The CQG fee for Ninja Trader is one of the most popular feeds available on the market for the ES and many other markets as well. Most Emini brokers and Ninja Trader brokers offer the CQG feed since it is supposed to be one of the most reliable feeds available.
Keyword, supposed to. With CQG’s recent problems we can’t refer to them as the most reliable in the industry.
The CQG feed has been showing signs of weakness, I cannot recall so many situations where other feeds have had so many issues like the CQG feed recently.
One of the things that day traders need above all things is a reliable Internet connection, after that it would be a reliable data feed in order to see the indicators and charts that allow us to base our decisions to enter or exit the market.
The CQG Feed Logo
There was one problem earlier this year that I remember and since the Ninja Trader market rollover in early September, I have counted two or three separate problems with the CQG feed. I wanted to share a backup plan for you to make sure that you are not being left in the darkness when you’re in a live position or if you are day trading and traveling like myself.
I have been aware of many situations, especially day trading and traveling around the world, that have left me without a Internet connection. The first thing that you should do if you ever lose your Internet is call your broker immediately, the second thing you should do is yell in very profane language.
Even though I plan on getting rid of Tradestation, it is a secondary feed source that allows me to see the market if and when I have problems with Ninja Trader feeds.
I exclusively support Ninja Trader for all of my training and support, one of the things I have noticed is that Ninja Trader is a lot more sensitive to Internet problems. This isn’t a problem for most people considering that most traders have a dedicated office with reliable Internet.
How often does Internet fail in first world countries like the United States, Australia or even Europe?
For people like myself, who lead a different life traveling around the world, Internet reliability isn’t always a luxury. Just think of what the Internet is like if you were trading from a ping-pong table supported by a refrigerator, see this picture of my trading office and Somaliland.
Using More Than One Feed
Even though I will be talking about all the available Ninja Trader data feeds and Emini broker feeds very soon, you should always have a different option. You will not be able to use two different feeds like CQG and Zen-Fire together if you are using the same broker.
Ninja Trader only allows you to use one feed at a time when a single broker license
The actual license from Ninja Trader has you choose what broker and what kind of feed you are going to be using. That means that once you choose a feed type, CQG or Zen-Fire for example, that you won’t be able to change that with a flip of a switch.
The only way that you would be able to use two different feeds is with a multi-broker license
Using More Than One Broker
If you are just getting started day trading I wouldn’t worry about opening an account with more than one brokerage firm. My recommended brokerage firms are Mirus futures and Advantage futures, with 10 year experience in the industry. I cannot in good conscience recommend that you open an account with Amp futures.
I would highly recommend you do not open an account with Amp futures.
Once you gain consistency in the markets and are making money on a regular basis, that is when you should consider opening an account with more than one brokerage. Once this is done, the possibility of trading with multiple feeds is possible with two different brokerage accounts.
With Ninja Trader, all you would have to do is log off from one brokerage firm and connect to the other and you would be able to connect to a different feed.
The Alternative
When it comes to the Internet cutting out it’s important to not be Penny wise and Dollar foolish. In other words, we shouldn’t worry about spending an extra $50 a month for a reliable feed just because it costs money.
What I would recommend is a backup data source for Ninja Trader called Kinetick. Kinetick is the Day Trading Academy’s preferred data vendor and not because I get a kickback.
In full disclosure, I do not get a kickback or any types of payment if you do sign up for Kinetick or Ninja Trader.
I support both simply because I find them to be the best in the industry. You can purchase a Kinetick feed for only $50 a month, just think about the piece of mind that you will have being able to connect and see the market action if you have or have a problem with one of your feeds.
The problem I found with this is that when you’re trading you have no idea that the feed isn’t working.
I think we were able to realize that it’s off when we saw that yours was different from ours.
So it’s difficult to know that it’s not working.
You should hear it when it goes out Marina… there is a voice that says feed disconnected or something along those lines. Otherwise you can look at the bottom of control panel and you’ll see how it will change from orange to red to green and show you whether you are connected or not. Everybody can tell whether you’re connected to the feed or not
Hi Marcello, hope all is going well.
I would appreciate if can you provide more information regarding your advice to avoid opening an account with AMP Futures. Any information that you can share will be of great help.
Do you also have any tax related info or advice for Canadians? I remember reading a post for US residents but so far I cannot find any information applicable to Canadian traders.
I was ready to submit my application today and glad that I read your post before clicking the submit button.
Ed
Ed.. I actually would not recommend you open an account with Amp futures as I mentioned in the article. I would recommend that you open an account with Mirus Futures or Advantage Futures Ed. I will have more information in relation to taxes for Australians, Canadians, and US citizens shortly. I may also put together information for England nationals as those are the majority of day traders reside.
oh, so the color will change. I never look at the control panel, but will keep my eye on it from now on.
I’ll be honest with you, I don’t get any sound at all. Even when I get in and out of the trade, it doesn’t give me dictation anymore as it did before. Is this part of it?
You shouldn’t have to Marina, you should hear it. If you haven’t heard it then you probably haven’t had an issue with your internet.
marcello,
If you pay for Kinetic, why use it as a backup. Is it inferior to CQG? The way I see it, if you think its the best in the industry and are paying 50 bucks a month for it, why in the hell would we save it for a backup plan.
James
James.. Kinetick I would say is superior based on the issues that CQG is having. The reason why you use Zen-fire or CQG is because it comes bundled with a package with your broker. Kinetick is actually optimized for NT7 is one of the best feeds out there on the market. I would say that Kinetick is better than CQG at this point based on the connectivity issues of of CQG.
I don’t understand the bundle thing. Can you use Kinetic with Mirius? Or do you have to use CQG because its the only one Mirius allows you to use? I ask because if Kinetic is optimized for NT7 and it’s the best out there, then 50 dollars a month is nothing. I would much rather use something that is the best, full time, even if it comes at a cost.
Kinetick is a stand alone data feed James which means that it doesn’t come with any brokers, you get the Kinetick feed outside of your broker. Doesn’t matter what broker you are using you can get Kinetick with any broker. Mirus uses Zen-Fire not Kinetick, I have all my traders on Mirus now and there hasn’t been any issues with the Zen-Fire feed when all of these issues happened with CQG. Kinetick is one of the best, not the best. I think there is too much competition out there to label one feed as the best.
why is AMP a problem?
Peter that is a story for another day.. plan on sharing it soon. You can shoot us an email at support (at) daytradingacademy.com if you want more information for now Peter.
I have used AMP, Mirus, and Advantage Futures in my over 10 years trading futures and found them all about the same with no serious issues (trading within a fund and my own accts).
I still to this day stick with Zenfire feed for all my live acct trading – I never made the switch to CGQ. Why you may ask? Because I already have rock solid reliability with Zenfire…that feed just ROCKS!
For those with questions about Kinetick – that is NOT an order routing feed so you can only use it to power your charts (for a back up roll as mentioned above). To ROUTE ORDERS you need a broker supplied feed (Zenfire, TT-Fix, CQG, etc). Kinetick feed is “re-branded” DTN.IQ feed targeted to the NT7 users, so it is designed to feed data to charting and never used for order routing. Hope that clears up the feed questions!
Here is another broker you may want to check out if you are searching for a broker with an excellent reputation – DeepDiscountTrading.com (heck, even the grumpy traders at EliteTrader.com like them. LOL)
Cheers!
Coggy
Thanks for the note Chris appreciate it