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I am looking for comparisons of TradeStation and NinjaTrader. I have done some Googling but most of what I find is either old/out of date or reads like an advertisement.
I traded for a while about 10 years ago, exclusively ES, YM and YG. This time I will be trading only GC’s.
I have NinjaTrader installed and am learning the functionalities and attempting to find the indicators and drawing tools I need for my trading method and determining if I can either use them as programmed or modify them to fit my method. There is also an external tool which was available for TS but may be available for NT.
When I was trading before TS was the ‘tool of the pros’ and NT was still considered to be for amateurs but I am seeing indications that this may no longer the case.
Assuming that I can find that all of the indicators and drawing tools in both NT and TS are equally available and the external tool is available for both, are there any fundamental reasons to choose one over the other? Things like feed viability/reliability, executions, ease or greater versatility of customization/programming? Any other considerations?
I am liking the NT SuperDOM for order entry and management. Is there similar functionality in TS?
I qualify for the ‘TradeStation Salutes’ program. With that it looks as though TS may have the advantage for commissions and fees, perhaps significantly so.
Thanks,
Steve
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
I have both, I only use NT for charting because I purchased indicators from a few vendors and it was only coded for NT. For execution I prefer TradeStation-RJObrien. It is still used by professional traders especially those who are into automating their strategy. I also know some ex Goldman traders that use TS for their opening order trades and tie it into excel but that is a whole other animal to talk about. Data feeds incl historical tick data on TS imo are better than what's available on NT7 or 8. You have a lot of newbie type traders who lean towards NT because the learning curve seems easier. I would try TS if you haven't, their new commish structure makes it very cheap to get going with them and their tutorials are on par with Ninja; compare execution yourself and maybe use both like I do
Ninja Trader is based on C# which many will tell you is more current and allows you to do more. I'm not sure that is entirely true though since TradeStation from an automated strategy testing standpoint is far more powerful than Ninja. That being said C# is easier to code up than Easy Language probably because it is more widely known. But most programmers can pick up easy language if they put in some time they also have courses to learn it if you're so inclined
I loaded TS Wednesday and have been fiddling with setting up charts with my indicators and clicking this, that and the other buttons to see what they do. So far TS appears to be more to my liking.
I had noticed a few quirks with NT. Sometimes when I would open it some of the charts or other functions like the SuperDOM etc., would not be there even though I selected to save the workspace on exit.
I know very little about programming, only what I have been forced to to at work or to support what I do on computers. Guess I will have to learn some more.
If you're a professional programmer then NT would probably be best for you. If like me, you have little to no programming experience (or no desire to learn C#), then TS with Easylanguage is by far the easiest way to go, of the Two.
Also, don't forget to try Multicharts. I used to be a TS user for 10 years or so but switched to Multicharts for the ability to use many brokers, import most TS studies, excellent charting, good automated trading ability and a desktop stand-alone platform instead of a web-based TS, etc. etc.
Multicharts uses a nearly identical language to TS Easylanguage, called Power Language.
I tried NT about a year ago but was spending far too much time trying to learn C# instead of trading.
C# felt like learning Chinese, compared to Easylanguage for a non-programmer.
You really need to spend time with each platform to see which suits your trading style and which is most intuitive. You'll be spending hundreds of hours using the platform you choose, so take your time in selecting the right one.
They all should offer a free trial just for that purpose. They're all very capable of doing anything that you'll need.
I'm not associated with any of them, just a long time user.
glty
This is an interesting topic. I am a computer programmer by trade, and as such I have tinkered with many different systems. TS, NT, etc. But ultimately went with NinjaTrader for one simple reason. It uses C# which is the most widely supported and scalable programming language by Microsoft. While easy launguge and any other programming supported by other trading platforms will be as easy, if not easier to learn and all support the same basic blocking and tackling... C# can access any type of tool from the greater .Net environment. You want to make calls to a SQL server, done, you want to built a Cartesian join using 2 or 3 different lists, done. In terms of programming sophistication we are talking about Microsoft, the largest software company on the planet and their native PL C# vs. some home grown PL that a trading company cooked up. Again I am not saying that other PLs from other trading platforms won't get the job done for the basics, but if you are looking for super advanced, crazy type of functionality (Like I do.) then look no further than NinjaTrader.
Also NinjaTrader has a killer testing platform for validating real market conditions and evaluating your trades. Other tools have similar functionality, but I have heard NT has a more accurate result with their market replay vs. some other back-testing from other platforms.
I am an automated Algo trader, so it's all about the code for me.