How to Connect TradeDay to NinjaTrader (Tradovate)

Use your TradeDay username and password. TradeDay uses single sign-on, so the same login works for Tradovate and NinjaTrader. The username starts with TD_, and both fields are case-sensitive, so paste rather than retype.

Make sure you have the current version of NinjaTrader Desktop, installed from your NinjaTrader Account Dashboard. If you do not have a NinjaTrader username and cannot sign in to the dashboard, NinjaTrader documents how to download NinjaTrader Desktop without a NinjaTrader Brokerage account. You do not need to pay for a license to trade a prop account.

Go to trader.tradovate.com and sign in with the credentials TradeDay issued you. Complete the market-data agreements and the CME subscriber certification — choose Non-Professional unless you genuinely are a professional subscriber. While you are there, enable order flow tools if you want volumetric bars in NinjaTrader. Full depth of market is a separate Level 2 data purchase.

This is a one-time step and it is not optional: until it is done your market data stays delayed or missing in NinjaTrader, and at some firms the login itself is refused. After signing, restart NinjaTrader.

TradeDay routes market data through Tradovate. Volumetric bars and NinjaTrader’s other order flow tools need TradeDay’s order flow tools enabled through Tradovate. Depth of market is separate: Level 1 (top of book, with bid and ask) is included, and Level 2 depth is a paid add-on.

Do it now. Diagnosing it later looks exactly like a NinjaTrader problem: the connection is green, the charts draw, and the order flow tools show an error, but it is not one.

A. If you do not already have a NinjaTrader account. Launch NinjaTrader Desktop and enter your TradeDay Tradovate username and password on the first login screen. When NinjaTrader asks you to select a trading mode, choose Simulation for an evaluation or simulated funded account. Your accounts then appear under Control Center > Accounts, and nothing else on this page applies to you.

B. If you already have a NinjaTrader account. Log in with your NinjaTrader dashboard username and password instead — not your TradeDay credentials — then carry on below to add TradeDay as a second connection.

Multi-Provider lets NinjaTrader hold more than one account type at once, and it is off by default on new installs. In the Control Center go to Tools > Settings > General, tick Multi-provider, and click OK.

Restart the platform. The Configure button then appears on the Control Center > Connections menu — if you cannot see Configure, this step has not taken effect.

Select Configure on the Connections tab. In the Available list, double-click NinjaTrader — this is the connection type that carries Tradovate prop accounts — or select it and click Add. It moves into Configured, and its properties open on the right.

Paste your TradeDay username and password. Set Account Type: Simulation. This is correct for evaluations and simulated funded accounts, which is what most prop accounts are: the firm settles the money on its own books. Pick Live and NinjaTrader refuses the login with "No accounts were found for this account type". If your firm has moved you to a live funded account, follow its instructions for that account. Name the connection TradeDay and click OK.

Finally, go to Control Center > Connections and pick the connection you just created. A green indicator at the bottom left means you are connected, and your TradeDay account appears under the Accounts tab within a few seconds.