NinjaTrader shows open orders but my broker shows none — what's going on?

A discrepancy between what NinjaTrader displays and what your broker's official portal shows is confusing, but it's usually a display-side issue, not a real position. The short version: your broker is the source of truth for your actual account state — not NinjaTrader's display. If the two don't match, the broker is the one to trust.

Common causes

• Connection interruption during order placement. NinjaTrader may have lost its connection to the broker at the moment an order was being submitted, leaving a "phantom" entry locally that was never actually placed (or was filled/cancelled on the broker side and the update didn't make it back).
• Stale order data from a previous session. NinjaTrader can display cached order info that's no longer current.
• Order rejected but still displayed. If the broker rejected an order (margin, position limits, account restrictions — see: Why was my order rejected?), NinjaTrader may still show it as pending locally until it syncs.
• Multiple NinjaTrader sessions. If you've connected to the broker from both the VPS and another machine at different times, order state can drift between them.

How to resolve

1. Check your broker's portal first. Log into Rithmic R | Trader Pro or the Tradovate web dashboard (or your broker's equivalent) and look at what the broker actually has on file — balance, positions, working orders. This is the authoritative state.
2. Reconcile NinjaTrader against the broker.
3. If NinjaTrader shows a working order that's not at the broker, cancel the phantom order from the Orders tab in NinjaTrader.
4. If NinjaTrader shows a position the broker doesn't have, right-click the position in NinjaTrader's Positions tab and close it locally.
5. If the broker has a position that NinjaTrader isn't showing, trust the broker and take whatever action you'd take based on the broker's record (flatten, let strategy manage, etc.).
6. If the discrepancy persists after reconciling, open a ticket at http://support.vectoralgorithmics.io/ — include a screenshot of both the NinjaTrader view and the broker portal view so the team can see the mismatch.

The underlying principle

NinjaTrader is a platform that reflects what the broker says; it is not the book of record. Any time there's doubt about your actual account state — balance, drawdown, orders, positions — go to the broker. The same principle applies to drawdown checks (see: How do I check my actual drawdown on a prop firm account?) and PnL figures.