NinjaTrader
Group, the retail futures brokerage acquired by
Kraken for $1.5 billion, today (Tuesday) launched NinjaTrader Connect, a new B2B platform
designed to let brokers, fintechs, and trading firms build their own regulated
futures and prediction markets businesses without constructing the underlying
infrastructure themselves.
According
to the press release, the offering, available through a single API, bundles
everything from client onboarding and funding tools to clearing, margin
controls, risk surveillance, and a white-labeled front-end trading platform.
NinjaTrader is essentially packaging 20 years of its own operational
infrastructure and offering it to third parties on a commercial basis.
Turning Two Decades of NinjaTrader
Into a Product
“We’ve
spent more than 20 years building, operating, and scaling a retail futures
brokerage in highly regulated markets,” said Martin Franchi, CEO of
NinjaTrader Group. “NinjaTrader Connect takes the infrastructure behind
that success and makes it available to other brokerages. Instead of starting
from scratch, partners can build on a foundation that has already been
battle-tested at scale.”
That pitch
– skip the build, borrow the backbone – is increasingly appealing to brokers
who want exposure to futures and prediction markets but don’t want to absorb
the cost and complexity of becoming a registered FCM from scratch.
NinjaTrader
is already registered with the CFTC as a futures commission merchant and holds
NFA membership, two hurdles that typically take years and significant legal
spend to clear.
The move
follows a busy expansion period for the firm. In January 2026,
NinjaTrader extended
access to EU retail traders as CFD brokers began showing interest in adding futures products
to their lineup, and last October the company jumped into
prop trading with
two dedicated technology platforms.
Prediction Markets Emerge
as Key Infrastructure Battleground
The timing
of the launch isn’t accidental. Prediction markets – where users trade on the
outcome of real-world events – have gone from a niche curiosity to a serious
product category that brokers are actively trying to add. NinjaTrader Connect
explicitly includes prediction market infrastructure in its offering, putting
it in direct competition with a cluster of vendors racing to serve that same
demand.
Leverate
launched its own white-label prediction markets platform for brokers in February 2026,
claiming 85% monthly retention rates and same-week deployment timelines. Before
that, a partnership between Plaee and Crypto.com’s CDNA unit brought
CFTC-compliant prediction market infrastructure to third-party platforms.
The pattern
is consistent: rather than building proprietary products, platforms are
increasingly plugging into shared regulated infrastructure. A recent
deep-dive into broker technology stacks outlined how crowded and competitive that
vendor space has become.
What
NinjaTrader brings that most of those vendors don’t is existing CFTC
registration and a live FCM operation with real clearing relationships.
FCM Model Gets a B2B
Makeover
“Market
access alone is no longer enough,” added Max Shanbrom, Executive Vice
President and General Manager at NinjaTrader Connect. “Modern brokerages
need infrastructure that supports onboarding, funding, risk management, and a
seamless trading experience that meets end-clients wherever they are in their
trading journey.”
That
argument, that clearing alone doesn’t cut it anymore, reflects a broader
tension playing out across the brokerage industry. As analysis
published last year on the B2B infrastructure shift noted, retail flow alone is becoming
harder to rely on, and the firms building durable businesses are those that can
offer complete operational stacks, not just execution or liquidity.
NinjaTrader’s
B2B push also comes as the company works to expand its international footprint.
In February, it appointed
former IG Group executive Christopher Tripp as General Manager for international
operations, based in the UK, with European growth as a stated priority.
This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.
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