How to Connect Phidias to NinjaTrader (Tradovate)

Phidias runs NinjaTrader on Tradovate credentials, and the thing that catches out almost everyone on day one is that those credentials are refused until you have logged into the Tradovate web app once and signed the agreements waiting there. Correct username, correct password, rejected anyway. Phidias say as much themselves — the most common cause of a rejected NinjaTrader login on their accounts is agreements that have not been signed yet. There is a naming trap sitting on top of it. The credentials live in a dashboard block labelled NinjaTrader Account, but what is inside that block is a Tradovate username and password.

What you need before you start

• A Phidias account bought on the Tradovate platform. Phidias make you pick a platform at checkout — Rithmic, Tradovate or DeepCharts — and it is the Tradovate choice that carries NinjaTrader, TradingView and Tradovate web. If you picked Rithmic, this is not your route; ask their support whether the account can be switched.
• Your username and password from the NinjaTrader Account block in the Phidias dashboard. The password is hidden until you click the reveal icon next to it.
• The Tradovate agreements signed once in the Tradovate web app. There are three of them and they are covered below.
• NinjaTrader 8 Desktop on Windows, on the latest build. The download link sits in that same dashboard block.

Connecting Phidias to NinjaTrader

Sign the three Tradovate agreements first

Open the Phidias dashboard, find the NinjaTrader Account block and click Tradovate Web. That opens the Tradovate web app, which is the only place these agreements can be signed. Three things happen, in order.

First the Market Data Subscriber Certification. Set it to Nonprofessional. It usually defaults there, but if it reads Professional, change it before you go on — the wrong answer puts you on a different market data fee schedule and the cost lands on your account.

Then the Uniform Subscriber Agreement. Tick the box, then type your name into the signature field exactly as it is printed just above that field. The match is strict: capitalisation, spacing and accents all count. This is the step people retry four or five times before they spot what is wrong.

Last the Tradovate License Agreement, which is long-form legal text. Scroll to the bottom and click Accept. All of this is once per account, never again.

Update NinjaTrader before you try to log in

If NinjaTrader was already on the machine before you bought the account, take the update it offers you at launch. Phidias name an outdated build as the single most common reason a freshly created account will not connect, so it is worth clearing out of the way before you start suspecting your credentials.

Copy the credentials from the NinjaTrader Account block

Back in the dashboard, reveal the password and copy both values. Each login is bound to one licence, so if you are running several Phidias accounts, take the pair from the right account’s block rather than the first one you see. Neither value is your Phidias website login.

Log in and check the licence line

Open NinjaTrader and enter the username and password on the login screen. Type them rather than pasting where you can — a trailing space picked up with a copy is a standing cause of a refused logon.

Once the credentials clear, NinjaTrader shows you the profile attached to that login. You want to see NinjaTrader Prop Simulation. That is your confirmation the prop licence is attached properly. Anything else means you are on the wrong credentials. Then click Launch.

If you would rather add it as a Control Center connection

The route above is the one Phidias document, and for most people it is the whole job. Phidias do not document adding the account by hand under Control Center, Connections, Configure, and we have not been able to confirm which entry in the Available list a Phidias licence enumerates under — so we are not going to guess at it here.

If you do want the account sitting in the Connections menu alongside others, the generic steps are in our Tradovate connection guide: tick Multi-Provider in Tools, then Settings, then General, and restart NinjaTrader first, or Configure will not appear at all. Ask Phidias support which route your licence is provisioned for before you spend long on it. Account Type is Simulation whichever way you get there. That is right for a Phidias evaluation and for a funded Phidias account alike — Live is for a retail Tradovate brokerage account, which this is not.

Check the Control Center before you place anything

Two checks. The dot beside the connection must be green; yellow means partly connected and not yet authenticated for data. And the Accounts tab must show the right display name, with a cash value and net liquidation matching the size you actually bought — $50,000 on a 50K, and so on. If either looks off, do not place an order.

If it will not connect

• Credentials rejected. Nearly always the Tradovate agreements, unsigned. Open Tradovate Web from the dashboard, complete all three, come back. The sequence is laid out in our Tradovate connection guide.
• The signature keeps failing. Not a password problem. The Uniform Subscriber Agreement demands an exact match against the name printed above the field, accents and capitals included.
• Logs in, but the profile is not NinjaTrader Prop Simulation. Wrong credentials for the licence. Go back and copy them from the NinjaTrader Account block specifically, not from anywhere else in the dashboard.
• Right credentials, still will not connect. Check your NinjaTrader version first. Phidias put stale builds at the top of this list.
• Dot is yellow, not green. Partly established, not yet authenticated for data. Give it a few seconds; if it stays yellow, disconnect and reconnect from the Connections menu.
• Connected, but no accounts. Usually account status at Phidias rather than anything in NinjaTrader. See no accounts were found.
• Connected, but no data. Market data entitlement, and separate from order flow. See connected but no data.
• No Configure option. Multi-Provider is switched off. See why Configure is missing.

Phidias and NinjaTrader: questions we get

Do I really have to log into Tradovate if I only ever use NinjaTrader?

Yes. The market data certification and both agreements live inside the Tradovate web app and nowhere else, and NinjaTrader will refuse your login until they are signed. It takes two or three minutes and you never repeat it. Phidias name unsigned agreements as the most common cause of credentials being rejected at the NinjaTrader login screen.

Can I run Phidias next to another prop firm?

On the Tradovate route, yes. Tradovate does not cap how many connections NinjaTrader can hold, so a Phidias account and another Tradovate firm can sit open together and no add-on is needed for that.

The caveat is which Phidias account you bought. Phidias also sell Rithmic accounts, and NinjaTrader holds only one Rithmic connection at a time — a NinjaTrader restriction, not Rithmic’s and not the firm’s. If your Phidias account is on the Rithmic side and you want it open alongside another Rithmic firm, Unlimited Prop Firm Connections lets you keep them open at the same time.

Is the website login the same as the connection login?

No, and it is the most common setup mistake we see across every firm. NinjaTrader wants the username and password shown in the NinjaTrader Account block of your dashboard, not the email and password you sign into the Phidias site with.

If you hold several Phidias accounts and want one order to reach all of them, that is a separate job again, and the one the trade copier does.

Related

• Connection guides for every prop firm
• Tradovate connection guide for NinjaTrader
• NinjaTrader connected, but no data

Affordable Indicators, Inc. is not affiliated with or endorsed by Rithmic, NinjaTrader, or any prop firm or broker named here; your firm’s and broker’s own terms govern how you may use your account, so check with them first.