New to NT8: How does auto-trading work?

[Blairski]

Ninja's,

I've downloaded and connected my Interactive Brokers account to NT8. It seems like everytime I call up a stock on a chart there is some sort of delay and a message that says downloading...I suspect live data.

I'm curious to know how auto-trading functionality would successfully work using NT8. If the software or charts do not have live data, how does NinjaTrader Software know to submit sell or buy order?!?

I would like to set up relatively basic auto-trading (to start anyways) where I would have a level of confidence that my buy and sell conditional orders would be actioned without too much slippage from actual live data.

Specific question(s); do I need to have the NT application open?(1) with a chart open and a ticker assigned?(2) in order for my desktop version of NinjaTrader to have actual live data on a specific ticker?

...is it possible to have say 50 stock tickers constantly streaming live data? or does this seriously challenge the performance of the software?

I am currently running NT8 on a Intel i5 Quad processor 3570 @ 3.4 Ghz, 16GB RAM. Would my desktop be able to run at a satisfactory level or would you recommend upgrades?

[NinjaTrader_PatrickH]

Hello Blairski,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the NinjaTrader Support Forum!

Without live data there is no means to send an order. Your connected data provider would need to supply the live data for the trade to be submitted from NinjaTrader.

NinjaTrader must remain open when running an automated strategy and must be connected to the brokerage technology and data provider as well as receiving data for the instrument the automated strategy is to trade.

It is possible to have 50+ Stocks streaming live data. Please take a look at out Market Analyzer where you can add lists of stocks or add stocks one at a time at the following link: https://ninjatrader.com/support/help...t_analyzer.htm

Your desktop is above the minimum PC Requirements. Please visit the following link for more information: https://ninjatrader.com/support/help...quirements.htm

Please let me know if you have any questions.