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 the first drops away.

Where the limit comes from

NinjaTrader Desktop connects one Rithmic account at a time.

This matters because it changes what the fix looks like. There is nothing to negotiate with your prop firm and no upgrade to buy from Rithmic.

What most people do instead

Three workarounds circulate, and all three are worse than they sound.

Disconnect and reconnect. Disconnect the first firm, close NinjaTrader, reopen it, connect the second. Workable if you switch firms once a day. Unusable if you are trying to manage several accounts through a session, and it resets any running strategies each time.

A second machine or a VPS per firm. This does work, and plenty of people do it. It also means one machine, one NinjaTrader install, one set of indicators and one workspace layout per firm, plus the cost of the hardware.

Multiple Windows user accounts. Separate installs under separate logins on one machine. It sidesteps the limit but you are then running several copies of the platform on the same hardware and maintaining each of them.

What running them together actually requires

Two things, in order.

First, Multi-Provider mode has to be enabled, under Tools, Options, General, followed by a restart. Without it NinjaTrader will not even show the Configure option in the Connections menu, and a fair number of people get stuck at that point believing their install is broken.

Second, the second Rithmic connection has to be set up. That is the part no setting exposes.

Unlimited Prop Firm Connections lets you keep several connected at the same time. Five or more Rithmic connections running simultaneously has been verified, and the accounts appear in your account list like any other, on the same charts, in the same workspace, with the indicators you already use.

What it does not change

Worth being clear about the boundaries.

• It does not make a firm work that does not use Rithmic. Check your firm first in the connection guides.
• It does not raise a Rithmic session cap. If two firms issued you the same login, that constraint still applies.
• It does not copy trades between accounts. Having several firms connected at once is what makes copying possible, but the copying itself needs a trade copier.
• It does not change your firm rules. Whether you are permitted to trade several accounts in parallel is between you and them.

Whether you need it at all

If you trade one funded account and have no plans to add another, you do not. The limit only bites when a second Rithmic firm enters the picture. If that is where you are heading, the question is whether disconnecting and restarting between firms is a cost you want to keep paying.

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.