Rithmic vs Tradovate vs CQG: Which Track Is Your Account On?

NinjaTrader recognises exactly two connection technologies for prop-firm accounts: Rithmic and Tradovate — the track some firms label CQG. A Tradovate-track account signs in with the credentials your firm already issued, because Tradovate is NinjaTrader now. What a Rithmic-track account can do varies by firm, and that is where the confusion lives.

Firms sell more tracks than that — Tradeify alone sells three — but only these two reach NinjaTrader, and the question “does this prop firm work with NinjaTrader?” has no firm-level answer. The same firm can sell you an account that works out of the box and an account that does not.

The two tracks NinjaTrader recognises

NinjaTrader’s own prop-firm connection guide names both in one sentence: the Desktop app “is compatible with several prop firm/evaluation services using either Rithmic or Tradovate connection technologies.” Your account is on one of them.

Track	What your firm issues you	NinjaTrader access
Tradovate (sometimes labelled CQG)	Tradovate credentials	Native — same credentials, same company
Rithmic	Rithmic credentials, which some firms derive from your dashboard login	Depends on the firm

Why a Tradovate account is already a NinjaTrader account

Because they are the same company, and by now the same legal entity. NinjaTrader Group acquired Tradovate Holdings in January 2022, and on November 30, 2024 Tradovate, LLC was merged into NinjaTrader Clearing, LLC — the futures commission merchant that today trades under the NinjaTrader and Tradovate names alike.

That is why a Tradovate-track prop account logs straight into NinjaTrader with the prop firm’s own username and password. There is nothing to bridge.

Where CQG fits, and where it does not

CQG is a real futures technology company with no corporate connection to NinjaTrader — market data, order routing, and its own platforms — and Broadridge Financial Solutions announced it had completed its acquisition of CQG on May 1, 2026. NinjaTrader offers no CQG connection at all: its current connection-guide index lists Rithmic, Tradovate and a dozen other providers, and no CQG among them.

So why does “CQG” keep appearing on prop-firm menus? Because some firms use it as the label for their Tradovate-side bucket. Take Profit Trader’s platform table is the clearest published example, sorting every platform into a “Data Feed” column with two values — TradingView, NinjaTrader and Tradovate under CQG; Bookmap, MultiCharts, MotiveWave, Trade Navigator, R|Trader, VolFix, ATAS, Investor R/T, Quantower, Finamark and Jigsaw Trader under Rithmic.

And when you activate that account, the firm’s own instructions say: “Click on your CQG account to find the Tradovate credentials.” The label says CQG; the credentials are Tradovate.

The practical rule: judge the track by the credentials you are issued, not by the word on the menu. Only Take Profit Trader’s label was verified here, so do not assume every firm’s CQG bucket behaves identically — check what actually lands in your dashboard.

How to tell which track you bought

One tempting shortcut does not work: “dashboard login means Tradovate, a separate login means Rithmic.” TradeDay disproves it — its Rithmic platforms take your ordinary TradeDay username and password, just with a TD_ prefix on the username.

What works is checking what the firm sold you at checkout and what it issued you afterwards. Three shapes cover most cases:

Firm	What it sells	Where its own NinjaTrader route runs
TradeDay — sells both	Checkout radio offers “Tradovate Ninjatrader” or “Rithmic”	Tradovate. NinjaTrader is absent from its 13-platform Rithmic list, and the firm files it under “CQG Platforms”
Take Profit Trader — sells both, documents NinjaTrader on both	Buckets labelled “CQG” and “Rithmic”	Both. The CQG bucket issues Tradovate credentials, and TPT also publishes a Rithmic-to-NinjaTrader walkthrough — one Rithmic login at a time
DayTraders.com — Rithmic only	Its help centre lists “Rithmic Account” as the account type offered	No native route. The firm states “we currently DO NOT support Ninja Trader on any of our accounts”

Take Profit Trader is the useful exception. Its menu files NinjaTrader under CQG, yet it also documents a native Rithmic connection — which is exactly why this is an account-level question and not a firm-level one. Two other firms show the pattern moving: Tradeify sells three brokers picked at checkout and answers “Can I use NinjaTrader with a Rithmic account?” with “No. NinjaTrader connects through Tradovate only”; Earn2Trade moved NinjaTrader onto the Tradovate API and terminated its legacy NinjaTrader–Rithmic connection on June 30, 2026.

The full classification for every firm we track lives in the Rithmic Prop Firm Connectivity Census.

One more thing the tracks do not let you do: mix them. Tradeify states you “cannot switch between brokers (e.g., from Tradovate to Rithmic) without purchasing a new account.” TradeDay’s rule is narrower but lands in the same place — it bars holding accounts on both at once, so “you cannot have a 50k evaluation on Tradovate and a 50k evaluation on Rithmic.” Decide before checkout.

So what if you are on the Rithmic track?

Your account still reaches NinjaTrader 8. At some firms NinjaTrader connects a Rithmic account on its own, one account at a time. Where your firm has published no route — DayTraders.com, above, goes further and says it does not support NinjaTrader at all — PropFirmConnector is what carries the account into the platform.

The setup is short: install the add-on, select your firm, and sign in with the Rithmic username and password the firm already issued. Requirements differ by firm, so the per-firm connection guides cover what each one needs, and the directory of Rithmic prop firms shows which firms issue Rithmic credentials at all.

There is a second reason the Rithmic track needs help, and it applies even where a native connection exists. NinjaTrader’s own guide states: “It is not possible to maintain two simultaneous Rithmic connections on the NinjaTrader Desktop app.” One Rithmic login at a time is the documented ceiling, so a trader running several funded accounts hits it immediately. The add-on keeps multiple Rithmic logins connected in a single NinjaTrader instance.

Common questions

Which is better, Rithmic or Tradovate? They are different plumbing, not quality tiers, and the honest answer depends on the platforms you want. The Tradovate track gets you NinjaTrader with no extra step. The Rithmic track opens a much wider set of third-party platforms — R|Trader Pro, Quantower, ATAS, Sierra Chart, Bookmap and more — and reaches NinjaTrader either natively at some firms or through an add-on.

Does a Rithmic account work with NinjaTrader? Yes. At some firms NinjaTrader connects one Rithmic account natively; at many others PropFirmConnector supplies the connection. Either way, running more than one Rithmic login at a time needs the add-on. Your firm’s connection guide covers which case applies to you.

My firm’s menu says CQG. What do I actually have? Look at the credentials, not the label. At Take Profit Trader the CQG account hands you Tradovate credentials, which NinjaTrader accepts directly. Other firms may use the word differently, so confirm what appears in your dashboard before setting anything up.

PropFirmConnector is an independent NinjaTrader add-on. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any prop firm, NinjaTrader, Tradovate, CQG, or Rithmic.

Last verified August 19, 2026 against NinjaTrader’s, CQG’s, Broadridge’s and each named firm’s own documentation. Firms change platform lineups without notice — check the linked sources before acting on anything here.