Interactive Brokers market data

[shaulgr]

Hello,

I have a new account in IB. Is this enough for getting market data and historical data for backtesting, or should I request something additional from IB ?

[NinjaTrader_JC]

Hello shaulgr,

As long as you have a live account through IB, and are enabled for that instrument you will have access to Historical Minute and Daily as well as Real-Time Data.

If you are backtesting strategies on tick base data you will have to connect to a different data provider for example Kinetick. To see a list of data providers and what they support you may view the following link to our Help Guide.
http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/h...rical_data.htm

Let us know if we can be of further assistance.

[shaulgr]

Thanks for the reply.
What does "enabled for that instrument" exactly mean? And how do I know whether I am enabled for a specific instrument?

[NinjaTrader_JC]

Hello shaulgr,

What I mean by enabled for that instrument, is that you signed up for that exchange(s) for the instrument that you are wanting to view/trade in order to get live data for it.

If you are connect to IB through NinjaTrader you may use the API tab and type in the instrument to see if you are getting live data as you will see the updates. See attached image. Alternatively, you may contact your broker and they should be able to verify as well.

[shaulgr]

Is live data the opposite term to the free delayed data?

Do you know if the IB form in the attached screenshot is the way to subscribe to live data? (I am afraid that IB do not explain this well.)

[NinjaTrader_JC]

Hello shaulgr,

Not the opposite term, but still different. You will need live(real-time) data from IB to drive the NinjaTrader charts.

You may want to contact your broker to clarify on your second question.

Let us know if we can be of further assistance.

[shaulgr]

Hello again,

In http://ibkb.interactivebrokers.com/taxonomy/term/147, entitled "NinjaTrader Integration with TWS - FAQs", one question is:
Q: Does IB support the market data required to populate Ninja Trader Range Bar charts?
A: Range Bar charts generally depict the movement of price for a particular instrument over a defined time period (e.g. month, day, 5-minute, 3-minute, etc.) or tick increment. As these types of charts are built from tick data and IB does not support unfiltered tick-by-tick data on a real-time or historical basis, Ninja Trade Bar charts require an alternate data source to eliminate data gaps.

I assume "Range Bar charts" are just normal NT charts. Does this mean IB's market data is not suited to NinjaTrader and I need an alternative data feed ?

[NinjaTrader_Matthew]

Range bars are built off of tick data, which is not supplied by Interactive Brokers

In order to receive historical tick data for your range charts, you will need to connect to another provider such as Kinetick who offers historical tick data:

http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/helpGuides/nt7/historical_data.htm

[shaulgr]

Is this also the case if I only trade stocks?

[NinjaTrader_Matthew]

Yes, this will be the same for stocks, futures and forex through IB.

[shaulgr]

So why does NinjaTrader support IB as a data feed at all ? What is IB data good for ?

[NinjaTrader_JC]

Hello shaulgr,

Not all data providers support historical tick data, and not all trader's need historical tick data. With that said you can connect to another data provider that support historical tick data to complement your provider. For example, if you use range bar but like to keep IB as your broker you may connect to Kinetick that support Historical Tick data to build your charts off.

Click here to view more information on Historical Data and Understand the data provided by your connectivity provider

You may also view our Help Guide on Multiple connections by clicking here as well.

Let us know if we can be of further assistance.

[shaulgr]

some more clarification

Suppose I have a strategy that is already backtested (I think thread http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/f...ad.php?t=21188 gives a clue about to do it with IB). Can it then function in real time using only IB's real time data ?
I ask this because according to the Help Guide the only difference between what IB and Kinetic supply is historical tick data; both supply real time data.

[NinjaTrader_JC]

Hello shaulgr,

Yes, you will be able to get real-time tick data using IB that will drive a NinjaScript strategy.