You’re asleep, at work or driving when the entry fills and the stop never goes in. StopWarden, an add-on for NinjaTrader 8, is watching. It gives your strategy a short wait to place its own stop. If none appears, Protect, its paid mode, attempts to close the position and to cancel the orders left behind. It works while your PC is on, signed in and unlocked; the limits are listed below.
Needs Windows 10 or 11 and NinjaTrader 8.1; one PowerShell command, then one compile (F5) in NinjaTrader, and the NinjaTrader settings. Every step
StopWarden
An entry fills and no stop follows. Protect waits a short while, sends NinjaTrader’s own Close Position command, then checks the account is flat. If the close does not confirm, it tries again, 3 attempts in all, then alerts you.
The rule Protect follows once you switch it on.
In a test, we placed a buy limit order on Sim101 with no strategy behind it. Left alone, an order like that can fill hours later, with no stop. Protect’s leftover-order guard cancelled it in that test.
30 September 2026, Sim101: a test order we placed, with the guard switched on. The guard cancelled it at 05:34:56; StopWarden’s Activity tab logged it at 05:37:23, when StopWarden’s background program next started.
2026-09-30 05:37:23 CRITICAL Order guard: CANCELLED 1 orphan working order(s) on unmanaged account Sim101 (0 protective stop(s) on an open position spared, 0 orphan(s) still inside grace): [14295c5bd39a4fd5bb99b8fbcc1172f2 '' Buy 1 Limit Working]
The long code is NinjaTrader’s order ID. “Orphan” is the log’s word for a leftover order.
If the close does not confirm, Protect sends Close Position again, with a screen click if NinjaTrader’s order interface does not answer, 3 attempts in all, then alerts you that a person is needed. It acts only on the one account you configure (unless you turn on the optional global cancel setting, which reaches every account), and never opens a position or places an entry order.
StopWarden recording
0:20 · no sound
The outlined alert, as text2026-09-30 02:26:21 CRITICAL Watch mode: Sim101 has a position with no stop (+1 MNQ DEC26, …). Protect would have closed it (…
| What goes wrong | Protect paid | Watch free | NinjaTrader alone |
|---|---|---|---|
| A position is left with no stopThe strategy never sent one, or the broker rejected it. | Attempts to close itafter a short wait for your strategy’s own stop, and attempts to cancel that instrument’s working orders | Alertsays Protect would have closed it | No alert to your phone |
| Orders stay working after the strategy is switched off | Attempts to cancel themafter a short grace period once the strategy has stopped; a stop still covering an open position is left in place | Scan reports itafterwards, not as a live alert | Only if you set itNinjaTrader’s cancel-on-disable settings; with them off, the orders keep working and can fill hours later, with no stop |
| The connection drops, or NinjaTrader crashes | Attempts to bring it backin your trading window: starts NinjaTrader and signs in if it is down, reconnects, and turns the strategy back on only when no position is open | Alertif a position is open | No alert to your phonethe strategy may be switched off |
| The trading day ends, or you need everything stopped now | Attempts to close outat your end time: switches the strategy off, attempts to close the position and to cancel the orders it has seen, and checks the account is flat. The same on your command, or if the balance falls below a floor you set. The balance floor is optional and off by default; it reads NinjaTrader’s Accounts grid about every 5 minutes, so a fast move can pass it. | End-of-day alertif the strategy ran or a position is held; it closes nothing. On your command it only switches the strategy off. | Only at the session endExit on session close, on by default, closes a strategy’s position then |
Long 1, stop working
The strategy buys 1 contract. Its stop goes in with it.
Long 1, strategy shut down
It tries to move the stop. The broker rejects the change, and NinjaTrader shuts the strategy down.
Short 1, no stop
Two closing orders fire for one position: the strategy’s exit sells 1, then NinjaTrader’s own close sells 1 more. Nobody chose that trade.
Flat
A watchdog buys 1 to close it, 8 seconds later.
This one was closed by a separate watchdog script, 8 seconds later, not by StopWarden.
Order='…' New state='Filled' … Action='Buy' Quantity=1
Name='ST_T1' New state='Working' Action='Sell' Stop price=29603.25 Type='Stop Market'
Name='ST_T1' New state='Working' … Error='Unable to change order' Native error='InvalidPrice'
Name='TEARDOWN_FLAT' New state='Filled' Action='Sell' Quantity=1 … Market position=Flat
Name='StopCancelClose' New state='Filled' Action='Sell' Quantity=1 … Market position=Short
Name='Close' New state='Filled' Action='Buy to cover' Quantity=1 … Market position=Flat
Shortened (… marks a cut), with the account, contract and strategy names removed. The same failure came back at 13:10 that day, with 2 contracts. Run afterwards over this log, StopWarden’s checks read the short as a position with no stop. The incident is kept as a permanent test in its code.
Watch free, from day one
Run the free Safety Scan of your last 30 days. Then Watch alerts you in StopWarden’s window inside NinjaTrader, and sends no orders on its own.
What the Scan reportsLearn about 20 trades
Round trips20
Sessions5
While Watch runs, StopWarden measures how your strategy places its stops. The Learn report shows what it found; you read it and accept it.
Protect in Standard, you switch it on
Only on the one account you configure. If a close does not confirm, it tries again, 3 attempts in all, then alerts you.
Every action it can takeCheck it yourself: the rule the Scan uses the build’s SHA-256 a real incident, with NinjaTrader’s log
Alerts only in this version: ATM strategies (NinjaTrader’s Advanced Trade Management brackets), strategies that exit without a resting stop, strategies whose own stop is not reliably working inside the wait, and an account you also trade by hand and tell StopWarden so. Protect attempts each action, confirms it from NinjaTrader’s log, and tells you when it could not.
StopWarden is built by a trader who has run automated strategies unattended on prop accounts. Had a strategy do something you never asked it to? Tell me what happened: support@stopwarden.com
Sean Goffigan, who builds StopWarden
Free
See what it would have done
$0
no card, no time limit
The Safety Scan, Watch alerts and the Learn report, for one strategy on one account.
Standard
StopWarden attempts to close the position
$49/month
after a 7-day free trial
Everything in Free, plus Protect: it attempts to close a position left without a stop, to cancel leftover orders and to restart NinjaTrader. One strategy on one account.
Pro waitlist
For several prop accounts
$99/month
planned price, not open yet
Protect on up to 5 strategy-account pairs and a drawdown and daily-loss guard (being built). Join the waitlist
Team waitlist
Up to 5 PCs
$199/month
planned price, not open yet
Up to 20 strategy-account pairs on up to 5 PCs. Join the waitlist
Watch is the free mode: it reads NinjaTrader’s log and alerts you, and sends no orders on its own. Protect is the paid mode: it attempts to close a position left without a stop and to cancel orphan (leftover) orders. Learn is the report that measures how your strategy places its stops; you read it and accept it before Protect can switch on. “Naked” in the docs means a position with no working stop.
It can. Protect attempts to close a position only when your strategy’s stop has not covered it for the whole wait, or when stops were missing for that long in total within one minute (a stop that keeps disappearing and coming back). Before Protect switches on, the Learn report times your own strategy’s stops. If any took too long, or the gaps add up, Protect stays off for that strategy and Watch keeps alerting.
It is built to avoid that. Just before it sends a close, Protect reads NinjaTrader’s log again and re-judges the position. If a stop has arrived, or the position has ended or reversed since it was judged, it sends nothing and judges again on its next pass. If the position is still on the same side and still has no stop, it closes the size it finds at that moment. If the position is still not flat afterwards, it tries again, 3 attempts in all, then alerts you that a person is needed. This reduces the chance of a second close. It works from what NinjaTrader’s log shows at that moment, and it is not a guarantee.
Watch alerts and your licence key. Protect stays off until the Learn report is complete (about 20 trades over 5 sessions) and you accept it. Then you switch Protect on.
In the StopWarden window inside NinjaTrader, on its Activity tab, newest first. Alerts can also go to a Telegram chat or a Discord webhook that you set up. Each alert says what happened and what Protect would have done. If something has to happen while nobody is at the screen, that is Protect’s job.
That depends on your firm, and firms change their rules, so read yours before you use any tool. We read the firm’s own page for Lucid, FundedNext Futures, MyFundedFutures, Tradeify and TradeDay on 24 September 2026 (re-read for four of five on 6 October 2026). Lucid and FundedNext Futures permit automated trading; MyFundedFutures’ page permits automated strategies, though other write-ups describe stricter conditions; Tradeify permits it if you can prove you are the sole owner of the bot; TradeDay forbids algos and bots purchased from a third party. For Bulenox, Apex and TakeProfitTrader we have only secondhand reports, not the firm’s page: Bulenox is reported to permit automated tools, and Apex and TakeProfitTrader are reported to prohibit automation. The rules, firm by firm
A StopWarden window inside NinjaTrader (an AddOn you compile once with F5) and a background program that reads NinjaTrader’s log. It does not change your strategy’s code or settings; in Protect, the only thing it touches on a strategy is the Enable box on its Strategies-tab row, to switch it off or on. Your trades and orders are never sent to us. Alerts go only to the Telegram chat or Discord webhook you set up, and they can name your account and positions. Paid plans send your licence key, a hashed ID for your PC and the StopWarden version to our licence server, and every install asks our server once a day whether a newer version exists. Protect also needs two NinjaTrader settings: the cancel-orders-on-disable boxes and the Automated Trading Interface.
Watch needs no licence. Protect keeps working for 7 days on the last successful check. Every action it can take
Free, no card, no time limit
Free, no card: the Safety Scan of your last 30 days of NinjaTrader logs, then Watch alerts. Needs Windows 10 or 11 and NinjaTrader 8.1: one PowerShell command, then one compile (F5) in NinjaTrader, and two NinjaTrader settings that Protect needs. Every step