NinjaTrader Review 2024: Pros, Cons and How It Compares
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Our Take
4.3
The bottom line:
Pros & Cons
Pros
Over 100 futures products available.
Low commissions.
24/5 customer support.
Cons
Must pay for market data subscriptions to trade most contracts.
Interface can be unintuitive.
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Full Review
NinjaTrader is a futures trading platform that allows investors to trade more than 100 futures products, including commodities, stock index futures and crypto futures contracts. The user experience is geared toward experienced traders, and can have a bit of a learning curve for investors who don't have expertise in futures trading — but NinjaTrader's low commissions, wide investment selection and strong customer support have made it popular among those who do. NinjaTrader says it has a community of more than 1 million users.
What type of investor should choose NinjaTrader?
Futures traders: If you're a short-term trader, and futures are your investment of choice, NinjaTrader is a platform built for you. Most of the other futures trading platforms we review are attached to a conventional brokerage, but NinjaTrader only does futures. That means that its well-featured platform and extensive customer service offerings are dedicated to the needs of futures traders.
Crypto and commodity traders: If you run a business that trades in raw materials or one that accepts cryptocurrency for payment, the commodity and crypto futures contracts available on NinjaTrader may provide a way to cushion yourself from swings in the market prices of those things. Ditto if you have a lot of crypto or commodity exposure in your investment portfolio.
What the Nerds think 🤓
Sam Taube, lead investing writer
"NinjaTrader offers an information-rich and highly customizable trading platform for experienced futures traders who already have significant know-how and resources to devote to trading. It offers a wide investment selection and low account fees and trading fees compared to many other futures brokers we review.
Despite offering a simulated trading environment, NinjaTrader isn't very beginner-friendly. The mobile app interface is difficult to navigate if you're a newcomer to futures trading. Plus, almost every contract requires market data subscriptions (which cost money) to be tradable, even for simulated trades. This isn't made clear in the platform's advertising materials or signup process."
NinjaTrader at a glance
Account minimum | $0. |
Commissions | $0.09 - $0.35 for micro contracts, $0.59 - $1.29 for standard contracts, depending on account membership tier. |
Account fees (annual, transfer, closing, inactivity) | Annual fee: $0. Outgoing transfer fee: $50. Inactivity fee: $25/month (waived by making at least 1 trade per month). Monthly memberships cost $99/month; lifetime memberships cost $1,499. |
Tradable products | Over 100 contracts available. |
Trading platform | Web, mobile and desktop platforms are information-rich and oriented toward advanced traders. |
Mobile app | Available for iOS and Android. Some ease-of-use issues. |
Research and data | Additional market data subscriptions (starting at $48/year) required to trade most contracts. News feed available in-app. No free research or data. |
Customer support options (includes how easy it is to find key details on the website) | Phone and email support available 24/5 (whenever futures markets are open). |
What to know about NinjaTrader's fees
NinjaTrader has no account minimums and charges no annual fee. It does charge an inactivity fee of $25 per month, but this is easily waived by making at least 1 trade per month. It charges an outgoing ACAT transfer fee of $50, which is on the lower end among brokers we review.
NinjaTrader offers multiple account tiers with different commission structures. Free accounts pay $0.35 in commissions per side of a trade for micro futures contracts, and $1.29 per side for standard contracts. The $99-per-month plan comes with lower commissions — $0.25 per side for micro contracts and $0.99 per side for standard contracts. Traders can also get a lifetime membership for a one-time payment of $1,499, which entitles them to even lower commissions: $0.09 per side for micro contracts and $0.59 per side for standard contracts.
Another NinjaTrader fee worth mentioning is market data — the platform requires paid market data subscriptions to execute trades on most contracts. These start at $48 per year.
NinjaTrader's trading platform
Mobile app
In addition to its powerful desktop platform, NinjaTrader offers a mobile app with trading features and a built-in newsfeed. However, it's a bit confusing to get around, especially if you're not a futures trading pro — much of the in-app navigation is based around a "swipe at the edge" mechanic that isn't really intuitive.
The app is available for iOS and Android, although it has mixed reviews on the app stores.
Intraday margin
NinjaTrader offers low intraday margins to help day traders enter positions cheaply. These are as low as $50 for micro futures contracts, such as the Micro 10-Year Yield (10Y), and as low as $500 for regular futures contracts, such as the Japanese Yen (6J).
It's important to understand how reduced intraday margins in futures trading work before starting to trade. If you do not close a position before the end of regular trading hours (typically 3 p.m. Eastern time, as most futures exchanges are in Chicago), the margin requirement will increase to the overnight level, which is typically higher. This may result in a margin call if your account has insufficient funds to meet the higher overnight margin requirement.
Paper trading
When you open the NinjaTrader mobile app, you're asked to choose between "live trading" and "simulated trading." The latter is a full-featured paper trading version of NinjaTrader's platform. Investors can use it to practice using the platform or test out trading ideas with pretend money.
It's worth noting, however, that NinjaTrader's simulated trading isn't completely free, in practice — we were still prompted to purchase market data subscriptions when we tried to place paper trades.
Other NinjaTrader features you should know
Futures IRA
NinjaTrader offers a futures-only individual retirement account (IRA). It doesn't charge any additional fees for IRAs, but NinjaTrader is light on retirement planning tools compared to many other brokers we review. This is no doubt because retirement and IRAs are far from the broker's primary focus.
Customer support
NinjaTrader earns high marks for its customer support offerings, which include 24/5 phone and email support (available whenever futures markets are open), an extensive selection of educational articles and webinars, and an easily navigable website.
Is NinjaTrader safe?
Unlike bank accounts, which typically come with Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) coverage, or normal brokerage accounts, which are typically covered by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), futures accounts are generally uninsured. NinjaTrader is no exception.
NinjaTrader keeps significant amounts of money in cash and short-term bonds in order to meet regulatory requirements and ensure that it can provide enough liquidity to execute user trades, but it does not carry any kind of insurance that protects customer funds in the event of broker insolvency.
NinjaTrader is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Its app includes some basic cybersecurity features, such as automatic logouts after long periods of inactivity.
Is NinjaTrader right for you?
With its low commissions, hundreds of available contracts and 24/5 customer support availability, NinjaTrader will appeal to seasoned futures traders who are looking for a specialized platform. However, if you're trying to learn how to trade futures, NinjaTrader may not be the easiest or cheapest place to do it — even paper trades require paid data subscriptions.
