NinjaTrader Free Forex Data Feed Makes Sim Accounts Mode Live

[jeronymite]

I use the NinjaTrader Free Forex data feed. (Thanks!)

Unfortunately, it is considered to be Mode.Live for all Simulation accounts (I have several) when they are connected to it. Validated using <Account>.Connection.Options.Mode == Mode.Live. Surely that is a bug?

Grateful for confirmation, and if confirmed, an expeditious fix.

Thanks.

[NinjaTrader_ChrisL]

Hi jeronymite, thanks for your question.

It looks like you can change that property to whatever you would like:

Account.Connection.Options.Mode = Mode.Simulation;
Print(Account.Connection.Options.Mode);

It's not documented, so it could be a depreciated or yet to come feature.

Please let me know if I can assist any further.

[jeronymite]

Thanks, Chris.

That's highly problematic, since one needs to be able to definitively know the Mode of every Account without ambiguity. This was certainly the case in NT7. How does one do this in NT8?

Thanks.

Update: The issue seems to be with the Free NinjaTrader Forex data feed identifying itself as being Mode Live, rather than as Mode Simulation. It is essential that Account Connection Mode be correct for the type of Connection, and in this case, I believe the Mode is not correct and should be changed by NinjaTrader. Additional testing reveals that a Demo account (FXCM), for example, returns Mode as Simulation, which is as it should be, I believe.

I see no sense in Mode being settable by the user, even for Simulation Accounts, since it is the Mode of the underlying Connection that Mode is identifying, and that Mode is essentially immutable.

It also raises a related issue, namely that no matter what Connection a Simulation Account connects to, should it ever have Mode Live, or should it always have Mode Simulation regardless of the Mode of the Connection? There is immense potential for confusion here in the current implementation!

There is also a separate issue with Simulation Accounts that warrants consideration; namely, that in addition to the current convention of all Simulation Accounts automatically connecting to the first available Connection, Simulation Accounts should be able individually to be disconnected or connected to a specific Connection. This would allow testing of a variety of scenarios that are otherwise problematic to test.

By the way, Mode is documented here: https://ninjatrader.com/support/help...ectoptions.htm

Thanks.

[NinjaTrader_ChrisL]

Hi jeronymite, thanks for the follow up.

I am looking into the issue to see what we can do here.

Thanks in advance for your patience.

[jeronymite]

Many thanks, Chris. It is of critical importance in a variety of application scenarios, so most definitely needs to be addressed. Very much appreciate your assistance with this.

[NinjaTrader_ChrisL]

Hello jeronymite, I appreciate your patience.

Right now that property is not meant to be used and is not documented, so I submitted a feature request to document and have this working properly. For a solution now, one could look for the word "Sim" in the account name to tell if the account is a sim account or not.

Please let me know if I can assist any further.

[jeronymite]

Thanks, Chris. Grateful for your kind assistance.

I note that as mentioned earlier, it is documented. However, for now I will use the "Sim" approach you suggest.

I also note that in NT7, even though it is undocumented, it works as one would expect (unlike in NT8 where it is documented). In NT7, it is in Intellisense and is an Account attribute, not a Connection.Options attribute. I believe this is the correct approach, rather than the Connection, since a Connection aligns with a Provider, and various Providers provide Live and Demo accounts, which are different Modes. In NT7, Mode has 4 possible values: Live, Demo, Simulation and Test. This is sensible and valuable, as it allows differentiation between Simulation accounts (those local to NinjaTrader) and Demo accounts (those provided by Providers). This type of usage is what I would want in any updated implementation in NT8.

Thanks.

[NinjaTrader_ChrisL]

Hi jeronymite, thanks for your reply.

I don't see this documented here:

https://ninjatrader.com/support/helpGuides/nt8/?connections_options.htm

Could you show me where you see this is documented in NinjaTrader 8?

[jeronymite]

No problem, Chris.

As mentioned below, Mode is documented here: https://ninjatrader.com/support/help...ectoptions.htm Hope that helps.

Thanks.

[NinjaTrader_ChrisL]

Hi jeronymite, thanks for sending that link. Sorry, I was looking in the wrong place for the documentation.

This property will be set to Simulation when the connection is a paper trading connection (like a demo NinjaTrader continuum feed).

Note that this property has nothing to do with the Account being used, only the connection.

Best regards.

[jeronymite]

Thanks, Chris. Yes, that's clear.

The equivalent functionality to the undocumented feature in NT7 is extremely desirable; namely, the designation of an Account as Demo, Live, Simulation or Testing. The latter category (Testing) is not as important as the three former ones. This really is essential functionality to be able to manage Accounts meaningfully in many circumstances.

Thanks.