FAQs
1. What is this profiling stuff, anyway?
It’s simply a way of analyzing an auction-based market but the mechanics of it are nuanced and, dare we say it, a bit complex. If you’re new to this stuff you might start with our primer covering many essential volume and TPO analysis concepts. We host webinars and blog on topics of the markets, volume analysis, tools, tips and techniques, but it’s not really what we’d call a “comprehensive educational experience.” These series stand out – market study bootcamp, trading for value, price vs volume and maybe even it’s all about data and the market studies.
If you need to learn a lot about volume and market profiling in a short amount of time, and in turn how to interpret what the Acme studies and indicators are trying to tell you, learn from the authorities on the subject. Some places to start are FuturesTrader71‘s and James Dalton‘s sites.
Want to start from the foundation and work your way up (and hopefully you do)? Consider picking up a copy of James Dalton’s Markets in Profile and J. Peter Steidlmayer’s Steidlmayer on Markets: Trading with Market Profile. For genuinely must-read take on overall trading psychology and performance, try Mark Douglas’ Trading in the Zone.
—
2. What markets are volume profiling good for?
Theoretically, it is good for analyzing any market where high-quality price and volume data are available.
—
3. Packs? I don’t get it. Can you explain how this works?
When there are several studies or indicators that work similarly but on different time frames or when there are several variations on a specific analysis theme, for example, we group those like-functioning components into a pack. We then group packs into a package level. Finally, you select the membership level that contains the packs that you need.
What’s more, our super-responsive technical support is included with all memberships at no extra charge!
Want to know exactly what’s included at each package level? Compare them here.
While some folks would probably prefer to acquire their tools a la carte, packs not only make philosophical and practical sense, but packs and membership levels are how we achieve economies of scale with the Acme 7 products.
—
4. What are all the things I need in order to use the Acme suite?
All you need to get up and running are NinjaTrader 7 and a high-quality market data feed (more info below). Oh, and an Acme product license, of course. ;-}
—
5. How do I install/update the Acme Packs on NinjaTrader 7?
It’s pretty easy. If you’ve installed any of the previous packs, the most trouble-free way to update a pack is to remove the previous pack first. If you are installing a particular pack for the first time, begin at step 4:
- From the Control Center, click File > Utilities > Remove NinjaScript Assembly.
- Select the Acme pack you want to remove (and then update) and click Remove.
- Close NinjaTrader and restart. This is key.
- From the Control Center, select the menu File > Utilities > Import NinjaScript…
- Select the file you want to import.
- Press the Open button.
- Add the indicator to a chart of your choice.
- If you are still not sure, try NinjaTrader support. It’s well documented there.
- Still not sure? Watch the screencast and see the whole process from start to finish.
HINT: You can save some time by removing all the packs you’d like to update at one time per step 2, then move to the next steps.
—
6. Some of the indicators and studies have a lot of settings and parameters. Is there some place that tells me what they all mean?
Sign in for details.
—
7. I want to bring on the noise. How do I make audio alerts work?
Sign in for details.
8. Which is the best data provider?
Not only is this question frequently asked, but it might be the most frequently asked. So often in fact that the answers deserve not just a place in the FAQs, but as a full-fledged series of blog posts. Check ’em out.
Fact is that there are several high quality feeds available, all of which are perfectly fine for volume analysis. Some can be had as stand-alone products and still others come as a feature of a brokerage account. That said, if you’re fast enough to run us down, tackle us and then twist our arms you’ll find we’ll cry uncle! pretty fast and admit that we primarily use IQ Feed and Kinetick.
—
9. All your indicators start with the word “Acme.” What gives?
It’s a kind of a long, uninteresting story. But the most practical reason is that NinjaTrader sorts indicator names alphabetically, and scrolling though the list became kind of tedious. “Acme” almost always comes up at at or near the top of the list. Told you it was pretty uninteresting. ;-}
—
10. Where can I get NinjaTrader?
Why ninjatrader.com, of course.
—
11. Do the NT7 products work on NinjaTrader 8 ?
Nope, NT7 and NT8 products aren’t compatible.
—
12. It looks like a lot of your products use tick data, but I’ve heard that NinjaTrader can’t store that kind of data. So how’s it work?
Versions prior to NinjaTrader 7 didn’t store historical tick data, so a few folks out there have implemented tick data storage systems outside of NinjaTrader. The good news is that these external systems are no longer necessary, and all Acme products use NinjaTrader’s built-in data storage capabilities.
Be aware that historical tick data can seem slow to download and process for long charts (multi-week and longer) in NT7. You’ll speed up load times by carefully trimming down the chart to length to only what you need.
—
13. What instruments do the Acme products support?
Pretty much everything that moves. They are currently in use on a very wide variety of instruments. It’s impossible to list them all, but here are a few examples:
- The senior index futures (such as ES, NQ, YM, TF)
- Oil futures (such as CL, COIL)
- Currency futures (such as 6E, 6s)
- Interest rate futures (such as ZN, ZB)
- Metals futures (such as HG, SI, GC)
- Spot forex pairs (such as EURUSD, etc)*
- Equities (stocks, such as AAPL, GOOG, XOM, etc.)*
14. Some of the Acme indicators have options to use upticks and downticks to calculate volume deltas. What does that mean?
It’s really simple. Upticks and downticks are a way of looking at a current transaction price relative to a previous transaction price. For example, say the opening price of the day in a given instrument is $1.00, and the next transactions on the tape (time & sales window) look like this:
The prices in green are upticks because that tick’s price was higher or the same as the previous tick’s price and can be interpreted as a buy. The prices in red are downticks because the price was less than or equal to the previous tick’s price and can be interpreted as a sell.
Simple, but very powerful.
—
15. Are there hardware or software requirements for the Acme 7 products?
Yes… you’ll need NinjaTrader 7.0.31.0 or higher running on an up-to-date installation of Windows 8x or Windows 10. The Acme 7 products do not support Windows 7, Vista or XP.
—
16. I think I found a bug or I am not sure what I am looking at. How can I get help?
The best way is to head over to the contact page and send a message to the support team.
—
17. I can’t configure an indicator to look or work like I wish it would. Can you change it for me?
One of the benefits Rancho Dinero members enjoy most is having the ability to ask for new features, and even for entirely new studies & indicators, and have those requests fulfilled in short order. It’s all about improving the suite, so if the request is of interest and benefit to the membership-at-large, chances are it will find its way out into the light of day.
—
18. I have an idea for a whole new kind of study or indicator. Can you code it for me?
Maybe? Probably? Can’t say without understanding exactly what we’re talking about. Drop us a line and we’ll collaborate.