AFT provides static and adaptive trailing stops, broken down into trailing stop setting 1, which affects all stop brackets. In addition, the last trail stop provides the ability to change the last bracket to a different trail stop strategy. Adaptive is, for the most part, the simplest way to do anything in trading for targets and stops. For details, view: stop loss and targets for day trading futures with NinjaTrader 8.
All trailing stops are fault-tolerant and will cancel, rebalance vs. position as required during or after restart/reconnect, providing genuine swing trading capability as long as there is a connection.
AFT8 Trailing stops can be controlled in 3 ways
1) DataSeries/TimeSeries: in terms of stop and trail stop size - trade manager bars/data series can be faster or slower than the entry algo bars, providing asymmetric trading entry and trail stops management. You can even add multiple trade managers on the same account and swap to a fast/medium/slow setup - toggle off/on in real-time if desired.
2) Hybrid via the trade manager controller: Real-time interaction, trigger, trail in, perform multiple macro-style tasks such as partial exit + risk reduction
4) Automated via Trade Manager Module: The settings - templates can be viewed, edited, saved, and applied to the selected algo trade manager or all running trade managers as follows.
a) Access via the Trade Manager controller - note any changes at this level are only applied to one row/system running in the market analyzer
b) Access market analyzer > right-click > View columns > Columns bottom left > AFT Trade Man
The view will be the same with either method, but to apply to all running trade managers, use the market analyzer approach as above.
3) Quick Overview of Algo Trade Manager Trail stops
3 sections shared, trail stop 1 and last provide flexible static and dynamic adaptive trailing stops -
3.1 Risk Stop Loss Trail Shared
This governs min and max stop sizing clamping and also provides a 3rd level of trail stop ability based on fib grid range. For example, if a technical stop was stuck under a slow-moving VWAP and the market had spiked, this level will allow the stop loss to move into a % of the range as configured.
3.2 Risk Stop Loss Trail 1
This will operate on all stops as the primary trail stop rule - unless the last trail is configured, then it will not control the last bracket. There are a variety of different trailing stop rules which can be operated in solo mode or in combination. Use the mouse to hover over the parameter to see the trail stops available.
Stick to the basics first - in many cases, there is no need to go beyond the basics. Faster stop trail modes are 1, 2, 4, 8 to 64, and the slower trailing stops are towards the end, 128 to 512.
StopLossTrailMode: the primary trailing stop. There are combinations of rules for the trailing stop - each rule is a bitwise flag allowing mixing. As of v 2025.4, modes are as follows:
Max value of bitwise rules Flags 1 to 512 integers 0 to 1023. 0:Off, 1:Static Ticks User defined, 2:ATR, 4:USAR DoubleBand, 8:PSAR, 16:MinMax, 32:USAR Trail Modes, 64:DynTrend StopTrail, 128:SFG Stop Trail Mode, 256:SFGVWAP, 512: Swing Pivot Trail Stop
StopLossTrail1TriggerCalcMode: when to fire/start the trailing stop - as of v 2025.4, modes are as follows: Max value of bitwise rules Flags 1 to 128 integers 0 to 255. 0:Off, 1:Static Ticks User defined, 2:ATR, 4:USAR Vol Range, 8:RR, 16:USAR Bands, 32:Target1Price, 64:Target2Price, 128:FibGridPct Profit
Tip: A good all-round trailing stop would be the USAR no:32 - usually we mix this with rule 1 - static so it appears as 33. But if you want faster, you can elect to use the PSAR mode 8 or, if really desired, configure the USAR to work faster. Note when making changes, be sure to save your settings with a different name and the workspaces too, to prevent losing changes during updates. Smaller, faster data series can be used also to speed up stops, depending if they are bar affected vs. general day/week range or static.
Tip: Speed up the first trail stop - change to a PSAR from USAR or simply make the trigger smaller.
3.3 Risk Stop Loss Trail Last
An exact clone of 3.2 Risk Stop Loss Trail 1 - but will only operate on the very last bracket. This could be a different trail stop or the same with a different trigger level as an example of usage. Typically, in session breakout workspaces, this is set very wide to allow a trader to decide to leave it loose or to tweak and tighten it or use hybrid controller approaches.
Tip: Speed up the last trail stop - remove trail stop modes 64 and above - e.g., put on 32. Beware this may mean a running trade is taken out before the target or sooner than a wider stop. There will always be compromise as nothing is perfect every time in trading, so be flexible in your expectations and look to the longer term, not one example or one day or one trade. Assess weekly or monthly.
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