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AK FlowBook for NinjaTrader 8Getting startedAK FlowBook for NinjaTrader 8 (v5.6): Overview Requirements: platform, data feed and market data Install AK FlowBook in NinjaTrader 8 Quick start: your first 5 minutes The FlowBook toolbar: every button explainedChart componentsDelta: aggressive buying minus selling per candle Big trades, Smart roles and BT2 single orders Icebergs: hidden size that keeps refilling Levels: volume profile, naked levels and VWAPs Session levels: Asia, London, overnight and New York Candle volume filters: five tiers inside each candle MBO Price Map: the order book, order by order Market context panel: what each row means Order-flow event labels: what each code means Info line, banners and data health Alerts: delta and candle volumeSettingsSettings referenceGuidesGuide: reading absorption with AK FlowBook Guide: watching price at HVN and LVN levels Guide: session highs and lows as levels to watch Guide: using futures levels as a XAUUSD CFD traderHelpTroubleshooting Frequently asked questions

Docs › NinjaTrader 8 › Settings

Settings reference

You change AK FlowBook settings in the NinjaTrader Indicators window: right-click the chart, choose Indicators, select AK FlowBook and scroll through its properties. Settings are sorted in numbered groups. This page follows the same order and uses the setting names exactly as NinjaTrader shows them.

Some names in NinjaTrader end with the recommended value or with the list of options, for example Minimum Delta followed by "GC Recommended: 50". This page lists that part in the Default and Options columns.

Most users never need to change more than a few groups. The defaults are tuned for GC on a 1-minute chart.

Tip: The toolbar and the FILTERS window change what is drawn without opening this window. See The toolbar.

00 Chart View

These switches set which layers are drawn. The toolbar buttons control the same layers. The defaults below match the TRADE view.

Setting	Default
Levels (POC/VAH/VAL/VWAP/HVN...)	On
Session highs/lows	On
Iceberg marks	On
Big trade marks	Off
Delta numbers	On
Event labels	Off
Volume profile	On
DOM / MBO map	On
Old panels (context / iceberg box)	Off
Info line	Off
Toolbar buttons on chart	On
Candle volume filter marks	On
Live delta on the forming candle	On
Show XAUUSD equivalent on level labels	On
Session label font size	13
Live-only order-flow labels (hide labels recomputed after Reload)	Off

Note: After you click a toolbar button or apply the FILTERS window for the first time, AK FlowBook remembers the toolbar state and filters for that instrument and bar period. When the chart reloads, the saved state is used instead of the values in this group and the next one. To change layers, use the toolbar.

Show XAUUSD equivalent on level labels adds the XAU price to session labels when a fresh basis is available. See Session levels.

00 Chart View filters

Display-only minimums. A value of 0 means AK FlowBook uses its own value. These filters change what is drawn, not how AK FlowBook reads the market. You can set the same values in the FILTERS window on the toolbar.

Display: delta min |delta|, default 0.
Display: big trade min lots, default 0.
Display: volume filter tier 1 to Display: volume filter tier 5, default 0.

00 General

Setting	Default	Options
Event Sensitivity	1 Balanced (recommended)	0 Strict, 1 Balanced, 2 High Recall
History Display Days	30 (recommended)	1 to 60
Show Performance Health (Advanced)	Off	On, Off

History Display Days is how many days of big trades, Smart roles and events AK FlowBook draws. Fewer days means a lighter chart. Level calculations are not affected.

00A Instrument & Performance

Setting	Default	Options
Instrument Preset	1 GC (recommended)	0 Auto Detect, 1 GC, 2 MGC, 3 ES, 4 MES, 5 NQ, 6 MNQ, 7 CL, 8 Custom
Use Preset Thresholds	On	On, Off
Performance Mode	1 Professional	0 Fast, 1 Professional, 2 Maximum Detail
Load 1-Tick History for Parent BigTrades	On	On, Off
Load Native Volumetric History	On	On, Off

Instrument Preset sets sizes and limits for the instrument. Choose the preset that matches your chart. Presets for instruments other than gold are included; gold is the instrument we test and support first.
Use Preset Thresholds keeps the delta, big trade and order book detection settings at the preset values. We recommend leaving it on. The candle volume filter tiers have their own switch in group 03.
Performance Mode changes how often the chart refreshes and how much order book detail is kept. Use 0 Fast on slower computers. Use 2 Maximum Detail only on a strong computer.

01 Events & Delta

Setting	Default	Options
Show Important Order-Flow & MBO Events	On	On, Off
Event Detail	1 Balanced (recommended)	0 Clean, 1 Balanced, 2 Detailed
Show Delta Numbers	On	On, Off
Minimum Delta	50 (GC recommended)	1 to 100000
Delta Sound Alert (Optional)	On	On, Off

01A Event Controls

Setting	Default
Events Only Near Important Levels	On
Show Rejection / Sweep	On
Show Absorption	On
Show Aggression Failure	On
Show Delta Ladder	On
Show Diagonal Imbalance	On
Show CVD Divergence	On
Show Exhaustion / Trap	On
Show Tape Sweep	Off
Show Iceberg Events	Off
Show Liquidity Vacuum	Off
Show Pull / Stack	Off

This group also has distance settings for the near-levels rule and a few advanced options. We recommend the defaults. See Events.

01B Event Score Overrides

For advanced users. Use Manual Event Scores is off by default. When it is off, AK FlowBook uses its own values for each event code. We recommend the default.

02 Big Trades

Setting	Default	Options
BigTrade View	3 Raw + Smart (recommended)	0 Off, 1 Raw, 2 Smart, 3 Raw + Smart
Minimum BigTrade Lots (BT = burst aggregate)	50 (GC recommended)	1 to 10000
Burst Merge Window (ms)	350 (recommended)	50 to 2000
Maximum Raw Blocks Per Candle	8	1 to 12
Show BigTrade Price Anchor Line	On	On, Off
Load & Analyze Historical BigTrades	On	On, Off
Historical BigTrade Days	30 (recommended)	1 to 60
Parent Burst Window (ms)	750	100 to 2000
Show Child Prints (Advanced / Noisy)	Off	On, Off
Use Approximate VAP Fallback (Advanced)	Off	On, Off
Show Smart BigTrade Marker on Source Candle	On	On, Off

See Big trades.

03 Candle Volume Filters

Setting	Default
Show Candle Volume Filters	On
Volume Filter Mode	0 Dominant Side (recommended). Options: 0 Dominant Side, 1 Both Sides, 2 Total Volume
Use Instrument Preset Volume Tiers	Off
Tier 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 Minimum Volume	70 / 100 / 200 / 300 / 400 lots
Show Volume Numbers	On
Enable Realtime Volume Alerts	Off
Alert From Tier	4 (recommended)
Alert Rearm Seconds	10 (recommended)
Tier 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 Color	Gold, Dodger blue, Dark orange, Red, Magenta

With Use Instrument Preset Volume Tiers off (the default), the five tier values in this group are used. This group also has advanced options for how prices are selected inside a candle. We recommend the defaults. See Candle volume filters.

04 MBO FlowBook

The ladder panel. By default the MBO Price Map replaces it (see Replace Legacy FlowBook Ladder in group 04B).

Setting	Default
Show Exact MBO FlowBook	On
FlowBook Width	420 px (recommended)
FlowBook Rows Per Side	18 (recommended)
Minimum MBO Order Size Shown	10 (recommended)

04A Advanced MBO

Setting	Default
Show MBO Event Markers	On
Show Exact Order Cells	On
Allow L2 Fallback When MBO Is Unavailable	On
Show Queue Rank	On

04B MBO Price Map (ATAS)

Setting	Default
Show MBO Price Map (ATAS Chart Map)	On
Map Width Pixels	620
Map Right Gap Pixels	4
Replace Legacy FlowBook Ladder	On
Reserve Space For FlowBook Dock	On
Maximum Chart Fraction	0.55 (55% of the chart width)
Depth Levels Per Side	60
Side Mode	0 Both. Options: 0 Both, 1 Bids, 2 Asks
Show Status Card When Unavailable	On
Global Opacity %	100

04B1 Map Rows & Bars

Setting	Default
Large Order Lots	20
Extreme Order Lots	50
Highlight Best Bid/Ask	On
Show Level Borders	On
Show Total Volume Text	On
Σ Prefix On Segmented Totals	On
Show L2 Fallback Levels	On

This group also has row height and transparency options.

04B2 Map Order Segments

Setting	Default
Segment Individual Orders	On
Maximum Order Cells Per Level	24
Minimum Order Lots For Segment	1
Show Queue Rank (V.. C..)	On
Show Segment Dividers	On
Accent Iceberg / Reload Segments	On

04B3 Map Context Tags

Setting	Default
Show Important-Level Tags	On
Maximum Tags Per Row	4
Tags: Developing VWAPs (D/W/M)	On
Tags: VWAP ±1σ/±2σ Bands	On
Tags: Developing POC/VAH/VAL	On
Tags: HVN / LVN Nodes	On
Tags: Previous Final Levels	On
Tags: Naked Levels	On
Tags: Session High/Low (D/W/M)	On
Tags: Initial Balance	On

04B4 Map Event Badges

Setting	Default
Show MBO Event Badges	On
Event Minimum Score	80
Maximum Event Badges	16
Badge: Iceberg (ICE)	On
Badge: Spoof (SPF)	On
Badge: Pull/Stack (PS)	On
Badge: Liquidity Vacuum (VAC)	On
Badge: Passive Absorption (ABS)	On
Badge: Queue Sweep (QS)	On
Badge: Stop Chain (STP)	On
Badge: Big Trade (BT)	On
Badge: Bid/Ask Walls (WB/WA)	On

04B5 Map Header & Fonts

Setting	Default
Show Map Header	On
Header: Show Statistics Line	On
Header Background Opacity %	74
Map Font Family	Consolas
Map Font Size	8
Header Font Size	8

04B6 Map Colors

Setting	Default (RGB)
Bid Row Color	8, 104, 160
Ask Row Color	210, 32, 73
Context Tag Color	255, 215, 0 (gold)
Event Buy Color	50, 205, 50 (green)
Event Sell Color	255, 69, 0 (orange-red)

This group also has colors for extreme rows, order segments, borders, the best bid and ask, and the header. See MBO Price Map.

05 Levels & Context

Setting	Default
Show Daily / Weekly / Monthly Profile Levels	On
Show Daily / Weekly / Monthly VWAPs	On
Show Clear Level Labels	On
Show Previous Day VAH / VAL / POC (PD)	On
Show 2nd Previous Day VAH / VAL / POC (P2D)	On

05A Advanced Levels

Setting	Default
Show Naked Profile Levels	On
Show HVN / LVN	On
Show VWAP 1-Sigma Bands	On
Show VWAP 2-Sigma Bands	On
Show Value Migration Labels	On
HVN/LVN Nodes Per Profile	2 (1 to 6)

05C Level Appearance

Setting	Default
Show Current POC / VAH / VAL Labels	On
Show HVN / LVN Labels	On
Show Naked Level Labels	On
Show VWAP Labels	On
Level Label Font Size	12
Level Label Width Pixels	130
Profile Line Style	0 Solid
POC Line Style	0 Solid
HVN/LVN Line Style	1 Dash
Naked Level Line Style	1 Dash
Profile VAH / VAL Line Width	2
POC Line Width	3
Naked Level Line Width	2
HVN/LVN Line Width	1
Monthly Profile / Level Color	White
Weekly Profile / Level Color	Yellow
Daily Profile / Level Color	Blue

Line style options: 0 Solid, 1 Dash, 2 Dot, 3 DashDot, 4 DashDotDot. See Levels.

06 Market Context Panel

Setting	Default
Show Market Context Panel	On (the panel itself is shown with PANELS on the toolbar, which is off by default)
Panel Position	0 Top Left. Options: 0 Top Left, 1 Top Right, 2 Bottom Left, 3 Bottom Right
Panel Width Pixels	390
Panel Font Size	11
Panel Background Opacity %	72
Show Data Health	On
Show Auction / Acceptance	On
Show Nearest Location	On
Show Effort vs Result	On
Show MBO Control	On
Show Initial Balance	On
Show D/W/M Value Migration	On
Show Completed HTF 15M Context	On

07 Manual Thresholds

For advanced users. These settings change how AK FlowBook detects order sizes, icebergs, queue sweeps, imbalances and the delta ladder. With Use Preset Thresholds on, the preset values apply. We recommend the defaults. If you change them, write down the original values first.

Depth display

Setting	Default	Options
Depth display levels per side (0 = auto preset)	500	0 to 600

How many order book levels per side AK FlowBook keeps and displays. At 0, the number follows Performance Mode. This setting sits in a group further down the list; its group name will change in a coming update.

Fast-market protection

During a burst of very fast trading, AK FlowBook protects chart performance. These settings sit in groups near the end of the list; their group names will change in a coming update.

Setting	Default
Storm guard enabled	On
Map in a tick storm: 0 hide / 1 light / 2 full	1 (light: rows and totals only)
Map badge: B2 (single aggressive order, bt2)	On
Map badge B2: minimum lots	20
Map STALE after (ms)	2000

You can change the map mode and the badges live with MAP on the toolbar. See MBO Price Map.

Icebergs

Setting	Default
Show icebergs on chart	On

This draws the small diamond marks on the candle where an iceberg was flagged. Its group also has detection options. We recommend the defaults. See Icebergs.

Resetting to defaults

To return to the defaults, remove AK FlowBook from the chart and add it again. If you saved your own default template for the indicator in NinjaTrader, remove that template first. The toolbar state is saved separately: click TRADE to return the layers to the default view.

PreviousAlerts: delta and candle volume NextGuide: reading absorption with AK FlowBook

Education only. Not financial advice. Trading futures and CFDs carries a high risk of loss.