NinjaTrader Review

Our Take on NinjaTrader

Where NinjaTrader excels is the currently available feature that allows you to connect it to Charles Schwab’s ThinkorSwim platform. This is great because you can use NinjaTrader’s automation capabilities and send orders directly to Schwab’s ThinkorSwim platform to trade commission-free stocks. Unfortunately, this feature costs $99 per month, and since the acquisition of NinjaTrader by Kraken, it is uncertain how the company’s strategy will develop.

Best Prop Firms for NinjaTrader Users

• Take Profit Trader – Among the first firms to adopt NinjaTrader Prop
• Apex Trader Funding – First to adopt NinjaTrader Prop and offers one of the most flexible daily loss limits
• MyFundedFutures – Among the first firms to adopt NinjaTrader Prop, offers seamless NinjaTrader integration
• TradeDay – Professional approach with NinjaTrader as core supported platform
• Earn2Trade – Education-focused with full NinjaTrader compatibility
• Topstep – Well-established firm supporting NinjaTrader
• Bulenox – Offers instant account access with straightforward rules, no restrictions on execution types
• Alpha Futures – Integrates with NinjaTrader, Tradovate, Quantower, and CQG
• TickTick Trader – Offers free NinjaTrader license keys

Plans, Features, Costs

NinjaTrader is a trading tool specifically developed for futures traders and primarily marketed as the main tool for the in-house NinjaTrader Brokerage.

On March 20, 2025, Kraken, one of the biggest crypto platforms with already 15 million clients, acquired NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion.

While we’ve still to wait on how this affects their current business model, the acquisition makes first waves. NinjaTrader is currently one of the most frequently used standard platforms for futures prop firms because of its great compatibility with futures data providers like Rithmic and their focus on futures trading.

The acquisition already led prop firms to stop using NinjaTrader and replace it with other trading tools. If that continues to happen among many prop firms, the popularity of NinjaTrader might get back to its core business, where it combines NinjaTrader Brokerage with its NinjaTrader platform.

However, chances are that the business model does not change that much. Back in 2022, NinjaTrader aquired Tradovate and the brand still exist with a similar business model.

Trading Tool

NinjaTrader comes with advanced charting, depth of market tools, real-time quotes, advanced trade management, market replay, backtesting, trading strategy development (NinjaScript in C#), and order flow analysis.

For simulated trading in the daily time frame, you don’t need a subscription, and using NinjaTrader in simulated mode remains free. For intraday data, you either connect your broker and you still can make free simulated trades, or you subscribe to their in-house Kinetick data feed for an additional fee, or subscribe ot a 3rd party data feed.

As soon as you want to connect NinjaTrader with a 3rd party broker and use live trading, you need to buy one of their plans.

Use Cases

NinjaTrader with a Prop Firm: Free of charge during evaluation, free in simulated funded accounts, paid plan for NinjaTrader with a live funded account.

NinjaTrader with NinjaTrader Brokerage: Free use of NinjaTrader and connection to the Rithmic data feed. On the free plan, the trading commissions for futures contracts are relatively high. You can also subscribe to the monthly NinjaTrader Plan or the Lifetime licence to reduce the commission rates.

NinjaTrader with a 3rd Party Broker: You can connect NinjaTrader to Interactive Brokers and Charles Schwab. In both cases, you need a Multi-Broker Add-on for an additional $99 per month. The cool thing about connecting to Interactive Brokers or Charles Schwab is that you can also trade stocks and not only futures contracts via NinjaTrader and use their automation tools.

Costs for NinjaTrader

NinjaTrader costs $99 per month, or $1,499 lifetime. If you use Interactive Brokers or Charles Schwab for live trading, you need the Multi-Broker Add-on for another $99 per month.

Data Feed

Kinetick is a market data provider owned by NinjaTrader. Using their end-of-day data is free of charge; unfiltered intraday market data costs $78.75 per month plus exchange fees. You can also add market depth, increase the maximum number of symbols, and add premium news feeds for additional costs.

Brokerage

In case you use NinjaTrader Brokerage, you pay commissions. Depending on the NinjaTrader subscription, your rates are between $0.09 – $0.39 for micro futures and $0.59 – $1.29 for standard mini futures.

There are additional fees for static SuperDOM orders, CQG Desktop, 3rd party technology integration, and exchange data fees, besides clearing fees and order routing fees.

Brand Popularity

NinjaTrader was founded in 2003 and has continiously grown in popularity. We’ve evaluated the number of monthly global searches for the brand name.

Read Customer Reviews of ninjatrader.com

NinjaTrader currently has a Trustpilot rating of 3.7 out of 5, based on 926 reviews, which is categorized as average. 5 of those reviews are from people invited by the firm using Trustpilot’s supported invitation methods. 155 reviews have been submitted within the past 12 months, of which 65 are rated 1/5 or 2/5.

What is NinjaTrader?

Let me start with the truth: NinjaTrader is a bit unusual in the trading marketplace, it offers two services through the same platform: first, it’s a charting and market analysis platform that connects to third-party brokerages, and second, it’s an online brokerage that directly supports derivatives trading (futures and options) and foreign exchange.

Yeah, that confused me at first too. Here’s the simple version: NinjaTrader is primarily a software platform for analyzing markets and placing trades. You can use NinjaTrader’s platform with other brokers, like Interactive Brokers, or you can trade directly through the NinjaTrader brokerage.

Founded in 2003, the firm has expanded to support traders across the globe with offices in Denver, Chicago, and Colorado, Illinois, attracting over 500,000 users and 600+ developers across 150+ countries. That’s not just marketing speak, there’s genuinely a massive community around this platform.

In May 2025, Kraken (the crypto exchange) completed the acquisition of NinjaTrader, though the platform continues to operate as a standalone within Kraken’s trading suite. So yeah, there’s been some recent changes in ownership, but the platform itself hasn’t fundamentally shifted yet.

The Features That Make (or Break) Your Trading

Customization That Borders on Obsessive

Here’s where NinjaTrader absolutely crushes it: the platform offers a truly vast degree of customization, allowing users to create bespoke charts and integrate plugins to create the ideal data environment for their trading.

NinjaTrader offers well over 100 individual technical indicators that you can either track individually or combine into tables and charts based on your own personal trading strategy. And if those 100+ built-in indicators aren’t enough (seriously, when is it ever enough?), there’s a huge ecosystem of third-party indicators and add-ons.

The charting capabilities are genuinely professional-grade. The platform even allows you to trade directly from within your charts and tables with the Chart Trader tool, letting you select assets and make trades without even building an order ticket. For day traders who need speed, this is a game-changer.

Automated and Algorithmic Trading

The program supports automated and algorithmic trading, you can build automated orders to execute on certain conditions from within your charts, and algorithmic trading requires knowledge of the C# language.

If you know C# (or are willing to learn it), the possibilities are pretty much endless. NinjaTrader’s state-of-the-art trading platform has features available across three license levels, with advanced tools like enhanced SuperDOM, an advanced alerting system, and semi-automated order execution.

Backtesting That Actually Works

The trading platform offers an innovative market replay function which is useful for backtesting, on a tick-by-tick basis, users can download historical data, rewind to a specific day, and interact as if it were live.

I’ve used this extensively, and it’s honestly one of the best backtesting experiences I’ve had. You can literally replay any trading day and practice your strategies as if the market were live. It beats the hell out of paper trading with simulated data.

The Platform Ecosystem

NinjaTrader users download its desktop client, there is no web-based version, nor does NinjaTrader have a version for Mac, it’s strictly Windows desktop software.

Yeah, that’s a problem for some people. If you’re on Mac, you’ll need to use something like Boot Camp or Parallels to run it. There is now a mobile app (more on that later), but the desktop is where the real power lives.

The NinjaTrader platform requires $400 for futures and $50 for forex to start an account, with the platform free to use with basic features and a premium platform available.

What’s This Going to Cost You?

Okay, this is where it gets complicated. Deep breath.

Platform Licensing

The core essentials NinjaTrader software package is available free of charge, this is the platform’s most basic offering covering only the key features needed for live trading.

To access premium features, traders can lease for $720 annually (or $225 quarterly) or purchase a Lifetime License for $1,099, or 4 monthly payments of $329.

Trading Commissions

This is where the license you choose really matters:

With the free plan, trade standard futures for $1.29 per side and micro futures for 35 cents per side. US index futures fees are $0.35 per contract on Free plan, $0.25 on Monthly plan, and $0.09 on Lifetime plan.

So if you’re a high-volume trader, that Lifetime license pays for itself pretty quickly through commission savings alone.

The Hidden Fees (Because There Are Always Hidden Fees)

There is a $25 monthly inactivity fee if you log in to the platform but don’t place any round trade (buy and sell). Updated note: Free account plans that log in but don’t trade will be assessed a fee of $35 per month, while accounts on older legacy pricing plans prior to 6/20/25 will be charged $25.

Withdrawals have a high fee too: $30 for domestic and international wire transfers. ACH withdrawals are free though, so there’s that.

Market Data Fees

Here’s where it gets really annoying: CME, CBOT, NYMEX, and COMEX data feed options are split into Level I (Top of Book) at $12 per month for all four exchanges or $4 per month per exchange, and Level II (Full Depth) at $41 per month for the bundle or $16 per month per exchange.

Professional users pay way more. And yes, you need to pay for data even to use the simulated trading environment in many cases, which frankly sucks.

The Good, The Bad, and The “Why Is This Still Windows-Only?”

What I Genuinely Love:

• Customization is unmatched, if you can imagine it, you can probably build it
• Chart trading is fast, no clicking through order tickets
• Backtesting with market replay is phenomenal for strategy development
• Low commissions, especially with the Lifetime license
• Huge community, finding help, indicators, and strategies is easy
• ATM strategies, automated trade management without coding
• Professional-grade for futures trading
• Free for sim trading (mostly, data fees aside)

What Drives Me Crazy:

• Windows only, seriously, it’s 2025, where’s the Mac support?
• Steep learning curve, beginners often find the platform overwhelming
• Data fees add up, paying for data on top of everything else gets expensive
• Inactivity fees, $25-35/month if you don’t trade is ridiculous
• High wire withdrawal fees, $30 to get your own money out
• Mobile app is basic, there are no native mobile app capabilities for full functionality, though there is a mobile app now
• Complex fee structure, takes a spreadsheet to figure out your actual costs

Who Should Actually Use This?

NinjaTrader is perfect if you’re:

• A serious futures trader who needs professional tools
• Comfortable (or willing to get comfortable) with complexity
• On Windows or willing to run Windows on your Mac
• Trading with enough volume that commission savings matter
• Into automated trading or want to develop custom strategies
• Looking for a platform you’ll use for years (Lifetime license makes sense)

Skip it if you:

• Trade casually or infrequently (those inactivity fees will murder you)
• Need a Mac-native solution without virtualization
• Trade primarily stocks or options (not futures/forex)
• Want something simple and straightforward
• Need a platform you can learn in an afternoon
• Prefer web-based or mobile-first trading

How Does It Stack Up?

NinjaTrader vs Tradovate

NinjaTrader offers a desktop-based interface packed with features and customization options but mastering it can take weeks, making it better suited for experienced traders, while Tradovate’s cloud-based platform works seamlessly across devices with full mobile functionality.

Both platforms have monthly subscription fees of $99 and offer lifetime access for $1,499, so pricing is similar. The real difference is in approach: NinjaTrader is desktop power, Tradovate is cloud flexibility.

NinjaTrader vs TradingView

TradingView is very easy to get started because it’s a webpage with no data feed configuration needed, great for someone who casually wants to pull up a chart, while NinjaTrader takes more learning to set up but is 1000x more configurable and used by a more serious group of futures traders.

TradingView is for charting and social trading. NinjaTrader is a full trading platform. They’re not really direct competitors, many traders use both.

NinjaTrader vs MetaTrader

Whereas MetaTrader excels in Forex and offers widespread broker support, NinjaTrader’s standout strengths lie in its ultra-customizable charting environment, advanced order execution options (bracket orders, ATM strategies), and native integration with futures exchanges.

If you’re trading futures in the US, NinjaTrader is probably the better choice. For forex with international brokers, MetaTrader still dominates.

My Honest Take

After years of using NinjaTrader (and cursing at it plenty of times), I have complicated feelings about this platform.

On one hand, NinjaTrader is an award-winning platform with consistently strong reviews, and customers appreciate the level and quality of service, the platform’s advanced features, user-friendly interface, and extensive customization options.

The customization is genuinely unmatched. If you’re willing to invest the time to learn it, you can build a trading environment that’s exactly what you need. The backtesting is phenomenal. The automation capabilities are professional-grade. And if you’re a high-volume trader, those commission rates with a Lifetime license are hard to beat.

But here’s the thing: most negative feedback comes from traders who underestimated the learning curve or had expectations that didn’t match the platform’s professional focus. This is not a platform you’ll master in a weekend.

The Windows-only requirement is frustrating in 2025. As one user put it: “Great platform, but why no Mac support in 2025?” Valid question.

The data fees are annoying. The inactivity fees feel punitive. And the complexity means you really need to commit to using this platform regularly to make it worth the investment in both money and time.

But if you’re serious about futures trading, and I mean serious, not “I might try this sometime” serious, NinjaTrader remains one of the best platforms available. NinjaTrader offers competitive futures trading fees and low margins compared to most brokers, with $50 intraday margins for micro contracts and $500 margins for popular futures markets.

The community is massive, which means finding help is easy. The third-party ecosystem means someone has probably already built whatever tool you need. And the platform has been around since 2003, surviving multiple market crashes and proving it’s here to stay.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars, Powerful professional platform held back by Windows-only availability and steep learning curve.

If you’re a futures trader who’s serious about your craft and willing to invest time learning a complex but powerful system, NinjaTrader delivers. Just know what you’re getting into. Start with the free version to get familiar with the interface and features before upgrading to a paid license or opening a brokerage account. Test it thoroughly with the simulator before putting real money on the line.

It’s not for everyone, but for the right trader, it’s exactly what you need. Just please, NinjaTrader team, give us Mac support already.