NT8 became unusable in 2024! Too slow!

[Browniver]

As you can read in various trading forums and groups NT8 no longer works during these volatile times. The narrative out there is that NT8 has become unusable because the platform is too slow and can no longer keep up with the speed of the market. The lag is far too great to be able to trade seriously. You may still be able to trade asia session but many people stopped using NT8 completely. As soon as volume builts up NT8 starts to lag. Every day! Its a pitty because I like NT8! It seems like the problem has been known for a long time but has not been addressed by Ninjatrader.

A trading plattform that is lagging is dead. Please listen to your customers Ninjatrader and fix it!

No! Its not the 3party indicators! Its NT8!

[NinjaTrader_Erick]

Hello Browniver ,

Thank you for reaching out.

On way to confirm whether it is NT8 or the 3rd parties is to run a Safe Mode Test

With that being said, the market is seeing higher volatility in a way that has not been experienced in some time.
With this volume of data coming in, we are seeing that clients with more complex workspaces are experiencing lags, freezing, and performance issues in general.
In these times, we are seeing custom components that require a lot of tick based calcuations are having trouble rendering/dealing with the load which then causes overall platform issues.


Performance lag occurs in your charts when they try to print too much information at once and cannot keep up with the current price. This can become more prevalent in your charts during periods of high volatility and rapid market movement. You may also notice that your orders are filled immediately or rejected, as well as shipped at prices that are not close to the current market price. Often, this is due to third party add-ins that are not represented efficiently on your charts.


First, I recommend you review our Performance Tips, which outline all the best methods for reliable NinjaTrader performance on any computer.

Be sure to install all available updates for your PC from the Windows Settings > Update & Security page. Manually check for updates here, and restart your PC after installing any.

If you are using some third party add-ons; please note that we do not control how well they will perform and the more you ask NinjaTrader to load on your charts, the more it will put pressure on your PC which may result in freezing or laggy behavior. We cannot fix scripts imported from third parties.



* Some of the most common performance problems I have seen are related to having too many days loading on your charts; you can check the number of days to load with these steps:

- Right-click on a chart and select Data Series.

- In the "Time Frame" section reduce the number of days to load.

- Click OK to save changes and test.



** Another item that can overload your system is the method of calculating the indicators on your charts. Follow these steps to review/adjust the settings:

- Right-click on a chart and select Indicators.

- For each "configured" indicator in the lower left list, check the "Calculation" property on the right. Unless an indicator requires "On every tick", try changing to "On price change" or "On bar close", as these calculations consume fewer resources than "On every tick".

- Click OK to save the changes.


A test you can use to check the rendering delay is to open a SuperDOM window and compare that price to your chart prices. If the graphics prices update with a delay compared to the SuperDOM price, this is a telltale sign of rendering lag and indicates that you may need to lighten your workspace in order to adjust. We understand that this behavior can be frustrating, and is typically related to market movement and occurs at times of high volatility.


( You can also check which scripts are using the most resources by using the "NinjaScript Utilization Monitor".

Control Center > New > NinjaScript Output

Right-click inside the NinjaScript Output window > Select 'NinjaScript Utilization Monitor...'.

This window will begin to populate with NinjaScript items in order of processing time.

Let this window populate for at least a few minutes. You will then be able to see which NinjaScript, if any, is running at the top of the list and decide if you want to try to delete it).




* You can also clear old historical and cache data by doing the following:

- Shut down NinjaTrader 8

- Go to your computer's 'Documents/NinjaTrader 8/db' folder

- Delete the files inside the 'cache', 'day', 'minute', and 'tick' folders.

- Important: Do not remove any other files inside the NinjaTrader 8 Documents folder.

When you restart NinjaTrader 8, you may notice a slightly longer initial load time as all of your historical chart data is re-downloaded, but your overall performance should be better.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance or if you continue to experience this behavior.