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Major issues with NinjaTrader and very slow data feed
I bought the full version of Ninjatrader last week. When I tried their trial version, everything worked great and the data feed was on par with any other providers I have used in the past, TD, TS and IB.
After buying NinjaTrader and setting it up with both my TD and IB account, I am getting very slow data feeds. It takes 5 to 10 min to load a chart which makes it impossible to trade with it. I have a very fast internet and desktop computer, and data are lighting fast when I use either the TD or IB trading platform, so I know it isn't either the hardware nor the data speed... I also only have no more than 6 charts open at anytime, and 3 of them are the same instrument, just different time frames... And I only use 3 basics studies...
So my question is: is it a problem that everybody has when using IB as a data provider? I know I could get faster data by using Kinetic - NinjaTrader sister company data provider - but I hate paying twice for the same thing and I feel NinjaTrader wasn't forthcoming with those issues. I wrongly assumed that every brokers on their official list would work the way any other trading platform does, with minimum lag if any.
I would love to know what everyone does, and any advice or ideas I can try... It has been a very frustrating first week with NinjaTrader so far. Thanks in advance for any advice you may have.
Yes, using IB as data provider (via TWS or Gateway) is terrible slow and didn't work for me.
What you can do:
1. use less charts
2. lower "Days to load" in the Data Series
What I did:
- I use NT's CQG Continuum as data provider for $12 a month (for futures)
- canceled the data subscription with IB (so I pay only once for data and still can trade with IB through NT)
I've been with ICQ for awhile now and have never had that kind of issue. I guess what it boils down to is you get what you pay for, although you're connected to a firm that should be sending you good data. Have you contacted IB? Maybe there's a simple tickey box somewhere that either needs to be checked or unchecked. That kind of stuff happening on my charts drives me crazy until I finally figure out what the issue is. Good luck with IB. I could never make head or tails of their platform for trading futures, so made the switch to Ninja.
The issue is actually known by the Ninjatrader team. The following is from NT support:
"The data from Interactive Brokers into NinjaTrader is limited by the capabilities of the API they provide. Unfortunately this is notoriously slow. The best solution would be to use an alternative data feed that does not have this limitation (like Kinetick)."
As I get more into it, I am realizing that Ninjatrader is purposefully limiting customers from third party data feed provider so that you get to either sign-up with their brokerage or Kinetic which is their data feed sister company.
The reason I would like to avoid opening an account with either, is:
Kinetic is very pricey. Most data provider charge $12 for a futures non pro data feed, Kinetic has a $65 subscription fees + $12 for futures data feed, so that would be $77 which is much more expensive.
The issue I have with their brokerage is they don't offer equities and your cash doesn't get interest rate. If I have cash that isn't working I want to get something for it, or buy stocks so that it makes money and is still consider a liquid asset use as a collateral against my margin.
But unfortunately I have the feeling I am going to have to give-in if I want to continue to trade with Ninjatrader. And even though I did buy the multi broker license, a lot of the providers listed on their website:
That is as a broker. CQG as a broker is not longer supported. But you're looking for a data feed and that's something else. Check with NT if you can get a NT Continuum data feed (that's what I have for futures). Or maybe IQFeed or Rithmic? (that's for futures, I don't know about stocks.) You need a direct feed and not via an interface, like IB or others, that is slowing down.
I did check with NT and it is no longer supported with newer licenses. You only get it if you have an account with NT's brokerage. You can get continuum but you have to open an NT account. Same for Rithmic.
I have contacted IQfeed, and waiting for their rates info
I can understand you feel misled. It's like politicians, they won't lie per se but they won't tell you the truth either.
NT says they support Interactive Brokers (I guess you thought of NT as an alternative to TWS) but in practice it's not doable and useless.
May be you can get a refund if you explain? Or indeed go with NT and Kinetics which is expensive and I think also requires a NT live trading account.
So it seems, one way or another, you will need to open an account with NT Brokerage and subscribe to Kinetics if you want stock data or continuum for futures. You don't need to use your NT account but there is an inactivity fee of $25 a month.
