Part two · Setup guide
Every step, in order, for someone who has never used NinjaTrader. Most people finish the software part in about twenty minutes. Opening a broker account takes longer — usually a day or a few — so start that first.
Watch it step by step Nine short steps, with the clicks shown. Pause any time.
Then: the daily routine · your size · how to get out · the quarterly roll · when something looks wrong
Step 1
TnT Follow runs inside NinjaTrader 8, so you need an account at a broker, or a prop firm, that connects to NinjaTrader. Any of these four routes works.
A futures broker owned by NinjaTrader. Tradovate accounts connect to NinjaTrader 8 directly. A common choice for people starting with micros.
NinjaTrader's own brokerage. The account and the platform come from the same company, so there is one login.
Many futures brokers support NinjaTrader and give you a connection through Rithmic or CQG. Ask them: "Do you support NinjaTrader 8?" If yes, it works.
You pay an evaluation fee and trade the firm's account. Pick one that gives you NinjaTrader or Tradovate access, and check its rules first.
Our suggestion for your own account is about US$5,000. TnT Follow holds one MNQ contract, where a 100-point move is $200. At $5,000 that is a small part of your account, with room for losing trades. Brokers will open accounts with less, but less leaves very little room for a bad week.
Or use a prop firm evaluation, where the monthly fee is the most you can lose.
Ask the firm, in writing: "Do you allow automated trading on NinjaTrader?" and "Do you allow copying another trader's positions?" Some allow both, some allow neither, and the rules change. Breaking them can end the account, and I cannot undo that.
Step 2
Every broker's forms look slightly different, but the steps are the same.
Open the account on Tradovate's website. You will log in to NinjaTrader with it in step 4.
Open it on NinjaTrader's website. NinjaTrader offers different plans that change your commission rate; any of them works with TnT Follow.
They send you connection details — usually a Rithmic or CQG username and password. Keep that email. You may also need a NinjaTrader licence key for live trading through them; ask the broker.
After paying the evaluation fee, the firm emails your connection details, and often a NinjaTrader licence key. Market data is usually included.
NinjaTrader comes with a simulated account called Sim101. You can install everything and watch TnT Follow there before your broker account is approved.
Step 3
Windows . Set sleep to Never while plugged in. A sleeping computer cannot follow anything. The screen may turn off; the computer must not.
Step 4
Waiting for approval? Skip to step 5 and use Sim101 for now. Come back here when your account is open.
For NinjaTrader Brokerage, NinjaTrader often connects by itself when you log in. If the light is green, you are done.
Step 5
TNT-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX. It is emailed to you too.NinjaTrader imports the .zip exactly as it is. If Windows offers to open or extract it, say no. If you already did, download it again.
Lost the key or the file? Both are on your licence page at any time.
Step 6
Until NinjaTrader restarts, the old version stays loaded. Orders can go out and land nowhere, with nothing in the log to explain it. Restart every time you import an update.
Step 7
MNQ 12-26 for December 2026.
(See the quarterly roll for when it changes.)TnT Follow holds the same number of contracts as my chart, of whatever is on its own chart. On NQ that is ten times the size. On MES or gold it is a different market entirely. Double-check the chart says MNQ.
Step 8
The settings are in numbered sections. You tick one box, and type in the next two.
| Setting | What to put |
|---|---|
| Account (NinjaTrader's own, near the top) | Sim101 for now. Not your real account yet — that is step 11. |
| 0. Risk disclosure | Read the risk disclosure and terms, then tick the box. FOLLOW will not switch on until you do. Ticking it confirms that following is your own choice and your own responsibility. |
| 1. Licence key | Paste the key from your email. You only need to do this once on this computer — TnT Accounts asks for nothing — TnT Accounts and any other chart will use the same one automatically. |
| 2. Your name | Any name, so I can see you are connected. Leave empty to use the computer's name. |
| 2. Tell the publisher my position | Leave on. It lets me see whether you are in step and whether orders fail — never your balance, never account numbers. Switch off if you prefer; everything still works. |
| 3. Most contracts | 1. The most it will ever hold; anything bigger is refused. To trade at ×2 or more later, raise this first. |
| 3. An old target may not OPEN after | Leave at 120 seconds. |
| 4. Panel | Leave as it is. The panel starts in the bottom-left corner, and you can drag it anywhere by its name — it remembers where you leave it. Double-click the name to put it back in the corner. |
| 5. Advanced — leave as is | The relay address and key are built in, and a backup address is used automatically. Do not change anything here. |
TnT Follow only counts positions it opened itself. Remove it from a chart while it holds a position and the position stays open in your account — and the new copy starts out believing it is flat. At the next signal it buys again, and you hold double. So: press EMERGENCY CLOSE on the panel (FOLLOW off and flat in one press), then remove, re-add or update it. If you forgot, check Positions straight away and flatten anything left over before switching FOLLOW back on.
The first time it runs, your licence locks to this computer. That is normal. To move it later, release it from your licence page.
Step 9
Give it a few seconds, then read the panel from top to bottom.
| Line | What it should say |
|---|---|
| FOLLOW OFF | The first button. Off is right for now. |
| EMERGENCY CLOSE | The red button, for when something is wrong: switches FOLLOW off and closes TnT Follow's position at once. It turns solid red if the relay cannot be reached while you hold a position. See how to get out. |
| target | My position — FLAT, LONG 1 or SHORT 1, with MNQ. |
| holding | Yours. FLAT to start. Amber when it differs from target — normal while FOLLOW is off. |
| balance | Your account's live balance — cash plus any open trade — updating as the price moves. It never leaves your computer. |
| open, today | Your profit or loss on this strategy. |
| link | target set …s ago. Amber no new target for … minutes is normal in a quiet market. |
| licence | Green. |
| account | Sim101. It turns amber on a real account, as a reminder. |
| symbol | MNQ and the month. Must not be red. |
| terms | accepted. Amber not accepted — FOLLOW is locked means the box in 0. Risk disclosure is not ticked. |
Anything different? The troubleshooting table says what each message means and what to do.
Step 10
I do not ask or recommend anyone to copy my position. If you switch FOLLOW on, every order it places is yours, and so is every result — including losses from internet, computer, platform or server failures, and from settings you chose. Read the risk disclosure and terms before you do.
Switching it off stops TnT Follow trading and leaves your position exactly as it is. To close a position, see how to get out.
Step 11
Only when you have watched it on Sim, and only with money you could lose entirely.
While FOLLOW is on, TnT Follow owns that account's position. If something else changes it, TnT Follow notices within seconds, switches FOLLOW off and tells you — but do not rely on that: do not trade it by hand, run another strategy on it, add a second TnT Follow to it, or copy into it with TnT Accounts. Two things deciding one position fight each other — one opens, the other corrects it — and every order is real.
Your size
Everyone follows at the same size as my chart. When I am long 1, you are long 1; when I go flat, so do you. There is nothing to set and no multiplier to choose.
3. Most contracts stays at 1. It is not a size setting — it is a limit: anything asking for more than that is refused, not trimmed. It is what protects you if something ever asks for a size I never published.
One MNQ contract is $2 a point — a 100-point Nasdaq move is $200. If that is too much for your account, the answer is not a smaller multiplier; it is to paper-trade on Sim until it is not. Nothing here is advice about how much to risk.
After setup
Run TnT Follow on one account. To copy it to others, open , choose the followed account as the master, tick the others, set a size ratio and a daily loss limit for each, and press COPY ON. Never run TnT Follow on an account that TnT Accounts copies into.
When you want out
Normally you do nothing. Exits come from my chart: when it goes flat, so do you.
If something is wrong, press EMERGENCY CLOSE — the red button on the panel. In one press it switches FOLLOW off, so nothing can reopen it, and closes TnT Follow's position. There is no "are you sure": it is for moments like these —
It is not for a quiet market. No new target for 20 minutes is normal and closes nothing. And after an emergency close you are out of step with me until you press FOLLOW again — which will not open a position until my next change.
CLOSE only closes what TnT Follow itself opened — so that its records always match your account. If the account holds more (left over from removing TnT Follow while it held a position, or a trade you placed by hand), the note line tells you. Close that in Control Center → Positions → right-click → Flatten.
With several accounts, FLATTEN ALL in TnT Accounts closes everything, locks every account and switches copying off in one press.
Four times a year
MNQ contracts expire in March, June, September and December. About a week before each expiry, trading moves to the next contract. Your chart has to move with it.
MNQ 12-26 to MNQ 03-27 — OK.Not sure which month is current? Email me and I will tell you which one my chart is on.
Troubleshooting
| What you see | What it means, and what to do |
|---|---|
| Tune and Trade Follow is not in the Strategies list | The import did not finish, or NinjaTrader was not restarted. Restart it. If it is still missing, import the .zip again (step 6). |
| The import gives an error | Usually an unzipped file, or an old NinjaTrader version. Download the .zip again without opening it, and update NinjaTrader 8 to the latest version. |
| licence is not green, or says UNPAID | Check the key was pasted whole with no spaces. Your licence page shows its status. If it says active there, email me. |
| licence says WRONG ACC | The key is locked to another computer. Release it on your licence page, then restart NinjaTrader. |
| link: not asked yet — is the pull key set? | The strategy is not enabled, or NinjaTrader is not connected. Check the green light and the Enabled tick. |
| link: cannot reach the relay | It has already tried the backup address by itself. Your internet or a firewall is blocking both — check other websites load. |
| note: … is over your cap | Your SIZE times my position is more than Most contracts, so it is refused. Lower SIZE, or raise Most contracts. |
| note: size changes only while flat | SIZE cannot change during a trade. Wait until you are flat. |
| link: the relay is switched off | I have paused publishing. Your position is untouched. Nothing to do. |
| link amber: no new target for … minutes | Normal in a quiet market. Nothing is closed. If the market is moving fast and it stays amber, email me. |
| symbol is red | The chart is not MNQ. Switch FOLLOW off now, then move TnT Follow to an MNQ chart. |
| holding stays different from target | It is trying and failing. Switch FOLLOW off, then open — the reason is printed there, usually a rejected order. |
| Orders rejected | The Output window shows the broker's reason: not enough margin, the account is not approved for futures, the market is closed, or no market data subscription. |
| ADRIFT straight after re-adding it | Normal if my position was set more than two minutes ago: it will not open on an old target, and joins at my next change. But check Control Center → Positions — if the account still holds a position from before, flatten it with FOLLOW off, or the next signal doubles it. |
| the account changed outside TnT Follow — FOLLOW switched itself off | Someone traded the account by hand — Chart Trader, the Positions tab, another strategy. TnT Follow only knows its own orders, so it stopped rather than trade the wrong way (selling to "close" a position you already sold would leave you short). Check Control Center → Positions is how you want it, then untick and tick Enabled: it re-syncs to exactly what the account holds. Then press FOLLOW. |
| FOLLOW will not switch on | The panel's terms line says not accepted. Right-click the chart → , untick Enabled, tick 0. Risk disclosure, tick Enabled, OK. |
| FOLLOW is on but nothing trades | Check the licence is green. If my position changed more than two minutes ago, it will not open a late trade; it waits for the next change. |
Email trader@tuneandtrade.com with a screenshot of the panel and the text from . That usually contains the answer, and you will normally hear back the same day.
Read the risk disclosure and terms. Following is your own choice. Software fails, connections drop, and every order it places is yours.