Guide

Bar Counting in NinjaTrader 8 (Al Brooks Style)

A lot of intraday behaviour keys off which bar it is. Here’s what bar counting is, why price-action traders do it, and how to number your bars automatically.

Last updated 24 Jul 2026
Short answer: Bar counting — popularised by price-action author Al Brooks — means numbering the bars of the session from the open, so bar 1 is the first bar of the day and the count climbs from there. It lets you reference a specific bar (“the high came on bar 5”) and spot patterns that key off the count and the time of day. NinjaTrader 8 doesn’t number bars by default, so you add an indicator that does it for you.

What is bar counting?

Bar counting is exactly what it sounds like: each bar of the session gets a number, starting at 1 for the first bar after the open and counting up until the session ends, then resetting the next day. It’s a core habit in Al Brooks-style price-action trading, where setups are often described by bar — a signal bar, the bar that made the high of the day, the count since a breakout.

Why the bar number matters

A surprising amount of intraday behaviour lines up with the count rather than the clock:

  • The opening bars set the tone. The first few bars of the day carry weight — the first-hour high and low, an early trend or reversal — and counting them makes that structure explicit.
  • Certain counts align with time-of-day turns. On a fixed-time chart, a bar number maps to a time, and many intraday turns cluster around the same points of the session.
  • Playbooks are written by bar. If your notes say “fade the bar-2 push” or “wait for a signal bar after bar 5,” you need the numbers on the chart to trade them consistently.

Does NinjaTrader 8 number bars?

No — there’s no built-in bar counter. You’d be counting in your head or off the time axis, which falls apart the moment you scroll or switch instruments. An indicator that numbers the bars for you removes the guesswork and stays correct across the whole session.

How to number bars on your chart

A bar counter numbers every bar of the session — historical and live — relative to the session open, and resets cleanly each day. Beyond the raw count, the useful ones also flag the bars that matter: inside bars, outside bars, and the high and low bar of the session. Things worth having:

  • Session presets so the count starts at the right open for what you trade, with a custom option for your own hours.
  • Readable text — size, color and placement you control, and the sense to thin out or hide when you zoom out so the numbers never bury the candles.
  • Correct behaviour across chart types, since not everyone trades fixed-time bars.

How to install it

  1. Download the indicator’s .zip — keep it zipped.
  2. Open the Control Center → Tools → Import → NinjaScript Add-On… and select the .zip.
  3. On a chart, right-click → Indicators…, add it, and set your session.

The honest part

Numbering your bars won’t give you an edge by itself — it’s a reference, not a signal. What it does is let you read the session the way your playbook is written and talk about the chart precisely, to yourself or anyone else. If you trade price action, that consistency is worth more than it looks.