Why can I only see my SIM account in NinjaTrader? (Live accounts missing)

A common issue clients run into: you open NinjaTrader and only the Sim101 (simulation) account is visible, even though your live or funded accounts were there before. Before assuming the worst, here's the most likely cause — and how to fix it.

First, a quick sanity check

Before troubleshooting further, confirm the basics in the Control Center:

• Your broker connection shows green (Rithmic, Tradovate, NinjaTrader Brokerage, or IBKR, depending on your setup — see: Supported Brokers).
• You've tried a disconnect + reconnect once to refresh the session.

If the connection is green and a reconnect didn't bring your live accounts back, you're almost certainly looking at a Global Simulation Mode issue.

What Global Simulation Mode does

Global Simulation Mode is a NinjaTrader-wide safety feature: when it's enabled, every trade is routed to the simulation environment, regardless of which broker account you've selected. While it's on, your live and funded accounts are hidden from the account selector — only the Sim101 account is visible. This is what produces the "my live accounts disappeared" symptom.

The mode can be turned on manually, but it also sometimes turns itself back on unexpectedly — for example, after a NinjaTrader update, a platform restart, or a machine-ID change on the VPS side.

How to turn it off

1. Open the NinjaTrader Control Center.
2. Click the File menu at the top-left.
3. Look for Global Simulation Mode in the dropdown. If it has a checkmark next to it, click it to uncheck and disable.
4. Confirm in the Control Center that your live/funded account(s) now appear in the account selector alongside Sim101.

Official reference: How to enable or disable Global Simulation Mode — NinjaTrader Help

Also check your startup setting

NinjaTrader has a separate option that automatically puts the platform into simulation mode every time it starts. To make sure Global Simulation Mode doesn't come back on next restart:

1. In the Control Center, go to Tools → Options → Simulator.
2. Uncheck "Always start in simulation" if it's enabled.
3. Click OK to save.

If Global Simulation Mode won't turn off

If the checkbox is stuck on (or keeps coming back) no matter what you do, the most common cause is a NinjaTrader license issue — for example, the VPS machine ID changed (after a BIOS update or provider-side change) and NinjaTrader fell back to a simulation license. In that case, the license needs to be reactivated — see: How do I reactivate my Vector license if it's been deactivated? If you're not sure what to do, open a ticket at http://support.vectoralgorithmics.io/ and the team will handle it.

After resolving

Once your live accounts are visible again:

• Make sure your strategies are still enabled on the correct charts (Strategies tab) — if not, re-enable them.
• Do your normal AM check (see: AM Check Routine) to confirm everything is running as expected.