WCwings 

I trade using MultiCharts and I have tried using Ninja Trader, but I must have missed something. The little bit that I used Ninja Trader did not show any advantage over MultiCharts. Ninja Trader was just really difficult to write code for. Can anyone tell me what is so good about Ninja Trader? Thank you, WCwings

I cannot tell you what is so good about NinjaTrader vs. MultiCharts. In fact, I would encourage you to stick with what you know. I am used to NT and was somewhat puzzled when you said it was hard to code for. Full disclosure: I've been programming for 40+ years, so take that into account. My sense is that programmable platforms each have their own pros and cons. If MutliCharts was clearly superior, the NT users would have migrated to it and viceversa. Don't spend too much time on this question, I don't think it leads to any great insight.Good luck in your trading!

phantomtrader 

The back testing engine is highly inaccurate and can't be relied upon

Do you have any comparable evidence to other back testing engines to back up this statement? I just want to understand here what you mean by highly inaccurate vs. other platforms.

firstlast 

I personally regret buying it. Came out of lurk mode just to say that. Its very glitchy, wizard is joke, support desk is meh, you dig for hours in forums for an answer, most threads just end when support blames computer, dare you to get a script assembly error , god forbid you update the damn thing, broker is meh. they jam it full of options and low broker stuff to suck you in then you realize 95% is fluff / distraction, you just needed like 3 indicators and patience. Im sure if i had a degree in coding i would have a different perspective. But,,, i dont. as it stands, tradingview "feels" better.

I've tested Ninja as well. I would say it's crap. TOS is the easiest in terms of coding, most of these so called easy language coding softwares are hard to code and have too many elements/moving parts.

Some knowledge about programming isn't going to help. You need to be lot better than average programmer to make these easy programming softwares to code anything meaningful, I mean anything.

As I said before, we are here to trade not to code. That's what most seems to be making money off useless indicators, strategies, color coded non-sense.

For new comers, learn how to trade not to code. Don't waste money on buying indicators from anyone. Majority if not all are useless. Basic stuff like, RSI, macd, stochastic, moving averages are way better than most of non sense selling in the library of indicators everywhere.

JonnyBoy 

Do you have any comparable evidence to other back testing engines to back up this statement? I just want to understand here what you mean by highly inaccurate vs. other platforms.

It's easy enough to do. Just run the optimizer for 180 days of data. Then run your strategy in real time and compare results. Run the optimizer again after you record the real time data and analyze the results.

Ninja Trader has sexy eye candy but crappy backtesting. The integration of backtesting and autotrading in MCharts and TS is hard to beat, the lack of which is Ninja' biggest weakness. The scripting library for MCharts and TS is very deep and easy to modify and see instant results that can easily be merged into excel for further refinement. I also noticed serious lag in data on 1 minute charts during the recent hard sell-offs.

I always get puzzled by everyone complaining about various platforms having "lagging charts" or " slow loads " but when I ask about their hardware. They are trying to run professional grade charting software on an HP Laptop with 4 GB of Ram and a Dual Core CPU.

I currently just purchased Ninja Trader and have built my own PC to ensure I can provide myself with the proper tools to analyze the markets with adequate speed. If you load a bunch of indicators and try to have them compute on years of data, you may run into some sluggishness.


Depending on the platform you are interested in using, always ensure you read the Minimum Requirements and the Recommended Requirements. I would say unless you are trading pure price action with nothing loaded on your chart, the Minimum Requirements most of the time won't cut. I would also advise that if you have a DSL line, I would upgrade it to ensure you can receive the stream adequately.


As for Ninja Trader, you can download it for free and give it a try without any commitment.

Cons for me -

Licensing Structure for Brokers


Pros -

Advanced Tools preloaded with Ninja Trader 8 ( Lifetime License )
Charting Visibility
Support appears to be very competent.
Third Party Support for other services

I also believe that MutliCharts and Sierra Charts are great options as well. They were included in my short list.

I have been using Ninjatrader for ~4 years, I think. I wouldn’t go so far as to say “it’s so good”, but it gets the job done and I have everything set up the way I want it, so I stay for now.

I got started with Ninjatrader because a couple of educators that I followed used it and, at the time, they had some of the most competitive commissions available with their lifetime license. Since then, more competition has emerged from other brokers.

I don’t do custom coding, so I can’t speak to that. I am discretionary, execute manually, and don’t do backtesting FWIW.


Pros: (these are things I like about NT, but not necessarily that they do better than other platforms)

It’s very stable on its own. Generally, when people have issues it’s because of some free custom indicator they’re running. At the same time, the resources of free indicators are nice for someone like me who doesn’t code.

You can generally find the indicator or tool you want that runs well if you’re willing to pay for it.

The Chart Trader/ ATM Strategy functions are handy.

Executions are solid. I’ve never had an order that wasn’t filled.

I don’t have major issues with lag when the market gets volatile. I know some folks who use other brokers with Sierra and they seem to have more issues with not trusting their feed than I do.

You can have a chart of a mini up and add the micro to the data series. Make the micro transparent but show executions and you can watch price/volume for the emini but trade the micro through chart trader/hot keys.

If you use Dorman as your FCM they will cut you checks and send them to you for no charge, which is nice.

$500 day trade margin on most products, so you don’t have to park excess money with them.

Orderflow+ suite is a new bonus, which didn’t exist when I bought my license. The VP runs light. I use the volumetric bars as well.

Runs outside apps like Jigsaw and Bookmap very well.

They’ve always responded to my emails in a timely manner. Everyone I’ve spoken with there has been helpful and friendly. Their emergency order desk answers quickly (at least the one time I had to call them).



Cons:

You have to use Ninjatrader brokerage, which you might not like.

The Lifetime License fee is a bit ridiculous considering that there is more low commission competition now.

Can be unstable if using free indicators.

The DOM is functional, but I hate it. You can pay extra to have a static DOM that doesn’t jump all around. I avoid extra costs by using Jigsaw to watch the order flow and I execute using hot keys and chart trader.

Their Trade Performance analyzer is only useful to look at raw P&L. There is no way to group trades, so if you are trading multiple contracts or scaling in and out your statistics will be useless.

No continuous contract available unless you pay for the Kinetick feed.

Not as versatile as some other platforms like Sierra.

phantomtrader 

It's easy enough to do. Just run the optimizer for 180 days of data. Then run your strategy in real time and compare results. Run the optimizer again after you record the real time data and analyze the results.

Yes, I get that. I back test in NT all of the time with Market Replay data.

You said the back testing engine in NT is highly inaccurate and I was asking about a comparison between other platforms. I.E. you were suggesting that NT8 is flawed and other platforms are not when you run a back test ran in the manner you suggested. Unless I interpreted that incorrectly?

JonnyBoy 

Yes, I get that. I back test in NT all of the time with Market Replay data. You said the back testing engine in NT is highly inaccurate and I was asking about a comparison between other platforms. I.E. you were suggesting that NT8 is flawed and other platforms are not when you run a back test ran in the manner you suggested. Unless I interpreted that incorrectly?

I don't use TS any longer as I'm finished coding my strategies. They're currently coded for Ninja and are manually executed (no auto trading) on another platform.
So I can't give you a comparative analysis - it's simply my experience that TS has a much more robust back testing engine and development platform.
I use Ninja because I like the graphics - easier on my eyes.

Havent used in a few years...
When I did was taken aback with:
How well support treated me,
How horribly the IB acted,
How ridiculous they refused to enact ACH transfers (but their broker does),
How uncool it was I offered to give them 1k+ for full license to use elsewhere but they wont budge.
In the end the broker side of Ninja downright pissed me off so I left.
What's funny is I went direct to their broker PhilipCapital and had zero problems.

For this non programmer Sierra Chart is very stable compared to Ninja or MC. It uses little ram and doesnt crash. Theres a learning curve but that's what we do.

Gltu!