I know this might sound like a dumb question but… when I am trading and have a target set(ninja), no matter what price has to go about that target by one tick to fulfill my target. Is there anyway to fix this or is the just the name of the game and I need to work around it. I am only trading 1-3 contracts. Thank you in advance.

Kgard252 

I know this might sound like a dumb question but… when I am trading and have a target set(ninja), no matter what price has to go about that target by one tick to fulfill my target. Is there anyway to fix this or is the just the name of the game and I need to work around it. I am only trading 1-3 contracts. Thank you in advance.

If you have a target set, this means it is a LIMIT-order, with a limit-order you are in a queue, this means "first in, first serve" all other traders, who set a limit at this price before you, get a fill before you

Kgard252 

when I am trading and have a target set(ninja), no matter what price has to go about that target by one tick to fulfill my target.

Price has to go above that target by one tick. Are you talking about sim trading on Ninja? The target is a limit order so your order is in a queue somewhere amongst the orders at that price. Most platform sim accounts aren't designed to precisely analyse the queue position and be precise as to whether you would have been filled or not but take the most pessimistic fill option of only filling you if price goes through to the next tick. That way even if your order was last in the queue you know it would have been filled.
The opposite can be platforms that have overly optimistic fills and fill you on first touch of a level when you may not have been filled. That can result in false confidence in sim trading that a scalping strategy, such as a frequently small target scalping system makes lots of money, but then tried in a real live money market, where orders are submitted to the exchange and are filled by queue position, no longer works as well as lots of targets don't fill.

If on the other hand, as above you are talking about real money trades in an account you have funded with Ninja, then in the futures market the orders are submitted to the exchange and the limit order will go in to the queue and the orders will be filled in the order it was received*. On a thin market like the NQ it might look like price has to go to the next level because of the speed of the market, but it is actually filling the passive limit orders in order against the aggressive market orders coming in in to trade in the opposite direction.
On a thicker slower market like the ten year or two year treasury notes your order would fill and there would likely still be other orders behind yours waiting to fill.
Some platforms have estimated queue position for orders on their platform DOMs so a trader can see on a thicker market how close their order is approximately to getting filled.

*I think I am right in saying most futures markets just use a standard queue positions based on when the order arrives at the exchange but I think if I recall correctly some treasury markets had a hybrid system where that applied in most cases but very large orders were treated differently.
Anyway, if you say whether you are actually talking about sim, or a live account, and which product you are trading, somebody else might chip in with a more informed answer.

ps. Tr8er beat me to it. That's the trouble with long replies, somebody else jumps in with the succinct answer while I type an essay.

matthew28 

Price has to go above that target by one tick. Are you talking about sim trading on Ninja? The target is a limit order so your order is in a queue somewhere amongst the orders at that price. Most platform sim accounts aren't designed to precisely analyse the queue position and be precise as to whether you would have been filled or not but take the most pessimistic fill option of only filling you if price goes through to the next tick. That way even if your order was last in the queue you know it would have been filled. The opposite can be platforms that have overly optimistic fills and fill you on first touch of a level when you may not have been filled. That can result in false confidence in sim trading that a scalping strategy, such as a frequently small target scalping system makes lots of money, but then tried in a real live money market, where orders are submitted to the exchange and are filled by queue position, no longer works as well as lots of targets don't fill. If on the other hand, as above you are talking about real money trades in an account you have funded with Ninja, then in the futures market the orders are submitted to the exchange and the limit order will go in to the queue and the orders will be filled in the order it was received*. On a thin market like the NQ it might look like price has to go to the next level because of the speed of the market, but it is actually filling the passive limit orders in order against the aggressive market orders coming in in to trade in the opposite direction. On a thicker slower market like the ten year or two year treasury notes your order would fill and there would likely still be other orders behind yours waiting to fill. Some platforms have estimated queue position for orders on their platform DOMs so a trader can see on a thicker market how close their order is approximately to getting filled. *I think I am right in saying most futures markets just use a standard queue positions based on when the order arrives at the exchange but I think if I recall correctly some treasury markets had a hybrid system where that applied in most cases but very large orders were treated differently. Anyway, if you say whether you are actually talking about sim, or a live account, and which product you are trading, somebody else might chip in with a more informed answer. ps. Tr8er beat me to it. That's the trouble with long replies, somebody else jumps in with the succinct answer while I type an essay.

Thank you for your answer. Yes it is a live account, but that makes a lot more sense. Because I price would hit my target, but It would fill until it went past that target by one tick. Or a really long time sitting at that price if I was lucky. I’m guessing there is no way around it and i just need to work with it. And that is very true about “scalping strategies” I learned the hard way falling for a super expensive “system”. Now I just use education from her and a 3rd party indicator that works great and have had much better results. Thank you again for your answer!

Kgard252 

Thank you for your answer. Yes it is a live account, but that makes a lot more sense. Because I price would hit my target, but It would fill until it went past that target by one tick. Or a really long time sitting at that price if I was lucky. I’m guessing there is no way around it and i just need to work with it. And that is very true about “scalping strategies” I learned the hard way falling for a super expensive “system”. Now I just use education from her and a 3rd party indicator that works great and have had much better results. Thank you again for your answer!

If you think this is important and you think it will turn at your target (which shouldn't be realistic) you can use a MIT (market if touched) order and your order becomes a Market-order as soon as your target price is touched.