Live Bitcoin/USD in Ninja (At Last!)

[derekphelps]

OK, Good News First : I'm now running live XBT/USD (Bitcoin) chart in my NT8 along with other Ninja tools (market analyzer, Time&Sales, etc) and it looks like i can run strategy analyzer against historical data downloaded from BitMex site. (looks like everything but actual trading is active)

The Journey : I ran across this post on BitMex that looked promising
* Followed the instructions on a virgin NT8 install and loaded the NT8 BitMex API adapter and created my BitMex connection within Ninja.
* Restarted NT8 and and the connection to BitMex started right up. Opened the 'Instruments' list and discovered lots of crypto pairs and futures that had not been there before and started to get excited, but then noticed an oddity...The pairs (BTC/USD, ETH/EUR, etc) were all showing as 'Stock' type rather then 'Forex' type. Picked the XBTUSD Stock and downloaded the price chart, however was getting no live streaming data. So I created another instrument with the same data only of type 'Forex' and then started getting live feed. Tried with another pair tho and no-go (i think it has something to do with an odd naming convention BitMex has with their securities other then XBTUSD).
One caveat tho, to get a solid historical block of minute data loaded you will have to go to the Historical Data dialog and download it 7 days at a time. It seems there is an issue with the API request being able to process large interval periods. Going off to work but wanted to put this out there for those wanting to get BTC data to test against their strategy's. Will explore further in couple days and report new progress. Big Props to Samuel Reed for the work done on this plug in so far.

[Lucero]

Many thx for this post, as I couldnt quite figure out how to deal with that stock thing. Finally, I was even able to load the original stock xbtusd tweaking it (I dont quite remember what exactly I changed that let me load it, I guess I added a symbol in the provider symbol list). You can even get a tick chart, which is what I needed, but in this case you will only have real time data plotted on the chart. What I have been unable to solve so far is how to get the xbtusd quotes in SuperDOM. It only has the option for futures. I tried creating futures contracts for xbtusd with different parameters but it didnt work. Any ideas?

[NinjaTrader_PatrickG]

I am able to successfully view data for the built-in BitMEX instruments when using the Dynamic and Static SuperDOM. However, creating custom instruments for use with Bitmex and the expected behavior is not documented on our end.

The work-arounds that you both have implemented to get historical/real-time data for these contracts is interesting. I was able to create a new forex instrument as derekphelps suggested and this allowed for charting of XBTUSD with real-time data, however, nothing would display in the SuperDOM.

Since Bitmex is technically a third-party add-on, I would recommend contacting BitMEX support directly to learn more about the possibilities when creating custom instruments intended to work with their connection and how level II data may be affected.

[Lucero]

Can you please tell me how you open the XBTUSD instrument in Static Super DOM?
I have no problem in viewing all the BitMEX instruments in Static SuperDOM, except XBTUSD. It is listed as a stock and while it is possible to view it in Dymanic SuperDOM, I can't open XBTUSD in Static SuperDOM because it is just not in the instrument list. When I try to open it using the Static Super DOM search tool, it only gives me futures, and no XBTUSD.

[NinjaTrader_PatrickG]

I am also unable to load this instrument in the SuperDOM. I would recommend reaching out to BitMEX support to report what is occurring.

[Lucero]

I have found out that it is adding a (any) symbol in the data provider symbol list in the instrument properties of XBTUSD that allows to load it in charts and Dynamic SuperDOM.

[jmcg618]

so can you guys update on how this plugin is working for you? Are you able to get historical tick data into you nt platforms?

[Lucero]

it's kind of working. I mean, you get frequent connection drops (you just stop getting any data, even though you are connected and the connection indicator is green), there's no last price marker in super dom. no, I can only get real time tick data in charts.

[jmcg618]

Well that's too bad. I wouldn't be risking any money with a junk platform like that. I was hoping to hear some good info about it, but it seems you are confirming what I've already read on the Bitmex reddit feed. There are a ton of complaints about the system freezing and not accepting orders etc. Definitely not the kind of place you want to actively trade leveraged futures, bin there done that back in the day with the mt4 bucketshops. I guess I will check out the bitfinex api. It seems they have the best trading engine in the business for now, from what I've read. Hopefully the ninjatrader plugin is unproblematic.

[Lucero]

Bitmex looks enticing anyway, since I dont know any other major exchange offering futures on crypos or any considerable leverage. I would try it out, if it were not for their ridiculous withdrawal fee, which is 100+ usd now. btw, you cant place orders via the nt add-on, because it gets data through a websocket, and to place orders you have to connect through their rest api.

[jmcg618]

ya, I don't understand how they market themselves as a futures exchange for professionals with such an amateur order entry platform. You can't enter an order with even a stop attached, have to key it in separately, and slowly, on a platform that regularly freezes and refuses orders, on a market that can move at light speed... sounds like a bucketshop to me. And to be honest, do you really need much leverage with bitcoin? I've just done some demo trading on the CBOE XBT contract via CQG, and the leverage they are offering is already pretty huge a product this volatile. I'm definitely going to check out the bitfinex api though as it allows historical and real time tick data feed and order entry from ninjatrader. Looks like you can't enter an oco or an attached stop, but at least you can do apply a stop pretty quickly via chart trader... If you could do an oco or auto-attached stop with your order on these exchanges I wouldn't be so wary about them, but the fact is they can't handle all of the order flow they are getting and Bitmex in particular has a system where they freeze out new orders when the market maker bots overload their system. I would never enter an order on an exchange set up that way without an oco order, or at least a stop attached to the entry order. Seems like a bucketshop in that respect. I might try out Bitfinex with a small account just to check it out, but really hoping the volumes on the CBOE start gaining some real traction in the new year... the hell with these hokey bucketshop exchanges...

[Lucero]

I've been eyeing Bitfinex too, it would be great if you could share your experience of it here. Hopefully it works out better than Bitmex.

[jmcg618]

I will let you know about the bitfinex api when I try it, but it probably won't be until February. Bitfinex have stopped opening new accounts until Mid Jan as they claim their system is overloaded with new applications and they want to expand their infrastructure before opening it up to new traders. I'm just going to paper trade it on CBOE and Kinetick for a month or so and follow the bitfinex story for a while before risking any money with it. It's seems like a very risky outfit at the moment... will just stick with the boring old CME futs for the moment...

[Lucero]

I think Bitmex is a whole lot better for paper trading than CBOE or CME. You just look at the volumes and spreads, compared to Bitmex. Looks like it's gonna take quite a bit for any real bitcoin trading to get going on these exchanges.

[jmcg618]

If you can't get historical tick data into ninjatrader from Bitmex then I don't see the point of setting it up. If it's realtime data only, something about it just sounds underdeveloped and fishy. Can you be sure the volume data you are getting is correct and corresponds with the ticks? What happens when you restart nt8, does all the data disappear? I can't work with that.... I don't think it will be long before CBOE starts doing volume. Most brokerages that will be offering it are still just rolling it out to customers. And once the first ETF get's approved based on Gemini exchange, which is full compliant and regulated and ready to go, there will be lots of volume coming into the contract... I'd say six months and it will be deep enough for day trading...