TickWise and NinjaTrader 8: Rithmic Connection Guide

TickWise Funding issues Rithmic credentials. They arrive by email once your payment clears — the firm says a Challenge activates a few minutes after payment is validated — and Rithmic is the only feed TickWise offers, so there is no Tradovate or ProjectX fork in the road to think about. NinjaTrader Desktop has a Rithmic connection built into it, and that is the mechanical reason those credentials are worth pointing at it.

Two things frame everything below. TickWise sells into 22 EU and EEA countries only — not the United States, the United Kingdom or Canada — so check you can buy an account at all before you plan a setup. And TickWise runs three stages rather than the usual two: Phase d’Évaluation and Phase de Préparation, both simulated, and then the Compte Broker, its funded account. Know which one you are configuring.

The step that catches people is not in NinjaTrader at all. Your feed has to be switched on by hand in the TickWise dashboard at app.tickwisefunding.com, in a section named “Flux de données” — the FAQ and much of the product wording are in French even on the .com domain. TickWise is blunt about this one: without that activation you cannot see real-time prices or place orders. Go straight to NinjaTrader’s connection dialog and you will spend the evening debugging a feed that was never turned on.

The second thing to know is that TickWise does not publish the Rithmic system name NinjaTrader asks for. The FAQ entry that should carry it — “Quelles sont les étapes de connexion à ma plateforme ?” — shipped to production with an internal editorial note where the answer should be, and the firm says separately that its connection knowledge base is still being built. So take the system, username and password from the credential email itself, and if the email is thin, ask support; TickWise quotes a 48 working-hour response time.

One more piece of context, stated plainly. tickwisefunding.com does not mention NinjaTrader anywhere — not in the FAQ’s platform list, not in the homepage logo strip. The only firm-controlled “yes” we could find is on the firm’s blog, where a June 19, 2026 NinjaTrader setup guide tells readers to open a TickWise evaluation and connect it in NinjaTrader 8. That is a marketing blog rather than a product page, and parts of it disagree with the current FAQ, so treat it as reported rather than verified, and confirm with TickWise what you may use on your account before you rely on it.

What TickWise issues and which platforms it names

• Rithmic, and only Rithmic. The FAQ describes the whole product as running on Rithmic infrastructure, with real-time CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX data, and Rithmic exchange fees are still being deducted once you reach the funded stage. No other feed appears anywhere on the site.
• Credentials by email, feed by dashboard. The Rithmic username and password come to you by email; the feed itself is activated separately inside the client dashboard. Those are two different steps, and only the second one is easy to mistake for optional.
• Level 1 free, Level 2 paid — and bought from TickWise. LV1 is included with the Challenge. Market depth is an optional paid add-on purchased in the same dashboard section, not through NinjaTrader and not from the exchange.
• Platforms the FAQ names. Quantower, ATAS, Sierra Chart and R Trader Pro, with the firm saying explicitly that it recommends no platform in particular.
• Platforms in the homepage logo strip. Bookmap, Jigsaw Trading, MotiveWave and OverCharts sit alongside Rithmic, Sierra Chart and Quantower, and the page calls the list non-exhaustive and still expanding.
• The TickWise platform itself. “La Plateforme TickWise” is the firm’s own browser terminal with a built-in chart and DOM. It is a separate route from a desktop platform; connecting NinjaTrader is not the same thing as using it.

What you need before you start

• NinjaTrader Desktop, installed and up to date on the machine you will actually trade from.
• Your TickWise credential email — the Rithmic username, the password, and any system, gateway or server name it gives you. This is your only authoritative source for those names.
• Your Level 1 feed activated in the dashboard, under “Flux de données”. Do this first, not after.
• Multi-Provider ticked in NinjaTrader under Tools > Settings > General, with NinjaTrader restarted afterwards.
• R Trader Pro installed and logged in alongside NinjaTrader. TickWise’s own advice is to keep it running in parallel, and step one of its technical-problem procedure is to use it to watch and close positions.

Connecting TickWise to NinjaTrader

1. Activate your data feed in the TickWise dashboard

Log in at app.tickwisefunding.com, open “Flux de données” and switch on the free Level 1 feed. The firm states that you must activate it manually as soon as your credentials arrive and that you cannot trade without it. If you want market depth, buy LV2 here too — it covers CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX, and there is nothing to subscribe to inside NinjaTrader for it.

2. Turn on Multi-Provider and restart NinjaTrader

In the Control Center go to Tools > Settings > General and tick Multi-Provider, then close NinjaTrader completely and reopen it. The setting only takes effect after that restart. If Connections > Configure is still missing once NinjaTrader is back up, work through the missing Configure menu fix.

3. Add the stock Rithmic connection

In the Control Center open Connections > Configure, and from the Available list add Rithmic for NinjaTrader Brokerage. That is the entry to use; what identifies the account is the credentials you type into it, so give the connection a name you will still recognise in a month.

4. Enter your credentials and set the System carefully

Fill in the username and password exactly as the credential email gives them, then set the System. That field decides which Rithmic environment you land in. The general Rithmic pattern in NinjaTrader is that simulated accounts log into Rithmic Paper Trading on the Chicago gateway and funded live accounts into Rithmic 01 (Chicago) — but TickWise publishes nothing about which value applies to a TickWise account at any stage, so do not copy one out of another firm’s guide. Use what your email specifies, and if it specifies nothing, ask support before you start guessing. Pairing the wrong system with otherwise correct credentials produces a login rejection that tells you almost nothing about the real cause.

5. Connect, then prove it with a chart and a DOM

Connect from Connections, then check that your account appears in the Accounts tab, open a chart on an instrument you are actually cleared to trade, and open a DOM. Data and a visible account balance together are the real proof; a green connection light on its own is not. Leave R Trader Pro connected in the background while you do this, so you always have a second way to see and close a position.

Questions we get about TickWise and NinjaTrader

NinjaTrader connects but no prices arrive

Check the dashboard first. An un-activated Level 1 feed is the likeliest cause, and it looks exactly like a NinjaTrader problem. If prices are there but depth is not, that is LV2, which is a paid add-on bought from TickWise rather than something you enable in NinjaTrader.

Does anything change when I reach the Broker Account?

Some things do. Data entitlements are re-chosen at that point and become billable according to the markets you activate, exchange fees start coming out of the account balance, and you complete KYC through DocuSign, a Funded Trader Agreement and a power of attorney allowing TickWise to act for you with the broker. You also fill in an instrument selection form so the broker enables those contracts — a chart on an instrument you did not select will not trade. Whether the Rithmic login itself changes at that point, TickWise does not say; ask support rather than assuming your old credentials carry over.

Can I run an automated strategy or a copier?

Be careful here. The FAQ says automated trading is allowed and that copy trading is allowed. The Terms and Conditions, at clause 13.2.2, have you agree not to use automated systems, algorithms or bots to access or interact with the platform without TickWise’s prior written consent. Those two do not sit comfortably together, and an NT8 reader is usually asking precisely because they intend to automate. Get an answer from TickWise in writing and keep it.

What about the 17:00–18:00 ET window?

TickWise requires you flat before 17:00 ET, with no new positions before 18:00 ET, in every phase including the funded account, and a breach closes the account automatically. The firm also states that platform problems are not a valid excuse for having a position open in that window. That is the strongest argument for keeping R Trader Pro logged in beside NinjaTrader.

Running more than one Rithmic account in NinjaTrader

NinjaTrader Desktop runs one Rithmic connection at a time, although one connection can carry several accounts under the same login. Unlimited Prop Firm Connections 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.

Related

• The general Rithmic connection guide — the full NinjaTrader 8 walkthrough this page is a firm-specific version of.
• Rithmic logon failed in NinjaTrader — the usual causes when credentials look right and the login still bounces.
• All connection guides — the same walkthrough for every other firm we cover.

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.