The broker Velocity Futures provides X-Trader7 TT with a FESX round trip all in commission of EUR 2.46 for small traders doing 0-2499 contracts/month (they provide X-Trader for free, i.e. I don't pay the USD 500 monthly fee to TT but my broker charges me an additional USD 1.00 for each round trip, i.e. I pay EUR 2.46 round trip with free X-Trader, whereas I would pay EUR 1.46 only if I was paying the USD 500 monthly fee to TT). Since I am a small trader doing 0-100 contracts per month, I use X-Trader for free and pay EUR 2.46 round trip. I really like X-Trader and feel comfortable with it, I like the speed, the DOM, and the times and sales (tape) provided by X-Trader. However I am considering switching to Ninja Zen-Fire as Velocity charges EUR 1.76 (instead of EUR 2.46 for X-Trader). If I was doing the switch, I would pay for the lifetime Ninja licence that costs around USD 995, rather than leasing the platform and pay USD 50 monthly to Ninja. If I was using Ninja, I would save EUR 0.70 per round-trip, i.e around USD 1.00 per round-trip so It would take me 995 round trips to break even the Ninja lifetime licence against X-Trader commission structure. If I do 40 round trips per month on average, it would take me just over 2 years to break even the Ninja lifetime fee against X Trader commission structure and since I am young and expect to trade for many years to come, the Ninja alternative seems to make sense from a commission perspective. However, I'd like to ask you how Ninja compares against X-Trader in terms of performance. I did a Ninja demo but since it wasn't the live version of Ninja, it's hard to compare against X-Trader. From what I know, the skilled and professional traders in prop shops use X-Trader and it is considered as the Rolls of the trading platforms. I don't know any pro who uses Ninja. When I say pro, I am talking about the sucessful and experienced traders who use 50+ cars per clip and do over 20,000 round trips /month so I can't compare with my volume and it make things difficult to compare platforms at a retail level. Especially as traders doing 20,000+ RT per month get better commission rates with X-Trader than Ninja. That is the opposite is terms of commissions for small traders. So my question is: is Ninja as good as X-Trader, can we compare them for scalping? Is Ninja's DOM as quick and detailed as X-Trader (so can you see the order flow and read the level2 exactly the same on both platforms, i.e. same volume hitting bids and asks)? Has Ninja a Times and Sales functionnality and if it does, does it has the same level of details as X Trader, i.e. not only showing the volume per price but also showing if the volume was done on the bid or on the ask)? I really like X-Trader times and sales as it shows a detailed view of the volumes hitting bids and offers. If I was to switch to Ninja, I would need Ninja to be as performant as X-Trader in the areas described above. I am waiting for your comments and advices. Thanks
Start with Ninja, with a month-to-month license for a few months, then get the lifetime license when you absolutely know you feel comfortable with it. When your monthly volume is consistent and sufficient, then you can upgrade to the X-Trader for what you trade most often and use the Ninja for the other exchanges/markets. You need to learn how to "walk" before you can learn how to "run".
I understand NinjaTrader demo has the same exact functionality as the paid version (bar trade execution). You can connect it to the datafeed you have and wantch times-and-sales and DOM on Ninja and X-Trader side-by-side to see for yourself if it is as good. Note Ninja has "static" DOM (the same as TT) and "dynamic" DOM. Velocity will charge you extra for every trade executed via "static" DOM in Ninja and pay the patent fees to Trading Technologies (the maker of X-Trader).
Follow nazzdack suggestion and also be careful that TT Fix needed to feed Ninjatrader with VF, could not be as fast/efficient as NT with a Zenfire feed. So all in all, the fair comparison about 'pure speed' performance is NT/Zen vs. X_Trader.