Scott’s List · platform and broker review
The short version. The veteran desktop futures platform, free for charting and simulation forever, with a monthly or lifetime licence that unlocks the lowest commissions and the Order Flow+ tools. The SuperDOM is still the best one-click ladder in the business.
Evidence level: In my stack, used daily.
Jump to: My notes · The verdict
What it is
NinjaTrader is both a broker and a platform. The platform is free indefinitely for charting, backtesting, and simulated trading, no funding required, and becomes a live trading platform when you fund an account or connect a prop-firm account. The lifetime licence buys the lowest per-side commissions for the life of the account plus the Order Flow+ package. The company was acquired by Kraken, which has not changed the desktop experience so far.
The facts at a glance
- Free, monthly, or one-time lifetime licence; the lifetime licence carries the lowest commissions and includes Order Flow+ and future platform upgrades.
- Charting, strategy backtesting, and unlimited simulated trading are free with no time limit.
- SuperDOM for one-click ladder trading, with ATM strategies that attach stops and targets automatically.
- Supported by most futures prop firms as an execution platform.
- Windows desktop platform; not cloud-based.
Figures are as published at the time of writing and change without notice. Read the current terms on the company’s own site before you pay for anything.
How it fits the VWAP Wave System
ATM strategies are the reason a discretionary trader should learn NinjaTrader: you define your stop, targets, and scale-out once, and every fill inherits them. That is the plan enforcing itself. The SuperDOM is where I watch absorption and traps at VWAP when I’m not on Bookmap. If you like a desktop platform that does everything in one window, this is it; if you want to trade from a phone, it isn’t.
Scott’s notes
In my stack, daily, alongside Tradovate. My notes on the ATM templates I use for each of the four setups, and whether the lifetime licence was worth it for me, are coming here.
Verdict
Free to learn, which means there’s no excuse not to. Build your ATM strategies to match your trading plan before you trade live, and the platform will hold you to the plan when you don’t want to.
Disclosure. VWAP.biz is an independent site written by Scott West, a paying member of Drysdale Trading Group. The VWAP Wave System™ is Chris Drysdale’s work, and this site is not affiliated with or endorsed by him. Links to his book, toolkit, and community are affiliate links: if you buy through them I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Nothing here is financial advice, and trading futures carries a risk of loss. Full disclosure · Risk disclaimer
Ready for the system itself, not just my lessons on it?
I explain the VWAP Wave System from a student’s chair. Chris Drysdale teaches it. Start with his free Core Setup Guide, read the book, or take seven days inside Drysdale Trading Group and watch it traded live.