Session Levels Free Asia, London and New York session levels for NinjaTrader 8
by FlowForged Analytics
The high and low of each trading session, the midnight open and the day’s midpoints, drawn on your chart and kept there until price trades through them. Run it on one chart, or let one chart feed every other chart of the instrument.
NinjaTrader 8Five sessionsKept until brokenOpens and midpointsMulti-Chart Relay
Session Levels in its default colors: the Asia (dark blue), London (red) and New York (teal) highs and lows, and the midnight open in purple. The Asia Low stops part-way across, at the bar where price first traded below it. The London Low starts at the bar that made it. Tap to enlarge.
Quick info
Platform
NinjaTrader 8 on Windows
Concept
The high and low of five trading sessions, the midnight open, the previous day’s midpoint and the current session’s midpoint, drawn as horizontal levels
Designed for
Traders who mark the overnight, London and New York ranges by hand each morning
Best used when
You want the session highs and lows on every chart, kept current without redrawing them
Sessions
Asia, London, New York, NY Lunch and Globex, each with its own times, in New York time whatever time zone NinjaTrader is set to
Data
Any NinjaTrader data feed. No Order Flow+ and no Tick Replay. The overnight sessions need a 24-hour (ETH) trading hours template
Access
Free download. Enter your email and we’ll send the link
What Session Levels does
Session Levels tracks the high and low of five trading sessions and draws each one on your chart as a horizontal line, labelled at its right end.
The sessions are Asia, London, New York, NY Lunch and the first two hours after the Globex open. While a session is open, its high and low move with price. When it closes, both stay on the chart and extend to the right until price trades through them. The line then stops at that bar, so you can see which levels are still standing.
Four more marks sit alongside them: the midnight open, the midpoint of the previous day’s range (labelled Prev Daily EQ), a live midpoint of the current session since the Globex open (Session Mid), and dashed vertical lines at each New York hour from 09:00 to 16:00.
GC, 15-minute, with Range Engine on the same chart. The London High near 4,208 stops at the bar that traded above it, the bar that then set the NY High. The Lunch High stops the same way. Lunch Low, Prev Daily EQ, the lime dotted Session Mid and NY Low still run to the right edge. The LEVELS pill sits at bottom left with every toggle on.
Purpose
If you use session ranges, you probably mark them every morning: the overnight high and low, London, the New York open. The lines go out of date as price trades through them, and every chart and timeframe needs its own set.
Marking levels by handRedrawing the overnight and London ranges every morningOld lines left on the chart after price has traded through themThe same levels drawn again on each chart and timeframe
With Session LevelsFive session ranges drawn and updated as price movesLines that stop where price traded through themOne Publisher chart feeding every other chart of the instrument
Why choose it
Levels stay until they are broken. A session high or low stays on the chart, from earlier days too, until price trades through it. The line then stops at that bar.
Live while the session runs. In real time the open session’s high and low, the breaks and the session midpoint update as trades print.
Opens and midpoints included. The midnight open, the previous day’s midpoint and a live session midpoint, each with its own color, line style and toggle.
New York time throughout. The session windows, the midnight open and the hour lines follow New York time and its daylight saving, whatever time zone NinjaTrader is set to.
One chart computes, the others draw. Run a Publisher on one chart, and Viewers on other charts of the instrument draw the same levels on any timeframe.
Controlled from the chart. Each session and mark has its own toolbar toggle. Hiding a level never stops it being tracked, so it comes back at once.
Ready for Strategy Builder. 13 plots expose every session high and low, the midnight open and both midpoints.
One chart or many
Session Levels is one indicator with three roles, set with Role in the settings.
PUBLISHOne chart of the instrument does the work, for example a 1-minute chart with a few days loaded
→
VIEWEREvery other chart of the instrument, any timeframe, draws the same levels
LIVESTALECACHEDOFF
Standalone (the default) tracks the sessions and draws them on its own chart.
Publish does the same, and shares the levels with the other charts of the instrument in the same NinjaTrader.
Viewer tracks no sessions of its own. It draws what the Publisher shares, mapped onto its own bars and in its own colors and line styles, with a badge that shows whether the Publisher is live.
How the relay works across Session Levels, Volume Profile, Hammer, Range Engine, Delta Profile, Refine and HTF FVG, and why it keeps the chart you trade fast: the multi-chart relay guide.
Key capabilities
Asia, London, New York, NY Lunch and Globex highs and lows, each with its own times, colors and label
Multi-chart relay: one background chart loads the weeks of history, and every other chart of the instrument draws the same levels on any timeframe, with a live sync badge and a saved copy so the levels are back straight after a restart. How the relay works
Every time in New York time, with daylight saving, whatever NinjaTrader’s time zone
Levels carried forward until price trades through them, stopped at the break and cleared 48 hours later
Trade-by-trade updates in real time, and bar-close updates on history with no Tick Replay needed
Midnight open and previous day’s midpoint, each kept for 1 to 30 days
A live midpoint of the current session since the Globex open
Dashed New York hour lines, 09:00 to 16:00 by default
Labels that merge or step apart when they would overlap
13 Strategy Builder plots for every session high and low, the midnight open and both midpoints
How to set up Session Levels in NinjaTrader 8
Add FF Session Levels from the Indicators window to your chart. Use a 24-hour (ETH) trading hours template so the overnight sessions have data.
Keep NinjaTrader on your usual time zone. Session times are set and drawn in New York time, and the indicator converts for you. See Sessions and time zone in the User Manual.
For one chart, leave Role on Standalone. For several, set one chart to Publish and the others to Viewer, then reload them.
Use the LEVELS pill to show or hide each session, the midnight open, the two midpoints, the hour lines and the labels.
Optional: set colors under 11. Colors and the line width and style under 10. Appearance.
New to NinjaTrader add-ons? The install guide covers importing, Tick Replay and common fixes.
Session Levels FAQ
Which levels does it draw?
The Asia, London, New York, NY Lunch and Globex highs and lows, the midnight open, the previous day’s midpoint and the current session midpoint.
Does it need Tick Replay?
No. Historical levels update at each bar close. Tick Replay is optional and only places historical breaks at the exact trade.
Which trading hours template should I use?
A 24-hour (ETH) template, so the overnight sessions are on the chart.
Do I need to set NinjaTrader to New York time?
No. Keep NinjaTrader on your usual time zone. Session times are set and drawn in New York time, and the indicator converts for you.
Can I use the levels in Strategy Builder?
Yes. Thirteen plots expose every session high and low, the midnight open, the previous day’s midpoint and the session midpoint. Run automation on a Standalone or Publish chart, since a Viewer leaves the plots empty.
Session Levels does not tell you what price will do at a level. It draws the session highs and lows, opens and midpoints you would otherwise mark by hand, and keeps them current:
Five session ranges, kept until price trades through them
The midnight open and the day’s midpoints drawn for you
The same levels on every chart of the instrument
Session Levels runs alongside the paid FlowForged tools, such as ORB and Range Engine, on the same chart.
Session Levels is free
It comes in one download with all eight free FlowForged tools. Enter your email and we’ll send the NinjaTrader 8 link.
Futures trading involves substantial risk and is not for every investor. Chart examples show past market activity and are not indicative of future results. Session Levels is an analytical tool, not trading advice.
Every horizontal line is a price the indicator tracks. Its color says which session or mark it is, and where it ends says whether price has traded through it.
ASIALONDONNYLUNCHGLOBEX
The color is the session
Each session has a high color and a low color, the same by default. The chips show the defaults: dark blue, firebrick, teal, dark orange and dark goldenrod.
─── NY High
A line to the right edge is standing
Price has not traded through it. It runs from the bar that made it to the latest bar, with its label at the right end. Levels from earlier days stay too.
─── London High |
A line that stops is broken
Price traded through it. The line ends at that bar and its label moves with it. Broken lines are cleared 48 hours later.
MIDNIGHTPREV DAILY EQSESSION MID
Opens and midpoints
The midnight open in purple dash-dot, the previous day’s midpoint (Prev Daily EQ) in blue dashes, and the live session midpoint (Session Mid) in lime dots.
Carried and broken levels
Each session’s high and low go through the same steps.
While the session is open. The high and the low are drawn from the bar that made each one to the right edge, and move as price extends the range.
When it closes. The final high and low become levels that keep extending to the right.
When price trades through. A high is broken when price trades above it, a low when price trades below it. The line stops at that bar and its label moves with it.
Two days later. A broken level is cleared 48 hours after the break. Unbroken levels stay however old they are, as far back as the chart’s loaded history.
Real time and history
In real time the highs, lows and breaks update on every trade, and the drawn levels refresh up to four times a second. On historical bars they update at each bar close, using the bar’s high and low, so Tick Replay is not needed. With Tick Replay on, historical breaks are placed at the exact trade.
Labels
Labels sit just above the right end of each line. Two labels that end at the same place and nearly the same price merge into one, such as NY High | Lunch High. Labels that would still overlap step down.
Two levels of the same session can be on the chart at once, for example Asia Highs from two different days, when neither has been broken. The Strategy Builder plot for a session uses the most recent one.
Sessions and time zone
Five session windows, each with its own toggle and its own start and end time.
Session
Default window
Labels
Asia
20:00 to 03:00
Asia High / Low
London
03:00 to 09:30
London High / Low
New York
09:30 to 16:00
NY High / Low
NY Lunch
12:00 to 13:00
Lunch High / Low
Globex
18:00 to 20:00
Globex High / Low
Time zone
Every time on this page is New York time. The indicator converts each bar from NinjaTrader’s own time zone to New York time, with daylight saving, before it checks the session windows, the midnight open, the Globex open that Session Mid starts from and the hour lines. Whatever time zone NinjaTrader is set to, the levels sit on the same candles. That includes the weeks in March and October or November when US and European clocks change on different dates.
If you entered the session times in your own time zone to make an earlier version line up, set them back to New York times.
01–05. Asia, London, NY, NY Lunch and Globex Session
Show Asia / Show London / Show NY / Show NY Lunch / Show GlobexOn
Draws that session’s high and low. Same as A, L, NY, LU and GX on the toolbar. The session is still tracked while hidden.
Start Hour / Start Minuteper session
When the session opens, New York time, 0 to 23 and 0 to 59.
End Hour / End Minuteper session
When the session closes, New York time. An end earlier in the day than the start crosses midnight, as Asia’s 20:00 to 03:00 does. Any of the five sessions can cross midnight.
Which bars count
A session counts the bars that trade inside its window. NinjaTrader stamps each bar at its close, so on a 1-minute chart the New York session runs from the bar stamped 09:31 (09:30 to 09:31) to the bar stamped 16:00 (15:59 to 16:00). On a 15-minute chart NY Lunch starts with the bar stamped 12:15. When the bar length does not divide the session times, as with 60-minute bars and a 09:30 start, the bar that spans the start or end counts toward the session it ends in: the 09:00 to 10:00 bar is part of New York, not London.
Tick, range and volume bars have no fixed length. On those charts a session starts with the bar during which its start time passes and ends with the last bar that closes by its end time. In real time, and with Tick Replay, trades after the end time are never added to the session’s high or low.
Opens, midpoints and hour lines
Midnight open
The opening price of the first bar that opens at or after 00:00 New York time: the bar stamped 00:01 on a 1-minute chart, 00:15 on a 15-minute chart and 01:00 on a 60-minute chart. That bar must open within 30 minutes of midnight. On tick, range and volume charts it is the first bar that starts after the bar in which midnight passes. The line runs from that bar to the New York close (the NY session end time).
06. Midnight Open
Show Midnight OpenOn
Same as MO on the toolbar.
Line StyleDashDot
Solid, Dash, Dot, DashDot or DashDotDot.
Days1
How many days of midnight opens stay on the chart, 1 to 30. Older ones are cleared after the New York close.
Previous day’s midpoint
Half way between the high and the low of the previous daily bar, rounded to the tick, labelled Prev Daily EQ on the chart. It stays on the chart, extending right, until the next daily bar closes and replaces it.
07. Prev Daily EQ
Show Prev Daily EQOn
Same as EQ on the toolbar.
Line StyleDash
Solid, Dash, Dot, DashDot or DashDotDot.
Days1
How many previous-day midpoints are shown, 1 to 30. 1 shows the most recent only.
Session Mid
Half way between the highest and lowest prices traded since the most recent Globex open (the Globex session start, 18:00 New York time by default), rounded to the tick. One line for the current session only, from the Globex open to the right edge. It moves with each new session high or low and starts again at the next Globex open. On a trading hours template without the overnight session it becomes the midpoint of the day session.
08. Full Session Mid
Show Full Session MidOn
Same as MID on the toolbar.
Line StyleDot
Solid, Dash, Dot, DashDot or DashDotDot.
Line Width2
1 to 5 pixels, for this line only. Every other level uses the Line Width under 10. Appearance.
NY hour lines
A dashed vertical on the first bar of each New York hour. Like the sessions, the lines stay on the New York hour whatever NinjaTrader is set to. They need a bar that closes exactly on the hour, which minute and second charts have and tick, range and volume charts usually do not.
09. Hourly Lines
Show NY Hour LinesOn
Same as HR on the toolbar.
Hour Line ColorGray
Color of the vertical lines.
Hour Line Opacity (%)60
10 to 100. Lower is more subtle.
Hour Line Width1
1 to 4 pixels.
Restrict Hour Lines to SessionOn
Draws lines only from the start hour to the end hour below. Off draws every hour.
The first and last New York hours that get a line, both included: 09:00 to 16:00 by default.
Multi-chart relay
A Publisher tracks the sessions on one chart and shares the levels in memory with every Viewer on the same channel: any chart in the same NinjaTrader, in any open workspace. A Viewer maps the levels onto its own bars, so its timeframe does not matter. Role changes take effect when the chart reloads.
00. Multi-Chart Relay
RoleStandalone
Standalone tracks and draws on this chart. Publish does the same and shares the levels. Viewer draws a Publisher’s levels and tracks no sessions itself.
Channelblank = auto
Blank uses the instrument’s root symbol, such as NQ or ES, so every contract month pairs and the pairing survives rollover. Micro and full-size contracts have different roots: an NQ Publisher and an MNQ Viewer must both set the same Channel. Also used to run more than one Publisher on an instrument. Not case-sensitive.
Debug ModeOff
Prints relay activity to the NinjaTrader Output window.
Finding the Publisher
Either chart can load first. A Viewer picks up a Publisher as soon as it starts sharing, with no reload. There is one Publisher per channel: a second Publish instance on the same channel takes over and the first goes quiet, and if the newer one is closed the first takes the channel back.
The sync badge
A Viewer shows its connection state at the end of its toolbar pill, as the channel name plus a status.
● NQgreen
Live. The Publisher has been heard from in the last 10 seconds.
NQ 15s · NQ 2mamber
Stale. A Publisher is registered but has been silent for more than 10 seconds: a frozen chart, a dead feed or a closed market. The age counts up in 15-second steps, then minutes, up to 60m.
NQ CACHEDslate
No Publisher yet. The Viewer is drawing the last levels the Publisher saved to disk.
NQ OFFred
No Publisher on the channel. If one was running and has closed, its last levels stay on the chart. If none has run and there is no saved copy, no levels are drawn until a Publisher starts.
NQ NO CHred
No channel could be worked out for this chart.
With the toolbar pill turned off, or all toolbars hidden from the Master Switch, the same status is written at the top right of the chart, starting with SL, for example SL ● NQ.
What a Viewer takes from the Publisher
The levels come from the Publisher, so the session times and how many days of opens and midpoints are kept are the Publisher’s settings. How they look is the Viewer’s own: colors, line widths, line styles, label text, the label size and color, the toolbar toggles and the hour lines. A Viewer does not fill the Strategy Builder plots, so run automation on a Standalone or Publish chart.
The Publisher saves its levels to Documents\NinjaTrader 8\FlowForged\SessionLevelsCache at most every 5 seconds. A Viewer that loads before any Publisher, for example after a NinjaTrader restart, draws that copy, badged CACHED, until the Publisher connects.
How the relay works across Session Levels, Volume Profile, Hammer, Range Engine, Delta Profile, Refine and HTF FVG, and why it keeps the chart you trade fast: the multi-chart relay guide.
Appearance settings
10. Appearance
Line Width1
1 to 5 pixels, for every level except Session Mid.
Session Line StyleSolid
The line style of all ten session highs and lows.
Show Session LabelsOn
The labels at the line ends. Same as LBL on the toolbar.
Label Text Size10
6 to 20.
Show Toolbar PillOn
Shows this instance’s pill on the chart. Takes effect on chart reload.
EnabledOn
Master power. Off draws nothing, while tracking and sharing continue. Same as the power button on the toolbar.
11. Colors
Session high and low colorsper session
A High Color and a Low Color for each session, for example Asia High Color and Asia Low Color. Defaults: Asia DarkBlue, London Firebrick, NY Teal, Lunch DarkOrange, Globex DarkGoldenrod.
Midnight Open ColorMediumPurple
The midnight open line.
Prev Daily EQ ColorDodgerBlue
The previous day’s midpoint line.
Full Session Mid Color#A3E635
The Session Mid line, lime.
Label ColorAntiqueWhite
Every label.
Label Text
Asia High Label … Globex Low Label“Asia High” … “Globex Low”
The text on each of the ten session lines.
Midnight Open Label“Midnight Open”
The text on the midnight open line.
Prev Daily EQ Label“Prev Daily EQ”
The text on the previous day’s midpoint line.
Full Session Mid Label“Session Mid”
The text on the Session Mid line.
Toolbar
Every button is a display toggle for this chart only. Levels keep being tracked while hidden, so switching one back on shows it at once, and a Publisher’s toggles never change what its Viewers receive.
LEVELSALNYLUGXMOEQMIDHRLBL
SL·VIEWALNYLUGXMOEQMIDHRLBL● NQ
As it sits on the chart, default settings. Top: Standalone or Publish. Bottom: a Viewer on NQ with a live Publisher. On toggles in teal, off in grey.
Power hides or shows everything this instance draws on the chart, and follows the FlowForged Master Switch. It turns red when off.
A, L, NY, LU and GX show or hide the Asia, London, New York, NY Lunch and Globex highs and lows.
MO, EQ and MID show or hide the midnight open, the previous day’s midpoint and Session Mid.
HR shows or hides the NY hour lines, and LBL the labels.
On a Viewer the pill reads SL·VIEW and ends with the sync badge described under Multi-chart relay.
The Master Switch pill at the top right of the chart turns drawing on or off for every FlowForged indicator on the chart, and its Tbars button (or Ctrl+Alt+T) hides or shows all of their toolbars.
Outputs
Thirteen Strategy Builder plots expose the levels to automated rules: AsiaHigh, AsiaLow, LondonHigh, LondonLow, NYHigh, NYLow, LunchHigh, LunchLow, MidnightOpen, PrevDailyEQ, GlobexHigh, GlobexLow and FullSessionMid.
While a session is open, its two plots hold its current high and low. Once it closes, they hold the most recent unbroken high and low of that session. The midnight open, previous day’s midpoint and Session Mid plots hold the latest value. A plot reads 0 when there is no level to report. Values update at each bar close. A Viewer leaves the plots empty.
Requirements
Platform
NinjaTrader 8 on Windows. No Order Flow+ subscription required.
Data
Any NinjaTrader data feed (Rithmic, CQG, Kinetick and others). Tick Replay is optional: it only places historical breaks at the exact trade.
Chart
Any instrument and bar type. A 24-hour (ETH) trading hours template for the Asia, London and Globex sessions, the midnight open and Session Mid. The NY hour lines need a minute or second chart.
Time zone
Any. Session times are New York times, converted from NinjaTrader’s time zone with daylight saving.