How to Run Multiple Rithmic Connections in NinjaTrader 8
You can save as many Rithmic connections in NinjaTrader as you like: Apex, Bulenox, Tradeify, all sitting in the Connections menu together. What you cannot do, out of the box, is have more than one of them connected at the same time. Connect the second and NinjaTrader refuses it with “Provider ‘Rithmic for NinjaTrader Brokerage’ already has a running connection,” while the first stays connected.
The short answer
- NinjaTrader Desktop holds one Rithmic login at a time. Its own Rithmic prop firm guide says keeping two Rithmic connections running at once is not possible on NinjaTrader Desktop.
- One login can carry several accounts. If your accounts at one firm share a username, one connection already shows them all.
- Tradovate has no such limit. Several Tradovate connections run side by side with nothing installed.
- To run two or more Rithmic logins together, you need an add-on such as Unlimited Prop Firm Connections. One of our customers runs 16 at once.
Count logins, not accounts
An account holds a balance, positions and orders. A login is the username and password you connect with. The limit is on logins. Before you assume you have hit it, check which of these describes you:
| Your setup | Do you hit the limit? |
| Several accounts at one firm under one Rithmic username | No. One connection shows every account the firm assigned to that login. |
| Two Rithmic logins, used one at a time | No. Disconnect one and connect the other. |
| Two or more Rithmic logins needed at the same time (two firms, or an evaluation login plus a live login) | Yes. This is the one-connection limit. |
| Accounts on Tradovate | No. Tradovate connections run together natively. |
The Tradovate line is worth stressing because it saves people money. Among our copier customers, 272 have run two or more Tradovate connections at once, up to 19, with nothing extra installed. If every firm you trade is on Tradovate, you do not need an add-on for this. Not sure which you have? See Rithmic vs Tradovate, and ask your firm rather than guessing from the username.
Where the limit comes from
The limit is NinjaTrader’s, set on NinjaTrader’s own Rithmic connection. It is not a Rithmic rule, which is exactly why something running inside NinjaTrader can lift it. There is nothing to negotiate with your prop firm and nothing to buy from Rithmic.
You may read on forums that some traders run two Rithmic connections with nothing installed. Those reports involve NinjaTrader license keys issued before July 15, 2014, the date NinjaTrader stopped issuing keys for its original plain “Rithmic” connection: one firm on the old connection, one on “Rithmic for NinjaTrader Brokerage”. Even then it stops at two, and a newer license does not have the old connection at all. If the only Rithmic connection type you see is Rithmic for NinjaTrader Brokerage, that route is not open to you.
What most people do instead
Three workarounds circulate, and all three are worse than they sound.
Disconnect and reconnect. Disconnect the first firm, then connect the second. No restart is needed, but only one is connected at a time. Workable if you switch firms once a day. Unusable if you manage several accounts through a session, and running strategies have to restart every time.
A second machine or a VPS per firm. This works, and plenty of people do it. It also means one machine, one NinjaTrader install, one set of indicators and one workspace per firm, plus the hardware cost.
Multiple Windows user accounts. Separate installs under separate logins on one machine. It sidesteps the limit, but you are running several copies of the platform on the same hardware and maintaining each one.
What running them together requires
Two things, in order.
First, on NinjaTrader 8.1, Multi-provider has to be on, under Tools, then Settings (some versions say Options), followed by a restart. Without it NinjaTrader does not even show the Configure button in the Connections menu, and a fair number of people stop there believing their install is broken. NinjaTrader 8.0.28.0 has no Multi-provider setting and does not need it.
Second, the second Rithmic connection has to be allowed to stay up. No NinjaTrader setting does that. Unlimited Prop Firm Connections does. Each firm keeps its own connection, with its own login, and its accounts appear in your account list like any other, on the same charts, in the same workspace, with the indicators you already use.
Here is what our customers actually run, from the connection reports the add-on sends us:
- Eight customers have run two or more Rithmic logins at once; the most is 16.
- One runs his live AMP Futures account next to Apex, Lucid Trading, Tradeify and TradeDay: five Rithmic logins at once in NinjaTrader 8.1.
- One runs Apex, Lucid Trading and Tradeify together on NinjaTrader 8.0.28.0.
Check each login on its own first
If a second connection fails, make sure it is the limit and not something else. Connect each login alone, with nothing else connected. If one fails alone, fix that first; the limit is not your problem yet. The messages our customers hit most often, and what they mean:
- “already has a running connection”: the one-connection limit. Your settings are fine.
- “Please check your account connection parameters”: a wrong password or, more often, the wrong System entry. Our list of which System entry each prop firm connects on has the measured answers.
- “The IB you are trying to connect to is not authorized to use NinjaTrader”: in our customers’ logs, all 32 cases later connected with exactly the same settings. Wait and retry before changing anything.
- Connects, then drops a few seconds later: the same login is open somewhere else, such as R|Trader Pro or a VPS. That is your firm’s session limit on the login, not NinjaTrader’s connection limit.
What the add-on does not change
- It does not make a firm work that does not use Rithmic. Check your firm in the connection guides.
- It does not raise a Rithmic session cap. The cap belongs to each Rithmic login, so using the same login in two places at once, for example R|Trader Pro and NinjaTrader, still counts against it.
- It does not copy trades between accounts. Having several firms connected at once is what makes copying possible, but the copying needs a trade copier such as Duplicate Account Actions.
- It does not change your firm’s rules. Whether you may trade several accounts in parallel is between you and them.
Whether you need it at all
If you trade one Rithmic login and have no plans to add another, you do not. The limit only bites when a second Rithmic login enters the picture: a second firm, or a live account next to your evaluations. If that is where you are heading, the question is whether disconnecting and reconnecting between firms is a cost you want to keep paying.
Unlimited Prop Firm Connections
Several Rithmic logins connected at once in one NinjaTrader, every connection’s health in one window, an alert the moment one drops, and the System entry for 114 prop firms and brokers. Runs on NinjaTrader 8.1.x.x and 8.0.28.0.
$495 once for 1 PC ($795 for 2 PCs), free updates, human live chat support, and a 30-day money-back guarantee if your Rithmic prop firms will not connect or will not stay connected together and we cannot get it working. See Unlimited Prop Firm Connections
FAQ
Can NinjaTrader connect to two Rithmic accounts at the same time?
Two accounts under one Rithmic login, yes: one connection shows them both. Two separate Rithmic logins, not on its own. NinjaTrader Desktop holds one Rithmic connection at a time; Unlimited Prop Firm Connections keeps several connected together.
Does Multi-provider let me run two Rithmic connections?
No. On NinjaTrader 8.1, Multi-provider makes the Configure button appear so you can set up Rithmic and other providers. It does not lift the one-Rithmic-connection limit.
Do I need a VPS or a second computer for multiple Rithmic connections?
Not with the add-on. The connections run side by side in one NinjaTrader on the PC you already have. If you also use a VPS, do not leave the same Rithmic login open on both; the firm’s session limit will drop one of them.
Does this work for Tradovate accounts?
Tradovate does not need it. NinjaTrader already allows several Tradovate connections at once.
Does it work on NinjaTrader 8.0.28.0?
Yes. Unlimited Prop Firm Connections runs on NinjaTrader 8.0.28.0 and on the current 8.1 releases. See our NinjaTrader 8.0.28.0 guide.
Customer figures come from Unlimited Prop Firm Connections and Accounts Dashboard installs that reported connection results in August to October 2026, excluding our own test machines. 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.