Trying to follow a tutorial and stuck on step 1

[banzai]

So I was trying to follow this beginner tutorial on ninjatrader and I can't find "ES 03-20" under futures. The only thing beginning with ES was "ES 12-20".

I tried following the remainder of the video with ES 12-20 but when I ran the backtest I get no data whatsoever. I also tried running the backtest with one of Ninjatrader's built-in strategies and still got all zeros even with multiple dates.

Are these two issues related? How do I set up a connection with ES 03-20? I'm using the free version for now. And how do I get the backtester to work?

Thank you.

[NinjaTrader_Jason]

Hello banzai,

The ES 03-20 was the front month when the video was created. Currently, the ES 12-20 is the front month. The ES rolls over 4 times a year. It will rollover to ES 03-21 on December 10th 2020.

You can find the rollover dates as follows. Please go to Control Center-->Tools-->Instruments. Double click a futures instrument and a new window will open with the instrument settings. Scroll to the bottom and click in the 'Contract months' field . Another new window will open up which shows the expiry months with the rollover dates.

NinjaTrader will merge historical data by default. So if you backtest the ES 12-20 and request a year of historical data, it will merge historical data from previous expiry months as per the rollover dates.

Please note that only the "Sample MA cross over" strategy will produce results. The others need additional programming in order to function. If you backtest the "Sample MA cross over" strategy, do you get results? If not, please set Display to Chart and check if you see the requested data. If no data is loaded, please tell me to what data feed or broker you connect in NinjaTrader.

[banzai]

Hi Jason,

Thanks for your fast response. Before we continue, does NT allow fractional shares? I've found posts from 12 years ago asking for it but IDK if it was implemented.

[NinjaTrader_Jason]

Unfortunately fractional shares are not supported at this time. It is on the list of possible future enhancements and is assigned to SFT-4721.

[banzai]

I see, that's unfortunate because I really liked everything I saw so far in Ninjatrader. Now I'll have to go back to MT5.

By the way, Metatrader offers fractional shares through a partnership with drivewealth. Hopefully you can do something similar. I'll check on NinjaTrader from time to time to see when it's implemented.

[NT-Roland]

Hi banzai,
Interesting. Couple of questions.
How big is the market for fractional shares?
Do you have to pay the full (minimum) commission or is this being shared between the "fractioneers"?
How long does it take until such an "odd lot" order is executed?
Can you expect to get the same price on execution?

I tested this (outside of Ninja) with major currency pairs, i.e. the most liquid market on earth, placing orders simultaneously.
Whereas orders meeting or exceeding the minimum order size were executed immediately, "odd lot" orders rested on the market "almost forever" before being executed, even if submitted as market orders. That's a huge issue for automated or semi-automated algo trading, particularly in times of high volatility.
NT-Roland