instrument the strategy is running on, this prevents the strategy from compounding a manual mistake.
Default: Checked (true).
When checked: The ⚡ TRADE PLANNER card appears at the bottom of the on-chart panel. The Trade Planner places fully manual bracket trades — your own entry with a stop and target attached — and works even when no template or SetupID is loaded. It is available for new planner entries only in Live Trading Mode, with an active planner entitlement and an executable market-data stream moving. It is documented in its own section: The Trade Planner.
When unchecked: The card is hidden entirely and the panel is shorter. Nothing else changes — the rest of the panel works the same.
These five properties are the starting values for the Trade Planner card:
The unit can be Ticks, Points, or ATR (a multiple of the current ATR). You normally never touch these in the grid — the Trade Planner card on the panel has its own typeable boxes, +/− buttons, and a unit button for each value, and changes there are live. The grid values are just where the card starts.
This is the heart of the connection between Fusion Builder (where you design) and Fusion Strategy (where it runs).
Default: Unchecked.
Behavior: A quick-action checkbox. When you check it:
How to use:
This is faster than manually clicking into the SetupID text field and pasting.
Default: Unchecked.
Behavior: Another quick-action checkbox. When you check it:
When to use: You want to start over with a new design without manually deleting the old SetupID text.
Default: Empty.
The full text string Fusion Builder generated for your design. Looks like a long line of characters that begin with FP1: or similar. Example format:
FP1[P=0]:Aroon,14,Up,ATR,14,Value,Subtract|STRAT:ENTRY[...]|PM:[...]|RISK:[...]|V2
You can paste it here directly, or use the Paste SetupID From Clipboard quick action above.
Templates vs. SetupID: The Template File field below loads a .fus template file that contains a SetupID inside it. Most users use Template File. Direct SetupID paste is useful for sharing a design over a chat message without sharing the full template.
Default: Empty.
A dropdown that lists every .fus template file Fusion Builder has saved. Pick one and Fusion Strategy automatically loads its SetupID, dependencies, and configuration.
How template files are found: NinjaTrader’s templates folder, under the templates/FusionIndicator/ subdirectory. Templates created in Fusion Builder are saved there automatically.
Recommended workflow: Build and save your design in Fusion Builder as a named template. Open Fusion Strategy. Select the template by name from this dropdown. The SetupID field auto-fills. Click Apply.
One rule explains everything about how these two fields interact:
While a Template File is selected, the template owns the SetupID. Every time the strategy reloads (Apply, F5, disable/re-enable), it re-reads the SetupID from the .fus file — and that re-read replaces whatever is sitting in the SetupID field at that moment.
In practice this means:
Default: Checked (true).
When checked: A read-only visual copy of Fusion Builder’s plot output appears in its own indicator panel below the price chart. Useful for seeing exactly what the strategy is reacting to.
When unchecked: No visual panel. The strategy still runs identically. Useful when you have many strategies on one chart and want less visual clutter.
Safety note: The hosted indicator is never allowed on the price panel itself. It always appears in its own panel below price.
A read-only diagnostic text box. See Section 6.
Two settings that control where Fusion paints its colored signal backgrounds on the chart.
Default: None.
A dropdown with four options:
The background colors show what the strategy is currently doing:
For beginners: Try Panel Only first. It is the least visually overwhelming and gives you a clear visual confirmation that the strategy is in the state you expect.
Default: Checked (true).
When checked: The strategy paints its own entry, exit, and flatten background stripes directly on the chart for each fill that happens. Useful for visual review of executed trades.
When unchecked: No stripes. The chart is clean of execution markers.
Note: This is separate from the hosted indicator’s background above. The hosted indicator paints signal state (what the design wants). Strategy signal backgrounds paint actual executed trades (what NinjaTrader did).
This is a text field at the bottom of the Fusion Strategy group. It shows a computed multi-line diagnostic. You cannot edit it; anything you type is ignored.
When the strategy is not behaving like you expect, this is the first place to look. It contains:
PM: token in your SetupID.IsExitOnSessionCloseStrategy or EntriesPerDirection).If your strategy is healthy you will see something like:
Runtime Contract: Strategy Payload
License: All Fusion components hydrated
PM Rules: OPP=REV CONF=NONE DUP=IGN EXE=EXITONLY
Entries: 1 (Entry1, contracts=1)
Risk: MDL $500 NMP $1000 SEF Yes/30s
Preflight: OK
If you see “Degraded Strategy Payload” or “Strategy Payload (Lifecycle Warning)”, read the detail text carefully. Common causes:
STRAT:ENTRY block. The strategy can plot but not trade.Everything above this point is the properties window (the grid you set before enabling the strategy). This section is the on-chart panel — the part you actually use while the strategy is running.
When the strategy is enabled and Show Chart Control Panel is on, a FUSION STRATEGY panel appears docked on the right side of the chart, in its own column (on some chart setups it appears inside NinjaTrader’s Chart Trader area instead). This section documents every button, toggle, and readout on it.
The one rule that matters most. Use the Fusion panel’s buttons to manage a Fusion Strategy position — not NinjaTrader’s own Buy / Sell / Close / Reverse buttons in Chart Trader. The Fusion buttons keep the strategy’s view of your position and the broker account in agreement. NinjaTrader’s own order buttons act on the account directly and can leave the strategy and the account out of step — which is exactly what the “OUT OF SYNC” warning is telling you happened. For this reason, NinjaTrader’s native Close button is intentionally greyed out while Fusion Strategy is running (see the FAQ); its Reverse button is left available.
At the top of the panel:
The first row of the panel shows what the strategy is running right now — the template name, Custom SetupID (a pasted SetupID with no template), or No template / SetupID (an empty strategy). Next to it sits a 🔒 lock button.
The row is locked by default so nothing can be changed by a stray click. Click 🔒 to unlock it (it becomes 🔓) and an editor expands in place:
.fus template Fusion Builder has saved. The first entry is always ( no template — clear setup ) — choosing it clears both the template and the SetupID, giving you a truly empty strategy. This is the only place that clears both in one step.Will apply: template "Name", Will apply: pasted SetupID (N chars), or Will apply: NO TEMPLATE — clears the SetupID (empty strategy).· staged — press F5 so you know the new setup is staged and waiting for a manual reload.Why this exists: you can load, swap, or completely clear a setup without opening NinjaTrader’s strategy properties window — including loading a first template onto a freshly added, empty strategy.
Directly under the SETUP row:
(starting…) while the strategy loads.✓ STAGED → …), a hint line explains exactly what will happen, and a small F5 button appears next to it — press it to reload and apply. Click the stage button again to un-stage. A staged switch cancels itself after 2 minutes if you never reload, so you can’t accidentally leave a mode change armed all afternoon. (Orders cancelled by staging to Live are not restored by un-staging.)This is the on-demand version of the Backtest Review Mode property in Section 3 — same modes, no trip to the properties window.
These tell you what the strategy currently sees. You do not click them.
ES JUN26) so there is never any doubt which contract these prices — and your orders — belong to.FLAT, or LONG n @ price / SHORT n @ price.NO TEMPLATE OR SETUPID DETECTED, STRATEGY / ACCOUNT OUT OF SYNC, INHERITED ACCOUNT POSITION, PROTECTION LOST, REVERSAL HELD, or TEMPLATE RE-SYNCED OVER A DIFFERENT SETUPID — the full warning text appears at the very bottom of the panel, and the ⚠ chip lights up in the header. Keeping the text at the bottom means an appearing or disappearing warning never shoves the trading buttons around mid-click. Each warning explains what it means and what to do.If you use the Fusion Risk Engine (the account-wide risk monitor installed separately — see the Fusion Risk Engine User Guide), the header chip tells you its status at a glance:
An honest note: a green chip means rules are configured and being monitored. Risk-rule monitoring is reactive — it responds after thresholds are crossed — and does not guarantee any particular outcome. Configure the rules, and verify them, yourself.
The P&L area has two tiers, and you decide what each one shows.
A few things worth knowing:
The big toggle. This is the single control that decides whether the strategy may place new entry orders.
Arming on a live account asks you to confirm first. Disarming never asks.
When arming is refused. The strategy will refuse to arm — with a popup explaining why — in these situations. Disarming is always allowed:
These same rules apply no matter where the arm request comes from — the panel toggle here, or the remote Auto-Trade pill in Fusion Builder’s Control Center.
Whether AUTO TRADE starts armed or disarmed when the strategy loads is set by Start With Auto Trade ON and Backtest Review Mode in Section 3.
Manual entry is an override. The LONG / SHORT buttons place an order in the direction you choose, using the selected block’s size and protective stop — they do not run that block’s entry conditions. That’s the point of a manual button. So even if you wired a block thinking of it as your “short” setup, pressing LONG on it still works:
Tip — let the block name carry the intent. Because manual entry doesn’t read a block’s conditions, the cleanest way to remember which block is “your long” and which is “your short” is to name them that way in Fusion Builder (e.g., Long Pullback, Short Breakout). The name shows on the pill, so the intended direction is obvious every time you pick one.
These sit right under LONG / SHORT (manual controls). They close only the strategy’s own position(s), via a safe, account-capped managed exit (they can’t open or reverse the account, and never touch unrelated manual / NT positions). They leave the AUTO TRADE toggle exactly where it is — they never flip AUTO for you:
If AUTO is off, these just close the position(s) and you stay in manual mode. If AUTO is on, the strategy can re-enter on a new signal after the close; if you also want to stop trading, flip AUTO off.
No confirmation dialog (they’re account-safe). Like the rest of this manual cluster, they only appear while AUTO is off — when AUTO is on, close everything with Flatten All (Keep Strategy) or flip AUTO off first.
You can take over the stop or take-profit for one specific entry and place it where you want, while leaving your other entries on their designed levels. Once you have taken it over, you move the level with the up / down nudge buttons on the panel (covered in the next section). (If you also keep NinjaTrader’s own Chart Trader open alongside Fusion Strategy, NinjaTrader’s draggable order lines appear too and you can drag a level there as well — not the intended way, but it works.)
These controls only do something while AUTO TRADE is OFF.
It all works off the selected pill. If your design has more than one entry, first click the pill for the entry you want to work with (see the entry-block pills above). The two toggles below, the on-screen status line, and the nudge buttons then all act on that entry:
With two (or more) entries, you must be on the right pill to move that entry’s stop. Selecting a pill is what tells the controls which entry to act on. If a stop is not moving the way you expect, check that the pill for the entry you mean to adjust is the one selected.
What can be taken over:
ManagedStopLevel and Port C ManagedTargetLevel levels, including direction-aware long/short routed levels.ManagedTrailingStopLevel keep moving automatically by design, so Fusion does not hand them over as fixed user-managed levels.Next to the stop and target controls are small up / down (caret) buttons. They move the selected entry’s stop or target right from the panel — handy when you want precise, repeatable adjustments.
Listed from gentlest to most drastic:
| Button | What it closes | AUTO | Confirms first? | Strategy after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sync / Reduce Account | Reduces or closes the broker account’s existing position toward what the strategy expects. Reduce-only — it never opens or increases a position. | unchanged | yes | enabled |
| Flatten All — Auto Off (Keep Strategy) | Everything on this instrument/account — the strategy’s position and any manual or diverged position. | turns OFF | yes | enabled |
| ⚠ Panic — Flatten All + Disable Strategy | Everything, then disables the strategy entirely. | turns OFF | yes | disabled |
A few things worth knowing:
These buttons work even with no template loaded. Sync / Reduce Account, Flatten All (Keep Strategy), and Panic are account-safety controls — they do not need a design to do their job. If you add Fusion Strategy to a chart with an existing account position and no template, you still have a full set of ways to get flat.
The mode switch lives at the top of the panel, in the SESSION cluster under the SETUP row — see The SESSION Cluster for the full description. In short: a read-only CURRENT MODE: badge shows whether you are in Live Trading Mode or Backtest Review Mode, and one button stages a switch to the other mode for the next reload (with an inline F5 button to apply it, and a 2-minute auto-cancel if you never reload). Staging to Live gives you the clean flat restart that used to be called “Stage Live Flat.”
At the bottom of the panel, visually separated from everything above it, sits an amber-bordered card headed ⚡ TRADE PLANNER with a 100% MANUAL chip. The caption says it plainly: “Your own bracket trades — independent of the Builder strategy.”
Everything above this card belongs to the design you built in Fusion Builder. The Trade Planner does not. It places your trade — a market entry with a stop-loss and a profit target attached — sized and priced by the rows on the card. It works on a completely bare strategy: no template, no SetupID, nothing designed. Add Fusion Strategy to a chart, leave the setup empty, switch to Live Trading Mode, and you can still trade manual brackets with protection attached.
The Trade Planner is disabled for new entries in Backtest Review Mode. In that mode the card shows disabled copy, and the LONG / SHORT / FIRE / reprice controls stay locked so Backtest Review cannot accidentally create a fresh manual planner trade. Existing safety exits are still available: staged plan discard, resting-limit cancel, filled-trade close and stop/target management, Flatten All (Keep Strategy), and Panic are not removed just because the planner is locked.
The Trade Planner also requires market data to be moving. This does not mean “real broker data only.” Live broker data, NinjaTrader’s Simulated Data Feed, and Playback / Market Replay can all qualify when they are actively producing Last ticks. A closed-market live feed, paused Playback, disconnected feed, or stale/no-tick stream will lock new planner entries until executable market data starts moving again.
The input rows. Each row is laid out the same way — a label, an optional lock, − and + buttons around a typeable value box, and (where it applies) a unit button:
2 means the take-profit is placed twice as far away as the stop, 1.5 means one-and-a-half times as far, and so on. Type a ratio (or step it) and the TP distance updates to match, in the SL’s unit.MKT for a market entry (the planner enters at the current price the moment you press a button).A few things about the boxes:
20 Ticks switched to Points becomes 20 Points. Check the value after changing units.The lock toggle next to SL, TP, and R:R. Each of these rows has a small lock icon. Click it to close the lock and that row freezes — both its number in the box and its flag on the chart stop moving until you click the lock open again. A frozen row still shows you its value; it just can’t be changed by stepping the box or by dragging its flag, so a level you’ve decided on can’t be nudged by accident. The R:R lock locks (or unlocks) the stop and target together in one click — handy when you want to freeze the whole bracket shape at once. Every new planner trade starts with the locks open.
The RISK / REWARD readout. Below the rows, a single line translates your current settings into money and a ratio — for example RISK −$763 · REWARD +$1,300 · 1.7R. RISK is what you stand to lose if the stop is hit, REWARD is what you stand to make if the target is hit, and the R value is your reward-to-risk ratio. It updates live as you change any row, so you can see the dollars before you place the trade.
Placing and managing the trade:
The rules that keep it safe:
Heads-up on reloads: if you press F5 or disable the strategy while a planner position is open, the position itself survives at the broker, but the strategy no longer recognizes it as a planner trade after the reload — the reload-protection settings decide what happens to it (by default it is flattened). Close planner trades before reloading when you can.
F5 creates a fresh strategy instance. It does not simply resume every part of the old strategy brain. Fusion checks the live account, the working broker orders, and its saved Fusion ownership record before deciding what to do.
The safest habit is simple: if you are in a live position, avoid F5 unless you intentionally want Fusion’s reload protection to take over.
When the strategy has protective orders working, Fusion draws a small flag on the chart at each one’s price level, so you can see your protection at a glance without reading numbers off the panel.
SL 30,575.Entry1 · x2 — so you can tell which entry the level protects and for how many contracts.Once you have taken a level over (the Stops/Targets: User Managed toggle, with AUTO TRADE OFF — see Managing One Entry’s Stop or Target above), you can drag its flag directly on the chart instead of (or as well as) using the nudge buttons:
The nudge buttons remain the precise, step-at-a-time alternative; dragging is the fast, visual one. Use whichever fits the moment.
Risk rules — Max Daily Loss, Net Max Profit, Max Drawdown, watermarks, trade-count guardrails, time cutoffs, cooldowns — are not configured in this properties window.
Strategy-owned risk rules live in Fusion Builder, on the outer Strategy & Risk page, and they travel with your SetupID. When you set Max Daily Loss = $500 in Fusion Builder, save the template, and load it into Fusion Strategy, the value comes along inside the SetupID’s |RISK: token.
Account-wide rules are configured in Fusion Risk Engine, not in this strategy properties window. Use Fusion Risk Engine when you want a separate account-level monitor that can watch manual trades, strategies, and multiple accounts. See the Fusion Risk Engine User Guide.
You can see the active risk values in the Runtime Configuration diagnostic field (see Section 6). If a rule is set, it appears in the diagnostic line; if it is zero or unset, it does not.
For reference, here is every rule that can ride inside the SetupID |RISK: token. The two-letter code is what you may see in the Runtime Configuration diagnostic.
| Code | Name | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| MDL | Max Daily Loss | Flatten + halt for the session when session P&L falls to or below -MDL |
| NMP | Net Max Profit | Flatten + halt for the session when session P&L rises to or above NMP |
| MPT | Max Per-Trade Loss | Exit the current trade only when its open loss reaches the threshold; later trades can still happen |
| MPTPCT | (flag) | When set, MPT is interpreted as a percentage of account, not a dollar amount |
| MDD | Max Drawdown | Flatten + halt when drawdown from session high equity reaches the threshold |
| MDDP | (flag) | When set, MDD is interpreted as a percentage of session peak, not a dollar amount |
| MTD | Max Trades / Day | Block new entries when this many trades have occurred today |
| MCL | Max Consecutive Losses | Block new entries after this many consecutive losing trades |
| MCW | Max Consecutive Wins | Block new entries after this many consecutive winning trades (rare; used in profit-taking discipline) |
| MLTD | Max Losses / Day | Block new entries after this many losing trades today |
| MWTD | Max Wins / Day | Block new entries after this many winning trades today |
| WML | Watermark Level | Arm the watermark protection when daily P&L reaches this level |
| WMD | Watermark Dollar Drawback | After watermark is armed, flatten if P&L drops by this many dollars from the post-arm peak |
| WMP | Watermark Percent Drawback | After watermark is armed, flatten if P&L drops by this percent from the post-arm peak |
| TC | Time Cutoff | Hard intraday flatten + halt at this clock time (e.g. 15:55) |
| TWS | Trading Window Start | Block new entries before this clock time |
| TWE | Trading Window End | Block new entries after this clock time (does not flatten open positions) |
| SEF | Session End Flatten | When true, NinjaTrader’s session-close flatten is owned by Fusion (see overlap section below) |
| SEFS | Session End Flatten Seconds | How many seconds before session close the SEF flatten fires |
| CB | Cooldown Bars | After a flatten, suppress re-entries for this many bars |
This distinction matters. MaxPerTradeLoss will not protect you from a series of -$200 losses adding up to -$1,000. That is what MaxDailyLoss is for.
Three different settings can flatten your position at session close. You need to understand which is in charge to avoid surprises.
1. NinjaTrader’s Exit On Session Close (in the NT base properties at the top of the window)
This is NinjaTrader’s built-in session-close flatten. Fusion’s default is True with ExitOnSessionCloseSeconds = 30. NinjaTrader will flatten any open strategy position 30 seconds before the session ends, regardless of what Fusion is doing.
2. Fusion’s SEF (Session End Flatten) inside the SetupID RISK: token
This is configured on the Strategy & Risk page of Fusion Builder. When enabled, Fusion takes over session-close flatten responsibility and applies any session-end-related logic in the design. The number of seconds is set by SEFS.
3. Fusion’s TC (Time Cutoff) inside the SetupID RISK: token
A hard intraday time at which Fusion flattens regardless of session boundaries. For example, if you want to be flat at 3:55 PM every day even though the session continues past that, use TC = 15:55.
When the strategy loads, Fusion’s Configure-time code reads the SEF and SEFS values from your SetupID and writes them into NinjaTrader’s IsExitOnSessionCloseStrategy and ExitOnSessionCloseSeconds base properties. This means:
SEF=1 and SEFS=30: NinjaTrader’s Exit On Session Close becomes True, with 30 seconds. Even if you manually unchecked it in the grid, Fusion will flip it back on.SEF=0 (off): NinjaTrader’s Exit On Session Close becomes False. The strategy holds positions through session close. If you have managed stops attached, they may be rejected by the broker when the market is closed — read the warning text in the Runtime Configuration diagnostic.You will see a one-line note in the NinjaTrader log (and in the Runtime Configuration diagnostic) every time Fusion overrides one of these base properties, so the override is never hidden from you.
Most users: Build your design in Fusion Builder. Set Session End Flatten = On in the Strategy & Risk tab. Save the template. Load it in Fusion Strategy. Do not manually touch NinjaTrader’s Exit on Session Close — let Fusion drive it.
Advanced users: If you want full manual control (for example, you want session close to flatten but a custom Fusion rule fires earlier), set SEF=0 in your design and use TC for the intraday cutoff instead. NinjaTrader will not flatten at session close. Your design owns the timing entirely.
If you are loading Fusion Strategy for the first time and want a sensible “do no harm” configuration, here is the exact set of settings to use.
NinjaTrader base properties:
Sim101 (not your real broker, not yet)On bar closeReal-Money Trading Safeguard:
Control Panel:
Fusion Strategy:
Hosted Fusion Indicator:
Panel OnlyClick Apply. Read the Runtime Configuration text. If it says “Strategy Payload” and “Preflight: OK”, you are good to check the Enabled column.
Watch the chart for the first few bars. Click AUTO TRADE on the panel when you are comfortable.
Q: I changed a property but nothing happened.
A: Click Apply at the bottom of the dialog. Most properties only take effect after Apply. Some properties (like Template File) trigger an F5 reload behind the scenes, which can take a few seconds.
Q: I checked Confirm Real-Money Trading on a Sim account. Did I just do something dangerous?
A: No. The safeguard only matters when the Account is a real broker connection. Sim accounts use fake money regardless. The safeguard is one extra layer of protection on real accounts only.
Q: The Runtime Configuration says “Empty SetupID” but I pasted one in.
A: Click Apply. If still empty, the paste may not have taken — try the Paste SetupID From Clipboard quick-action checkbox instead of pasting into the text box directly.
Q: My strategy is enabled but no trades are firing.
A: Walk down this checklist in order:
Q: The strategy panel says “STRATEGY / ACCOUNT OUT OF SYNC.”
A: Your tracked strategy position differs from your actual broker position. This usually happens when you placed a manual trade in Chart Trader while the strategy was running. Click Sync / Reduce Account to bring the account back in line (it only reduces or closes — it never opens or increases a position), or Flatten All (Keep Strategy) to close everything and start clean. See The On-Chart Control Panel for the full button reference.
Q: Why is NinjaTrader’s own Close button greyed out while my strategy runs?
A: With a hosted strategy, clicking NinjaTrader’s native Close button can silently stop the strategy without the panel being able to react. To avoid that, Fusion disables NinjaTrader’s native Close while Fusion Strategy is running. Use Close All / Close Selected or Flatten All (Keep Strategy) on the Fusion panel instead. (NinjaTrader’s Reverse button is left available.)
Q: Should I use NinjaTrader’s own Buy / Sell / Close buttons, or the Fusion panel buttons?
A: Use the Fusion panel buttons — the LONG / SHORT buttons for entries, and the close/flatten buttons to exit. They keep the strategy’s view of your position and the broker account in agreement. NinjaTrader’s own order buttons act on the account directly and can leave the strategy and account out of step — the cause of the “OUT OF SYNC” warning.
Q: I want to see the actual entry and exit signals on the chart, not just the background colors.
A: That is controlled in Fusion Builder under the Signal Viz tab when you design the template. The Fusion Strategy properties window only shows or hides the backgrounds.
Q: I have a max daily loss of $500 in my design. Where do I see if I’ve hit it?
A: The Runtime Configuration diagnostic shows the threshold. The on-chart control panel shows your current daily P&L. When the rule fires, the panel will show “PROTECTION LOST” or a flatten reason, and AUTO TRADE will auto-disarm if it was armed.
Q: I changed the SetupID but the chart still shows the old indicator plots.
A: After changing SetupID or Template File, NinjaTrader needs to reload. Press F5 on the chart, or click Apply twice. If a hosted Fusion Indicator panel is showing, it may need to be manually moved back to the correct position — see the panel-placement note below.
Q: I typed a new SetupID into the grid, reloaded, and my old design came back.
A: A Template File was still selected. While a template is linked, the template owns the SetupID — every reload re-reads the SetupID from the .fus file, replacing whatever you typed (and the panel shows a “template re-synced” warning when this happens). Use the Paste SetupID From Clipboard quick action or the panel’s SETUP row instead — both automatically un-link the template so your paste sticks. See Who Wins at a Reload.
Q: Can I place my own trades without loading a template?
A: Yes — that is exactly what the Trade Planner is for. Add Fusion Strategy to a chart, leave the setup empty, switch to Live Trading Mode, and use the amber ⚡ TRADE PLANNER card at the bottom of the panel to place manual bracket trades (entry + stop + target) with typeable Qty/SL/TP and Ticks/Points/ATR units. New planner entries also require market data to be moving; Simulated Data Feed and Playback / Market Replay can be used for practice when they are producing ticks. The account-safety buttons — Sync / Reduce Account, Flatten All (Keep Strategy), and Panic — also work without a template. See The Trade Planner.
Q: I clicked AUTO TRADE and got a popup saying arming is blocked.
A: The strategy refuses to arm when arming would be meaningless or unsafe, and the popup tells you which case you hit: a configuration/safety error is active (the popup quotes the reason — fix it and Apply or reload), no template or SetupID is loaded, a Trade Planner position is open (close it first so your hand-placed stop/target are not re-priced), or the strategy is in Backtest Review Mode (stage a switch to Live Trading Mode and reload). The same rules apply when arming remotely from Fusion Builder’s Control Center. See When arming is refused.
Q: The hosted Fusion Indicator landed on top of the price chart and crushed the price scale.
A: This is a known cosmetic issue with workspaces saved before Fusion v1.0. Right-click the hosted indicator in the chart, choose Remove, then re-add the strategy. New workspaces will not have this problem.
Q: I want to optimize parameters in NinjaTrader’s Strategy Analyzer.
A: Use Fusion Optimizer, not Fusion Strategy. The Optimizer reads your saved Fusion Builder template, including the optimization payload and parameter map. See the Fusion Optimizer User Guide.
This guide reflects Fusion Strategy V1.0 — both the properties window and the on-chart control panel. Last updated 2026-06-28. Property and button names may evolve in future versions.