Least Cost Futures Trading with NinjaTrader

Hi,
where do I find the least costs futures trading with NinjaTrader ?
The strategy I'm working on, requires to buy / sell often, so I need to find the least costs solution.
What alternatives can I use / which routes can I take ?

Regards,
Frank

 

You need to trade SIZE. Get a seat at the exchange and be self clearing

 

Thx for reply. On research about a seat at the exchange I ended up at NYSE site ... but there it seems to be for elaborate traders and high cost license only ... me just starting with automated strategies and about to start real trading with it as soon as I understand and install least cost trading

 

here you see all commissions. If you really trade size you will get a discount. Call or email ninja brokerage.

 

thx for the list. Yes I saw the Ninja contract details before ... which lead me to see if I find better conditions than those. Rt now not sure if must use their platform for actual trading or if I can use my strategy with Ninja automization to trade over another institute with less costs.
Is that possible ?

 

You have to trade from NT7 or NT8, as their DOM is connected to them. If you trade you receive your datafeed for free. So compare that too.
You cannot trade without using NT7 or NT8. But these programs are also for free.
So basically besides of the commissions and the fees from the exchange, everything else is free.

 

There's basically 2 costs when it comes to commission.

1. Cost passed down from Exchange
2. Order routing fee
3. Commission from the broker

Your total commission per trade is the sum of these 3, multiplied by 2 for entry and exit.

For example with NinjaTrader, see this pdf where the 3 costs are brokendown: https://ninjatrader.com/PDF/ninjatrader_futures_commissions.pdf



For example, if you're scalping the ES and have a lifetime license key for NinjaTrader, then your total commission per scalp is $3.98 per contract.

To lower this cost, these are several things you can do:

1. Buy a monthly membership to the exchange to lower the Exchange fee. Cost is about $200-300 per month and there's also a $2000 one-time application fee. Scroll down to IOM Division. IOM seat is what you need for day trading ES online. https://www.cmegroup.com/company/membership/membership-and-lease-pricing.html
2. To lower commissions with NinjaTrader, you can email commissions@ninjatrader.com and commit to 2,000 round trip trades per month. This will lower the NinjaTrader commission from $0.59 per side down to $0.29

Like others have posted, in order to save money per trade, you need to trade more contracts per month. The breakeven point should be easy to calculate.


Lastly, you can also save money per trade by optimizing your fills and reducing slippage using a VPS located near the exchange. Let me know and I can help you with a test server. Will also help if you're ever in a trade and lose internet connection at home, your trades on the server will still be going.

 

Thank you for the detailed info. My range is not for an IOM seat, but a lifetime Ninja license seems reasonable for my size.

Has there ever been serious commission free trading around ? Or are these offers basically always re-tagged cost-models ?

 

There's no commission free futures trading. Sometimes there are offers from brokers to give you some free trades in the beginning when opening a new account... but that's about it. Even commission free equity brokers like TD Ameritrade, Fidelity, etc. still charge commission on futures trades.

The lifetime NinjaTrader license is really great if know you are going to be using NinjaTrader for a long time, and especially if you use it as your primary tool for earning income. In addition to the lower commission per trade, the lifetime key also gives you access to Order Flow suite of indicators.
https://ninjatrader.com/Order-Flow-Trading