485BPOS

Securities Act File No. 333-122917

ICA No. 811- 21720

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission December 26, 2012

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C.  20549

FORM N-1A

REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

Pre-Effective Amendment No.  _______	[    ]
Post-Effective Amendment No. 446	[ X ]

and/or

REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940

Amendment No.   448 [ X ]

 (Check Appropriate Box or Boxes)

Northern Lights Fund Trust

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)

17605 Wright Street

Omaha, NE 68154-1150

Attention:  Michael Miola

 (Address of Principal Executive Offices)(Zip Code)

(402) 895-1600

 (Registrant's Telephone Number, Including Area Code)

The Corporation Trust Company

Corporate Trust Center

1209 Orange Street

Wilmington, DE 19801

(Name and Address of Agent for Service)

With a copy to:

JoAnn M. Strasser, Esq. Thompson Hine LLP 41 South High Street, Suite 1700 Columbus, Ohio 43215 614-469-3265 (phone) 513-241-4771 (fax) James P. Ash, Esq. Gemini Fund Services, LLC 450 Wireless Blvd. Hauppauge, New York 11788 (631) 470-2619 (phone) (631) 813-2884 (fax)

 Approximate Date of Proposed Public Offering:

It is proposed that this filing will become effective (check appropriate box):

(X)  

immediately upon filing pursuant to paragraph (b).

(   )

on  (date) pursuant to paragraph (b).

(  )

60 days after filing pursuant to paragraph (a)(1).

(  )  

on (date) pursuant to paragraph (a)(1).

(  )  

75 days after filing pursuant to paragraph (a)(2).

(  )  

on (date) pursuant to paragraph (a)(2) of Rule 485.

If appropriate, check the following box:

(  ) this post-effective amendment designates a new effective date for a previously filed post-effective amendment.

This filing relates solely to the Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund, a series of the Trust.

Signatures

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, the Registrant certifies that it meets all of the requirements for effectiveness of this registration statement under rule 485(b) under the Securities Act and has duly caused this Post-Effective Amendment No. 446 to the Registration Statement on Form N-1A to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, duly authorized in the City of Hauppauge, State of New York on the 26^th day of December, 2012.

NORTHERN LIGHTS FUND TRUST

(Registrant)

/s/ Andrew Rogers

By: Andrew Rogers,

President and Principal Executive Officer

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, this Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

Michael Miola*	Trustee & Chairman	December 26, 2012
John V. Palancia*	Trustee	December 26, 2012
Gary Lanzen*	Trustee	December 26, 2012
Anthony Hertl*	Trustee	December 26, 2012
Mark Taylor*	Trustee	December 26, 2012
/s/ Andrew Rogers Andrew Rogers	President and Principal Executive Officer	December 26, 2012
Kevin Wolf*	Treasurer and Principal Accounting Officer	December 26, 2012

By:                                     Date:

/s/ James Ash       

December 26, 2012

James Ash

*Attorney-in-Fact – Pursuant to Powers of Attorney previously filed on April 1, 2011 to the Registrant’s Registration Statement in Post-Effective Amendment No. 234, and hereby incorporated by reference.

EXHIBIT INDEX

Index No.	Description of Exhibit
EX-101.INS	XBRL Instance Document
EX-101.SCH	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
EX-101.DEF	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase
EX-101.LAB	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Labels Linkbase
EX-101.PRE	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase

XML

Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund

Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE :

The Fund seeks to achieve total return and to achieve this objective through a combination of current income and capital appreciation.

FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE FUND:

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund.  You may qualify for sales charge discounts on purchases of Class A shares if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000 in the Fund.  More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and in How to Purchase Shares on page [_] of the Fund's Prospectus.

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Shareholder Fees Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund	Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund Class A	Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund Class C	Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund Class I	Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund Class N
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a % of offering price)	5.75%	none	none	none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a % of original purchase price)	1.00%	1.00%	none	none
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and other Distributions	none	none	none	none
Redemption Fee (as a % of amount redeemed, if sold within 30 days)	1.00%	1.00%	1.00%	1.00%

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Annual Fund Operating Expenses Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund		Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund Class A	Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund Class C	Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund Class I	Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund Class N
Management Fees		1.75%	1.75%	1.75%	1.75%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees		0.25%	1.00%	none	0.25%
Other Expenses	[1]	0.44%	0.44%	0.44%	0.44%
Interest and Dividends on Securities Sold Short		0.10%	0.10%	0.10%	0.10%
Remaining Other Expenses		0.34%	0.34%	0.34%	0.34%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		2.44%	3.19%	2.19%	2.44%
Fee Waiver	[2]	(0.10%)	(0.10%)	(0.10%)	(0.10%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver		2.34%	3.09%	2.09%	2.34%

Example:

 This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based upon these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund (USD $)	1 Year	3 Years
Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund Class A	798	1,283
Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund Class C	312	974
Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund Class I	212	676
Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund Class N	237	751

Portfolio Turnover:

 The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio).  A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account.  These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance.

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES:

 In seeking to achieve its investment objective, the Fund will invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in both long and short positions in fixed income securities of domestic and foreign issuers or counterparties ("80% investment policy").  For purposes of the 80% investment policy, the Fund defines fixed income securities as including (i) bills, (ii) notes, (iii) debentures, (iv) bonds, (v) mortgage-backed securities ("MBS"), (vi) asset-backed securities ("ABS"), (vii) preferred stocks, (viii) loan participation interests, (ix) any other debt or debt-related securities of any maturities, whether issued by U.S. or non-U.S. governments, agencies or instrumentalities thereof or corporate entities, and having fixed, variable, floating or inverse floating rates, (x) fixed income derivatives including options, financial futures, options on futures and swaps, and (xi) other evidences of indebtedness.  The Fund may invest in debt securities of any maturity or credit quality, including those rated below investment grade ("high yield securities" or "junk bonds").  Below investment grade debt securities are those rated below Baa3 by Moody's Investors Service or equivalently by another nationally recognized statistical rating organization (NRSRO).   The Fund may invest, without limitation in either U.S. or foreign securities or issuers, including securities of issuers in emerging markets.   The Fund may use foreign currency forward contracts to hedge foreign currency exchange risk.  The Fund may invest a portion of its assets in private placement offerings which may be illiquid.  In addition, the Fund may engage in transactions for the purpose of hedging against changes in the price of other Fund portfolio securities, such as purchasing put options, selling securities short or writing covered call options.  The Fund’s short positions may equal up to 100% of its net asset value.  The Fund may also leverage its portfolio by purchasing securities with funds provided via repurchase agreements or borrowed from banks in an amount of up to 33% of the Fund's assets (defined as net assets plus borrowing for investment purposes).  The Fund will limit its borrowings such that the Fund’s long positions will constitute less than 150% of its net asset value.

The Fund is "non-diversified" for purposes of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, which means that the Fund may invest more than 5% of its total assets in the securities of one or more issuers and therefore have its' investments focused in fewer securities at any one time than a diversified fund.  The Fund may engage in frequent trading of the Fund's portfolio securities.

The Fund's adviser, Altegris Advisors, L.L.C., seeks to achieve total return through a combination of current income and capital appreciation, and expects over time that returns will be slightly to moderately correlated to major alternative fixed income indices (such as, for example, the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index).  As correlations (whether positive or negative) measure the strength and direction of a relationship between two variables, the Fund’s adviser expects “slight to moderate correlation” to an index, in this context, to be within a range of +0.00 to +0.70 under normal market circumstances. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment  objective by utilizing an approach whereby the Fund’s assets are allocated and diversified among one or more sub-advisers employing various fixed income long short strategies, in percentage allocation amounts determined in the discretion of the Fund’s adviser.  Each of the Fund's sub-advisers has one or more proprietary fixed income long short investment strategies (i.e., sub-strategies) that, in the aggregate across all sub-strategies, are expected to have returns that are moderately correlated to major alternative fixed income market indices, as described above.   The initial sub-strategies include a fundamental long short credit strategy and a short biased credit strategy.  While the Fund employs long and short investment strategies, the Fund should not be considered to be a market neutral fund as the type of strategies employed from time to time may vary.   Any sub-adviser selected by the adviser to manage a portion of the Fund’s portfolio assets will act independently from the others and will utilize its own proprietary and distinct fixed income long short investment strategies and techniques.  Each sub-adviser, however, will be subject to, and must operate within, the same investment restrictions and portfolio constraints as are applicable to the Fund.

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT RISKS:

As with all mutual funds, there is the risk that you could lose money through your investment in the Fund.  The Fund is not intended to be a complete investment program.  Many factors affect the Fund's net asset value and performance.

·

Capital Raising Risk: There can be no guarantee that adequate capital will be raised in a timely fashion in order to achieve the Fund’s investment objective objective.

·

Convertible Bond Risk:  Convertible bonds are hybrid securities that have characteristics of both bonds and common stocks and are subject to debt security risks and conversion value-related equity risk.

·

Credit Default Swap Risk:  Credit default swaps ("CDS") are typically two-party financial contracts that transfer credit exposure between the two parties.  Under a typical CDS, one party (the "seller") receives pre-determined periodic payments from the other party (the "buyer").  The seller agrees to make compensating specific payments to the buyer if a negative credit event occurs, such as the bankruptcy or default by the issuer of the underlying debt instrument.The use of CDS involves investment techniques and risks different from those associated with ordinary portfolio security transactions, such as potentially heightened counterparty, concentration and exposure risks.

·

Credit Risk:  There is a risk that issuers and counterparties will not make payments on securities and other investments held by the Fund, resulting in losses to the Fund.  In addition, the credit quality of fixed income securities held by the Fund may be lowered if an issuer's financial condition changes.  High yield or junk bonds are more susceptible to these risks than debt of higher quality issuers. In determining the credit quality of fixed income securities, the Fund relies in part upon rating agencies which assign ratings based on their analysis of the issuer’s financial condition, economic and debt characteristics, and specific revenue sources securing the bond.  There is additional risk that the national credit rating agencies may be wrong in their determination of an issuer’s financial condition, or the risks associated with a particular security.  A change in either the issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of the issuer’s business prospects will affect the value of its outstanding securities. Ratings are not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold and may be subject to review, revision, suspension or reduction, or may be withdrawn at any time.

·

Derivatives Risk:  The use of futures, options, repurchase agreements and other derivatives involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments, and include leverage, volatility, liquidity, credit and tracking risks.  Long options positions may expire worthless.

·

Emerging Markets Risk: Investments in securities of issuers in emerging markets will be subject to risks of foreign securities in general and with those of emerging markets as well. Emerging market countries may have relatively unstable governments, weaker economies, and less-developed legal systems with fewer security holder rights. Emerging market economies may be based on only a few industries and security issuers may be more susceptible to economic weakness and more likely to default. Securities of issuers in emerging markets securities also tend to be less liquid.

·

Equity Market Risk:  Common and preferred stocks are susceptible to general stock market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value as market confidence in and perceptions of their issuers change.  Warrants and rights may expire worthless if the price of a common stock is below the conversion price of the warrant or right.  Convertible bonds may decline in value if the price of a common stock falls below the conversion price. Investor perceptions are based on various and unpredictable factors including expectations regarding government, economic, monetary and fiscal policies; inflation and interest rates; economic expansion or contraction and global or regional political, economic and banking crises.

·

Fixed Income Risk: The value of the Fund's investments in fixed income securities and derivatives will fluctuate with changes in interest rates. Typically, a rise in interest rates causes a decline in the value of fixed income securities and derivatives owned by the Fund. On the other hand, if rates fall, the value of the fixed income securities and derivatives generally increases. Your investment will decline in value if the value of the Fund's investments decreases.

·

Foreign Currency Risk: Currency trading risks include market risk, credit risk and country risk. Market risk results from adverse changes in exchange rates in the currencies the Fund is long or short. Credit risk results because a currency-trade counterparty may default. Country risk arises because a government may interfere with transactions in its currency.

·

Foreign Investment Risk:  Foreign investing involves risks not typically associated with U.S. investments, including adverse fluctuations in foreign currency values, adverse political, social and economic developments, less liquidity, greater volatility, less developed or less efficient trading markets, political instability and differing auditing and legal standards.  Investing in emerging markets imposes risks different from, or greater than, risks of investing in foreign developed countries.

·

High Yield or Junk Bond Risk:  Lower-quality bonds and other debt securities, known as "high yield" or "junk" bonds, present greater risk than bonds of higher quality, including an increased risk of default.  An economic downturn or period of rising interest rates could adversely affect the market for these bonds and reduce the Fund's ability to sell its bonds.  The lack of a liquid market for these bonds could decrease the Fund's share price.

·

Impairment of Collateral Risk: The value of non-cash collateral securing an investment may fluctuate and diverge from the value of the investment. If the value of collateral declines, it may become insufficient to meet an investment counterparty’s obligations to the Fund and/or make it more difficult for the Fund to liquidate collateral. In addition, the Fund’s access to collateral may be limited by bankruptcy or other insolvency laws.

·

Issuer-Specific Risk:  The value of a specific security can be more volatile than the market as a whole and can perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

·

Leverage Risk:  The use of leverage by the Fund, such as borrowing money to purchase securities or the use of options, will cause the Fund to incur additional expenses and magnify the Fund's gains or losses.

·

Limited History of Operations Risk :  The Fund is a new mutual fund and has a limited history of operation.

·

Liquidity Risk:  Liquidity risk exists when particular investments of the Fund would be difficult to purchase or sell, possibly preventing the Fund from selling such illiquid securities at an advantageous time or price, or possibly requiring the Fund to dispose of other investments at unfavorable times or prices in order to satisfy its obligations.

·

Management Risk:  The adviser's judgments about the investment expertise of each sub-adviser may prove to be inaccurate and may not produce the desired results.  Each sub-adviser's judgments about the attractiveness, value and potential appreciation or depreciation of a particular security in which the Fund invests or sells short may prove to be inaccurate and may not produce the desired results.  

·

Market Risk:  Overall securities market risks may affect the value of individual instruments in which the Fund invests.  Factors such as domestic and foreign economic growth and market conditions, interest rate levels, and political events affect the securities and derivatives markets.  When the value of the Fund's investments goes down, your investment in the Fund decreases in value and you could lose money.

·

Mortgage-Backed and Asset-Backed Risk: The default rate on underlying mortgage loans or asset loans may be higher than anticipated, potentially reducing payments to the Fund. Default rates are sensitive to overall economic conditions such as unemployment, wage levels and economic growth rates. Mortgage-backed securities are susceptible maturity risk because issuers of securities are able to prepay principal due on these securities, particularly during periods of declining interest rates.

·

Non-Diversification Risk:  As a non-diversified fund, the Fund may invest more than 5% of its total assets in the securities of one or more issuers.  The Fund's performance may be more sensitive to any single economic, business, political or regulatory occurrence than the value of shares of a diversified investment company.

·

Preferred Stock Risk:  Typically, a rise in interest rates causes a decline in the value of preferred stock. Preferred stocks are also subject to credit and default risk, which is the possibility that an issuer of preferred stock will fail to make its dividend payments.

·

Repurchase Agreements Risk:  The Fund may enter into repurchase agreements in which it purchases a security (known as the "underlying security") from a securities dealer or bank. In the event of a bankruptcy or other default by the seller of a repurchase agreement, the Fund could experience delays in liquidating the underlying security and losses in the event of a decline in the value of the underlying security while the Fund is seeking to enforce its rights under the repurchase agreement.

·

Short Selling and Short Position Risk:  The Fund will engage in short selling and short position derivative activities, which are significantly different from the investment activities commonly associated with conservative stock or bond funds.  Positions in shorted securities and derivatives are speculative and more risky than "long" positions (purchases) because the cost of the replacement security or derivative is unknown.  Therefore, the potential loss on an uncovered short is unlimited, whereas the potential loss on long positions is limited to the original purchase price.  You should be aware that any strategy that includes selling securities short could suffer significant losses.  Shorting will also result in higher transaction costs (such as interest and dividends), which reduce the Fund's return, and may result in higher taxes.

·

Small and Medium Company Credit Risk:  Small and mid-sized companies may have limited product lines, markets or financial resources, and they may be dependent on a limited management group. Therefore, fixed income securities issued by smaller companies may pose greater credit risk than is generally associated with the securities of larger, more established companies.

·

Turnover Risk.  A higher portfolio turnover may result in higher transactional and brokerage costs.

PERFORMANCE:

Because the Fund has less than a full calendar year of investment operations, no performance information is presented for the Fund at this time.  In the future, performance information will be presented in this section of this Prospectus.  Also, shareholder reports containing financial and performance information will be mailed to shareholders semi-annually. Updated performance information will be available at no cost by visiting www.altegrismutualfunds.com or by calling 1-877-772-5838.

[1] Based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.

[2] The Fund's adviser has contractually agreed to reduce its fees and to reimburse expenses, at least until April 30, 2014, to ensure that total annual Fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or reimbursement (exclusive of any taxes, short selling expenses, interest, brokerage commissions, expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization, indirect expenses, expenses of other investment companies in which the Fund may invest, or extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 2.24%, 2.99% %, 1.99 % % and 2.2 4% of average daily net assets attributable to Class A, Class C, Class I, and Class N shares, respectively. These fee waivers and expense reimbursements are subject to possible recoupment from the Fund in future years on a rolling three year basis (within the three years after the end of the fiscal year during which the fees were waived or reimbursed) if such recoupment can be achieved within the foregoing expense limits. This agreement may be terminated only by the Fund's Board of Trustees, on 60 days written notice to the Fund's adviser.

XML

Label

Element

Value

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Risk/Return [Heading]

rr_RiskReturnHeading

Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund

Objective [Heading]

rr_ObjectiveHeading

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE :

Objective, Primary [Text Block]

rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock

The Fund seeks to achieve total return and to achieve this objective through a combination of current income and capital appreciation.

Expense [Heading]

rr_ExpenseHeading

FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE FUND:

Expense Narrative [Text Block]

rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund.  You may qualify for sales charge discounts on purchases of Class A shares if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000 in the Fund.  More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and in How to Purchase Shares on page [_] of the Fund's Prospectus.

Shareholder Fees Caption [Text]

rr_ShareholderFeesCaption

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)

Operating Expenses Caption [Text]

rr_OperatingExpensesCaption

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Fee Waiver or Reimbursement over Assets, Date of Termination

rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssetsDateOfTermination

2014-04-30

Portfolio Turnover [Heading]

rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading

Portfolio Turnover:

Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]

rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock

 The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio).  A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account.  These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance.

Other Expenses, New Fund, Based on Estimates [Text]

rr_OtherExpensesNewFundBasedOnEstimates

Based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.

Expense Example [Heading]

rr_ExpenseExampleHeading

Example:

Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]

rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock

 This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.

Expense Example by, Year, Caption [Text]

rr_ExpenseExampleByYearCaption

The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based upon these assumptions your costs would be:

Strategy [Heading]

rr_StrategyHeading

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES:

Strategy Narrative [Text Block]

rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock

 In seeking to achieve its investment objective, the Fund will invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in both long and short positions in fixed income securities of domestic and foreign issuers or counterparties ("80% investment policy").  For purposes of the 80% investment policy, the Fund defines fixed income securities as including (i) bills, (ii) notes, (iii) debentures, (iv) bonds, (v) mortgage-backed securities ("MBS"), (vi) asset-backed securities ("ABS"), (vii) preferred stocks, (viii) loan participation interests, (ix) any other debt or debt-related securities of any maturities, whether issued by U.S. or non-U.S. governments, agencies or instrumentalities thereof or corporate entities, and having fixed, variable, floating or inverse floating rates, (x) fixed income derivatives including options, financial futures, options on futures and swaps, and (xi) other evidences of indebtedness.  The Fund may invest in debt securities of any maturity or credit quality, including those rated below investment grade ("high yield securities" or "junk bonds").  Below investment grade debt securities are those rated below Baa3 by Moody's Investors Service or equivalently by another nationally recognized statistical rating organization (NRSRO).   The Fund may invest, without limitation in either U.S. or foreign securities or issuers, including securities of issuers in emerging markets.   The Fund may use foreign currency forward contracts to hedge foreign currency exchange risk.  The Fund may invest a portion of its assets in private placement offerings which may be illiquid.  In addition, the Fund may engage in transactions for the purpose of hedging against changes in the price of other Fund portfolio securities, such as purchasing put options, selling securities short or writing covered call options.  The Fund’s short positions may equal up to 100% of its net asset value.  The Fund may also leverage its portfolio by purchasing securities with funds provided via repurchase agreements or borrowed from banks in an amount of up to 33% of the Fund's assets (defined as net assets plus borrowing for investment purposes).  The Fund will limit its borrowings such that the Fund’s long positions will constitute less than 150% of its net asset value.

The Fund is "non-diversified" for purposes of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, which means that the Fund may invest more than 5% of its total assets in the securities of one or more issuers and therefore have its' investments focused in fewer securities at any one time than a diversified fund.  The Fund may engage in frequent trading of the Fund's portfolio securities.

The Fund's adviser, Altegris Advisors, L.L.C., seeks to achieve total return through a combination of current income and capital appreciation, and expects over time that returns will be slightly to moderately correlated to major alternative fixed income indices (such as, for example, the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index).  As correlations (whether positive or negative) measure the strength and direction of a relationship between two variables, the Fund’s adviser expects “slight to moderate correlation” to an index, in this context, to be within a range of +0.00 to +0.70 under normal market circumstances. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment  objective by utilizing an approach whereby the Fund’s assets are allocated and diversified among one or more sub-advisers employing various fixed income long short strategies, in percentage allocation amounts determined in the discretion of the Fund’s adviser.  Each of the Fund's sub-advisers has one or more proprietary fixed income long short investment strategies (i.e., sub-strategies) that, in the aggregate across all sub-strategies, are expected to have returns that are moderately correlated to major alternative fixed income market indices, as described above.   The initial sub-strategies include a fundamental long short credit strategy and a short biased credit strategy.  While the Fund employs long and short investment strategies, the Fund should not be considered to be a market neutral fund as the type of strategies employed from time to time may vary.   Any sub-adviser selected by the adviser to manage a portion of the Fund’s portfolio assets will act independently from the others and will utilize its own proprietary and distinct fixed income long short investment strategies and techniques.  Each sub-adviser, however, will be subject to, and must operate within, the same investment restrictions and portfolio constraints as are applicable to the Fund.

Risk [Heading]

rr_RiskHeading

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT RISKS:

Risk Narrative [Text Block]

rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock

As with all mutual funds, there is the risk that you could lose money through your investment in the Fund.  The Fund is not intended to be a complete investment program.  Many factors affect the Fund's net asset value and performance.

·

Capital Raising Risk: There can be no guarantee that adequate capital will be raised in a timely fashion in order to achieve the Fund’s investment objective objective.

·

Convertible Bond Risk:  Convertible bonds are hybrid securities that have characteristics of both bonds and common stocks and are subject to debt security risks and conversion value-related equity risk.

·

Credit Default Swap Risk:  Credit default swaps ("CDS") are typically two-party financial contracts that transfer credit exposure between the two parties.  Under a typical CDS, one party (the "seller") receives pre-determined periodic payments from the other party (the "buyer").  The seller agrees to make compensating specific payments to the buyer if a negative credit event occurs, such as the bankruptcy or default by the issuer of the underlying debt instrument.The use of CDS involves investment techniques and risks different from those associated with ordinary portfolio security transactions, such as potentially heightened counterparty, concentration and exposure risks.

·

Credit Risk:  There is a risk that issuers and counterparties will not make payments on securities and other investments held by the Fund, resulting in losses to the Fund.  In addition, the credit quality of fixed income securities held by the Fund may be lowered if an issuer's financial condition changes.  High yield or junk bonds are more susceptible to these risks than debt of higher quality issuers. In determining the credit quality of fixed income securities, the Fund relies in part upon rating agencies which assign ratings based on their analysis of the issuer’s financial condition, economic and debt characteristics, and specific revenue sources securing the bond.  There is additional risk that the national credit rating agencies may be wrong in their determination of an issuer’s financial condition, or the risks associated with a particular security.  A change in either the issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of the issuer’s business prospects will affect the value of its outstanding securities. Ratings are not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold and may be subject to review, revision, suspension or reduction, or may be withdrawn at any time.

·

Derivatives Risk:  The use of futures, options, repurchase agreements and other derivatives involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments, and include leverage, volatility, liquidity, credit and tracking risks.  Long options positions may expire worthless.

·

Emerging Markets Risk: Investments in securities of issuers in emerging markets will be subject to risks of foreign securities in general and with those of emerging markets as well. Emerging market countries may have relatively unstable governments, weaker economies, and less-developed legal systems with fewer security holder rights. Emerging market economies may be based on only a few industries and security issuers may be more susceptible to economic weakness and more likely to default. Securities of issuers in emerging markets securities also tend to be less liquid.

·

Equity Market Risk:  Common and preferred stocks are susceptible to general stock market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value as market confidence in and perceptions of their issuers change.  Warrants and rights may expire worthless if the price of a common stock is below the conversion price of the warrant or right.  Convertible bonds may decline in value if the price of a common stock falls below the conversion price. Investor perceptions are based on various and unpredictable factors including expectations regarding government, economic, monetary and fiscal policies; inflation and interest rates; economic expansion or contraction and global or regional political, economic and banking crises.

·

Fixed Income Risk: The value of the Fund's investments in fixed income securities and derivatives will fluctuate with changes in interest rates. Typically, a rise in interest rates causes a decline in the value of fixed income securities and derivatives owned by the Fund. On the other hand, if rates fall, the value of the fixed income securities and derivatives generally increases. Your investment will decline in value if the value of the Fund's investments decreases.

·

Foreign Currency Risk: Currency trading risks include market risk, credit risk and country risk. Market risk results from adverse changes in exchange rates in the currencies the Fund is long or short. Credit risk results because a currency-trade counterparty may default. Country risk arises because a government may interfere with transactions in its currency.

·

Foreign Investment Risk:  Foreign investing involves risks not typically associated with U.S. investments, including adverse fluctuations in foreign currency values, adverse political, social and economic developments, less liquidity, greater volatility, less developed or less efficient trading markets, political instability and differing auditing and legal standards.  Investing in emerging markets imposes risks different from, or greater than, risks of investing in foreign developed countries.

·

High Yield or Junk Bond Risk:  Lower-quality bonds and other debt securities, known as "high yield" or "junk" bonds, present greater risk than bonds of higher quality, including an increased risk of default.  An economic downturn or period of rising interest rates could adversely affect the market for these bonds and reduce the Fund's ability to sell its bonds.  The lack of a liquid market for these bonds could decrease the Fund's share price.

·

Impairment of Collateral Risk: The value of non-cash collateral securing an investment may fluctuate and diverge from the value of the investment. If the value of collateral declines, it may become insufficient to meet an investment counterparty’s obligations to the Fund and/or make it more difficult for the Fund to liquidate collateral. In addition, the Fund’s access to collateral may be limited by bankruptcy or other insolvency laws.

·

Issuer-Specific Risk:  The value of a specific security can be more volatile than the market as a whole and can perform differently from the value of the market as a whole.

·

Leverage Risk:  The use of leverage by the Fund, such as borrowing money to purchase securities or the use of options, will cause the Fund to incur additional expenses and magnify the Fund's gains or losses.

·

Limited History of Operations Risk :  The Fund is a new mutual fund and has a limited history of operation.

·

Liquidity Risk:  Liquidity risk exists when particular investments of the Fund would be difficult to purchase or sell, possibly preventing the Fund from selling such illiquid securities at an advantageous time or price, or possibly requiring the Fund to dispose of other investments at unfavorable times or prices in order to satisfy its obligations.

·

Management Risk:  The adviser's judgments about the investment expertise of each sub-adviser may prove to be inaccurate and may not produce the desired results.  Each sub-adviser's judgments about the attractiveness, value and potential appreciation or depreciation of a particular security in which the Fund invests or sells short may prove to be inaccurate and may not produce the desired results.  

·

Market Risk:  Overall securities market risks may affect the value of individual instruments in which the Fund invests.  Factors such as domestic and foreign economic growth and market conditions, interest rate levels, and political events affect the securities and derivatives markets.  When the value of the Fund's investments goes down, your investment in the Fund decreases in value and you could lose money.

·

Mortgage-Backed and Asset-Backed Risk: The default rate on underlying mortgage loans or asset loans may be higher than anticipated, potentially reducing payments to the Fund. Default rates are sensitive to overall economic conditions such as unemployment, wage levels and economic growth rates. Mortgage-backed securities are susceptible maturity risk because issuers of securities are able to prepay principal due on these securities, particularly during periods of declining interest rates.

·

Non-Diversification Risk:  As a non-diversified fund, the Fund may invest more than 5% of its total assets in the securities of one or more issuers.  The Fund's performance may be more sensitive to any single economic, business, political or regulatory occurrence than the value of shares of a diversified investment company.

·

Preferred Stock Risk:  Typically, a rise in interest rates causes a decline in the value of preferred stock. Preferred stocks are also subject to credit and default risk, which is the possibility that an issuer of preferred stock will fail to make its dividend payments.

·

Repurchase Agreements Risk:  The Fund may enter into repurchase agreements in which it purchases a security (known as the "underlying security") from a securities dealer or bank. In the event of a bankruptcy or other default by the seller of a repurchase agreement, the Fund could experience delays in liquidating the underlying security and losses in the event of a decline in the value of the underlying security while the Fund is seeking to enforce its rights under the repurchase agreement.

·

Short Selling and Short Position Risk:  The Fund will engage in short selling and short position derivative activities, which are significantly different from the investment activities commonly associated with conservative stock or bond funds.  Positions in shorted securities and derivatives are speculative and more risky than "long" positions (purchases) because the cost of the replacement security or derivative is unknown.  Therefore, the potential loss on an uncovered short is unlimited, whereas the potential loss on long positions is limited to the original purchase price.  You should be aware that any strategy that includes selling securities short could suffer significant losses.  Shorting will also result in higher transaction costs (such as interest and dividends), which reduce the Fund's return, and may result in higher taxes.

·

Small and Medium Company Credit Risk:  Small and mid-sized companies may have limited product lines, markets or financial resources, and they may be dependent on a limited management group. Therefore, fixed income securities issued by smaller companies may pose greater credit risk than is generally associated with the securities of larger, more established companies.

·

Turnover Risk.  A higher portfolio turnover may result in higher transactional and brokerage costs.

Risk Lose Money [Text]

rr_RiskLoseMoney

As with all mutual funds, there is the risk that you could lose money through your investment in the Fund.

Risk Nondiversified Status [Text]

rr_RiskNondiversifiedStatus

As a non-diversified fund, the Fund may invest more than 5% of its total assets in the securities of one or more issuers. The Fund's performance may be more sensitive to any single economic, business, political or regulatory occurrence than the value of shares of a diversified investment company.

Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]

rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading

PERFORMANCE:

Performance Narrative [Text Block]

rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock

Because the Fund has less than a full calendar year of investment operations, no performance information is presented for the Fund at this time.  In the future, performance information will be presented in this section of this Prospectus.  Also, shareholder reports containing financial and performance information will be mailed to shareholders semi-annually. Updated performance information will be available at no cost by visiting www.altegrismutualfunds.com or by calling 1-877-772-5838.

Performance One Year or Less [Text]

rr_PerformanceOneYearOrLess

Because the Fund has less than a full calendar year of investment operations, no performance information is presented for the Fund at this time.

Performance Availability Phone [Text]

rr_PerformanceAvailabilityPhone

1-877-772-5838

Performance Availability Website Address [Text]

rr_PerformanceAvailabilityWebSiteAddress

www.altegrismutualfunds.com

Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund Class A

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a % of offering price)

rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice

5.75%

Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a % of original purchase price)

rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice

1.00%

Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and other Distributions

rr_MaximumSalesChargeOnReinvestedDividendsAndDistributionsOverOther

none

Redemption Fee (as a percentage of Amount Redeemed)

rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption

(1.00%)

Management Fees

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

1.75%

Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees

rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets

0.25%

Interest and Dividends on Securities Sold Short

rr_Component1OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.10%

Remaining Other Expenses

rr_Component2OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.34%

Other Expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.44%

^[1]

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

2.44%

Fee Waiver

rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets

(0.10%)

^[2]

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver

rr_NetExpensesOverAssets

2.34%

Expense Breakpoint Discounts [Text]

rr_ExpenseBreakpointDiscounts

You may qualify for sales charge discounts on purchases of Class A shares if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $25,000 in the Fund.

Expense Breakpoint, Minimum Investment Required [Amount]

rr_ExpenseBreakpointMinimumInvestmentRequiredAmount

25,000

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

rr_ExpenseExampleYear01

798

Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear03

1,283

Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund Class C

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a % of offering price)

rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice

none

Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a % of original purchase price)

rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice

1.00%

Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and other Distributions

rr_MaximumSalesChargeOnReinvestedDividendsAndDistributionsOverOther

none

Redemption Fee (as a percentage of Amount Redeemed)

rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption

(1.00%)

Management Fees

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

1.75%

Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees

rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets

1.00%

Interest and Dividends on Securities Sold Short

rr_Component1OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.10%

Remaining Other Expenses

rr_Component2OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.34%

Other Expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.44%

^[1]

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

3.19%

Fee Waiver

rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets

(0.10%)

^[2]

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver

rr_NetExpensesOverAssets

3.09%

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

rr_ExpenseExampleYear01

312

Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear03

974

Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund Class I

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a % of offering price)

rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice

none

Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a % of original purchase price)

rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice

none

Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and other Distributions

rr_MaximumSalesChargeOnReinvestedDividendsAndDistributionsOverOther

none

Redemption Fee (as a percentage of Amount Redeemed)

rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption

(1.00%)

Management Fees

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

1.75%

Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees

rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets

none

Interest and Dividends on Securities Sold Short

rr_Component1OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.10%

Remaining Other Expenses

rr_Component2OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.34%

Other Expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.44%

^[1]

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

2.19%

Fee Waiver

rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets

(0.10%)

^[2]

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver

rr_NetExpensesOverAssets

2.09%

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

rr_ExpenseExampleYear01

212

Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear03

676

Altegris Fixed Income Long Short Fund Class N

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a % of offering price)

rr_MaximumSalesChargeImposedOnPurchasesOverOfferingPrice

none

Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a % of original purchase price)

rr_MaximumDeferredSalesChargeOverOfferingPrice

none

Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends and other Distributions

rr_MaximumSalesChargeOnReinvestedDividendsAndDistributionsOverOther

none

Redemption Fee (as a percentage of Amount Redeemed)

rr_RedemptionFeeOverRedemption

(1.00%)

Management Fees

rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets

1.75%

Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees

rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets

0.25%

Interest and Dividends on Securities Sold Short

rr_Component1OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.10%

Remaining Other Expenses

rr_Component2OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.34%

Other Expenses

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

0.44%

^[1]

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

2.44%

Fee Waiver

rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssets

(0.10%)

^[2]

Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver

rr_NetExpensesOverAssets

2.34%

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

rr_ExpenseExampleYear01

237

Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

rr_ExpenseExampleYear03

751

[1] Based on estimated amounts for the current fiscal year.

[2] The Fund's adviser has contractually agreed to reduce its fees and to reimburse expenses, at least until April 30, 2014, to ensure that total annual Fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or reimbursement (exclusive of any taxes, short selling expenses, interest, brokerage commissions, expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization, indirect expenses, expenses of other investment companies in which the Fund may invest, or extraordinary expenses such as litigation) will not exceed 2.24%, 2.99% %, 1.99 % % and 2.2 4% of average daily net assets attributable to Class A, Class C, Class I, and Class N shares, respectively. These fee waivers and expense reimbursements are subject to possible recoupment from the Fund in future years on a rolling three year basis (within the three years after the end of the fiscal year during which the fees were waived or reimbursed) if such recoupment can be achieved within the foregoing expense limits. This agreement may be terminated only by the Fund's Board of Trustees, on 60 days written notice to the Fund's adviser.

XML

Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Dec. 18, 2012

XML

Document and Entity Information	0 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2012
Risk/Return:
Document Type	485BPOS
Document Period End Date	Jun. 30, 2012
Registrant Name	Northern Lights Fund Trust
Central Index Key	0001314414
Amendment Flag	false
Document Creation Date	Dec. 18, 2012
Document Effective Date	Dec. 18, 2012
Prospectus Date	Dec. 18, 2012