How to Journal NinjaTrader 8 Futures Trades Automatically

Futures traders on NinjaTrader usually journal in one of two ways: exporting executions to a spreadsheet at the end of the day, or not at all. Both lose the same thing, which is a complete, honest record you actually review. Here is how to make your NinjaTrader 8 journal fill itself in.

Why fills are the right thing to sync

NinjaTrader records every execution: each partial fill, scale-in and scale-out. A trade is a round trip made of several of those. Journaling from executions, rather than from a summary, means scaled entries and exits are paired correctly and the P&L comes from the contract's real point value, so a micro contract and a full-size contract are never confused.

Setting up automatic sync

1. In The Pips Project, open Settings, Auto-sync, choose NinjaTrader 8, pick the journal account and copy the connection token.
2. Download the add-on file and put it in Documents, NinjaTrader 8, bin, Custom, AddOns.
3. In NinjaTrader, open New, NinjaScript Editor and press F5 to compile.
4. Open New, Pips Sync, paste the token, choose your account and press Start.

From then on, while NinjaTrader is open, the add-on sends your executions and account balance once a minute. The journal pairs fills into complete trades, and sending the same fills twice never creates a duplicate. The add-on remembers your choice and starts again whenever NinjaTrader opens. NinjaTrader keeps the current session's executions, so leave it running while you trade.

What the add-on can and can't do

• It reads executions, balance and open positions. It never places, changes or closes an order.
• No password is stored or sent, only the connection token, which you can revoke from Settings.
• The add-on is a single readable C# file, so you can see exactly what it sends.

Older trades and other platforms

For history from before you installed the add-on, export executions from NinjaTrader or Tradovate and import the file: the same pairing turns fills into trades. Auto-sync needs Pro; imports work on every plan.

Trading a prop evaluation on futures? The futures position size calculator works out contracts from your risk, and the drawdown guide explains the limits that end accounts.