NinjaTrader 8 Chart Settings for Futures Beginners

Most of what a NinjaTrader 8 chart shows is decided in one window, the Data Series. The NinjaTrader 8 chart settings a futures beginner should understand, plus the platform time zone and chart templates.

Published 11 October 2026 · Updated 3 November 2026 · 6 min read

Key takeaways

The Data Series window (right-click > Data Series, or Ctrl + F) holds the settings that shape a chart: instrument, bar type and value, Tick Replay, data to load, end date and trading hours.
Futures symbols include a contract month, and the merge policy decides how older contracts are joined to the current one in history.
The trading hours template defines the session: data outside it is ignored, which changes highs, lows and every session-based indicator.
The platform time zone, in Tools > Settings > General, applies to every chart and to all market data.
NinjaTrader stamps each bar with its closing time, not its opening time.

NinjaTrader 8 chart settings: where they live

NinjaTrader 8 chart settings sit in three places. The Data Series window decides what data the chart shows and how it is cut into bars. The Chart Properties window, opened with a right-click and Properties, controls display elements such as the chart toolbar, the horizontal scroll bar and how bars are spaced. And the platform settings, under Tools > Settings in the Control Center, hold choices that apply to every chart, starting with the time zone.

The Data Series window opens automatically when you create a chart with New > Chart. On an existing chart, open it with a right-click on the background and Data Series, with Ctrl + F, or by double-clicking the price bars. Select the series in the Applied list and its parameters appear on the right. If the platform is not installed or connected yet, start with the NinjaTrader 8 setup guide.

Instrument and contract month

Futures contracts expire, so a futures symbol in NinjaTrader includes a contract month: type the symbol with its contract month, or pick it from an instrument list or from the search window behind the magnifying glass. A chart of the wrong month can look almost empty, because volume moves to the next contract as expiry approaches.

History across several contracts is handled by the merge policy, in the Market data section of the settings. Merge back adjusted joins older contracts to the current one and shifts their prices by the difference at each roll, which gives a continuous chart. Merge non back adjusted joins them without the shift, so price gaps can appear at the rolls. Do not merge shows only the contract you selected. When the active contract changes, roll your charts and DOM windows to the new month; NinjaTrader offers a rollover function for whole workspaces.

Bar type, value and price base

Type sets the bar type and Value its size. Time-based bars (second, minute, day, week, month) close on the clock. Tick, volume and range bars close after a number of trades, a quantity of contracts or a price range, so they print faster when the market is busy and slower when it is quiet. NinjaTrader also offers Renko, Heiken Ashi, Kagi, Line Break and Point and Figure.

Price based on chooses the data that drives the series: last, bid or ask. Futures charts are normally built on last, the traded price. On an open chart you can also change the interval by typing it: a value followed by a suffix, such as 5M for five-minute bars, with T for tick bars, V for volume bars and R for range bars.

NinjaTrader stamps each bar with its closing time. A one-minute bar labelled 9:31 contains the trades from 9:30 up to just before 9:31. Keep this in mind when you compare a chart with a session start, or with another platform that labels bars by their opening time.

If you plan to use Tick Replay for order flow indicators, note that the Renko and Line Break bar types disable it.

How much data to load

Load data based on lets you load a number of bars, a number of days or a custom date range; the next field, labelled Bars back, Days back or Start date, takes the amount. End date defaults to the current day for a live chart.

More history is not always better. Tick, volume and range series carry far more data than minute bars, and Tick Replay rebuilds every trade on top of that. The Help Guide’s performance tips recommend reducing the days to load, especially on tick-based series. A practical rule is to load what you actually scroll through: a few days for an intraday order flow chart, more for a higher-timeframe context chart.

If a chart looks wrong after a connection problem, a right-click and Reload All Historical Data reloads the base data from your provider for every chart of that instrument, overwriting the locally stored data.

Trading hours templates and sessions

Trading Hours selects a trading hours template: a set of session definitions with a start and an end for each day, plus holidays. NinjaTrader comes with templates for the most common instruments and updates them from its data server, and you can create your own in Tools > Trading Hours. When a template is applied, any data outside its sessions is ignored.

For index futures, the choice usually comes down to the full electronic session, overnight included, or regular trading hours only. The two give different session highs and lows, different opening prices and different values for any indicator that resets each session, such as VWAP or cumulative delta. TEVO VWAP, for example, can start its session at the New York regular-hours open or use the full electronic session.

Two details catch beginners. Break at EOD cuts bars at the end of the session even when they are incomplete, so a range or time bar can close early. And a chart template selected in the Data Series window takes precedence: its saved trading hours replace the ones you chose manually.

Time zone: one setting for the whole platform

NinjaTrader displays all charts and market data in a single time zone, set in Tools > Settings > General. It defaults to your computer’s local time. Real-time executions plotted on charts are time-stamped in that zone as well.

Many futures traders set the platform to the exchange time zone or to New York time, so that session opens and scheduled releases line up with the times quoted in market commentary. Whatever you choose, change it rarely and never in the middle of a session. Time-based indicators read the chart’s clock: several ICT models among the free NinjaTrader 8 indicators from Trading Evolution work in New York time and convert from your chart’s time zone automatically, while other tools expect session times in your own zone. Check each tool’s documentation.

Display settings and chart templates

Chart Properties holds display choices for the whole chart, such as the toolbar and the horizontal scroll bar. The Data Series window holds the look of the bars themselves: chart style, bar width, colours, price marker, and whether the series takes part in auto scaling.

Once a chart looks right, save it. Data Series settings can be saved as defaults for each period type, so that the next minute or tick chart opens the same way, and a whole chart can be saved as a chart template to reuse on other instruments. Remember the precedence rule above: a template’s trading hours win over the ones set in the Data Series window.

A starting checklist for a futures chart

Before you rely on a new chart, run through these points once.

The instrument with the current contract month, and a merge policy you understand.
A bar type you can explain: minutes for context, tick, volume or range for faster reading.
Days to load matched to what you read, smaller on tick-based and Tick Replay charts.
A trading hours template chosen on purpose: full electronic session or regular hours.
The platform time zone set once, before you mark levels.
A saved template, so that every new chart starts the same way.

Settings do not make a chart predictive; they make it consistent, so that what you practise in simulation is what you will see live. Futures trading involves a real risk of loss.

Put it into practice

Frequently asked questions

How do I open the Data Series window in NinjaTrader 8?

Right-click the chart background and choose Data Series, press Ctrl + F, or double-click the price bars. It also opens automatically when you create a chart with New > Chart.

Which trading hours template should I use for index futures?

It depends on what you analyse: the full electronic session includes overnight trading, while regular trading hours show only the day session. Choose one on purpose, because highs, lows and session-based indicators change with it.

Where do I change the time zone in NinjaTrader 8?

In the Control Center, Tools > Settings > General, Time zone. It applies to every chart and to all market data, and it defaults to your computer’s local time.

Why does my bar time look one bar late?

NinjaTrader stamps bars with their closing time. A one-minute bar labelled 9:31 covers the trades from 9:30 to just before 9:31.

Sources

Working with Price Data — NinjaTrader 8 Help Guide
Trading Hours — NinjaTrader 8 Help Guide
Using the Trading Hours window — NinjaTrader 8 Help Guide
Settings: General — NinjaTrader 8 Help Guide
How Bars are Built — NinjaTrader 8 Help Guide
Merge Policy — NinjaTrader 8 Help Guide
Performance Tips — NinjaTrader 8 Help Guide
Reload Historical Data — NinjaTrader 8 Help Guide