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I'm looking for a platform, which offers Order-Flow-Functions and historical data. Additionally it would be nice to have a chart replay-function to simulate a real-time environment.
In detail i'm looking for Volume-Profile at the moment, and want to have the option to go deeper in Order-Flow later on.
I have a forex tester license, but there is no volume-profile indicator, respectively i didnt found anything, and the community seems pretty dead.
What i want to do with the platform?
- Backtest my ideas with historical data if backtest is successful:
- forward testing
- replay historical data and trade via paper trading to train the strategy if forward testing and training is successful
- trading out of the platform
I tested NT8 and it comes pretty close to what i am looking for, but it's also expensive for just "testing" and idea.
Also it's my first time working with data subscriptions/Futures, and don't know which data provider i should choose.
Or is there any other platform which has what i need?
Or is there a platform where i can test my ideas and using NT8 later on, when I'm ready to trade live?
Maybe someone of you is able to help me with this problem, i would really appreciate this!
Thanks in advance and greetings for austria!
Sincerly,
Patrick
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
I will comment only about NT8 - if you are just looking to test and develop ideas you don't need to purchase NT8.
You need to purchase a NT8 license only if you intend to trade real money with it - if you are in the backtesting/forward testing stage you can download and use NT8 for free.
You will still need to pay for the data feed to access historical data and to get real time data, but you don't need to pay for a license for NT8.
Tradovate also has replay functionality but you need to pay something like $49 month unless you are paying for one of their commission discounts. Unlike Ninjatrader it doesn't have backtesting functions though. They do have a two week sim version and the recent Beta charts have footprint charts as well as the volume profiles and market profile. https://www.tradovate.com:443/trial/
The problem you will have is that very few brokers provide more than a week or two at the most of historic replay tick data which you would need for replay of order flow tools.
You do not win as a trader, you just get to play again the next day. If that game doesn’t appeal to you then you should not trade. Gary Norden
NT8 is still a good option.
You can use it for free for sim and strat testing.
But the free version does not have the orderflow tools.
You can buy good orderflow tools from places such as https://www.discotrading.com/Description/3022
There are several others.
I would second the points already made about Ninjatrader. It has the ability to address the use case you described - either via the strategy wizard or via you coding a strategy yourself.
Another NT add-on you might consider is MZpack (https://www.mzpack.pro/). The Pro version has an API that facilitates the creation of orderflow-based strategies. The developer has been suggesting for some time that he would augment this with a strategy builder for non-programmers. However, it hasn't arrived as yet. There is a 14 day trial that could be used in conjunction with a) the free version of Ninjatrader and b) a trial of the Continuum data feed from Ninjatrader brokerage. (One thing to note about MZpack is that they recently introduced a charge for a paid user to move their license from one computer to another).
Another option that you might want to consider is Quantower (https://www.quantower.com/blog/software-for-manual-backtesting-a-brief-review-of-history-player-plugin). This requires a paid license to use order flow functionality but it is possible to either pay month-to-month or buy a lifetime license. They have the advantage of connecting to a range of data feeds and brokers. Like MZpack they also have an API accessible to C# developers. The product roadmap includes the future introduction of visual strategy constructor and a strategy optimizer.
For programming with order flow nothing really comes close to touching NinjaTrader. Other posters are correct that you can probably do what you'd like without purchasing a license yet. The big caveat is that you'll probably need to use Ninja as your broker.
Ditto on Ninja Trader but Multicharts is also an excellent trading and analysis platform. It has built in Order Flow with Jigsaw tools which can be beneficial. Maybe a little easier to code.
Along with the other great platforms mentioned you might want to look at MotiveWave.
Risk Disclaimer: There is a substantial risk of loss in trading futures, options and forex. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.
Hi, if you want an alternative to NinjaTrader, I suggest you to give a look at SierraChart.
The replay feature in Sierra is amazing, it works very well and smoothly. Also if you need orderflow tools you can customize the way you want.
For instance I customized my sierra to display me pretty much all the data that Jigsaw shows you with a fraction of the price.
I don't know which tools you need but with sierra you have:
-depth of market (also called ladder)... this is very customizable
-numbers bars
-market profiles/volume profiles
- heat maps
the only drawback of Sierra is that it's not an easy platform, it will take at least a couple of weeks to really understand how it works. However nowadays there are hundreds of resources on the web.
Another drawback is that if you are systematic trader, then to build advanced trading system it is not easy.
If you are fullly systematic a lot of people use multicharts. I never tried it, but in Italy there is famous systematic trader and he uses multichart
I will check your recommendations, especially multicharts & MotiveWave sound interesting. I tested SierraCharts a couple of years ago, but i had trouble with configuration and the visual style of the application.
For the first rough tests i'll try NT8 with Rithmic as data provider. I just have to find out how to get the "Non-Pro" Status to get the data cheaper.
Also NT8 would be my first choice, because its coded in C# where i've basic knowledge which i plan to improve.
