Backfilling Forex Real-Time Charts with Historical Data

[JohnL]

I am running NT6 Simulation Version with a Gain practice account. When I set up the connection, I was given the option to use The Gain Servers for historical data or use Nija Trader's Servers. When I use the Gain Servers, it seems like they provide only 10 days of minute data. When I use the Ninja Servers, it looks like I can get 1 year of minute data. Am I right on this (I haven't found any documentation on this)? Also, is it possible to get daily historical data from Ninja, or do I have to subsrcibe to a data vendor? If I need to go to a data vendor for daily historical data, which ones are currently compatible with NT6? Finally, can a historical download/update be performed manually by placing the downloaded file in the proper NT6 folder? Is there any documentation on this?

[NinjaTraderEcosystem_Ryan]

Hello:

Thank you for your post.

1. Typically, the NT servers will provide more historical data than Gain when you first start using NT with Gain Capital.

2. Gain Capital (forex.com) offers free forex charts from eSignal for customers who open with $1000 or more and trade 1 standard lot (or 10 mini lots) per month. This is a stand alone application and is not supported by NinjaTrader but is a good option for traders who need more historical data from the start or daily data since none is provided by the NT servers.

More information on historical data can be found here:
http://www.ninjatrader-support.com/HelpGuideV6/HistoricalData.html

3. NT does also offer the ability to import/export historical data in a text format. Instructions on Importing historical data can be found here:
http://www.ninjatrader-support.com/HelpGuideV6/Import.html

Best regards,

[jimbil]

Hi

i am in the same situation. I have big gaps in my forex charts.

Are you saying that NT6 demo account holders cannot get back-fill forex data, but if you open a live account with Gain Capital, NT6 users will get backfilled data?

If this is the case, it is a real shame, and IMO shows a lack of foresight.

NT6 sure is pretty and looks good, but if users can't see it working to its full potential in a demo environment, why should they want to upgrade to a live account?

IMO NT6 looks good, and better than Metatrader4. However, I can use Metatrader 4 completely free via a demo account with dozens of brokers, without any of these limits in functionality, that NT6 is subject to.

Therefore at the moment MT4 is much more preferable to NT6, even though NT6 is the much better platform .

Whats the point in advertsing NT6 as a free resouce for backtesting, system developement etc. if clients cannot access data within the platform.

IMO, a better business model would be to provide full functionality to demo clients, & hope that in time, they start using a live account. But offering very ltd service to demo clients is NOT the way to entice demo clients to upgrade to be live clients IMO .

Thanks.

[NinjaTrader_Ray]

NinjaTrader is not a market data vendor, we are a platform vendor. We support many different sources of historical data both free and paid for. Through GAIN, whether you have a live account or not only offers 24 hours of historical data, this is their limitation not ours. They provide their clients with access to eSignal based on meeting certain account requirements. That is what Ryan was pointing out.

[jimbil]

NinjaTrader is not a market data vendor, we are a platform vendor. We support many different sources of historical data both free and paid for. Through GAIN, whether you have a live account or not only offers 24 hours of historical data, this is their limitation not ours. They provide their clients with access to eSignal based on meeting certain account requirements. That is what Ryan was pointing out.

Thanks Ray. I understand what you are saying.

Well i use/d TS8.2 who also have a FREE Gain Capital forex feed. They have years of historical data, and no gaps.

If Gain Capital cannot provide this service to NinjaTrader also , Why don't NinjaTrader go about integrating some of other free spot forex datafeeds?

I'd imagine that some of the MANY spot forex data suppliers would be happy & willing to supply to provide NinjaTrader with a better service than Gain Capital are currently doing & for free. Just look at the dozens of forex brokers who enable the use of Metatrader 4 with their datafeeds, both for demo account holders and for full trade automation with live account holders?

As it stands, i have withdrawn my funds from my TS8.2 account, as from looking at the NT6 website i thought that NT6 would be a suitable replacement. I'm sure it would be, but without easy access to quality historical forex data, NT6 is not much use to me, and no doubt many others, afterall, forex is the most popular market for traders now.

NT6 is a good platform, comparable to TS8.2, and more advanced than Metatrader4. However, at present, i value MT4 more highly than NT6, due to these NT6 limitations.

It's a real shame that this shortsightedness will cost NinjaTrader many potential clients,

Cheers.

PS. The esignal GTIS composite datafeed is absolute rubbish IMO, very jumpy & erratic due to it being a composite datafeed, with quotes coming in from 200 or so banks.