NC Momentum DCA Description
NC Momentum DCA is a fully automated DCA strategy for NinjaTrader 8, and it comes with the full C# source code. DCA makes beautiful equity curves, because losing positions are held until they come back. I built this one to show what that line hides: the open drawdown and the capital you really need. I'm selling the framework and the idea, not an equity curve, and it has no stop loss.
How it works. At each bar close, while flat, it checks the candle: if the body is at least Signal Candle Body Size % of the open (0.5), it trades against it at market, long after a red candle and short after a green one, with Position Size (1). The target is a limit the body times Target Coef (0.35) away. A scale-in limit waits the body times Scale Step Coef (2) against the position, and each fill adds Position Size and places the next one the same distance further, up to Max Scale Ins (5). So the position grows as price moves against it, to six contracts by default, and after each scale-in the target moves to break-even plus BreakEven Target Offset % (0.1). Nothing opens from No Entry Start to No Entry End (16:30 to 18:00). A position closes only at its target, or at market in the Maintenance window (16:50 to 18:00) if Maintain Margin is on (off by default).
What you see. No-entry bars get a rosy background, and Plot Exit Lines draws the target, green, then orange after scale-ins. A VALIDATE button in Chart Trader lists every trade with capital, profit, MAE, the position's total MAE, MFE and end-of-day balances. Capital turns green once it's Profit Target (1,500) above Starting Capital (25,000); Capital - MAE turns red when the open loss breaks the highest end-of-day balance minus Drawdown (1,000).
How to use it. On a chart, press VALIDATE: red cells show where an end-of-day trailing drawdown would have been broken, however nice the curve looks. The body filter is a percentage, so it works on any instrument. Max Scale Ins and Maintain Margin decide how big and how old a losing position can get. Test it in the Strategy Analyzer and on Sim101 first, and use it at your own risk.
Make it yours. The DCA Risks Uncovered video looks at what hides under a pretty equity curve. Use it as is, learn from the code, or change it yourself or with AI like Claude. You could add a hard stop in dollars, a trend filter or a daily trade limit. Signal, orders and validation are kept apart, so it's an easy base to build on. Have some good trades!
