NinjaTrader’s reputation has been built around its trading software. Hence our NinjaTrader review. Since its debut in 2003, the company has expanded its brand to offer brokerage services, streaming and historical market data (via Kinetick), and a community of app developers and trading educators (Ecosystem).
If you’re looking into NinjaTrader, there is a great chance you’re interested in trading futures and Forex. This is where it stands out from the competition. You get its powerful software for free if you have a ‘funded’ NinjaTrader Brokerage Forex and futures trading account.
The paid version of the NinjaTrader trading platform works with Futures, Forex, CFDs, Stocks, and Cryptocurrencies.
Table of Contents
NinjaTrader Review Introduction
NinjaTrader is a great trading platform for futures and Forex. You get free advanced charting and trade simulation with market analysis. They also have a team of 3rd party vendors that design trading indicators for their software. They bought TradoVate. As a result, they’re becoming the best platform for futures trading.
Did you know you can buy or lease a license from NinjaTader? If you decide to go that route, they have a few choices in terms of brokers. These include IFOREX.com, FXCM (non-US), Interactive Brokers, Oanda, and TD AMERITRADE. This is a great thing to know in our NinjaTrader review.
NinjaTrader has over 60,000 traders worldwide using their software and brokerage services. If you’re a techie, you may appreciate that NinjaTrader has an open-source framework.
Now users can access many benefits at home or on the go. NinjaTrader designed its platform so that apps and add-ons could be developed. All that to say in this Ninjatrader review is that they are a charting tool you should look into.
Strategy
We were introduced to NinjaTrader through a course on trading system building, which involves a lot of backtesting. Once you learn technical analysis, you can leverage the power of the software to build a trading strategy.
Using wizards that don’t require knowledge of coding and programming, you can experiment and test various futures trading strategies and automate your trades.
Granted, NinjaTrader isn’t the only program allowing backtest strategies and automated trades. In this NinjaTrader review, we found that it’s a great choice fore beginners because they’re user-friendly.
NinjaTrader Charting Software
To develop trading ideas, you must analyze and visualize the markets, order flow, volume, etc. So there is a need for good charting.
NinjaTrader has advanced charting software, allowing you to trade directly from your charts. Indicators and drawing tools are abundant, with multiple chart styles available for technical analysis visualization.
If, by default, NinjaTrader doesn’t have your preferred indicator, you have access to thousands of 3rd-party tools to satisfy the most creative of strategies, along with all kinds of unique and sometimes exotic indicators.
To trade directly inside NinjaTrader, you will need real-time/live data. The platform is compatible with many data feed vendors. Let’s continue with our NinjaTrader review.
Open Source and Free to Use?
The NinjaTrader software is free for backtesting, simulated trading, and advanced charting. You can use it to develop indicators and even build trading apps. The amount of customization is quasi-unlimited.
Whether you’re a creative technical analysis trader/developer or a beginner trader, NinjaTrader has something for everyone. Even if you consider yourself a non-techie, you can use thousands of 3rd party add-ons and all kinds of apps.
Did you know in this NinjaTrader review that you can use free historical data to rewind the markets, execute your strategies, and watch how they play out?
A simulated data feed inside NinjaTrader allows us to set the market direction. As a result, you can test how your ideas would perform in a specific market environment.
The full version must be purchased for real-time data and live equities trading for a data feed. A live data purchase/lease is required if you use another broker. Otherwise, it’s free to use if you’re already a client of their brokerage services.
The “Order Flow +” and the “Trader +” premium features yield powerful benefits. Both are included with a NinjaTrader 8 Lifetime license. Full details are availableNinjaTrader’ser’s site.
What Does NinjaTrader Cost? (Fees, Commissions, Pricing Review)
This NinjaTrader review of their pricing shows that they have three pricing plans available to you. You can choose a free, monthly, or lifetime option. To view the most current pricing with each option offered, click here.
Don’t Fight the Robots, Be the Robot
Algorithmic High Frequency Trading! It’s been said that “The time will come when no human investment manager will be able to beat the computer.”
We aren’t there yet, but there is a lot of “algo” trading in the markets.
As Paul Tudor Jones, Co-founder of Tudor Investment Corporation, said: “No man is better than a machine…And no machine is better than a man with a machine.”
If one day you decide to join the Algo trading revolution, there is a great likelihood that you will start by using a program like NinjaTrader. Hence our NinjaTrader review.
Aside from being a hands-free operation, automated trading can greatly reduce the stress of day trading. If this piques your interest, start by visiting the NinjaTrader Ecosystem site.
On the Plus Side
Three aspects of this NinjaTrader review stand out.
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Practice using random data or the Kinetick End of Day data feed with the free simulation version. Remember that this data type may only be useful to active traders if they are taking swing trades.
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A vastly customizable platform with floating windows and a massive amount of indicators, many of which cannot be found on other platforms. It is a robust platform considering that they are hundreds of developers contributing to it and making it feature-rich.
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You can use the software for free until you’re comfortable going live and paying for it. The paid software allows access to manage multiple brokerage accounts in one platform; if the brokers being used are part of the library of brokers NinjaTrader can connect with.
Cons:
Three things in this Ninjatrader review that may make you hesitate to use them.
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A stock or options trader will need an account with a compatible broker, such as Interactive Brokers or TD Ameritrade. Note that the selection of affiliated brokers may differ from country to country.
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Technical analysts will get all the charts, tools, screeners, scanners, filters, and indicators they can imagine. However, investors looking for more extensive fundamental data research may have to look elsewhere.
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NinjaTrader, a program you download and use locally, can create some challenges with the execution speed of scans. Particularly when involving hundreds of symbols. On the same token, using the software to trade live through a 3rd party broker like Interactive Brokers adds steps in the execution of the trades. We have found that many traders execute their trades with their regular broker but use the software for planning and testing strategies.
NinjaTrader Stock Price and Symbol: Are They Publicly Traded?
Investors cannot purchase shares of NinjaTrader because the company is privately held.
NinjaTrader Review Takeaway
We hope you enjoyed this NinjaTrader review. If you’re not in the US and are searching for an alternative to the well-liked charting capabilities of ThinkOrSwim, try NinjaTrade version 8. It has over 500 improvements from the previous version.
The latest version (Version 8) delivers advanced trading features for discretionary traders and automated system builders. It works for all levels of stock trading, futures, and Forex. Plus, for a beginner, NinjaTrader 8 is very user-friendly. However, no matter how intuitive and user-friendly the software may be, there will be a learning curve involving many video tutorials, online reading, and guides of all sorts.
Once you know technical analysis basics, you’ll find NinjaTrader quite intuitive. You can do a lot with the free option. The paid option has even more available to you. There’s no charge for trade simulations, market analytics, advanced charting, and backtesting.
If you’re technically and strategically inclined, you can start developing automated strategies. Learning and practicing technical analysis is an important skill to learn while trading.
