Scanning patterns automatically vs manually is going to be a choice for each trader. The good news is the software we produce for NinjaTrader 8 will give you the flexibility to do it how you chose.

Let's look at the pro's and con's of each.

With over 1200 patterns a day being detected by our software makes it very easy to draw XABCD patterns automatically. If your time is worth anything to you (which we imagine it is) this would be the only way to set yourself free from your desk and alert yourself through email or some loud audio alerts when your attention is needed. Below you will find a video on how a scanner like this would work in detecting patterns.

When you scan patterns automatically, anything that fits the rules gets listed and alerted. This means even patterns your eyes never would have found before on their own.

A lot of times it's also not possible to watch as many instruments as you are scanning. Lots of providers will allow you to scan up to 200 instruments which is a lot of work for your eyes. Doing it automatically makes it so much easier.

If you have a busy life, scanning patterns automatically will help you with saving you so much time. You can do this through the NinjaTrader Market Analyzer - or through our web based scanner for XABCD Patterns. You'll probably also want to use longer time frames rather than short ones and trying to fit them in between times where your occupied.

When you scan patterns manually, you'll pick the high's and low's your eye first sees. These are usually the most obvious reversals which is great pattern points to see for your XABCD Patterns. This subset of patterns will leave you with more qualified patterns and you'll dismiss less of them as they will be more favorable.

As you're drawing the patterns using our Responsive Drawing Tools, you'll see the color change from "Grey" to a color that represents the pattern. It's really neat because you don't need to validate each pattern by their ratio numbers but instead just wait for the color to change so you know the pattern is valid.

This is important because as you draw the patterns you'll notice as you move your mouse a little higher/lower you can see patterns that would be valid that might be a pip or two off that the software didn't pick up. So using the drawing tools, sometimes you'll find patterns that validate with these little small changes.

The automatic way, and the manual way of finding and drawing XABCD patterns both have their unique purposes. If you can use them both at once, that is going to be the best way. You'll be able to see what is being scanned as well as draw what your eyes might see.