Some Unknown Features of cTrader Brokers you Need to Know
To conduct forex trading, you must need a trading platform, and there have been many platforms. cTrader is a trading platform, and many brokers have used this since its inception 10 years ago. It has become a top competitor of other platforms such as MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. cTrader does not provide the trading service directly. Instead, they provide service via a broker known as cTrader brokers. Our expert team created a list of best cTrader forex brokers and cTrader web Platforms.
The popularity of the cTrader is on the rise. Hence, many traders are getting interested in the cTrader platform. But it is hard to find the proper guideline on cTrader forex. With that in mind, we have listed everything you need to know about cTrader.
What is cTrader?
cTrader is a modern CFD and forex trading platform developed by the Spotware Systems group in 2011. It has been growing significantly due to its ECN and STP capabilities. Like its contender MT4, cTrader also offers thousands of asset classes, including stocks, currency, indices, commodities, ETF, and sometimes cryptos too. Besides, you can also initiate spread betting through some cTrader brokers with add-ons.
What are cTrader Brokers?
In the forex trading world, we have hundreds of brokers. And a very few selective brokers use cTrader as their platform. So, whoever uses cTrader to provide service to the customers are known as cTrader brokers. This kind of broker can get you some special benefits and features which you may not find with other brokers. So, you might get interested if you know the features. Let’s see the features of the brokers that use cTrader.
Features of cTrader Platform Brokers
cTrader platform comes with an immense number of features that can boost a trader’s trading opportunities. Following are the top features you will come across while using the cTrader brokerage.
Interface
Compared to the competitor MetaTrader, it comes with a visually appealing, clean, and modern layout. Besides, the broker will also allow you customize the platform as per your requirements, and you can also detach the default charts that come with the standard interface. Additionally, cTrader’s interface also offers two different themes, light and dark, which you can choose independently.
Charting
Charting in cTrader is user-friendly and intuitive. With multiple customization options, it offers different styles too. Following are some of the important charting features.
- Color options and chart modes: The platform offers multiple charting options such as a multi-chart, single chart, resizing mode, or even a free charting option. Besides, the color customization option will allow you to change the chart’s background color.
- Chart views and timeframes: The cTrader platform comes with 54 different timeframes along with six chart types such as Heiken Ashi, Bar charts, Candlesticks, and Renko. However, you will also have the option to zoom the charts from the main toolbar.
- Technical analysis: cTrader comes with more than 70 pre-installed technical indicators, which allows drawing directly from the chart. Some of the top technical indicators are Fibonacci Retracements, Pivot Points, Exponential Moving Average, Bollinger Bands, Volume profile, support and resistance indicators, and more.
The functionality of Market Depth
cTrader literally crossed the MetaTrader 5 brokers by adding three different types of market depth, while the MT5 has one only.
- Price depth: It allows precise trading with vast details, which includes buying and selling volumes. Besides, the price depth works better for the scalping tactics.
- Standard depth: It provides the price and available liquidity at that price range. However, it does not allow trading, but a trader can view it.
- VWAP Depth of the market: Volume-weighted Average Price offers the viewing experience of the adjustable volumes against the VWAP price. Hence, it fills the order through the full order book. It is best for trading a huge number of volumes.
TradeWatch
cTrader brokers offer to enter or view trades, manage transactions as well as modify position via the TradeWatch feature. This option also allows a trader to set stop loss levels and advanced take profit options through the ‘Advanced Protection’ tab.
Further, the advance takes profit option is set up in a way that automatically closes a position partially whenever it achieves an expected profit level. Most importantly, the advanced stop loss features precisely control the pip movements on a stop loss point.
Order Types
cTrader platform brokers offer four order types, including limit, stop limit, market, and stop. Each order type will pop up in a different window to adjust the parameters and set price alerts. Besides, the window will also guide you in choosing the expiry date and market ranges. However, to apply all these, you will also need a risk management tool to set the accurate stop loss and take profit margin.
Furthermore, you can cancel or even edit a pending order you just opened. Here the TradeWatch panel will come in handy, allowing you to edit the position price, take profit limit, stop loss, expiry date, and trailing stop.
cTrader Forex Additional Features
On top of the core features, cTrader also offers some additional features that can accelerate the trading operation.
- Quick trade: This feature helps the trader to respond promptly on modifying or closing the orders through a few clicks from the platform. Besides, you can observe the market live through the sentiment indicators.
- Keyboard shortcuts: Trades can generate shortcut keys through the panel to have convenient and speedy trading.
- cTrader store: Through the store, you can buy custom tools, bots, or even indicators that can help you to upgrade the trading strategy.
- News and economic calendars: This feature gives the trader a hint about the upcoming trends and market movements. The news and notifications are collected from the top verified sources so that you can take your decision wisely.
- ChartShots: Any trader can share strategies and ideas about successful trading with other traders and guide the newbies via ChartShots.
- Chart templates: cTrader offers about 50 chart templates for future use to accommodate a wide range of strategies, chart types, and timeframes.
- AutoChartist: It is a kind of market scanning tool that highlights the top trading opportunities in real time through the TradeWatch panel.
- Data export: The cTrader platform brokers give you access to all of your historical data via HTML or Excel format, which you can use for future reference to take any trading decisions.
- Community: cTrader platform provides a community forum for its user through the cTrader brokers. The forum can help to cope with any trading related confusion and perhaps help you to make decisions.
cTrader Platform
cTrader comes with several platform versions so that users can access it through the brokers from anywhere. Currently, they offer three types of platforms, cTrader desktop, cTrader web, and cTrader mobile.
cTrader desktop
The desktop version offers downloadable software for your computer or laptop. You will need to download it through the broker and install it. After that, you may log in with the user and password.
cTrader web
To access the cTrader web version, you don’t need to download or install anything. Further, it is identical to the desktop version. Moreover, the cTrader web is accessible through any latest browser using your user name and password. It offers the same functionality as the desktop version.
Getting Started with the cTrader Web
It is a fully functional website version of the regular cTrader platform. As it offers similar trading features with the charting tools, you can easily get acquainted with the cTrader web. Moreover, you can access it via different devices and operating systems.
However, to get the full benefits from it, we recommend using it through the desktop. But the recommended system requirement is a Dual-Core CPU with 4GB memory, the latest Windows or MAC operating system, stable internet connection such as 100 kB per second or faster.
Although the cTrader web recommends 1280x800 screen resolution to browse, any screen resolution should be okay to access the platform. It works on any latest browser.
Other features such as hotkey, troubleshooting, trading accounts will be the same as the cTrader desktop platform.
Traders might have several trading accounts under a single or multiple brokers. But cTrader web gives you the opportunity to manage all your trading accounts from different brokers under a single cTrader account via assigning a unique cTrader ID or cTID.
After logging into the online platform, all the accounts will be visible in your cTID. Hence, you don’t need to worry about managing multiple accounts.
cTrader mobile
It offers a mobile app for smartphones and tablets, including iOS and Android devices. The mobile version is accessible within fingertips from anywhere. It is a fully responsive, customizable dashboard. Besides, the dark and light theme is there to have an excellent user experience. The easy accessibility and interface offer seamless trading.
The mobile app offers five different chart rendering with four chart types. Furthermore, the mobile app comes with eight drawing tools, 65 technical indicators, and other notifications based on the news feed, price alerts, market sentiment, and more. The best thing about the cTrader mobile app is that it can be converted into 22 different languages for easy understanding.
cTrader Automation
It was known as cAlgo, which can get you the algorithmic trading solution. Through the cTrader automate, you can make robots known as cBots and indicators for smooth trading. Besides, cTrader open API based on C# can help the brokers to add the automation feature to their offerings.
cBots can help a trader to open a position precisely and quicker than a human. However, indicators can boost up the manual trading, too, with the cBots integration. Some cBots can be used for scalping too.
Copy Trading
Traders can become Strategy Providers and share their signals for followers to copy for a commission. Alternatively, investors can pay and replicate the positions of other traders. Investors can choose any provider and copy their strategies by paying some fees. This can be done within some clicks. You can search for any successful trader through different filters such as age, fee, number of followers, investment and more.
How to Use cTrader Platform?
Since cTrader is different from other forex trading platforms, users may need to know how to use it first. cTrader has step-by-step guidelines on their website. You may follow that to understand the cTrader and its uses. Besides, your broker may also provide useful guidelines and videos to get you to start with the cTrader.
On the user guide, you will get installation and login guidelines, an in-depth trading guide, using the charts, usability of the interface, and more.
How do you Select cTrader Brokers?
Due to the effectiveness, a lot of brokers are transferring to the cTrader platform. Therefore, the traders tend to confuse choosing the best cTrader forex broker. However, you can follow the following guideline to pick the right brokerage from the selection of cTrader platform brokers.
- Firstly, check the broker’s establishment year and make sure that the broker has been in the market for at least 2 years.
- Check the number of the support, and a good broker should have at least 15 customer care representatives, who should be experts too.
- Check the regulatory status of your intended broker. You should always avoid the unregulated cTrader brokers.
- The broker should provide an easy deposit and withdrawal method. The transaction method should be quick too.
- Brokers should be reputed with an international presence in different countries.
- Make sure the broker offers customer support in multiple languages as the platform itself offers in different languages.
Conclusion
If you are already using MT4 or MT5 and want to use a different platform, you should definitely try cTrader through the best forex broker that support cTrader Platform. However, it is not hard to find a cTrader broker as the platform offers its service to a selective broker. Hopefully, they will start working with many brokers and grab the market share.