NinjaTrader vs MotiveWave vs Investor RT

G

greenmoose

Curious if anyone has any thoughts on these three choices?

Of note, I've used and am very familiar with SierraCharts. Great platform but no options tables so I'm going to keep looking.

Thanks for any input.
 
Thank you for the reply although I don't need options quotes.

I'm looking for a trading platform that has options tables. Obviously none of these have anything even approaching options analysis or a true options trading platform but they at least support an options table. I'm okay with options quotes coming from IB or TOS. eSignal and IQ are quite expensive for data.
 
What's your needs beyond an options table? Is it an alternative to keep using Sierra and just get whatever options table seems fine with you?

From what I'm hearing - Sierra Chart is a superior platform compared with Ninjatrader. On another forum I know mostly everyone left Ninja in favour of Sierra.

I'm a long term user of NinjaTrader. Beautiful charts and very easy to use. Never had any issues with NT7, but have had a few minor issues with NT8 which was supposed to be an improvement and a superior platform.

NinjaTrader also have limitations with regards to which brokerage you can use. Big turn-off.

Since I'm a long term user and have coded various stuff for NT8 and pretty much know the platform fairly well, I decided I didn't want to learn a new platform or invest in more coding work, so I'm sticking with it for now.

But if I was starting from scratch I would probably consider other platforms. I've looked briefly into Investor RT and it looks like a really great platform with some nice back-testing/statistical features.

It all boils down to your needs I suppose.
 
That's actually quite helpful. Thank you.

Quick follow-up. Other than the limited brokerages what would you say in your personal opinion are some downfalls of NT that you would improve upon?
 
greenmoose said:
That's actually quite helpful. Thank you.

Quick follow-up. Other than the limited brokerages what would you say in your personal opinion are some downfalls of NT that you would improve upon?
More...

What is an optional table?
 
Laissez Faire said:
NinjaTrader also have limitations with regards to which brokerage you can use. Big turn-off.
More...


Only a problem if your system is automated and sends orders to the brokerage.
If you place your orders manually you can take any broker.
 
greenmoose said:
That's actually quite helpful. Thank you.

Quick follow-up. Other than the limited brokerages what would you say in your personal opinion are some downfalls of NT that you would improve upon?
More...

I first started using NT7 around 2010, I think. Never had any issues, but I remember even then - quite a few people were complaining and saying it was an unstable and poor software. I didn't understand those comments as it worked very fine with me.

When I got back into the markets a few years ago, NT8 was finally out of beta and allegedly a superior platform, so I didn't even consider NT7. Everyone said I should go with NT8.

I did however not notice any particular improvements at all. If anything - it was worse...

One example would be the crosshair on your charts. Never had any issues with it on NT7, but on NT8 the crosshair would LAG and freeze. I believe Ninjatrader recommended people to not use it. WTF? I took them a good year to fix it. Unbelievable. It works now, but for a long time it didn't...

Another example would be RTH charts. I often use the US Equities RTH session template (09:30-16:00). This worked fine on daily charts on NT7, but no longer works on NT8? WTF?

So, you basically can't chart a daily chart in NT8 using similar hours as SPX. Yikes.

But guess what? A user on the NinjaTrader forum fixed this with NinjaScript fairly quickly. That's three years ago. Countless people have complained about this, but it's still not fixed.

Another issue I've been having recently is that my charts don't load/refresh when I first connect. The connection is fine, but no data is loaded. So, I have to solve this by disconnecting/reconnecting or exit/relaunch.

Man, I'm starting to get worked up now that I start thinking about this.

That said - I have never had any issues during a live market and once the platform is up and running everything goes smooth.

Having invested a lot in custom coded indicators and not wanting to spend time learning a new platform, I'm staying with NT8, but because of the reasons above I can't strongly recommend it. I still think it's a good platform though.

There are other people on the forum who seems very happy with NT8. Some run automated strategies on it.

Another trader I've been talking to is still on NT7 and happy using that one. Not sure how much longer they will keep supporting it.

Please feel free to let us know what you decide. Would be curious to hear your thoughts on NT if you start using it.
 
virtusa said:
Only a problem if your system is automated and sends orders to the brokerage.
If you place your orders manually you can take any broker.
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Are you sure about that? Do you own a life time license bought a long time ago?

When I opened my brokerage account a few years ago now, Ninja pretty much offered only their own brokerage (Dorman/Phillip) or Interactive Brokers.

I know a guy who still trades through AMP, but that's because he opened an account a long time ago. They no longer offer new account through AMP, unless something changed since last time I checked.
 
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