NinjaTrader 2020 Review and Tutorial

NinjaTrader’s award-winning online trading platform aims to continue to support day traders interested in futures, forex, CFDs and stock markets. This page will walk you through the NinjaTrader 8 platform, covering features, indicators, charts, demo accounts, as well as compatibility with top brokers including NinjaTrader Brokerage.

Brief history

Since its inception in 2004, the privately held company headquartered in Denver, Colorado and Chicago, Illinois, has attracted over 60,000 users and 450+ developers. They offer a sophisticated trading platform with multiple charts and multiple features and market data services. Thousands of third-party apps, plus add-ons, allow for ample customization, quick order execution, and advanced market analysis. In addition, NinjaTrader provides brokerage services to support forex and futures traders at discounted prices.

Key Details

So, we know NinjaTrader can be used in several markets, but what are the main details to be aware of before you download the latest version? First, there are no fees to use NinjaTrader’s standard features. This ensures free access to the following:

• Trading simulation
• Market analysis
• Advanced charts
• Backtesting & optimization
• Automated strategy development

NinjaTrader is an open source system, like the MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform. The difference is that while MT4 appeals mainly to forex day traders, NinjaTrader is also popular among futures day traders. You can run NinjaTrader on Mac OS, Windows, and Linux if you port it.

NinjaTrader 8

The platform is regularly updated, the latest version in NinjaTrader 8. It delivers more than 500 improvements, including charting changes (more configurations), improvements to alerts, improved platform, plus data and performance improvements. The developers aren’t stopping there, and more user-led fixes are planned.

Why NinjaTrader?

A quick look at trading blogs and forums and you’ll see a lot of people wanting to know how NinjaTrader stacks up vs MT4, MT5, TradeStation, and MultiCharts. So, with so many options available, what separates NinjaTrader 8 from the rest?

• Customization – Their simple platform has been designed for traders who want to customize their platform and technical indicators. You’ll find floating windows and indicators that simply aren’t available on other platforms.
• Setup – They have carefully engineered their platform to allow for quick and easy setup. In less than ten minutes, you can download NinjaTrader 7 or 8 and be up and running.
• Scripts – Experienced day traders often like to have multiple scripts. NinjaTrader 7 is great for this and NinjaTrader 8 has programmers porting the script to their new latest version.
• Free simulation – This free trial uses random or live data updated once a day. Once you have honed an effective strategy, you can upgrade to live trading with real capital.
• Stop-loss Capability – NinjaTrader has a smart system that allows you to build your strategy so that both the stop loss and the target order are sent as soon as you enter the trade. This means that if you lose your internet connection, or you are disconnected from your broker, your stop orders and target orders can prevent costly disasters.

 

 

Weakness

Despite the total benefits of NinjaTrader, there are certain downsides and risks to be aware of. This includes:

• Speed ​​of the Market Analyzer – Some reviews highlight concerns about the speed of the Market Analyzer when running a scan if you use more than 100 symbols.
• Apps – Those hoping for a native NinjaTrader mobile app for their Android or Apple devices will be disappointed. Access to CQG Mobile is available to those using the NinjaTrader Brokerage. In addition, there is talk of a native mobile app so that iOS and Android users will soon be successful.
• Difficult to learn – This is especially true for NinjaTrader version 7. However, this has so far been resolved with their latest offering, NinjaTrader 8. You can also find various video tutorials, guides, and websites online that will help you along with free daily webinars hosted by their support team.
• Narrow focus – Today’s traders are increasingly interested in the bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets. NinjaTrader provides tagging and analysis capabilities with Coinbase data integrated directly into the platform but order execution is not currently available. For live trading, NinjaTrader is currently the best in serving futures, forex, stocks and CFD trading.

NinjaTrader Tools & Features

One of the first questions many traders will have today is about trading tools and the features they offer. Fortunately, reviews and brokerages report high levels of satisfaction with both.

Marking

In terms of charting capabilities, NinjaTrader scores very high. Their comprehensive tools will compliment your trading ideas with a user-friendly and highly customizable system. They provide:

• Clear and powerful market visualization
• Multiple time frames plus multi-instrument analysis
• More than 100 built-in custom indicators, as well as hundreds of optional third-party indicators.

You can expect access to the following:

• Gap indicator
• News indicator
• Direction indicator
• Swing indicator
• Volume oscillator
• Reversal indicator
• Volatility indicator
• Value area indicator
• Difference indicator
• Elliott wave indicator
• Daily average range indicator

Trade Management

NinjaTrader SuperDOM’s order entry and order management system allows for enhanced customization. You will benefit from the following:

• Quickly visualize trades
• Single-click order entry, modification, and cancellation
• It can also be used with the Advanced Trade Management (ATM) module

Advanced Trade Management The NinjaTrader ATM module is a strong selling point. Their advanced technology allows you to define a personal trading management strategy. This includes:

• Many profit targets and stop-loss orders
• One-cancel-other (OCO) order
• Auto-breakeven stop
• Trailing losses

It can help you generate bigger profits because it automatically submits entry/exit orders in milliseconds. Not to mention, it can reduce the time and stress of managing multiple exit orders manually in a volatile market.

Automation

Day trading volume is increasingly represented by machine learning algorithms. This is because I have developed strategies that consistently work, so automating them can increase your returns. Once you have programmed in your criteria, the algorithm / bot will enter and exit trades as soon as your criteria have been met. This allows you to make more trades than you could manually.

 

 

NinjaTrader allows you to automate your trading strategies if they are developed using NinjaScript or if they are outside the application. You have the ability to:

• Develop and buy automated strategies
• Analyze and implement automated strategies
• Process trading signals from external applications
• Either create or buy third party custom chart indicators

Market Replay

NinjaTrader offers a very useful market replay function. It downloads historical data so you can go back to a specific day and practice trading the market as if it were live. This is smart for developing strategies, or for overcoming Fibonacci levels, for example.

Other analysis tools

NinjaTrader’s offering also extends to trading performance tools, plus market analysts and strategies. All of them can help improve your day trading performance.

In addition, the minimum system and hardware requirements for NinjaTrader are industry standard, so most people should be able to download the full versions 7 and 8. Programming and coding manuals can then be found in their video library.

Overall, in terms of trading tools and features, you get a variety of customizable charts and trading simulation programs. You also have extensive data feeds, indicator lists, intelligent programming capabilities, and a reliable support forum. The key to making the most of their service is spending time exploring their video library and educational services once you’ve logged in.

NinjaTrader Education

Getting to grips with a new platform can prove challenging. Fortunately, NinjaTrader provides a variety of education and support to improve the use of their trading software. They provide daily webinars, training videos, help guides, and there is an active user community that you can work with.

The above method should help you with:

• Quotation price
• Stock scanner
• Different plugins
• Data subscription
• Order type and quantity
• Strategy templates & tutorials
• Production and financing broker
• Output window and stop limit limit

However, if you still have unanswered questions, you can contact NinjaTrader via email or their support forum. They have a 20-strong help desk team, formed by NinjaTrader experts to ensure you get the most out of their platform.

How to…

Many of the educational materials available revolve around frequently asked questions from traders. The majority are “How to”, for example:

• How to place a stop loss
• How to delete a strategy
• How to trade futures
• How to use Ninjatrader 9

…and many more. These questions are often answered directly through webinars, or video tutorials. These videos last around 2 or 3 minutes and cover very specific topics such as charts, or connecting to platforms. The Youtube channel also hosts videos, but these are very short. Webinars last longer and traders need to register, but these get more detailed and offer more depth.

Demo Account

The NinjaTrader demo account is a great opportunity for beginners to get to know both the market and the trading platform. Furthermore, downloading their demo account software is easy. Just go to their website and click on Trade Futures or Trade FX. Then scroll down and enter your information for a demo account. All you need is an email address and to fill in your location. You will then be emailed your login details and steps to download their platform if you haven’t already.

Overall, trading simulator reviews speak highly of this service and it’s not hard to see why. Exciting scalars can hone their craft on Heiken-Ashi charts, while having access to playback functions, market and volume profiles, and more.

Then when you have built your confidence, you can open a live trading account, funded with real capital.

Cost

Once you register and log in with a demo account, you will also be sent information from the NinjaTrader broker. This will clear the exchange fees and other costs associated with their brokerage services. The main costs are as follows:

• The minimum deposit for a futures trading account is $1,000.
• The minimum deposit for a forex trading account is $50.
• The daily trading margin for popular futures such as the S&P 500 is $500.
• Both mini Dax and FTSE 100 futures have a margin of $1000.
• You will find commissions starting at around $0.53 per contract. However, this depends on whether you purchase the NinjaTrader platform, or whether you rent, or use the free version.
• A lifetime license for NinjaTrader will cost you $1099. Alternatively, you can pay four monthly payments of $329. It will cost you $720 a year, $425 for six months, and $225 every three months if you choose to rent .

A lifetime license for NinjaTrader will cost you $999. Alternatively, you can pay four monthly payments of $299. It will cost you $600 a year, $330 for six months, and $180 every three months if you choose to rent. Also, it is worth noting that if you choose to use the free version of NinjaTrader, the commission may be slightly higher.

 

 

NinjaTrader 7 vs NinjaTrader 8

The launch of NinjaTrader 8 is highly anticipated. System requirements for 8 remain similar to those for 7, so if you have one you should migrate to the other without too much hassle. You can use 8 on Mac or Windows.

The 8th major addition of 500 changes includes:

• Speed ​​increases
• Historical query data
• Substantial chart improvement
• Second market data timestamp
• Ability to add custom columns and pointers to SuperDOM

8 reviews show customers are happy with many of the changes, however, if you don’t want to download the latest version, the full version 7 should do the job just fine. In fact, many traders indicate that much of your knowledge and experience of NinjaTrader 7 will be applied directly in the 8 download.

NinjaTrader 8 tutorials, strategy builders, and backtesting guidance are all available by heading over to their trading forum or training video library.

Also, it should be noted that, unfortunately, there is zero NT 8 mobile capability.

Brokerage Compatibility

NinjaTrader exists as an independent broker trading platform. However, there are several brokers supported from the UK and elsewhere. Effectively, NinjaTrader holds a multi-broker license. This gives you as a trader, the choice of where you run your trade. However, there is some risk of communication delays between some platforms. Therefore, if you want a smooth transition from platform to broker, you may want to choose one of the brokers currently available through NinjaTrader Brokerage. They also support the majority of market leading data service providers, such as Kinetick. Overall, you have a choice of forex brokerages and futures brokers where you can use your NinjaTrader software. In fact,

• CQG
• FXCM
• MB Trading
• TD Ameritrade
• Clearly the corretora
• Oanda
• Interactive Brokers
• NinjaTrader Rhythmic
• NinjaTrader Continuum
• GAIN Capital / FOREX.com

NinjaTrader continues to support several additional market data vendors, including:

• eSignal
• TradeStation
• Yahoo Finance
• Import Metastock
• IQFeed from Telvent DTN
• Import text data based on text files

See their brokerage website for a full list of instruments, including equities, forex, and futures.

NinjaTrader Customer Service

In the day trading game, every moment costs money. So, you don’t want to sit there for hours waiting for NinjaTrader to fix technical problems or account problems. Fortunately, they offer 24/5 technical support, plus 24/7 emergency trading support in several languages, so no matter your time zone, someone will be around.

You can expect to receive help with the following:

• Provide alerts
• Get your account balance
• Make sure you understand the price
• How to place a stop loss and gain currency prices
• Initial margin requirements and daily loss limits
• Directions to builders and examples of their strategies
• Looking for point charts and automated trading strategies
• Information about holidays and important calendar dates
• Understand license and leverage requirements, including intraday margin requirements and inactivity fees

Although you can get technical support and brokerage when you need it, NinjaTrader does not have a live chat service function, which can increase the speed of recovery. Overall, emails are answered promptly and their support is fairly industry standard. For emergency business phone numbers where you are, check out their website. Issues related to connectivity, or a system not starting can often be detected initially on the Support forum, which is a great resource. Any downtime (scheduled or otherwise) will be reported there first.

Final Word

If you’re looking for powerful software and market data, NinjaTrader could be worth exploring. Having said that, the program may take a few weeks to get to know, especially for beginners. Although they don’t have a native iPhone or iPad app, or Android equivalent, if using a NinjaTrader broker, you can access your account anywhere using CQG Desktop. Overall, you get an active trading community, a variety of educational resources and a high level of compatibility. All that can improve your trading performance and increase the intraday profit which is very important If choosing Brokerage NinjaTrader, low margins and commissions can be useful and also to keep costs low.

Accepted Countries

NinjaTrader only accepts traders from the United States, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Tokelau, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium, Brazil, United Kingdom, Cyprus, Republic of Czech, Denmark, Finland, Egypt, France, Switzerland, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Bolivia, Colombia.

Frequently asked questions