NC MACD Description
NC MACD is a MACD indicator for NinjaTrader 8, and it comes with the full C# source code. The classic MACD is fine, but I wanted two things it doesn't give you: a histogram that tells you at a glance whether momentum is growing or fading, and one value a strategy can read without extra code. So this version colors the histogram by direction and puts that state in an API plot. It's still built on moving averages, so it lags like any MACD. It describes momentum, it doesn't predict it.
How it works. The MACD line is a fast moving average minus a slow one, with Fast Length 12 and Slow Length 26. The Average line is a moving average of the MACD with Signal Length 9, and the histogram is the MACD minus that Average. Both averages are EMA by default, like the classic MACD, but Oscillator MA Type and Signal Line MA Type each let you pick EMA, SMA, HMA, TMA, TEMA, VWMA or WMA on their own. On every bar the histogram is compared with the previous one: which side of zero is it on, and is it rising?
What you see. A blue MACD line and an orange Average line in their own panel, with a gray zero line. The histogram has four colors: teal above zero and rising, light blue above zero and falling, pale violet red below zero and rising, and red below zero and falling. Turn on Color Bars and your price bars take the same four colors, so you can read momentum without looking down. It calculates on each tick, so the colors update while the bar forms.
How to use it. The color change is the moment to watch. Teal turning light blue means upside momentum is fading, and red turning pale violet red means selling is easing. The hidden API plot holds the same four states: 2 above zero and rising, 1 below zero and rising, -1 above zero and falling, -2 below zero and falling. So a positive value always means the histogram is rising. Your strategy or the Strategy Builder can read it directly; just remember that on a live chart it can change before the bar closes.
Make it yours. Use it as is, learn from the code, or change it yourself or with AI like Claude. You could add an alert when the histogram changes color, a signal when the MACD crosses its Average or zero, or a minimum change so tiny wiggles don't flip the color. All the logic sits in one short method, so it's an easy place to start. Have some good trades!
