NinjaTrader

NinjaTrader

Perhaps the Best

There are only a few great charting packages out there...

I'd say for price and configurability and performance Ninja Trader and Sierra Charts are the best.

MultiCharts has a honorable mention, being a great charting package but it doesn't have a free to test for a long time option. Neither does Sierra but Sierra's cheap so that doesn't matter much. Plus you can find some negative reviews about MultiChart's payment practices. 1 guy writing that he made a mistake and wanted a refund immediately and they wouldn't give it to him. There is no reason not to give a refund if very little time has passed since MultiCharts controls all the licenses using servers on their end. It's not like he could continue using it if they gave him a refund.

Aside from those 3 there are not many other capable enough charting packages out there I'd say.

NinjaTrader has only 2 major weaknesses... stability (if it freezes up on you, it freezes all Ninja Trader windows - smarter way to design would have it only freeze the current chart window, maybe they can consider that for later)

And connectivity... very few options on the forex side. Futures connectivity is good.
Almost perfect. Looking forward to version 8

A trading platform that understands how all kinds of traders trade. And as it is free to use for charting or practice, you have time to learn it well before commiting to buy it. Some of the add-ons are really speacial too.
My only negative comment is that it doesn't have a connector for two of the brokers I would have liked to use it with and no documented way to create a connector oneself.
Ninja Trader Software

Ninja Trader is arguably the best software for trading Futures and Forex. If you are trading Futures or/and Forex, you should see the free version of Ninja Trader. A few hundread ad-ons are available, too. Some of them are very good, I'll not mention here, please see for yourself.
Program in C# with the entire .Net Library available with top notch Customer Service

My first package was TradeStation which I bought in 1995, so I have seen and tried just about everything. I have been using NInjaTrader everyday to trade full time since the V7 release. V7 added a critical element... a local database to collect and store tick data. This allows me to use whatever tick data source I want or care to switch to, then build bar types from the locally managed and stored tick data. No more paying eSignal's exorbitant fees! This does require some labor to manage and update the database, but my data is now free... If you dont want the chore of managing your own database, as you will now be loading historical data from your own database, you are free to pay eSignal or a host of other data suppliers and let them do the managing of the historical backfill data. , Its your choice.

I love programming in C# and having the entire .Net library at my disposal. C# is wonderfully documented. You can simply Google any question you have and instantly have tutorials, forum answers and documentation on just about anything you will ever encounter. Just think about how much larger the user base of C# and .Net is compared to the user base for some scripting language in another package. Chances are someone in the world has tried to do what you want to do, and has written a Tutorial on it, or asked StackOverflow about it already.
Think about how vast the third party library for .Net is. If you want to do something non-trivial and don't want to reinvent the wheel... there's a library for that. Want to build a Neural Network and have NinjaTrader code interact with it.... try Encog... its free and well documented. Dream of something you would never attempt from scratch... and its in a C# library somewhere. NinjaTrader uses C# and .Net in a clever way that makes it a seamless experience... and you can debug in VisualStudio!

The support forum is outstanding and friendly, and has a great code respository. The customer service of NinjaTrader is second to none...
Oh yeah.... it does all the nuts and bolt stuff you'd expect too... Best of all it is wisely marketed by allowing you to install, hook up to data, chart, design systems, backtest and optimize in a FREE demo that never expires and is fully functioning except you can't place actual orders with a broker through the software. You can submit orders through a simulated broker to test to your hearts desire. This is the smartest marketing ploy mankind has ever seen. Simply use the product as much as you want for as long as you want until it convinces you that it is worth paying for.
Great for anybody running their own or 3rd party indicators.

Has a fantastic 3rd party indicator ecosystem, really gives you more options than most platforms. Great support across the web that comes inherent with such a broad userbase too.
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Solid Experience

I've been around the block of trading platforms as most of you likely have as well. I'm confident in NinjaTrader giving me the best opportunity to win daily and it has exceeded my initial expectations. Day in and day out NinjaTrader proves to be very reliable, I've had many friends/colleagues switch to Ninja with great results and I set my Wife up a year ago for trading with Ninja also. Although my support usage has been minimal, Ninja has been quick and efficient when responding to any questions I have. One bonus that helped me become familiar with NinjaTrader is their online events, they also have events with their 3rd party partners I find to be very informative.
Fantastic brokerage support and charting

You may think charting is just charting, but the one contained in NT is so complete its unbelievable that they offer it all for free. Multiseries charts, multiple y-axis, box style. Those charting features changed my trading and now I can't trade without them. With only a quick glance over I can ascertain fantastic insights into the markets now. Really is some pretty neat stuff. Best part of this whole platform is that it connects with so many brokers.
Stable platform, great support, reasonable price

I've been using NinjaTrader for quite some time now, almost four years. Their latest version (NT7) is a huge step ahead from NT6.5, with the multiple instrument charts, updated session manager, and hot keys, to list a few enhancements. The ATM features are great for automatically managing a trade after entry, and the chart trader works perfect although it is quite simple. The automated trading functions let me completely computerize my trading strategies. Also, the fact that NT is free until you decide to trade live lets you test it out as much as you want.

A very important point here - I firmly believe their support team is the best in the industry. Even though they dont have an incoming phone line, they will get back to you in less than 20 minutes 98% of the time. They are all very helpful, especially Bertrand, whos posts on the forum are always spot-on.

The instrument manager could use a bit of work though, it is hard to add a bunch of instruments at the same time - the interface is kinda clumsy. Would also like to see support for spreads added, as well as global strategy position tracking.
Top quality charting and best trade management system out there

NinjaTrader is a must for active traders. I'm able to put up crude, gold, natural gas, sugar, EURUSD, GBPUSD, ES, and the 10 yr note all at once on two monitors so I can see opportunities quickly and enter orders in seconds with the SuperDOM and ChartTrader. I learned how to use the trade management features in about 15 minutes and it lets me set automated trails, breakevens, targets, etc ahead of time, and I can adjust them with a simple click after the fact if I want to. The best part is that there is a whole menu of brokers to chose from, and you can get demo feeds from them and test everything out for free before you go live to make sure its for you. Futures trading is a already a dangerous game, so give yourself every advantage by using NinjaTrader. It could make the difference in your success.
question for NT user

More of a question really

Can NT handle blocks of data now held in Excel and Metastock ?
NT7 has all the bells and whistles but isn't robust

I started using NT7 while it was still in beta because NT6 was just incapable of doing what I wanted.

I'm a mechanical trader so my crucial operations are running the systems to trade. I've been doing that for about six months now and I'm happy that NinjaTrader can hack it - but then, I know all the places to give it a tap and all the times to sit there and massage it through a bad patch.

Frankly, NT7 could be much more reliable.
NinjaTrader is a Great Free Resource

NinjaTrader is a free application for advanced charting, market analytics, trading system development and backtesting and trade simulation. You only have to pay if you ever decide to use the application for live trading through any one of hundreds of brokerages supported worldwide.

You can couple this with free real time forex data and/or free end of day data for stocks, futures and forex through www.kinetick.com.
Great free charting platform

I was using TradeStation long time and now moved to NinjaTrader. It is a free platform and I love it. I use optimus futures as my broker and TradersHelpDesk indicators for my trade decisions. I'm completely satisfied with the combination.
The best charting software

The most reliable live charts in the market, after using esignal and sierra, Ninja is the best by far, faster, easier to use and much better graphics...
Great for amateurs, garbage for everyone else

Please access reviews here, both here - http://www.traderslog.com/ninja.htm

First one labeled - "Mixed bag by Deucalion" and next follow up one labeled "Follow Up on NT 6.5.100.9 by Deucalion"
awesome

the latest verison of this platform is great.

It has the ability to route my strategy based orders from my tradestation to my broker Advantage Futures LLC
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