NinjaTrader, Rithmic & Prop Firm Glossary

Rithmic

Rithmic provides futures market data and order routing. The NinjaTrader connection route depends on the account’s provider, credentials and System. PropFirmConnector provides additional Rithmic account connections in NinjaTrader where the add-on route applies.

Rithmic login and trading account

A Rithmic login is the username and password used to authenticate a connection. A trading account has its own balance, positions, and account identifier. One login can expose several accounts when the firm provisions them that way. NinjaTrader’s standard Rithmic connection limit concerns simultaneous connections, not the number of accounts visible through one login.

Tradovate

A cloud-based futures platform that is now part of NinjaTrader — NinjaTrader Group acquired Tradovate in 2022, and Tradovate, LLC was merged into NinjaTrader Clearing, LLC in November 2024. It is a separate connection path from Rithmic, and a Tradovate-track prop account connects to NinjaTrader natively with the credentials the firm issues. PropFirmConnector focuses on Rithmic prop firm connections.

CQG

An independent futures data, order-routing and platform provider, owned by Broadridge Financial Solutions since May 2026. It has no corporate connection to NinjaTrader, and NinjaTrader offers no CQG connection type — but some prop firms use “CQG” as the label for their Tradovate-side accounts, which issue Tradovate credentials. A firm may sell both a CQG/Tradovate track and a Rithmic track, so judge by the credentials your account was issued rather than by the label.

Local copy trading

A setup in which the copier runs on your machine and mirrors orders between accounts connected to that NinjaTrader instance. Orders still pass through the trading connection; running the copier locally does not guarantee identical timing or fills.

Cloud copier

A copier that uses a remote service to coordinate order mirroring across connected accounts. Its supported platforms, connection requirements, and behavior depend on the service. Execution timing and fills also depend on the trading connection and market conditions.

Same-instance copying

Using a trade copier to mirror orders between accounts available in one NinjaTrader instance. Several accounts can share a single working Rithmic login. PropFirmConnector is relevant when the setup needs separate Rithmic logins connected simultaneously or an additional supported firm connection.

Master and follower account

The master is the source account whose trades are copied; followers are the accounts that replicate those trades. A trade copier handles the master-to-follower mapping.

R|Trader Pro plug-in mode

A mode that lets a compatible platform such as NinjaTrader use market data through a running R|Trader Pro session. Follow the provider’s paired plug-in settings when using that arrangement. It does not remove NinjaTrader’s standard limit on separate simultaneous Rithmic connections, and several accounts under one login are a different situation.

Evaluation (eval) account

A paid simulated account where a trader must reach a profit target within the firm’s rules (drawdown, consistency, time) to qualify for a funded account.

Trailing drawdown

A maximum-loss limit that trails account equity or balance as it grows. Prop firms use intraday-trailing, end-of-day-trailing, or static drawdown variants in their evaluations.

Consistency rule

A prop-firm rule limiting how much of total profit may come from a single day (often around 20–30%), to discourage one-off gambles and reward steady trading.

Micro vs mini futures

Two contract sizes for the same market (for example MES micro vs ES mini E-mini). When copying across accounts, a copier may need to map or scale position sizes between micro and mini contracts.

Connection terms corrected September 15, 2026. Multiple trading accounts and multiple Rithmic logins are different, and R|Trader Pro plug-in mode does not remove the simultaneous-connection limit. Sources: NinjaTrader’s connection guide, OneUp’s account/login example, and OneUp’s plug-in instructions. See the multiple Rithmic connections explainer for the connection options.