Cornerstone Levels

"The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." — Matthew 21:42

Pre-market homework, done for you. PBF Cornerstone is a NinjaTrader 8 indicator that automatically draws every key multi-timeframe level you need before the bell — and keeps your chart clean as the day moves by pruning levels that no longer matter.

What It Does

Cornerstone is the foundation layer underneath everything else. While the Signal Analyzer fires entries, Cornerstone is what tells you where those entries are likely to react. Every PBF setup respects Cornerstone levels — they are the structural backbone of the methodology.

• Auto-draws multi-category key levels (prior-day, overnight, ORB, IB, weekly, round numbers, RTH open, Volume Profile, FVG midpoints)
• Tracks every touch with respect-back logic — only counts touches where price respected the level
• Auto-prunes broken & idle levels so your chart never gets cluttered
• King Level system — the single most-touched level gets a gold halo so you know what's controlling price
• Multi-TF FVG midpoints (NEW 2026-05-13) — Daily and 4-hour Fair Value Gaps surface as single dashed lines at their midpoint; ★ prefix marks fresh untouched gaps
• Chart-TF auto-tune (NEW 2026-05-13) — drop Cornerstone on 1m, 5m, or 15m; break/touch tunings auto-scale so behavior is consistent in clock-time
• Locked against accidental deletion (NEW 2026-05-13) — clicks fall through to your trend lines and drawings; Delete key can't remove the indicator. Remove intentionally via F6 Indicators dialog.
• Toggleable — turn any individual level type on or off via Properties panel

The Levels (8 Categories)

PBF Signature Treatments

Auto-Prune (Anti-Clutter)

Cornerstone removes levels that no longer matter so your chart stays readable through the whole session.

• Break: Price closes beyond the level by ≥ BreakTicks (default 8) AND fails to recover within BreakRecoveryBars (default 3) → level dies and is removed.
• Idle: ≥ IdleMinutes since last touch AND ≥ IdleTicks from price → level fades off.

Installation

Reading the Chart

Which levels matter most right now?

Look at the King Level (gold halo) — that's the one controlling price. Then count touch dots on nearby levels. Levels with 3+ dots and a hot marker are where the Signal Analyzer is most likely to fire setups.

How do I know a level is "respected" vs just touched?

A touch only counts when price closes back through the level. Wicks alone don't increment the count — only respect-backs. This is how Cornerstone distinguishes real defense from noise.

Why did a level disappear?

Either it was broken (price closed beyond it by ≥ 8 ticks without recovery) or it's gone idle (no touch for X minutes + far from current price). This is the auto-prune working as designed. If you want a removed level back, change BreakTicks / BreakRecoveryBars / IdleMinutes in the Properties panel to be more permissive.

Recommended Defaults

The default settings are tuned for NQ on a 1-minute chart. The only knobs most traders adjust:

• Show Prior Week / HOTW / Round Numbers — default off. Turn on if you trade larger swings or use round-number magnetism.
• HotMarkerThreshold — default 3 touches. Lower to 2 for choppier days, raise to 5 to filter only the most-respected levels.
• BreakTicks — default 8 (2 points). Lower for tighter ranges, raise for high-vol days.

Cornerstone vs Signal Analyzer — How They Work Together

Think of it this way:

• Cornerstone draws the map — every level price might react at, with respect tracking so you know which are live.
• Signal Analyzer fires the entry — when price approaches a Cornerstone level with the right confluences (delta, RVOL, ATR, MTF EMA), it scores and fires a setup.

The Signal Analyzer's "Cornerstone confluence" score component is literally measuring proximity to PDH/PDL/ORB/IB/POC/VAH/VAL/HVN/LVN. You can use either indicator standalone, but they're designed to work together. Cornerstone alone gives you the map; Signal Analyzer alone fires setups without the structural context. The bundle is where the methodology lives.

What's New (2026-05-13)

• Fair Value Gap midpoints — Daily and 4-hour gaps surface as single dashed cyan lines at their midpoint. Fresh (untouched) gaps wear a ★ prefix. Touched gaps auto-hide by default (toggle FvgFreshOnly=false to see all). Fully mitigated gaps prune automatically.
• Chart-TF auto-tune — Cornerstone now detects the chart's primary period (BarsArray[0].BarsPeriod) and scales BreakRecoveryBars and HotMarkerThreshold accordingly. 1m is the user-set baseline; 5m and 15m charts scale down so behavior stays consistent in clock-time. Tick/range/volume charts fall back to raw values.
• Locked against accidental deletion — set IsInHitTest=false at load. Click-fall-through on the chart panel is now the default; trend lines and drawings beneath Cornerstone are reachable. Delete key can no longer accidentally remove the indicator.
• SA-priority watermark — when PBF Signal Analyzer is also on the chart, Cornerstone suppresses its own brand watermark so the shield doesn't double-stack at higher alpha.

FVG Properties (Group "1B - FVG")

Coming Next

• Custom session anchors (post-Asia open, London open) for traders outside US RTH.
• FVG hourly (1H) by default once Saturday backtesting confirms it doesn't add noise on intraday charts.