NT8 - 2 data connections, how does this work?

[deetee]

Hi,
I have a Single Broker license connected to Interactive brokers.
To feed NT8, can I use Kinetic or IQfeed only for historical data, and then IB for live/real-time data?
How are the experiences with a combination like this or similar?

I see the fee for CME mini's is USD 66 p/mnth (and I'm trying to avoid paying for it), how does this compare to the much cheaper data I'm getting from IB?

Thanks
Dennis

[NinjaTrader_Zachary]

Hello Dennis,

Thanks for your post.

It is absolutely possible to configure NinjaTrader to pull historical data from IQFeed or Kinetick and real-time data from Interactive Brokers. You'd do this by configuring your preferred connections for both real-time and historical data. Preferred connections can be set at Control Center > Tools > Options > Market data.I have provided a link to this section of our help guide below;

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

As far as how the data compares, the only thing that I would like to mention is that Interactive Brokers historical data can be very limiting when compared to a specialized data provider such as Kinetick or IQFeed. Interactive Brokers has publicly available documentation of these limitations and is very clear that they are not possible to overcome.

[jmorganfly]

Hi
My broker is Interactive Brokers. I am just about to purchase a lifetime license for NT8. I am paying for live data feeds through IB but the data is pretty bad so i would like to purchase data through Kinetic for real time and historical. If i do this, can I cancel my real time data with IB and just use Kinetic or do i still need data through IB to place trades/orders?

[bltdavid]

I don't use IB so I don't know for sure. You should ask IB directly about
cancelling your real time data and how that would affect placing orders
in your IB account.

[EDIT: I presume the real question is about saving money by cancelling
the IB data feed portion -- ie, your question is: can this be done? The
'saving money' question you really need to inquire with IB directly.]

But, absolutely, I think what you suggest should work just fine.

Let me explain what I do know.

When NinjaTrader makes a successful connection, that Connection may
offer one feed or two feeds -- these feeds are kept very separate -- let's
call them the 'data feed' and the 'order feed'.

The 'data feed' is usually a real-time data feed, but doesn't have to be.
Witness the standard Connection 'Kinetic - End Of Day (free)' -- its data
feed consists of historical data only -- and it doesn't include Tick or Minute
data at all, just Day data. This Connection has no order feed.

The 'order feed' is only provided if the Connection supports an account.
That is, the 'order feed' represents some kind of broker specific technology
that is ready to accept orders and provide updates to those orders, all
owned by your account, to and from one or more exchanges.

The point is, a 'Connection' in NinjaTrader may support either of these feeds,
or both of them. NinjaTrader has a very flexible model and allows you to get
your 'data feed' from any of your Connections that offer one.

That's why someone with Rithmic or Continuum (both of which support a
data feed and an order feed) can subscribe to Kinetic or IQFeed and use
that data feed instead.

On the NinjaTrader side of the equation, what you're wanting to do should
work perfectly fine. You pay a subscription to Kinetic or IQFeed (these are
data feed only companies, their data is not free) and setup a Connection
using the credentials provided. This Connection will have no order feed.

But your Connection to IB should still contain an order feed that allows you
to place orders in your IB account. You still need this order feed.

My point is: whether the IB connection offers a data feed and an order feed
doesn't matter because you can always ignore their data feed and replace it
with something else. What does matter (and I think is what you're asking) is
can you turn off the data feed portion of the IB connection (and save some
money) and still use the order feed portion -- the answer is yes, but only if
IB allows it.

What I mean is, consider that Rithmic and Continuum come with both a data
feed and an order feed -- but these Connections do not allow the data feed
portion to be turned off. That is, these companies don't offer a mechanism
to disable the data feed in order to reduce the fees you pay them (if any).
Think of it like this: If you don't want Rithmic data, fine, you can use Kinetic
or IQfeed, or whatever. But that doesn't turn off the Rithmic data feed, it
just causes NinjaTrader to ignore it.

Full circle back to IB -- you need to ask them can you disable their data
feed without impacting your abilities to place orders to your account via
NinjaTrader (I'm almost positive the answer is yes-- but you should check
with them anyways) and, most importantly, can you save money by doing
this.

If IB allows this, the money you save can be used towards a Kinetic data feed
subscription. Like I said, just make sure IB lets you 'cancel the data feed portion',
because Rithmic and Continuum aren't quite structured that way (recall Rithmic
and Continuum are not brokers, they are broker technology companies). The
point is: you need to ask IB directly, since obviously they are a broker, but they
have their own broker technology, so one would think IB is well structured and
can separate the two feeds quite easily.

And finally, after you cancel your IB data feed and setup your Kinetic real-time
data feed subscription, then configure a brand new real time Kinetic Connection
in NinjaTrader using your Kinetic supplied credentials -- then, yes, absolutely, the
NinjaTrader platform will have zero issues using your IB Connection order feed
with your Kinetic Connection real-time data feed.

That is, inside the NinjaTrader software, you will initiate a connection to two
separate Connections -- your IB Connection and your Kinetic Connection --
the first provides the order feed, the latter provides the data feed. The order
of connections shouldn't matter, and neither should the 'Preferred connections'
at 'Tools->Options->Market data' -- since if you cancel the IB data feed the
only remaining data feed will be your new Kinetic data feed.

Make sense?

[jmorganfly]

Hi

Thanks for that reply. That was awesome and exactly what i needed to know.
I really appreciate the time and effort you made.

Thanks

[bltdavid]

You're welcome!



It sounds like you've determined that IB real-time data is crap^H^H^H^H insufficient
for your needs.

I'd recommend you go ahead and subscribe to a Kinetic data feed subscription.

Do that now.
Then configure NinjaTrader 8 to use this new Connection.

Only after this new Connection is working do you cancel your IB data feed.

Why?

Because regardless of what IB says about letting you save money by disabling
the IB data feed, you need the Kinetic data feed anyways, right? So, just do it,
I mean, go ahead, just get 'er done. ASAP. Muy pronto. Schnell! Schnell!

Many people on this forum use IB+Kinetic (or IB+DTN/IQFeed), so it should
work great.

My advice is:
If you cannot save money by cancelling your real-time IB data feed, just
accept it as a 'no big deal' situation. Why? Because you can completely
replace the IB data feed, and in the scheme of life, that's truly the real goal
you're trying to achieve, right?

And oh, btw, welcome to the Forums!



PS: Well, rats, I think it's officially spelled Kinetick -- with two k's. My bad.