Category: Strategy Installation & Setup / Data Feed | Last Updated: April 2026
A healthy data feed is the single most important prerequisite for a Vector strategy to fire accurately. Any missing tick, stale candle, or dropped connection can translate into a missed entry, an off-timed exit, or a trade that never fires at all. This article covers the checks that confirm your feed is healthy, the problems you will run into eventually, and what is (and isn't) in your power to fix.
Run through this checklist before every trading session:
If all five checks pass, your feed is ready and you can enable your strategies.
Work through these steps in order — most cases clear up by step 2 or 3:
ES 12-26 vs a generic ES).If charts are still frozen after a full restart, the issue is upstream (broker side). Check your broker's status page and contact Vector support with a screenshot of your Connections window.
This error means NinjaTrader cannot pull data for the contract you selected.
Common causes:
- Missing CME subscription — Futures require an active CME data entitlement on your account.
- Incorrect symbol — The instrument code is wrong (e.g., using ES when the feed expects ES 12-26).
- Data feed not connected — Your broker connection dropped between logging in and loading the chart.
- Instrument not available on your feed — Some brokers/feeds don't offer every contract.
How to fix: - Confirm with your prop firm (or broker, if cash account) that CME data is active on your account. - Reconnect your broker connection. - Double-check the contract symbol and month for your market.
NinjaTrader disables connections overnight to prevent stale data from accumulating, and refreshing daily is also the single best habit for avoiding mid-session issues:
Pro tip: Make this a 10-minute-before-open routine — your strategy must be fully loaded and live before the opening print, not during it.
This is the question we get most often, and the answer is important to set expectations correctly.
The root cause is almost always on the broker's side. Rithmic, Tradovate, and the NinjaTrader Brokerage itself all occasionally experience micro-outages, server restarts, or latency spikes that trigger a brief disconnect in your platform. This affects every user on that feed at the same time — it is not caused by your VPS, your internet, or Vector Algorithmics. VPS connections don't drop; broker connections do.
What you can do: - Refresh your connection daily (see the reconnection steps above). This prevents old cached data from building up in NinjaTrader and is the single most effective preventive habit. - Reconnect immediately when a disconnect happens. Don't leave the platform in a disconnected state — open Connections and reconnect as soon as you notice it. - Check your broker's status page if disconnects are repeated or prolonged. Rithmic and Tradovate publish outage info when there's a known issue.
What you cannot do: There is no technical setting on your end — in NinjaTrader, on your VPS, or in Vector's strategies — that will prevent broker-side disconnects. When the broker has a hiccup, every connected client feels it. The goal is to recover fast, not to prevent something outside your control.
If disconnects are constant and others on the same firm aren't reporting issues, reach out to Vector support. One of our team members can review the platform logs on your behalf and help confirm whether the issue is isolated to your setup or broker-wide — but as explained above, in the vast majority of cases the root cause is on the broker's side, not something we can resolve from ours.
Check the five indicators (green light, updating charts, no gaps, timestamps matching, instrument loads) every morning. Refresh your connection daily to prevent data buildup. When a disconnect happens mid-session, reconnect immediately and know that the root cause is broker-side — not something you, your VPS, or Vector can fix with a setting.
For firm-specific data entitlements or subscription issues, consult your prop firm's (or broker's) official website and support portal.