# Investor/RT

Windows charting and futures trading on a $50 core, with profile and footprint add-ons.

**Best for:** futures day traders on Windows who trade market profile and order flow over Rithmic, CQG, Interactive Brokers or IQFeed and will assemble the platform package by package; not for Mac users or anyone wanting data bundled.

*https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/investor-rt · Desktop Trading Platforms & Order Flow*

## Facts

### At a glance

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Vendor | Linn Software |
| Category | Desktop Trading Platforms & Order Flow |
| Job | execution |
| Website | https://www.linnsoft.com |
| Pricing model | subscription |
| Free tier | false |
| Open source | false |
| Licence | none |
| Self-hosted | false |
| Tested hands-on | no |
| Claimed by vendor | no |
| Last updated | 2026-10-23 |

### Pricing

| Tier | USD | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Core Platform | 50 USD | month |
| Footprint package | 25 USD | month |
| Professional Trader | 125 USD | month |
| End-of-Day Edition | 30 USD | month |

### Coverage

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Asset classes | futures, stocks, etf, forex, indices |
| Markets | us, eu, uk, ca, asia |
| Works outside the US | true |
| Data latency | realtime |
| Platforms | desktop_win |
| AI features | none |

### Interfaces

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| API | false |
| Webhooks | false |
| Scripting | RTL; C++ (RTX SDK) |
| Python | false |
| Spreadsheet add-in | false |
| MCP server | false |
| Export | csv |

### Capabilities

Yes: charting, scanning, backtesting, automation, live_trading, paper_trading, alerts

No: screening, portfolio_tracking, broker_import, tax_reporting, news, options_analysis

*Verified: pricing 2026-10-23; capabilities 2026-10-23; coverage 2026-10-23.*

## What it is

Investor/RT is a Windows charting, market-analysis and trading platform from Linn Software, Inc.,
founded in 1989 by Dr. William Linn and selling Investor/RT since 1996. Linn says it built the
original footprint display in 2006, licensed out under the MarketDelta name; the feature returned
to Investor/RT in 2017 as VolumeScope, and Footprint, VolumeScope and MarketDelta are all its
registered trademarks. Most of its users today trade futures, chiefly CME and Eurex, and the
partner list is heavy with market-profile educators, which says who it is for.

The core is a chart engine with a long indicator library, quote pages that scan up to 2,500
symbols in real time on IQFeed, alarms on indicators, and RTL, a scripting language for custom
indicators, signals and scans. The Trading Rule indicator attaches a predefined order to an RTL
signal, which is how automated trading is set up, and server-side OCO, OSO and trailing stops are
supported through Rithmic and CQG. RTX is a C++ SDK for compiled extensions; most of the
platform's newer studies are written in it, and third parties can sell their own. A playback mode
with a built-in trade simulator replays sessions for practice.

Version 15, the first native 64-bit release, shipped in February 2022 and was last updated as
15.1.25 on 22 March 2024. Version 16.1 is in release-candidate stage: candidate 2, build 33670,
was posted on 29 May 2026, and Linn recommends it to new subscribers and anyone routing orders to
Rithmic.

## Pricing

Investor/RT is bought à la carte. The Core Platform is $50 a month. Packages add $25 for
Footprint (VolumeScope, the Footprint indicator and Price Volume Patterns), $20 for TPO Profile,
$20 for Volume Analysis (volume breakdown, delta periodicities, bar and price statistics), $10 for
Market Depth (Trail of Intentions) and $10 for Trading Systems (backtesting and optimisation).
Professional Trader at $125 includes all of them. A second licence on another machine is $20, or
$10 for Pro users. Quarterly and annual billing are offered on the subscribe page; the rates for
them were not shown without starting checkout. An End-of-Day Edition with Trading Systems, for
daily charts only, starts at $30.

The 14-day trial requires a card and an existing data source, and is open only to someone who
has not trialled or subscribed in the last six months. A subscription is cancelled at least 48
hours before the billing date and runs to the end of the term.

## Data & coverage

No live data from Linn. The feeds it supports are Rithmic, CQG (including StoneX), Interactive
Brokers and DTN IQFeed. Linn's FAQ is unusually candid about their differences: Rithmic and CQG
stream good tick-by-tick futures data but keep one to three months of history; IBKR's API data is
aggregated snapshots rather than true ticks; IQFeed adds cash indices, the VIX and 700-plus market
internals. Linn's own add-on, DTN Market Access at $15 a month, routes backfill to DTN's servers —
up to 20 years of one-minute bars and 180 days of ticks, continuous back-adjusted futures, US
stocks and ETFs, Canadian and UK stocks, and forex. About 90% of broker-feed users take it, Linn
says.

Stocks, ETFs and forex trade through Interactive Brokers; crypto only as CME futures.

## Integrations

Order routing to Rithmic, CQG and Interactive Brokers, with trading from the chart on all
three and server-side brackets on the first two. Rithmic's plug-in mode lets several instances
share one connection, which is how prop-firm evaluation accounts are traded. The ExportData
extension writes chart values to a CSV or Excel file as often as you set, and DDE links pass data
to other Windows programs. ChartShare publishes charts to the Linn website.

## Limitations

- **No data at any price tier.** Budget a broker feed or IQFeed, and probably DTN Market Access
  for history on top.
- **The headline price is the start.** Core alone has no footprint, no TPO profile and no
  backtester; a typical order-flow setup is Core plus two packages plus DTN history.
- **Windows only.** The native Mac versions ended with macOS Mojave.
- **IBKR is a weak data source here,** by Linn's own account, for anything that needs trade-level
  bid and ask.
- **The current release is a candidate.** The public release notes stop at 15.1.25 in March 2024;
  16.1 is distributed to subscribers as a beta-stage candidate.
- **No options analytics.** Linn's pages describe futures, stocks, ETFs and forex, not options
  chains.

## Alternatives

[Sierra Chart](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/sierra-chart) is the other long-lived, package-priced Windows platform
favoured by profile traders. [MultiCharts](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/multicharts) and
[NinjaTrader](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/ninjatrader) are the backtest-first alternatives, in PowerLanguage and C#.
For footprint without the rest of the platform, [ATAS](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/atas) or
[Overcharts](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/overcharts). The rest are in [trading platforms](https://stockmarketstack.com/categories/trading-platforms).

## FAQ

### How much does Investor/RT cost?

The Core Platform is $50 a month, and packages are added on top — Footprint $25, TPO Profile $20, Volume Analysis $20, Market Depth $10 and Trading Systems $10 — or everything comes in Professional Trader at $125. DTN Market Access history and CQG Market Access are $15 each, $10 for Professional Trader users, read on the pricing and subscribe pages on 23 October 2026.

### Does Investor/RT include market data?

No. Linn Software sells no live data. You stream from a Rithmic or CQG account at a broker, an Interactive Brokers account, a prop-firm Rithmic login or a DTN IQFeed subscription. What Linn does sell is DTN Market Access, a $15-a-month historical backfill service for users whose live feed is a broker, since broker servers keep only one to three months of history.

### Does Investor/RT run on a Mac?

Not any more. Linn no longer distributes the 32-bit versions that ran natively on macOS up to Mojave, and the current 64-bit release is Windows only. Its advice for Apple hardware is to run Windows 11 under Parallels Desktop.

### Which Investor/RT package do I need for footprint charts?

The Footprint package, $25 a month on top of the Core, which bundles VolumeScope, the newer Footprint RTX indicator and Price Volume Patterns. Professional Trader includes it along with every other package.

### Is Interactive Brokers data good enough for Investor/RT's order-flow tools?

Linn says not on its own. Its FAQ describes the IBKR API stream as snapshots aggregating trades every 300 milliseconds or so, which loses trade-by-trade bid and ask, and suggests pairing an IBKR account for orders with IQFeed for data when footprint and cumulative-delta tools matter.

## Also worth comparing

- [DAS Trader Pro](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/das-trader-pro.md) — Windows direct-access platform for US stocks — Level 2, hotkey scripts, chosen routes.
- [Medved Trader](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/medved-trader.md) — Windows charting and order-entry front end for the broker or data feed you already have.
- [MotiveWave](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/motivewave.md) — Java desktop charting whose Elliott Wave tooling is the reason anyone buys it.
- [MultiCharts](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/multicharts.md) — Windows charting, backtesting and order routing on EasyLanguage, sold outright or monthly.
- [NinjaTrader](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/ninjatrader.md) — Windows futures platform with C# strategy scripting and order-flow charting.
- [Quantower](https://stockmarketstack.com/tools/quantower.md) — Windows order-flow terminal for 60+ connections, with an open C# API and a real free tier.