Follow these steps to connect to your Topstep NinjaTrader Trading Combine!
As stated in your 'Topstep Account Credentials' email, you must use your personal NinjaTrader account username + password to login to the NinjaTrader platform.
The username and password provided in your 'Topstep Account Credentials' email will be used to complete your Rithmic connection within NinjaTrader, and to connect to R|Trader Pro.
If you don't already have a NinjaTrader account, you'll need to visit NinjaTrader's registration page and create a personal NinjaTrader Account. It's free to register, and you do NOT need set up a brokerage account or deposit money with NinjaTrader. We'll guide you through how to do this in Step 3.
1. Read this before getting started
The login credentials that Topstep provides in your 'Topstep Account Credentials' email are for Rithmic (R|TraderPro) only and will not work for logging into NinjaTrader. This is mentioned in your 'Topstep Account Credentials' email as shown here:
The NinjaTrader connection process begins with successfully installing and connecting to R|Trader Pro. You must download this version of R|Trader Pro and follow each instruction to connect to your Trading Combine successfully.
You must always log in correctly to R|Trader Pro before logging in to NinjaTrader, or you will be unable to trade on NinjaTrader.
When trading in NinjaTrader, you will ALWAYS monitor your NET P&L in R|Trader rather than NinjaTrader. This is because R|Trader automatically calculates commissions and fees, while NinjaTrader does not display your Net P&L accurately in real time. Topstep Trade Reports are calculated using the data from R|Trader.
During installation, you may receive a pop-up to install .Net Framework. Please allow access to this installation for your platform to install properly. .Net Framework installations should be available in your Windows Updates or by conducting a web search for the specific .Net Framework the platform is requesting to be installed. If your computer is up to date, your platform should install without this pop-up message.
Trades placed in SIM101 will NOT be sent to us. To avoid losing progress, be sure to trade under the Topstep account name found in your Dashboard -- not the SIM101 account.
2. Connect to R|Trader Pro
Download RTrader Pro from the following link: R|Trader Pro (Version 17.1.0.0 or above)
Launch RTrader and enter the credentials found in your email with the subject line 'Topstep Account Credentials' or 'Account Credentials and Billing Information'. Your personal NinjaTrader account username and password will not be entered on the R|TraderPro Login screen. Your R|Trader Pro User ID is all lowercase, and the Password is six characters, all uppercase beginning with 'TST___'.
Select TopstepTrader as the System & Chicago Area as the Gateway as shown in the two screenshots below. You must do this twice, on both the top and bottom menu options. Both System and Gateway Fields must show 'TopstepTrader' & 'Chicago Area' for your connection to be successful.
Make sure Orders is [ON] (if not, click to switch it on)
Make sure Market Data is [ON] (if not, click to switch it on)
Click Allow Plug-ins so it's switched to [ON]
If these 3 settings are not correct, your platform connection will fail. Be sure to double-check that your market data, allow plug-ins, and orders are all switched to ON.
4. Take a moment to make sure your login screen matches the screenshot below. Remember, you must use the credentials provided to you in your 'Topstep Account Credentials' email for this login screen. All lowercase for the User ID, and your Password will start with "TST_ _ _"
5. Check the following to confirm your setup is correct:
✅Rithmic User ID & Password are entered correctly twice
✅System set to TopstepTrader twice
✅Gateway set to ChicagoArea twice
✅Market Data is [ON]
✅Allow Plugins is [ON]
Once you've confirmed your setup is correct, close down any open NinjaTrader sessions you have before clicking 'Login'. R|Trader Pro must be set up correctly BEFORE NinjaTrader is open, so make sure to start R|Trader first and have it running for NinjaTrader to be able to connect.
*If you receive a 'Login Failed. Please contact Administrator' error message, this could mean that your User ID or Password is incorrect. Search "Topstep Account Credentials" in your email to locate the correct credentials for this step. If you confirm that the credentials are correct yet still receive this error message, please check here: Why can't I log in?
3. Create a personal NinjaTrader Account
If you don't already have a NinjaTrader account, you'll need to visit NinjaTrader's registration page and create a personal NinjaTrader Account. Make sure to type your email address manually, and DO NOT sign up using the Google or Apple path since it may cause your account setup to fail.
It's free to register using the link above, and you do NOT need set up a brokerage account or deposit money with NinjaTrader.
After verifying your NinjaTrader Account via email, create your personal username and password. **If you receive an error message saying the username is already registered, you must select a new username different from your Tradovate username.
4. Install the NinjaTrader desktop app
Now it's time to make sure you've installed NinjaTrader's desktop app (and if you already have it, that you're using the latest version). Until this point, the setup has been on the NinjaTrader website, but from this point on, all of your trading will be done on the NinjaTrader desktop app.
1) On the bottom of the left sidebar of your NinjaTrader.com profile, click “Download” in the “Download our award-winning desktop platform for free” popup.
2) If you do not have NinjaTrader downloaded to your device, click “Download”.
3) If you do have NinjaTrader downloaded to your device, check the latest release version number below the “Download” button.
4) Open and log in to your NinjaTrader Desktop. From the Control Center in NinjaTrader Desktop, select "Help" > "About..." and locate the Version number similar to the example below.
5. Enable Multi-Provider Mode in NinjaTrader
After NinjaTrader is installed, open the platform and log in to your NinjaTrader Account. The following steps to enable Multi-Provider Mode are required to successfully set up the connection in NinjaTrader.
Go to Tools > Options (screenshot below)
Under General > Preferences check 'Multi-Provider'
Click 'Apply'
Click 'OK'
You will need to close and restart your NinjaTrader platform for this change to take effect.
6. Add the Topstep-Rithmic connection in NinjaTrader
Click 'Connections' (above screenshot)
Click 'Configure'
Click 'Rithmic for NinjaTrader Brokerage'
Click 'Add'
Make sure to fill in the fields on the right-hand side with the following information:
Connection Name -- change to 'Topstep'
Check 'Connect on Start-Up'
The Username and Password you'll use here are the same ones you used to log in to R|Trader Pro
System: TopstepTrader
Check Plug-in mode for market data
Click Apply
Click OK
Close Account Connection Set Up window
7. Reload NinjaTrader to begin trading!
Make sure you're successfully connected to R|Trader Pro.
If you selected "Connect on Start Up" you should be able to connect automatically. If not, you can go to the NinjaTrader Control Center, click Connections and click Topstep.
You should see a green circle on the NinjaTrader Control Panel, indicating a successful connection. If you see a yellow circle, log out of both platforms and ensure
Allow Pluginsis [ON] in R|Trader Pro. Then, restart both applications.
Additional NinjaTrader Resources
How to: batch roll contracts in NinjaTrader 8
NinjaTrader allows batch rollover of the contract expiry of all instruments across all instrument lists and windows on all open workspaces. To perform this batch rollover please see the steps below.
Select the Tools menu within the Control Center followed by the Database menu item.
The grid for the Rollover futures instruments section will show each instrument that is eligible to be rolled over. A contract is eligible to be rolled when today's date is greater than or equal to the rollover date defined for the instrument's next contract month.
When selecting Rollover, any instrument with a checkmark in the Update column will be updated to the contract month in the New Expiry column.
Rolling over futures instruments will update the expiry of the instruments across all instrument lists and windows using the instruments on all open workspaces. These changes on workspaces will need to be saved should you wish to preserve them. If there are areas you still wish to use the old expiry with please be sure to switch them back to the old expiry or do not roll over at this time.
NinjaScript strategies are not rolled forward and must be manually rolled over.