Abstract 1,4‐Dihydro‐5 H ‐(dinitromethylene)‐tetrazole ammonium salt ((NH 4 ) 2 DNMT), a high nitrogen energetic compound, was synthesized and structurally characterized by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. The thermal behavior of (NH 4 ) 2 DNMT was studied with DSC and TG‐DTG methods. The kinetic equation of the thermal decomposition reaction is: d α /d T =10 13.17 /3 β (1− α ) −2 exp(−1.388×10 5 / RT ). The critical temperature of thermal explosion is 182.7 °C. The specific heat capacity of (NH 4 ) 2 DNMT was determined and the molar heat capacity is 301 J mol −1 K −1 at 298.15 K. The adiabatic time‐to‐explosion of (NH 4 ) 2 DNMT was calculated to be 277 s. The detonation velocity and detonation pressure were also estimated. All results showed that (NH 4 ) 2 DNMT presents good performance.