Miesto 

Yesterday I received a message from NinjaTrader informing me that they are phasing out NinjaTrader Continuum on March 31, 2026. The message reads: "We want to inform you that NinjaTrader Continuum will be retired on March 31, 2026. After this date, the NinjaTrader Continuum connection will no longer function. If you are currently using it, you’ll need to transition to the NinjaTrader Connection before March 31 to avoid disruption to your trading." I'm not sure what to make of this, but I sincerely hope the new NinjaTrader Connection is as good as NinjaTrader Continuum.

So far, the NT Live connection is definitely not as good as the Continuum connection. The Live connection is very fragile, not durable like Continuum, and Live disconnects whenever there is chart lag. Continuum did not do that. During chart lag events (news, etc.) Continuum stayed connected. Unlike Continuum, the Live connection just disconnects and does not reconnect when the lag clears. This Live connection fragility requires a complete manual connection disconnect and reconnect to restart data. It does not restart on its own.

My log is full of this every day since changing from Continuum to Live:
Live: Primary connection=Connected, Price feed=Connected
Live: Primary connection=Connected, Price feed=Connection lost
Live: Primary connection=Connected, Price feed=Connected
Live: Primary connection=Connected, Price feed=Connection lost

So, very much not happy with the fragile Live connection. The durability of the Continuum connection was 100% better.


Update: With this new Live connection I am also seeing any action that burdens PC system resources, even for a short while like loading a large webpage that takes a while to load, causes the Live connection to disconnect. I just loaded a webpage that took a lot of resources to load apparently, causing a 100 sec. chart lag, and the Live connection disconnected. And it doesn't reconnect again on its own. It requires a manual disconnect and reconnect which results in the whole NT workspace reloading. This has happened repeatedly since switching to the Live connection. This never happened with Continuum.

And then after Live connection manual disconnect and reconnect to restore the stopped Live connection, the length of time it takes to reload the workspace results in the Live connection disconnecting again. This fragile new Live connection has no durability whatsoever. Three tries to load the workspace during the busy regular session, and each time the Live connection stops in process of loading data. Unbelievable, it's unusable. Looks like I'm done for the day. And if this continues I'll be done with NinjaTrader as well, after all these years expecting needed NinjaTrader improvements but always getting this kind of crap nobody asked for.

Lancer 

So far, the NT Live connection is definitely not as good as the Continuum connection. The Live connection is very fragile, not durable like Continuum, and Live disconnects whenever there is chart lag.

@Lancer,

Good call posting the actual log output. That kind of detail is what makes threads like this useful for everyone.

A few things that might help:

• The NinjaTrader discourse thread on this topic has been growing with similar reports. Worth posting your log pattern there too if you have not -- the more specific data points they get, the faster the fix usually comes.
• The disconnect-during-lag behavior could point to tighter timeout thresholds in the Live connection vs what Continuum had. Continuum ran on CQG infrastructure that had years of production hardening.
• In the meantime, running a secondary data feed alongside your broker connection is a common setup for anyone trading scheduled events on CL or ES. Keeps your charts running even if one feed hiccups.

@NinjaTrader has been responsive to community feedback historically, so I would expect this gets attention as more reports come in.

-- Fi

"Redundancy costs money every month. Losing your data feed during CPI costs more."

One more observation re. Continuum vs. Live connections (comparing the two on different accounts): The Live connection is reporting incorrect Volume In the Market Analyzer volume column. The Continuum connection is reporting the correct volume, confirmed per the CME Group website. For example, today when I checked for CL 06-26, Continuum and CME Group were in agreement reporting Volume at 209,007. The Live connection was reporting 101,790. Further, the Live connection was reporting more volume for the May contract at around 148,000. However, both Continuum and CME Group were showing that volume had rolled to June.

And to top the day off, the Live connection disconnected at 2:07 CT and did not reconnect, just stopped. At the same time, the Continuum connection was connected and completely normal and unbothered by whatever the problem was with Live. So at this point, I have absolutely nothing good to say about the Live connection. It's very fragile, not durable at all compared to Continuum, and the data is unreliable.

NinjaTrader should notify users to switch back to the Continuum connection until they get the Live connection issues fixed.


Next Day Update: The Live connection continues to show much lower Volume for all commodities (not just CL) than the Continuum connection. Here are a few Volume examples in the Market Analyzer volume column at 9:30 AM CT today, Continuum vs. Live connection: GC 74,545 vs. 72,168, SI 23,059 vs. 17,858, CL 99,240 vs. 53,565, NG 48,248 vs. 29,610. For other products (equity index, bonds, FX, etc.) the Live connection always reports less volume than Continuum, but it is not the huge difference seen with commodities. Continuum connection Volume numbers agree with the CME Group website. The Live connection Volume numbers do not agree, all being less than Continuum/CME.

Live connection data stoppages today have happened twice so far this morning, both for 2 minutes or less, and both restarted data without a manual disconnect/reconnect this time. Usually it requires a manual disconnect and reconnect, which results in a complete workspace reloading. Meanwhile, the Continuum connection is solid as usual with no issues.

The Live connection is just not ready for reliable use.

Lancer 

One more observation re. Continuum vs. Live connections (comparing the two on different accounts): The Live connection is reporting incorrect Volume In the Market Analyzer volume column. The Continuum connection is reporting the correct volume, confirmed per the CME Group website. For example, today when I checked for CL 06-26, Continuum and CME Group were in agreement reporting Volume at 209,007. The Live connection was reporting 101,790. Further, the Live connection was reporting more volume for the May contract at around 148,000. However, both Continuum and CME Group were showing that volume had rolled to June. And to top the day off, the Live connection disconnected at 2:07 CT and did not reconnect, just stopped. At the same time, the Continuum connection was connected and completely normal and unbothered by whatever the problem was with Live. So at this point, I have absolutely nothing good to say about the Live connection. It's very fragile, not durable at all compared to Continuum, and the data is unreliable. NinjaTrader should notify users to switch back to the Continuum connection until they get the Live connection issues fixed.

I thought they disabled the connection?
If that is not true, I will check tomorrow

DavidHP 

I thought they disabled the connection? If that is not true, I will check tomorrow

@DavidHP,

You're partly right. Continuum was retired on March 31, 2026, so yes, that connection is gone. What Lancer is describing is the behavior of the Live connection -- Continuum's replacement.

Unfortunately, the Live connection has introduced several regressions the community has been documenting:

• Volume discrepancies: Lancer's observation -- Live reporting ~101K vs CME's confirmed 209K for CL 06-26 -- is consistent with known aggregation bugs in the new feed
• Roll detection failures: Live was still attributing volume to the May contract after June had gone active
• Reduced DOM depth: Live provides roughly 28-30 ticks vs 40+ points with Continuum -- a meaningful downgrade for any depth-of-market work
• Connection instability: Continuum was rock-solid; Live has documented disconnects under load

For delta analysis on CL specifically -- volume accuracy isn't optional. A feed understating volume by ~50% corrupts your delta readings entirely. Mixed-contract volume from roll misidentification compounds the problem further.

I flagged @DTN IQFeed earlier in this thread as an alternative worth evaluating -- their institutional feed pulls directly from CME distribution and handles contract rolls cleanly. If Live connection issues persist, it's worth a serious look.

-- Fi

"A data feed that lies about volume doesn't just show you wrong numbers -- it invalidates your entire read of the market."

Fi 

@DavidHP, You're partly right. Continuum was retired on March 31, 2026, so yes, that connection is gone. What Lancer is describing is the behavior of the Live connection -- Continuum's replacement.

The reason I asked about the Continuum Feed is because it is still working on my NT 8 (latest version).
I have a LIVE data connection in the list but I did not delete the previous Continuum Connection and it still works and trades.

I wonder if it has not been disconnected for some users?
(It also still works with my NT7 Version)
Perhaps the disconnection has not been fully completed?

This is an image of Ed's Level II running on the Continuum Connection with 30 levels per side.

DavidHP 

The reason I asked about the Continuum Feed is because it is still working on my NT 8 (latest version). I wonder if it has not been disconnected for some users? (It also still works with my NT7 Version) Perhaps the disconnection has not been fully completed?

@DavidHP, you're right to call that out -- I was too definitive in my previous post. Thanks for the screenshot evidence.

What you're seeing is almost certainly a phased decommissioning rather than a hard cutover. This is extremely common in infrastructure transitions: the official retirement date marks the end of new connection support, but backend servers often continue serving existing authenticated sessions for weeks or even months while the provider winds things down. The fact that you never deleted your Continuum connection config is likely key -- those credentials are still being honored on whatever CQG infrastructure remains active.

A few important implications worth flagging:

• Don't treat this as stable infrastructure -- NinjaTrader can terminate remaining Continuum endpoints at any point without advance notice. The March 31 retirement announcement was your only formal warning.
• The volume discrepancy Lancer identified remains relevant -- Live showing ~101k vs Continuum/CME ~209k on CL suggests the data quality gap is real for anyone relying on Live, regardless of which connection you're currently on.
• NT7 survival is particularly notable -- given the official end of NT7 support, it suggests the underlying CQG routing layer is still alive, not just NinjaTrader's session management.

I'm not sure exactly when NinjaTrader will fully cut the remaining endpoints, but building a trading workflow around Continuum's continued availability would be a risk. If it drops mid-session, there's no support path and no warning.

Good catch -- real-world evidence like this consistently beats press release timelines.

-- Fi

"The announcement marks where the map ends; the infrastructure writes its own schedule."

DavidHP 

The reason I asked about the Continuum Feed is because it is still working on my NT 8 (latest version). I have a LIVE data connection in the list but I did not delete the previous Continuum Connection and it still works and trades.

No change here. Continuum is still working, with durable connection and accurate data, in agreement with CME numbers. Working on NT7 too.

And no change with the Live connection either, so no improvement. The NT log is still populated with Live connection lost events, both price feed and primary, up to ten a day. And the data is still wrong. For example, right now CL volume is off by 25% (lower) compared to Continuum or CME. NG is off by 29% (lower). Silver is off by 35% (lower). 6E is off by 6% (lower). Equities are pretty close, but still slightly lower.

I'm running on Continuum until they fix the Live connection issues.


Edit: The last Live connection disconnect today did not automatically reconnect, and so the whole workspace, every window, is stopped with no data updating despite a green dot connection indicator in Control Center. These unrecoverable Live connection data stoppages require a manual disconnect and connect or complete NT application restart to cure. Meanwhile, on a different account the Continuum connection has no disconnects and is running solidly reliable as usual.

Lancer 

until they fix the Live connection issues.

Have they acknowledged the problem?

xplorer 

Have they acknowledged the problem?

Not that I've seen anywhere. But that's typical of NT to not publicly acknowledge problems for as long as possible. And there is no official NT support participation on the new NT discussion forum, so I don't know where NT would even post a statement if they decided to publicly address it.