NC Initial Balance Description
NC Initial Balance is an initial balance breakout strategy for NinjaTrader 8, and it comes with the full C# source code. Range breakout systems have been around for ages. My take: let the market build a range, then trade the break. Once I've found a good range window, I like to hold the trade until the trading window ends, so target and stop can both be switched off. It's patient, with at most one long and one short per range.
How it works. It's fully automated on bar close. From Range Start (9:00) to Range End (12:15) it records the highest high and lowest low; the times can cross midnight. In the trade window, Trade Start (12:15) to Trade End (16:25), while flat and with the close inside the range, it places a buy stop Entry Offset (ATR Mult) times ATR (1 x ATR 14) above the range high and a sell stop the same distance below the low, for Position Size (1). Trade Direction is All, Long or Short. An optional HMA filter (HMA Period 100) allows buys only above the HMA and sells only below it. Cancel Orders When Filter Fails pulls a waiting order when its filter turns and places it again later. When one side fills, the other is canceled. The Stop Loss sits at the other side of the range; the Profit Target is a limit order the range size times Profit Target Multiplier (1) away. When the window ends, waiting entries are canceled and an open trade closes at market.
What you see. The range high and low are dashed lines, blue while the range builds and purple during the trade window, which gets a light green background. During a trade, a dashed lime green line marks the target and a dashed red line the stop.
How to use it. Set the times to your session, in chart time; a classic initial balance is the first hour after the open. Try the target off, holding to Trade End, and compare in the Strategy Analyzer. A bigger Entry Offset waits for a clearer break. Run it on Sim101 and in the Strategy Analyzer first, and use it at your own risk.
Make it yours. Like all my frameworks, it comes with a code review video that walks through the source code. Use it as is, learn from the code, or change it yourself or with AI like Claude. You could skip days when the range is too wide, trail the stop, or allow a second entry after a stop-out. Range, entries, filters and orders are separate parts, so it's an easy base to build on. Have some good trades!
