DS Universe
DS Compass on a white NinjaTrader chart: the teal Compass line curving up beneath price, tagged "Compass +3.2 ATR 30176.00" at the right edge, and its reading panel below: LONG SIDE HOLDS, 75 bars, one side throughout, with its Room, Stretch, Session, Tape and Hold rows.

Chart pictures are illustrations of the software, not a performance record. Futures trading carries substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor, and hypothetical or simulated results have inherent limitations that may differ materially from live trading.

Why you need it

Which side of the market holds, and how much room it has. DS Compass runs one smooth line through price: while bars close above it the long side holds, while they close below it the short side holds, and the side only changes hands when a bar closes clearly through the line — price brushing it changes nothing. When the side keeps changing hands, the panel says so in plain words: changing hands, or chopping. Beside the line, a reading panel measures today against the same time of day on previous sessions — how much range is left in the forecast, how far price has stretched from the line, how much of a usual day has been used, and how busy the tape is for this hour.

How it works

Who holds the market, and the room left.

DS Compass draws its line where a 34-bar average of price would sit, weighted by where volume actually traded, and it reads far smoother than one. The line wears the color of the side that holds: teal for the long side, gray for the short side. A bar has to close beyond the line by the flip buffer — a quarter of an average true range by default — to take the side; a close inside the buffer leaves the side where it was, and a side that keeps changing hands shows in the panel note: changing hands, or chopping. The level tag by the price axis names the line, gives the distance of the last close from it in average true ranges and its price — [ Compass +1.2 ATR 29507.00 ] — in the side's color, and shares the price-tag column with the other DS products, stepping aside instead of overlapping.

The reading panel names the side and how long it has held, then five readings: ROOM, the range covered so far against the range forecast for the next 40 bars; STRETCH, how far the close sits from the line in average true ranges and how unusual that is against recent sessions; SESSION, today's range against a usual day and how far through the day you are; TAPE, this bar's volume against what this time of day usually trades; and HOLD, how many times the side changed hands over the recent window. Every comparison uses the same time of day on earlier sessions, 20 by default, and DS Compass requests that history itself. Measured on more than 600,000 bars of NQ, MNQ, ES, GC and CL, the line held about as often as any price the same distance away and a direction call from the side was right about half the time, so it claims neither; the expected move behind ROOM beat the plain assumption that the next 40 bars cover what the last 40 did, out of sample on all five. Six values are published for the Data Box, the Market Analyzer and the Strategy Builder. Volume is optional: without usable volume the line falls back to typical price and everything else works. Every reading is decided on closed bars: it does not repaint. It is part of DS Complete and is not sold on its own.

Before you buy

What it needs, where it runs, and what it is not.

Where it runs

Any market NinjaTrader chartsBuilt on NQ · MNQ · ES · GC · CL

  • Futures — runs on it
  • Stocks — runs on it
  • Forex — runs on it
  • Crypto — runs on it

Reads price, and volume where the feed reports it: without usable volume the line falls back to typical price and everything else works. Every reading is measured against that market's own earlier sessions.

What it reads

Price and bar volume (the line is weighted by where volume traded), each reading compared with the same time of day on earlier sessions, 20 by default — history it requests itself. Closed bars.

NinjaTrader 8 · 8.1.8.1 or newer. Everything runs on your machine, on your own data feed.

Good to know

DS Compass v3.1. It installs inside DSCompleteBundleSuite, the one DS Complete assembly: the name NinjaTrader shows in Tools → Remove NinjaScript Assembly.

DS Universe tools are charting and research software for educational and informational purposes. They are not investment advice and no output is a forecast or a guarantee of any result. Trading futures and other leveraged instruments carries substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor.

  1. 01

    Start the trial on Whop

    Checkout asks for the email on your NinjaTrader account (not your Whop email) and a card. Nothing is charged for 7 days; then $39.99 a month until you cancel in your Whop account.

  2. 02

    Download and import

    DS Complete is one archive and one import. In NinjaTrader 8.1.8.1 or newer: Tools → Import → NinjaScript Add-On, then restart. It installs as DSCompleteBundleSuite.

  3. 03

    Switched on

    On the trial, NinjaTrader starts the 7 days the first day you use a tool. On a paid plan, a person activates the license on that NinjaTrader account; it is not instant. Once it is on, restart NinjaTrader and every tool draws.

Also in DS Complete

DS Complete

  • DS Zones

    Zones that know if they're holding.

    In DS Complete

  • DS Data Candles

    Candles that read the bar for you.

    In DS Complete

  • DS Iceberg

    See where size was hidden.

    In DS Complete

  • DS Flow

    Who was pressing, at every price.

    In DS Complete

  • DS GEX

    Gamma walls on your chart. Zero setup.

    In DS Complete

Every product