I have to admit, I soured on NT when it took them over a year to establish a Schwab connection via API. The beta connection should have never have been released, as it led to more user frustration with bugs and lag, that we all experienced.
The good that came out of that was that I was forced to become familiar with the ThinkOrSwim platform so I could trade with Schwab again (without being concerned about the Schwab web option). With ToS, I was able to write my own thinkscript to do day trading tasks such as detect spread percentages, vol surges and automatically set plot lines for key levels on all my 2 min. charts. With only a basic level of python under my belt, I used an AI to construct these proprietary scripts. Could I have done that easily with NT? Heck no.
The new NT needs to become more script friendly for noobs and have basic features that other platforms have, like 1 step alert setting and price level plotting. Also advanced strategies and order placement need to be modernized to at least bring it up to a level that ToS already has and had for years. Also, drag and drop out of the market watch window to other windows and dock-able windows would be appreciated. Pull down menus are a thing of the past with platforms of late. Tabs are definitely easier on the eyes and provide better access to features.
As far as core performance of the platform- there has to be less lag thru the API and how data is captured. I could run ToS and NT side by side and the vol bars in NT would be half full on the 1 min. chart compared to what ToS was showing. Thatâs just unacceptable for day trading and trying to catch reversals based on vol.
I really hated to ditch the NT platform considering the $ I spent for the lifetime license but frankly, itâs just become obsolete and Iâm not really interested in the old clunker anymore. What do you guys think?
Now that Kraken bought NinjaTrader, itâs the beginning of the end.
Not familiar with Kraken and have a âletâs wait and seeâ attitude towards them. I do know that the former message board used by the company, and their policy of using user posts to troubleshoot their software problems wasnât the right way to go about creating trusted and bug free software, so Kraken is already off to a good start by changing up the message board. Now they need to go the extra mile and bring the software up to date. I used to hate the thinkorswim platform because of itâs vast sea of options. Now itâs my go to platform despite me being a NT lifetime license holder. I donât have to be concerned with API connection lag problems or reliability issues. Iâm trading directly with the brokerâs own platform. NT was great for paper trading but now is an untrustworthy 3rd party novelty, whereas I canât really be confident in my day trade feed, speed or executions. NT didnât really care about fixing the Schwab API for over a year because they are in the business of selling to the sheep and they outweigh the 10% of us traders who are actually profitable, so no rush to accommodate the lifetime users. Then they keep the same programmers like Chelsea who are lost in the modern software programming world. A recipe for disaster.
I have a big list. The most annoying things for me are centered around drawings, window management and selecting things and moving things. Also, dealing with indicators is clunky.
- Undo Function: Please add the ability to (at the very least, undo moving/deleting/adjusting drawings on the chart.
- Multiple Select Objects. Impossible to move multiple items at once, have to do it 1 by 1.
- Hide All Indicators option. Hard to believe there isnât one.
- Hide individual indicators easily. Current right have to right click > indicators > find indicator > click > scroll down > uncheck visible > click apply. This is really bad design for a task that should be so simple.
- Better window and tab management. Hard to align windows on your desktop without some special 3rd party tool.
- The fact you cannot have more than 1 chart in 1 window/tab is a crime. Means you have to mess around with .5
- Linking time window on chart (not just cursor position)
- Improved risk to reward tool that lets you draw out the risk/reward ratio, currently you have to type the ratio and thatâs it.
- Show currency/profit on SL/TP brackets orders on screen.
- Rectangle tool has no control over horizontal or vertical axis, only corners can be dragged.
- Holding shift while moving objects should keep them on a straight path
- Thereâs no clock on the application. I have to add seconds to the windows clock.
- Automatic folder for screenshots
- Ability to preview sound in prefs when you select them.
- The parameter grids lack basic options such as descriptions, radio boxes, drop down menus and divider lines. Only basic options are provided unless you mess around with the type convertor. Many indicators option screens look a total mess because of this.
- Ability to set the z index of objects, I know you can do it with the mouse wheel but itâs not ideal
- Ability to see what indicator in printing to the output window
- Search function inside the script editor (not find and replace)
- Middle mouse button for mini-databox needs to be shortcut assignable.
- Exportable indicator templates
- Displays the dates consistently on the timescale. Sometimes you cannot see which day you are looking at.
- Turn ALL sounds on/off options. Rather than unlink each file.
- Trading hours template only goes back to 2015, it would be quite simple to add more years.
- Ability to export historical market data in bulk/continuous contract. Currently it seems you can only export per contract(3 months)
- Ability to load more than 1 market replay day at once. Currently have to do 1 at a time.
- When you click through the market replay selection screen, it doesnât take you to the date you selected. Then you have to select the start date (wait for it to load) and then select the end date and wait again.
- Improved market replay performance, moving playhead is very slow.
- When you click the text tool and type, you type on the chart but you cannot edit the same text on the chart again. It opens the dialog box.
- The trend channel tool has controls on each corner that all do different things but looks all the same. Unless you remember which way you dragged out the trendline you do not know which corner performs which task.
- Faster start up time
- Faster loading of data. Compared to TV, NT is extremely slow in both regards.
Itâs easy to write ninjascript/SharpDX for NT. I wrote over 200 indicators, strategies, chartstyles, bartypes with the help of AI and old NT forum. Each of my charts has over 10 indicators and looks like a Christmas tree. LOL
As to the features, I would like
build in version management for templates, workspaces, and indicators
easy way to copy/paste multiple compile errors
search fields in choosers
ability to adjust volume of alerts, confirmations, etc
ability to drag the chart in any direction with LMB, zoom with scroll wheel
Great suggestions. These features should have been implemented ages ago. Their old forum âfeature requestsâ were a joke. They wouldnât even implement filling of 1 min. vol bars in real time, when i suggested it and blamed the API (which may have been true but not a problem when using ToS platform).
Hey Bill. I donât even know much programming and used an AI to program real time vol indicators (instead of industry standard lagging indicators) for ToS, such as too large of a spread indicators that turn red when the spread is too large for momentum day trading, A candle size price indicator label to show the range of any time periodâs candle, a label for pre market vol that changes to regular hours trading vol once the bell hits at 9:30 and a vol surge indicator to show panic selling. All these things I would have no clue on how to implement in NT. These indicators Iâve developed are essential for momentum day trading for low float momo stocks and are part of my trading edge. Iâve looked into attempting my own NT indicators to do these things and had no clue on where to begin because the convoluted way you have to get into the indicators section to begin with.
The dream list that will never see the light of day. Maybe they will put in your votes for a feature that someone else will also comment about 10 years from now. 
I have done some of indicators you mention in ninjascript. Search for PO3 in the old forum - I think itâs similar to one of them. Ninjatrader ecosystem has many kinds of indicator scripts that you can use as a basis. In fact AI works best if you ask it to modify existing code instead of making one from scratch (although this has improved lately).
My workflow is very simple (and probably could be much improved switching to Visual Studio Code, Cursor, Aider, etc):
1 in the script editor: right click on indicator folder, create a new indicator, click next, give it a name, click generate
2 paste AI generated code, make sure that name matches
3 compile
If there are multiple compile errors: export errors to a text file. open the file and copy/paste to AI. To improve AI output, feed it relevant NT docs and related indicators.
Now that theyâve given up providing technical support in the forum, does anyone honestly think that theyâre going to start addressing feature requests, something which theyâve never done over all the years Iâve had my lifetime license?
It looks like theyâre just going to milk this old gray mare until she breaks down. At least throw us a bone and finally get alerts to get copied through chart templates.
I only have 1 request⌠be able to move chart tab from one window to another.