NinjaTrader: “Password should be specified”
This one is exactly what it says, which makes it unusual among NinjaTrader errors. The connection you are trying to open has no password saved against it. The wording is Tradovate’s own validation reply, so it shows on Tradovate-type connections such as My NinjaTrader, and it usually arrives with “Name should be specified” when the username is blank as well.
Why a saved password disappears
The saved username and password live inside the connection’s own entry in NinjaTrader’s Config.xml, and they can come back blank while the connection itself stays listed. Common causes are a platform upgrade, a restored or copied NinjaTrader folder, moving the installation to a new machine or a VPS, or a cloud sync tool such as OneDrive interfering with the configuration files.
The result looks confusing because the connection is still listed with your firm’s name on it, so it appears intact.
The fix
- No Configure on the Connections menu? Turn on Multi-provider first: Tools > Settings > General, tick Multi-provider, click OK, then close NinjaTrader and open it again. NinjaTrader hides Configure until it is on (why Configure is missing).
- Control Center, then Connections, then Configure.
- Select the connection and re-enter the username and password.
- Save, then connect.
If it fails again immediately, delete the connection entirely and add it fresh rather than editing it. A definition that has lost its credentials once has often lost something else with them.
Type the password, do not paste it
While you are re-entering it, type the credentials by hand. Pasting from a prop firm dashboard is the most common way to pick up a trailing space, which NinjaTrader passes through as part of the password and Rithmic rejects. That produces a logon failure rather than this message, so fixing one problem can hand you another. The full list of causes is in Rithmic logon failed.
When you run several firms
As far as NinjaTrader is concerned, a connection with no password saved and a connection whose password was rejected produce much the same outcome: it did not connect. The health window in Unlimited Prop Firm Connections separates the two, naming a missing credential as a missing credential rather than leaving you to work out which of your firms is in which state.
If it keeps happening
Repeated credential loss points at file permissions. Check that NinjaTrader can write to its own Documents folder, and exclude the NinjaTrader directories from OneDrive, Dropbox or any backup tool that syncs them live.
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.