Demo accounts, clearly labeled
Every published run observes an AlgoTrader strategy operating on a NinjaTrader simulation or demo account. Demo fills, costs and liquidity can differ from a funded account.
Backtest, then observe forward
Historical Strategy Analyzer backtests explore past behavior, with the instrument, dates, settings and cost assumptions providing context. Arena rankings use forward demo observations only; backtests remain in Strategies. A short observation is not a full 14-day history.
Separate every setup
Default and optimized configurations are separate runs. Each has its own instrument, starting capital, observation period and performance history. Optimization does not establish that a setup is better.
Recorded costs and capital changes
Realized P&L is net of recorded commissions and fees, not necessarily every customer expense. Software rental, platform and data fees are not automatically deducted. Publishers must supply reconciled equity, balance and closed-trade aggregates. No deposits or withdrawals are permitted inside an observation window; restart the window after a capital change.
Freshness is visible
The Arena feed refreshes every minute. An observation older than three minutes is marked Stale and excluded from live leaderboards. Paused runs remain visible in the full list.
Compare with context
Rankings use the selected period. Overall leaders require positive return, drawdown below 20%, at least 10 closed trades and profit factor above 1.25. Established performers need 30 days of full observation history and 30 closed trades. Gold leaders include GC/MGC futures with positive return and at least 10 closed trades. Featured participants are the six runs appearing most often across the public Top-5 categories; ties use return. Your Algo Watchlist is saved in your browser and does not represent community votes.
Build your own shortlist
Compare AlgoTrader strategies by return, drawdown, trade count and observation length. Open each run to review its history, then save candidates to your browser watchlist. A leaderboard position is a starting point for research, not a recommendation.
Your execution remains independent
Subscriptions provide access to protected NinjaTrader strategies. You run them independently on your own platform. Identical strategy code does not guarantee identical execution or results.
Arena metric definitions
Return
(Latest equity ÷ starting capital − 1) × 100. Includes floating P&L. Each period uses its own starting capital.
Maximum drawdown
Largest percentage drop from the running equity peak, including starting capital, across the published samples for the selected period.
Realized P&L / open P&L
Net result of closed trades after recorded costs / unrealized result of open positions at the latest observation.
Profit factor
Gross positive closed-trade results divided by absolute gross negative results, with recorded costs allocated to each trade. If no losses are recorded, the ratio is unavailable rather than an infinity score.
Win rate / trades
Winning closed trades divided by all closed trades / count of completed round trips. Breakeven trades count in the denominator. Orders and individual fills are not trade counts.
Currencies & timestamps
Values remain in each run’s original currency and are not added across different currencies. Charts and observation times use UTC.
Drawdown uses the supplied equity samples, so losses between samples may be missed. Chart previews may show fewer points; preview thinning does not change the Arena metric calculation. Forward and combined Sharpe values are unavailable without a common return-series calculation.