NinjaTrader announced an Innovation Lab on September 9, 2026, and named its first three pieces: an AI assistant called Nina, an AI Strategy Builder, and a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that connects outside AI assistants to a trader’s NinjaTrader account (NinjaTrader). The tools are aimed at retail futures traders. Anyone trading an evaluation or a funded account should read their firm’s automation rules before using them.
What the Innovation Lab includes
NinjaTrader says Nina is an AI trading companion that gives feedback on account activity and can recommend risk settings. The AI Strategy Builder takes rules written in plain language and turns them into compiled, testable strategies in NinjaTrader desktop (NinjaTrader). Both descriptions are the firm’s own.
What the MCP server does
Model Context Protocol is a shared interface that lets an AI assistant reach data and actions inside another system. NinjaTrader says the integration connects assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT to a trader’s NinjaTrader account and gives them context including positions and account rules (NinjaTrader). An assistant running outside the platform can therefore see what the account is holding.
The hires behind the lab
Two months earlier, on July 7, 2026, NinjaTrader named Brian Weis Chief Innovation and AI Officer, a role the company created for him. His remit covers agent-native AI direction, MCP platform development and prediction markets. Stephen Yi, previously at Codal and Jump Trading, joined as Chief Product Officer (NinjaTrader).
What prop traders should check
The announcement describes these features for retail traders using their own NinjaTrader accounts. It does not mention prop firm evaluations or funded accounts, and the sources here do not say which firms permit an AI assistant to read account data or place orders, or whether a strategy compiled by the Strategy Builder counts as permitted automation. That question belongs to each firm’s rulebook. An evaluation is a paid service with simulated trading, and the firm sets the terms of the account, including what software may touch it.
Traders should also be clear about what access they are granting. Connecting an outside assistant to an account means handing it account context, and a firm’s rules on third-party tools, copy trading and automation apply to that connection the same way they apply to any other bot.
