What is cTrader and How Do You Use It?
In the foreign exchange market, there are several trading platforms. Because each has its unique set of features and qualities, it might be difficult to identify the best Forex trading platforms. However, there are various factors that determine whether or not a Forex trading platform is good enough. Trustworthiness, responsiveness, data protection, and analytic tools are examples of such crucial aspects. cTrader is truly a trading platform that offers a high quality of these features to its users.
cTrader is a platform that provides its customers with a wide range of useful tools and instruments to help their trading be even more successful. Furthermore, it provides them with various charting tools, several order types, level II pricing, and a high level of speed in regards to opening and closing positions.
Furthermore, one of the biggest advantages of the cTrader platform is that it enables people to use a user-friendly interface and a system that is simple to manage. As a result, any investor, expert or novice, is able to join this platform for their trading. On top of that, this trading software allows users to access crucial trading elements such as indicators, chart kinds, timeframes, EAs, and so on. Another noticeable feature of this trading platform is its design. Besides, like MT4 and MT5, cTrader offers a high degree of security and dependability, which is why millions of customers trust this program in their foreign currency trading.
It should be noted that cTrader usually comes in 2 forms: live and demo. However, in this article, we will be focusing on the live version of the software. The only difference between these two is the money used in currency trading. In this cTrader Guide, We will further explain how to use the cTrader platform.
cTrader Tutorial for Beginners – Step by Step
Let’s now go through some of the basics of what you need to do to sign up on cTrader.
Step 1: Sign Up
To create a real/live trading account on the cTrader trading software, you must follow particular steps offered by an online brokerage firm. However, without this type of broker, one cannot register on a live account straight from the cTrader trading platform. After selecting a trading account, head to the broker’s official website and follow the instructions supplied by the broker. You may be required to indicate specific information or documents to sign up for your identification during the procedure.
(As needed according to each country’s laws and regulations) Your broker will then give you the login information for your real/live trading account. As we have already mentioned, both Demo and live trading accounts are supported by the cTrader trading platform. Live trading accounts enable investors to trade with the real-money trading on the actual market. It is important to know that there are some brokers that enable you to open a Live trading account with a zero balance right from the app.
Step 2: Download & Install
If you are new to cTrader and you are looking at downloading the platform onto your desktop so you can start trading this is how you should get started. First of all, it should be noted that you do not need to sign up for a broker, you can just go straight to the cTrader download step and download the cTrader platform. Usually, a lot of professional traders suggest that you download the cTrader platform from the broker, from the company that you might be thinking of using in the future. There is a lot of brokers to choose from.
Besides, another important thing to note is that you can also download the platform without having to actually sign up for a demo trading account with the broker. However, you are recommended to register with them in the first place. While you go to the specific broker’s website, you can see the platform section where the cTrader is indicated. If you want to download the cTrader web for Windows, then you should just click on Download cTrader for Windows and the file will automatically be downloaded. On the other hand, you should also know that there is a mobile version of this trading platform as well.
Step 3: First Setups
Let’s first explain how to log into your account on cTrader. You should first click on create an account, then you put your email and your password in. after that, you should click ‘’create an account’’. After this will be processed, you can then specify what is the trading balance you want to use and all the other important details. Creating an account on cTrader is pretty straightforward. You should then find a broker company that you like the most. It should also be noted that using the trading platform is totally free which actually means that you can use the demo account and test your trading strategies for as long as you want to. And once you are ready to create a live trading account after some research of finding the broker that fits you the best. Besides, all the trading accounts, whether demo or live, are instantly linked with your current cTrader ID profile.
Another important feature of the cTrader platform is that traders are able to switch their trading accounts that are linked to their cTrader ID. To switch between accounts, click on the trading account bar in the top right corner and choose the relevant account from the dropdown menu. After that, the trading account will be immediately changed, and the cTrader software will load all of the trading account’s current settings and charts.
Step 4: Set Up Your Charts
While talking about charts it should be noted that this trading platform has several ways to set up your charts. One way of doing this is to click on the Plus sign on the left side of the software, you can then select your symbol and then the platform adds it on the chart. You should know that you can have multiple tabs open for different charts and when you want to look at different symbols or instruments you just click on the chart that you want to view. Besides, there is one icon on the left side of the window where you can click it and the new chart will be added automatically. The other way of opening the chart in the cTrader platform is another icon with is located at the right top side of the platform window. There are two different ways to open up the charts on the cTrader.
You can drag and reorder the charts while using the platform. Besides, you can choose between the single and multiple chart modes. From multi-chart mode, you can move them around the screen. On the other hand, it should also be stated that the free chart mode is the same as the multi-chart mode and the only difference is that you can resize the charts so you can freely decide how you want to view these charts.
Step 5: Choose Your Indicators
By showing trends and offering signals for prospective changes in trends, technical indicators are used to help in manual trading and also be included in automated techniques. Several indicators have been produced through time by statisticians and traders alike. Several of the most common indicators are featured as built-in indicators in the platform. These indicators are available in the cTrader systems. You may also download customized indicators created by other customers from cTDN Indicators.
You need to know that cTrader gives you all the technical analysis tools you need to effectively analyze the markets. In order to add an indicator to your charts click on the indicators icon and choose an indicator from one of the categories. the indicator window will appear where you can set various indicator parameters such as the source, the time periods, the line thickness, the line color, the line style, and so on. You should click ‘’OK’’ to place the indicator.
to place the indicator some indicators like the simple moving average will appear on the chart itself. On the other hand, most of the indicators like the Relative Strength Indicator (RSI) will appear underneath the chart in a separate panel. You can edit any indicator that appears in a separate panel by double-clicking inside the indicator panel. You can also edit any indicator including those that appear on the chart from the objects list which you can access by right-clicking inside the chart or by using the list at the top right of your chart. If you want to remove your indicator, select the objects list and click the X beside the indicator you want to remove.
Advanced cTrader Features
It should be mentioned that knowing the basics of cTrader is not enough, cTrader is very complex and virtually every single feature has its own purpose. cTrader provides sophisticated trading features such as quick order input and execution, asynchronous order processing, level two pricing, a full variety of advanced order types, and a plethora of information to assist investors to manage risk and make better trading decisions.
The cTrader Automate feature allows you to automate your trading process by implementing cBots and improve your trading by applying Indicators. The cBots are custom strategies that can conduct trades without human intervention or supervision. Indicators are used to aid in manual trading and are also included in cBots to highlight trends and provide indications for future changes in trends.
Templates
With cTrader templates, you can save the chart setups that you use most often and immediately re-apply them to the future charts that you open. Let’s start by creating a chart setup that we use frequently. Let’s zoom out, remove the grid and finally add a couple of indicators. Now let’s save this configuration as a template. It should be noted that we can apply the same setup to future charts. Go to the templates option and type save the template.
Then type in a name and, the template is added to the template list, its use will be available from next time. In the “template” option, click the template name that you saved earlier. Display settings stored in the template will be loaded into the new chart immediately. The number of templates that can be saved, there is no limit.
Timeframes
In terms of timeframes, cTrader has 26 options: 14 minutes, 7 hours, 3 days, weekly, and monthly frames. It should be noted that every trader needs to remember to change them to get a better view of the market performance based on previous data.
Order Types
An Order is a request from the trader to a broker to purchase or sell an asset. When you place an Order in cTrader, you are instructing your broker to execute a trade. An Order specifies which symbol to trade and under what conditions. Deals are responsible for carrying out orders. When it comes to the order types, it should definitely be stated that in the cTrader trading platform, there are four types of orders to purchase or sell securities: Market Order, Limit Order, Stop Order, and Stop Limit Order.
A Market Order is the most basic sort of order and the quickest approach to open a genuine position right now. A Market Order is a request to purchase or sell an asset at the best possible price in the market at the given moment, which ensures your entry into the market. A Limit Order assures that the order will be filled at a price that is equal to or higher than the expected price. The price you select for Limit Orders is the highest or lowest price at which you are ready to buy or sell. Your order will be filled at the price you choose, or at a lower price for the direction of your purchase.
On the other hand, a Stop Order (also known as a Trigger Order) is similar to a Market Order in that it is completed only when the required price is met. Once the symbol price hits the entry price you choose, a Market Order is instantly sent and the order is filled at the best available price. That implies your order may be completed at a price other than the one you specified since the market may fluctuate between the time your order is submitted and the time it is filled. Stop Orders are frequently used to confirm the market’s direction.
Final Remarks
We explained that cTrader is a platform that provides its users with a variety of handy tools and instruments to help them be more effective in their trading. One of the most significant advantages of the cTrader platform is that it allows people to use a user-friendly interface and a simple-to-manage system. Besides, this trading software provides users with access to crucial trading aspects like indicators, chart types, timeframes, and EAs.
It should be noted that cTrader is extremely complicated, with nearly every feature serving a distinct purpose. cTrader offers advanced trading capabilities such as rapid order execution, fast order processing, level two pricing, a wide range of advanced order types, and a variety of information to help investors manage risk and make smarter trading decisions. Besides, in terms of order types, there are four types of orders to buy or sell an asset on the cTrader trading platform: Market Order, Limit Order, Stop Order and Stop Limit Order.
