NinjaTrader DOM Tutorial: Reading and Trading from the Order Book

Key takeaways

• NinjaTrader 8 has a built-in DOM, the SuperDOM, opened from New > Static SuperDOM or Dynamic SuperDOM in the Control Center.
• In the SuperDOM, a single left click in the Buy or Sell column sends a limit order by default, so learn the mouse conventions before using a live account.
• TEVO DOM is a free indicator that opens its own ladder with order book changes and Time & Sales; its orders need an account selected and a second click.
• Global Simulation Mode and the Sim101 account let you learn order entry without sending anything to a live account.
• A DOM shows displayed liquidity that can change or vanish: it describes the market, it does not predict it.

The NinjaTrader DOM in practice

A depth of market (DOM) is a vertical price ladder showing the resting bids and offers around the current price, along with the trades that print against them. In NinjaTrader 8 you can work with two: the built-in SuperDOM, which is also the platform’s main ladder for placing and managing orders, and TEVO DOM, a free indicator from Trading Evolution that opens a separate DOM window with order book changes and Time & Sales.

This tutorial is about using a NinjaTrader DOM: opening it, reading its columns, sending and cancelling orders, and setting up the platform so that practice stays in simulation. What the ladder says about supply and demand, and its traps, is covered in our guide on how to read the DOM. Market depth requires a connection that supplies Level 2 data for the contract; if the platform is not installed and connected yet, follow our NinjaTrader 8 setup guide first. Every order sent from a DOM on a live account is a real order, with real risk.

Open and set up the SuperDOM

In the Control Center, open New and choose Static SuperDOM or Dynamic SuperDOM. On the static ladder, the price rows stay fixed and the inside market moves up and down them. On the dynamic ladder, the inside market stays in place and the prices move; hovering the mouse over the dynamic ladder freezes it, highlighted in red, so that you can place or modify an order without the row changing under the cursor.

Choose the instrument with the instrument selector, or by typing the symbol while the window is selected, and check the contract month. Then set the account in the account selector, the order quantity, the time in force (TIF) and, if you use one, an ATM strategy template, which attaches a stop loss and a profit target to each entry. Resting bids and offers appear in the Buy and Sell columns on either side of the prices.

The SuperDOM can also display additional columns and indicators, configured from its properties. Start with the default layout and add columns only once basic order entry has become automatic: a busy ladder makes it harder to see which account, quantity and template are active.

How the SuperDOM sends, cancels and closes orders

The SuperDOM is fast because a single click sends an order. With the default settings described in the Help Guide:

• Left click in the Buy or Sell column: a limit order at that price.
• Ctrl + left click: a market if touched (MIT) order.
• Middle click (mouse wheel): a stop-limit order, with a small field to set the limit offset in ticks.
• Ctrl + middle click: a stop-market order.
• OCO Order in the right-click menu: groups orders so that a fill or a cancellation of one cancels the others.
• Close button: closes the position and cancels the working orders for that instrument and account; Rev reverses the position.

These conventions can be changed in the SuperDOM properties, for example to make the left button send MIT orders. Whatever you choose, practise until the clicks are automatic on Sim101, because on a live account a stray click is an order.

TEVO DOM: a separate ladder with confirmed orders

TEVO DOM works differently. You add it to a chart like any indicator, and it opens a full DOM in its own window, running on its own thread so the chart is not slowed down. It shows the chart’s market or another one you pick inside the window, and it uses live data only: no Tick Replay, no order book history, and Time & Sales starts when the window opens.

The ladder has seven columns: BID Δ, BID SIZE, DEPTH, PRICE, DEPTH, ASK SIZE and ASK Δ. In the default static mode the rows stay still and recenter only when price nears the top or the bottom; the mouse wheel scrolls, and a middle click or double click recenters. BID Δ and ASK Δ show orders added or pulled at each price over the last ten seconds, excluding size taken by trades, which helps separate cancellations from executions. The Time & Sales panel lists each trade with its time, price and quantity, coloured by side, and highlights trades above an adjustable size.

Order entry is deliberately slower than in the SuperDOM. The account is never saved, so nothing can be sent until you select one. The window sends market orders (BUY MKT and SELL MKT) with an optional ATM strategy, plus CANCEL ORDERS and FLATTEN, and by default each buy, sell or flatten needs a second click within three seconds.

Order entry safety checklist for the NinjaTrader DOM

Most expensive DOM mistakes are account, instrument or quantity mistakes, not reading mistakes. A short checklist covers them.

• Turn on Global Simulation Mode in the Tools menu of the Control Center while you learn: every order entry window then accepts simulation accounts only.
• Set a Simulation color in the Trading settings, so any window on a simulation account is tinted.
• Check the account selector each time you open a DOM, and keep Sim101 selected until your process is written down and tested.
• Confirm the instrument and its contract month in the window before the first order.
• Know where Close, Flatten and Cancel are before you need them.
• Check the quantity and the ATM template before each entry; a template carries its own stop and target settings.
• Size positions from your stop distance with the futures position size calculator, not from how the ladder looks.

A practice routine for reading the order book

Reading a DOM is a skill built by repetition. A simple routine works on Sim101 during market hours, or on the Playback connection outside them, where recorded market data runs through the ladder as if it were live.

• Pick one contract and stay with it, so that its usual sizes become familiar.
• Watch a few prices around the inside market rather than the whole ladder.
• When a large size appears, follow it: is it traded through, absorbed, or pulled before price reaches it? On TEVO DOM, a negative ASK Δ with no trades means size was pulled.
• Compare with the tape: large prints in Time & Sales, or the bubbles of TEVO Big Trades on the chart, show what actually executed. Our guide to Time and Sales in NinjaTrader 8 covers the tape window itself.
• Note what you saw and what price did next, without trading it, over several sessions.

Displayed depth is only part of the picture: hidden orders and fast cancellations are not fully visible, and size can disappear the moment price approaches. Use the DOM to describe what is happening at your levels, and keep risk decisions in your written plan. Live trading carries a real risk of loss.

Put it into practice

• TEVO DOMTEVO DOM, a free Level 2 depth of market for NinjaTrader 8: price ladder, depth, size changes, Time & Sales and confirmed order entry in its own window.
• TEVO Big TradesTEVO Big Trades, a free NinjaTrader 8 indicator: large executed trades as bubbles sized by volume, at the bid or at the ask, at their price and time.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. SuperDOM — NinjaTrader 8 Help Guide
2. SuperDOM: Submitting Orders — NinjaTrader 8 Help Guide
3. SuperDOM: Static vs Dynamic Price Ladder — NinjaTrader 8 Help Guide
4. SuperDOM: Managing Positions — NinjaTrader 8 Help Guide
5. Global Simulation Mode — NinjaTrader 8 Help Guide
6. Trading in Simulation — NinjaTrader 8 Help Guide

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