How to Connect Pitbull Traders to NinjaTrader 8 (Rithmic)

Pitbull Traders issues Rithmic credentials, and the connection entry those credentials log into already ships with NinjaTrader Desktop, so there is nothing to install. Two things decide whether the login works, and the first of them was settled before you ever opened the platform.

That first thing is the platform you chose at checkout. Pitbull sells three credential types — Rithmic, DXFutures, and Deepchart by Volumetrica — and you pick one when you buy. Only a Rithmic plan produces the kind of login NinjaTrader’s Rithmic connection takes. If what arrived was a DXFutures or a Volumetrica login, nothing below applies, and no amount of fiddling with the Connections menu will change that, so check your order first. The firm’s live checkout carries Rithmic plans in every account size across its EOD and Trailing categories, plus Rithmic Performance plans on the funded side, so there is a Rithmic option at whatever stage you are at — but you have to have taken it.

The second is the System you pick inside the Rithmic connection. There is no entry named after Pitbull Traders in NinjaTrader’s System list, because the firm sits on a shared Rithmic gateway alongside many other firms. You choose the gateway that matches your account stage instead. Get that pairing wrong and you get a login rejection that is easy to misread as something bigger than it is, and it is comfortably the most common Rithmic mistake we see.

One note on where this guide sits. Pitbull Traders does not mention NinjaTrader anywhere on its site — not on the homepage, the FAQ, the rules, the pricing page, the Rithmic onboarding walkthrough, how it works, or support. Its FAQ says a Rithmic account can connect a supported third-party platform such as ATAS, and that the firm gives no configuration or trading support for ATAS or any other third-party platform. Our own connection catalogue records Pitbull Traders as reported rather than verified. So treat this as the unofficial route: check the names below against what the firm actually issued you, and confirm with Pitbull what you may use on your account before you trade it.

What Pitbull Traders issues

PitbullTrader Funding LLC trades as Pitbull Traders at pitbulltraders.com, “Powered by MrTopStep”, with the dashboard and checkout at thepit.pitbulltraders.com. The site footer states that PitbullTrader Funding LLC is an affiliate of Prop Account, LLC, and that Prop Account provides the funding assessments and receives the fees. Worth knowing when you are working out who to email about an account question rather than a platform one.

• Rithmic — the credential type this guide is about. The firm emails your Rithmic login after purchase and points you to signup.rithmic.com to accept your market data entitlements. Its four-step Rithmic onboarding walkthrough ends with you logging in using the Rithmic credentials tied to your evaluation account.
• DXFutures — a separate credential type sold alongside Rithmic. It is not a Rithmic login, so it is not what the connection below takes.
• Deepchart by Volumetrica — the third credential type, likewise separate, and likewise not a Rithmic login.
• The front ends named around these credentials — Rithmic’s own R|Trader Pro, and after CME attestation, Rithmic Web and Mobile; the firm’s FAQ also refers to a supported third-party platform such as ATAS, with registration via atas.net. The firm’s homepage platform row lists Tradrr, R Trader Pro, Sierra Chart, Deepcharts, Volumetrica, DX-Futures and DX Trade.
• No Tradovate — the firm’s platform list is exactly Rithmic, DXFutures and Volumetrica. There is no Tradovate anywhere on the site or in its checkout, so if you were expecting a Tradovate route into NinjaTrader, there isn’t one here.

What you need before you start

• A Rithmic login from Pitbull Traders — the user name and password the firm emailed you after purchase. If what arrived was a DXFutures or Volumetrica login, stop here and go back to the firm.
• Your Rithmic agreements signed — at signup.rithmic.com, answering the exchange questionnaires as a non-professional unless you genuinely are professional. Unsigned agreements are the quiet reason a login that should work does not.
• NinjaTrader Desktop with Multi-Provider ticked — in Tools > Settings > General, followed by a full restart of NinjaTrader.
• Knowing which stage your account is at — evaluation or funded. You cannot pick the right gateway without it, and this is the single decision the whole connection turns on.

Connecting Pitbull Traders to NinjaTrader

1. Sign your Rithmic agreements

Go to signup.rithmic.com, log in with the credentials Pitbull emailed you, and work through the exchange agreements and market data entitlements. Answer the professional/non-professional questionnaire honestly — almost every retail prop trader is non-professional, and the wrong answer changes your data fees. Pitbull’s own FAQ points you to this same step, so if you have already done it as part of the firm’s onboarding walkthrough, you are covered.

2. Turn on Multi-Provider and restart

In Tools > Settings > General, tick Multi-Provider, then close NinjaTrader completely and reopen it. Until you restart, the Configure option you are about to need in the Connections menu will not be there, and it is easy to waste time hunting for a menu item that has not been drawn yet.

3. Add the Rithmic connection

In the Control Center, go to Connections > Configure, and from the Available list on the left pick Rithmic for NinjaTrader Brokerage. That is the stock entry that ships with the platform; you are not installing anything. Give the connection a name you will recognise later — “Pitbull Eval” or similar — because once you have a couple of accounts, generic names get confusing fast.

4. Choose the System that matches your account stage

This is the step that decides whether the login works. Evaluation accounts sit on System “Rithmic Paper Trading”, Chicago gateway. Pitbull publishes no System for funded accounts, and its FAQ says all executions are simulated, so do not switch to “Rithmic 01” at funding unless Pitbull tells you to. Enter the user name and password exactly as the firm sent them, case included. A mismatched stage and System is the classic Rithmic failure, and it produces a rejection that tells you nothing useful about why.

5. Connect and check

Select the new connection from Connections in the Control Center. When it comes up, open the Accounts tab and confirm the account number matches the one on your Pitbull dashboard, then pull up a chart of a contract you are entitled to and check the data is moving. If the connection reports connected but nothing prints, that is usually an entitlement issue rather than a login issue — back to step one.

Questions we get about Pitbull Traders and NinjaTrader

My credentials are rejected. What now?

Work through it in this order. First, confirm you actually bought a Rithmic plan and not DXFutures or Volumetrica. Second, confirm your agreements are signed at Rithmic. Third, check the System is Rithmic Paper Trading (Chicago), unless Pitbull has told you otherwise. Fourth, re-type the password rather than pasting it. Our walkthrough of Rithmic logon failed in NinjaTrader covers the rarer causes.

There is no Pitbull Traders in the System list. Is that a problem?

No. Pitbull Traders is on a shared Rithmic gateway, so it has no entry of its own in NinjaTrader’s list, in the same way a great many firms do not. You are meant to pick the gateway, not the firm name.

Does Pitbull Traders support NinjaTrader?

The firm does not name NinjaTrader anywhere on its site, and its FAQ states that it does not provide configuration or trading support for ATAS or any other third-party platform. That is the firm’s published position, and it is also why our catalogue lists Pitbull Traders as reported rather than verified. Confirm with Pitbull what you may use on your account, and plan on platform setup questions being yours to work through.

Can I run my evaluation and funded accounts at once?

NinjaTrader Desktop runs one Rithmic connection at a time, although one connection can carry several accounts under the same login. Our Unlimited Prop Firm Connections add-on lets you connect and manage multiple Rithmic accounts at the same time, from one window, with per-connection monitoring, and it tells you which System entry your firm uses, or adds that entry to NinjaTrader’s System list when it is missing; the connection itself is still the stock Rithmic entry you set up in step three. Whatever you run, Pitbull’s own terms are what govern you here — its FAQ is where the copy trading and automated strategy rules sit, including its Prohibited Trading policy and its treatment of copying between accounts the same trader owns, so read them and ask the firm before you trade more than one account.

What about the daily flat time and the rest of the rules?

Take those from the rules attached to your own account. We have seen more than one closing time quoted across the firm’s own pages, and a guide like this one is the wrong place to learn a number that can breach you. The same goes for how your fills are handled — ask the firm, in writing, and keep the reply.

Related

• Connection guides for every prop firm
• The Rithmic connection guide for NinjaTrader 8
• How to run multiple Rithmic connections in NinjaTrader 8

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.