NinjaTrader Review 2023

How we ranked fees

We ranked NinjaTrader's fee levels as low, average or high based on how they compare to those of all reviewed brokers.

First, let's go over some basic terms related to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees and non-trading fees.

• Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions, spreads, financing rates and conversion fees.
• Non-trading fees include charges not directly related to trading, like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

In the sections below, you will find the most relevant fees of NinjaTrader for each asset class. For example, in the case of stock investing the most important fees are commissions.

We also compared NinjaTrader's fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, Optimus Futures and AMP Futures. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of NinjaTrader alternatives.

To have a clear overview of NinjaTrader, let's start with the trading fees.

NinjaTrader trading fees

NinjaTrader trading fees are low. 

NinjatTrader has three licenses you can choose from. In this review, we tested the 'Free' license. If you upgrade to 'Lease' or 'Lifetime' licenses, the trading fees are even lower.

Futures fees

NinjaTrader futures fees are low for US stock index futures and very low for other futures products.

The commission charged by NinjaTrader depends on the license you choose. Besides, you have to pay fees independent from NinjaTrader, like exchange or order routing fees.

*The default order routing fee is $0.10, as 'Continuum' is the default connection. If you choose 'Rithmic' connection, the order routing fee would be $0.25 per contract

NinjaTrader has also low options on futures fees. The commission, exchange, and order routing fees are the same as futures fees.

Non-trading fees

NinjaTrader has high non-trading fees.

The account fee depends on the license you choose:

• No account fee at 'Free' license
• $720 annual/$425 semi-annual/$225 quarterly fees at 'Lease' license 
• For a 'Lifetime' license, there is a $1,099 single payment/$329 monthly payments for 4 months. This license is good for a lifetime

There is a $25 monthly inactivity fee, if you log in to the platform, but don't place any round trade (buy and sell).

Withdrawals have a high fee, too: $/€ 40 for international wire transfers and $30 for domestic wire transfers.

Can you open an account?

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What is the minimum deposit at NinjaTrader?

The required minimum deposit is $400.

NinjaTrader Licenses

NinjaTrader has three licenses, 'Free', 'Lease' or 'Lifetime'. These licenses differ in commission, price, and functionality. 

*At NinjaTrader brokerage, you can trade only futures and options on futures. If you choose NinjaTrader brokerage, your money will be held by either Phillip Capital or Dorman Trading. Both of them are US-based brokers.

** You can connect one or more of the following brokerage accounts: Interactive Brokers, TD Ameritrade, Oanda, Forex.com, FXCM, and City Index. In these cases, your money will be held by your existing broker and NinjaTrader will just provide the platform. The advantage of connecting these accounts is that you can also trade with other asset classes, like stocks, spot forex, CFD, etc.

In this review, we tested the Free license and NinjaTrader brokerage through Phillip Capital.

Account types

You can choose one of the following account types:

• Individual - account is owned by one individual
• Joint - account is owned by one or more individuals
• Corporate/LLC/Trust/Partnership - account is owned by a legal entity
• Retirement - tax-advantaged account, available only for US residents

How to open your account

The opening of a NinjaTrader account via PhilipCapital is fully digital and straightforward. However, the approval of the account is rather slow. It took 5 business days for us.

The account opening process is a bit complicated, there are a lot of steps to open your account with NinjaTrader:

1. On NinjaTrader's website, choose the asset you would like to trade: futures, options, forex.
2. We picked futures. In this case, you can open the account at either Phillip Capital or Dorman Trading.
3. After selecting Philip Capital, we were redirected to Phillip Capital's account opening process.
4. Choose an account type: individual or corporate.
5. Give your personal information, such as name, date of birth, and address. You have to answer a few questions about your financial and employment situation.
6. You have to verify your identity and address. National ID, passport, and driver's license are accepted for ID verification, while you can upload utility bill and bank statement as proof of address.
7. Answer a few questions about how you want to use your account: for example, for speculation, etc.
8. Accept customer and disclosure documents.

After the online registration, we received an email from NinjaTrader to fill out an Options Request Form. We had to say which markets and what positions limits we would like to trade.

Account base currencies

At NinjaTrader, you can hold your cash only in 3 account base currencies: USD, EUR, GBP.

Why does this matter? For two reasons. If you fund your trading account in the same currency as your bank account or you trade assets in the same currency as your trading account base currency, you don't have to pay a conversion fee.

A convenient way to save on currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. Revolut and Transferwise both offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.

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Deposit fees and options

NinjaTrader doesn't charge any deposit fee. However, your intermediary bank might charge a fee, if you make an international bank transfer.

US residents can use checks for depositing.

A bank transfer can take several business days.

You can only deposit money from accounts that are in your name.

NinjaTrader withdrawal fees and options

NinjaTrader has high withdrawal fees. The bank withdrawals costs $30, and an international bank transfer costs $/€ 40.

US residents can also make a withdrawal by using check. It's free at Dorman Trading, but has a $4 fee at Phillip Capital.

How long does it take to withdraw money from NinjaTrader? We tested the international bank transfer and it took one day.

How do you withdraw money from NinjaTrader?

Finding out how we can initiate a withdrawal wasn't easy.

1. First, open the online withdrawal form. You can find it, if you click on FAQ and select the 'How do I withdraw funds?' category.
2. Then, select the withdrawal method: check or wire.
3. Fill out the form. You have to add information, such as your name, account number, and the amount you wish to withdraw. For wire transfers, you have to add the wire information, such as SWIFT code or your bank's name.
4. Submit the request. NinjaTrader will send you an email confirming that they initiated the withdrawal.

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NinjaTrader is specialized in providing a trading platform for active traders.

While NinjaTrader 7 is still available, we tested NinjaTrader 8. NinjaTrader 8 incorporates over 500 changes and enhancements, largely collected from client feedback. The desktop trading platform is available in English, Spanish, Russian, German, Portuguese.

Look and feel

The NinjaTrader desktop trading platform might be too complex for beginners, but for advanced users, this is where NinjaTrader really shines. Day-traders, who like to trade from the chart will especially like NinjaTrader. 

The desktop platform is highly customizable and there are thousands of apps and add-ons in the NinjaTrader Ecosystem to personalize your platform. How is that possible? NinjaTrader offers a standards-based (.NET) programming environment for indicators and strategies that created a vibrant developer community.

The functionality of the platform depends on the license you choose:

• Free license: you can use only the core functions, like advanced charting, market analysis, or simulated trading.
• Lease license: you can also set up automated trading, backtesting, automatic protective stop loss and profit target orders (ATM Strategies) among many other features.
• Lifetime/Own license: you can use Order Flow+ features. It can help you identify buying and selling pressure to confirm market movement in a specific direction as the trading action unfolds through visualization of the order flow.

Login and security

NinjaTrader provides only a one-step login. A two-step authorization would be more secure.

The first time you want to use your account, you have to set your license key and the credential for the connection:

• You can set the license key, if you click on 'Help' and 'License Key'.
• You can set the credentials, if you click on 'Connections' and select 'Configure'.

Now you can simply log in, if you click on the connection you set up, such as 'My NinjaTrader Continuum'. After it's activated (becomes green), you'll see your positions and can start trading.

Search functions

The search functions work well. There are multiple ways to find an asset to trade.

Maybe the easiest way is to click on 'Tools' and then go to 'Instrument Lists'. Here, you can compile your own instrument lists or edit the pre-defined lists, like 'Futures' or 'Forex'. When you add a new asset to your list, you can search by typing its name or you can search through categories.

Placing orders

NinjaTrader has many order types, including more sophisticated ones, like  One-Cancel-Other (OCO):

• Market
• Limit
• Stop limit
• Stop-loss
• Market if Touched (MIT)
• One-Cancel-Other (OCO)

If you are not familiar with the basic order types, read this overview.

There are also order time limits you can use:

• Good-Til-Cancelled (GTC)
• Good-Til-Date (GTD)

Alerts and notifications

You can set alerts and notifications on the desktop trading platform. Advanced alerting system is only available in the paid version.

Some example of the available alerts:

• Simple Moving Average Crossover: triggers when the current market price crosses above a 20-period Simple Moving Average.
• New Intraday High: triggers when a new High is formed intraday. 
• Price and Fibonacci Retracements: compares the current market price to the 50% line drawn by a Fibonacci Retracements Drawing Tool.

Portfolio and fee reports

NinjaTrader has clear portfolio and fee reports. Using the 'Trade Performance' window, you can see your net profit or the commissions you paid. We also liked that the platform will calculate Sharpe ratio, Sortino ratio and the Ulcer index, among many others. 

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NinjaTrader's asset classes and the individual assets within each asset class lag behind other brokers.

Futures

NinjaTrader has an average futures selection.

You can trade ~70 assets on these markets, covering stock indices, bonds, forex, and commodities.

The following exchanges are available for futures trading:

• CME: Chicago Mecantile Exchange
• CBOT: Chicago Board of Trade
• COMEX: Commodity Exchange Inc.
• NYMEX: New York Mercantile Exchange
• EUREX:  futures and options market, which deals primarily with Europe-based derivatives
• ICE: Intercontinental Exchange
• ICE UK

The CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX exchanges are part of the CME group. Eurex is part of the Eurex Group and is owned by Deutsche Börse AG.

Options on futures

NinjaTrader gives access to a few options markets. In these markets, you can trade only options on futures.

Options on futures cover the following exchanges and products:

• CME: Equity Indexes, Interest rates, Agricultural, FX
• NYMEX: Energies
• CBOT: Dow E-mini, Interest rates, Agricultural
• COMEX: Metals

Just like for the desktop trading platform, we tested the research tools on NinjaTrader 8. 

Charting

NinjaTrader has excellent charting tools. The choice of editor tools and indicators is almost endless. You can use 125 technical indicators. There are thousands of other indicators available through NinjaTrader's developer community, the NinjaTrader Ecosystem.

We also liked that it was really easy to add the editor tools and technical indicators to the chart.

Other technical research tools you will enjoy

There are a lot of other technical tools you can use. We just mention the top ones in our opinion:

• You can use automated trading tools through applications, like Bloodhound or Blackbird. 
• You can easily build strategies. We also liked that it's easy to backtest these strategies. 

Trading ideas

NinjaTrader does not provide trading ideas. However, they have a blog, where they post short articles that cover a variety of topics that traders might be interested in.

Fundamental data

As NinjaTrader's main focus is on the charting and other technical tools, they don't offer any fundamental data.

Compare research pros and cons

You can contact NinjaTrader via:

• live chat
• telephone
• email
• support forum

NinjaTrader has great phone support. It was fast and we got relevant answers.

Email support is also good. We usually got quick (within one day) and detailed answers.

NinjaTrader has a fast live chat. The relevancy of the answers was satisfactory, however, there were some questions they couldn't answer and asked us to write an e-mail.

There is an active support forum, where you can interact with other users and NinjaTrader's support team.

The only thing we missed is the 24/7 availability. The Trade Desk is available at all times, when the futures market is open, while brokerage support teams are available during US market hours. You can contact Trade Desk only in emergent situations and with emergency orders. 

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At NinjaTrader, you can learn in the following ways:

• Demo account
• Help Guide
• Platform tutorial and general educational videos
• Webinars

We think the demo account is the best way to get familiar with the platform. You can also use a 'Simulated trading' feature, where all market prices and conditions are simulated. It's useful both for learning and for testing new concepts.

NinjaTrader 8's Help Guide is also a great source of education. It is well-structured and it's quite easy to find what you're looking for. You can download as PDF or use the web version. The latter is better because they have embedded videos.

There are webinars covering several topics, including trading strategies, how to's, and many others.

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Is NinjaTrader regulated?

NinjaTrader is registered with the National Futures Association (NFA), which allows it to provide introducing broker service for companies, such as Phillip Capital or Dorman Trading. These companies are regulated by at least one top-tier financial authority, like the US CFTC or UK FCA.

What does NinjaTrader's introducing broker status mean? It means that your assets and cash are held at the broker, like Phillip Capital, but the platform, the fees, and customer support are provided by NinjaTrader.

Is NinjaTrader safe?

To be certain, we highly advise that you check two facts:

• how you are protected if something goes wrong
• what the background of the broker is

In case of NinjaTrader, we recommend that you check the background of the broker where your assets and cash are held as NinjaTrader is an introducing broker.

How you are protected

We recommend NinjaTrader's services for professionals because trading with futures is not covered by investor protection schemes. In addition, there's no negative balance protection. If the balance on your account goes negative, you would be responsible for those losses.

Background

NinjaTrader was established in 2003. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.

We tested NinjaTrader's platform through an account opened with Phillip Capital. Phillip Capital is the one holding your assets and cash in this case. Phillip Capital publishes financial statements and it's regulated by a top-tier authority (USA). These are all great signs of safety.

If you choose to connect one of the following brokerage accounts to NinjaTrader, we recommend checking their backgrounds here:

• Interactive Brokers
• TD Ameritrade
• Oanda
• Forex.com
• FXCM
• City Index

Find your safe broker

We recommend NinjaTrader for active traders focusing on futures.

Below you can find links to all aspects of NinjaTrader in this comprehensive collection.

Lower fees, lower costs?

We detailed this in our NinjaTrader fees article.

What about the minimum deposit?

Our ultimate guide to the NinjaTrader minimum deposit is updated regularly.

How to start your NinjaTrader account?

Look no further than our evaluation of the NinjaTrader account opening.

Is the quality of customer service satisfactory?

All you need to know about the NinjaTrader customer service.

Legit or scam?

Is NinjaTrader legit features all the key aspects you need to look at to see if a broker is safe and legit.

Free or premium? Or both?

A glance at actual costs and whether NinjaTrader is really free.

Is this broker good for beginners?

We checked it in Is NinjaTrader good for beginners.

Should you buy your silver bullets on NinjaTrader?

Research for silver bugs in the Silver buy on NinjaTrader guide

I want to trade options, are they available at NinjaTrader?

We explored the topic in Can you trade options on NinjaTrader?

What is the minimum account balance at NinjaTrader?

Check out the current account balance requirements at NinjaTrader in our What is the minimum account balance at NinjaTrader article.

Looking for commission and fees data for NinjaTrader?

We collected them in NinjaTrader commission and fees.

How do you withdraw money from NinjaTrader?

We tested it and collected the options and costs in How to withdraw money on NinjaTrader.