cTrader is a leading trading platform that is designed especially for forex traders. This platform is part of the company with the same name that has been registered in the UK. The trading platform, however, is registered in Cyprus.
If you have been following our series on various trading platforms, you must have noticed just how many different companies and firms in financial markets are registered in the country of Cyprus. But why? The reason is that Cyprus has a much more flexible approach toward taxing and offers significantly low rates of corporate taxes.
This is one of the reasons cTrader established its trading platform there in 2011. With absolutely no limits for its minimum deposit amount, cTrader has been able to stand out from its competitors. In this article we are going to discuss this trading platform and also compare it with some of the big names such as MetaTrader 4.
An Evaluation of cTrader Trading Platform
An Evaluation of cTrader Trading Platform
In the world of forex trading, your trading platform is just as important as your forex broker. Although the two are different and they offer different features, they are just as equally important. Remember that it is the trading platform that enables you to carry out analysis and charting maneuvers. What can cTrader provide for you in this regard?
This trading platform is specifically designed to have a twofold special approach. The first specialty is in the carrying out of the trades themselves. And the second specialty are its charting tools and functionalities.
Important Features of cTrader
Important Features of cTrader
In this section we will take a look at the most important features of this trading platform. But one feature that really catches the eye at first, quite literally, is the design of the platform. The developers have designed this platform in such a way that it has a really smooth and straightforward design.
Different Chart Layouts
The default layout that is available to all users is, as mentioned above, quite simple and easy to read. This can be regarded as a great feature since many other charts and trading platforms can be quite intimidating even at first sight. That might deter some novice traders from wanting to go deeper into trading. But that is not what you get with cTrader. Its main layout is clean and definitely not cluttered.
But if you are worried that important details might be lost in the simplicity, then don’t be. Because if you are a more advanced trader, then there are other options to choose for the platform’s layout.
Layouts that can be used by trading who pay attention to factors that impact the market, which includes news trading and also fundamental indicators.
Trade Execution
The execution of trades is another simple, straightforward process with cTrader. The way you can find the pairs for your trades is similar to other well-known trading platforms. There is a navigation pane on the left side of the panel.
Looking through this navigation pane, you can see countless foreign currency pairs that are available for trading. And in order to place a trade, all you need to do is to choose the pair and find out the available options for it.
Placing Orders
Placing your order would be just as easy as finding the pair to trade with. You can simply click and send a market order to your broker. A market order is the most common and prevalent form of orders in financial markets, including the forex market. According to this order, whether it is a buy or sell order, your trade will be executed by the broker as fast as possible at the best price available.
Various specifications for your orders can also be placed on them just as easily. Details such as stop loss orders or profit target orders can be put on top of your order by dragging and dropping options
Chart Tools
Aside from technical indicators tools and perhaps indicators for fundamental analysis, charting tools are the most important functionalities that a trading platform can offer you. There are numerous chart features that are offered to traders with cTrader. For instance, you can easily detach a chart that you see and place it on another tab. You can also change almost all the visual elements of any chart. This includes the colors that the chart shows. With the help of these tools you can customize the chart to fit your needs.
Technical Indicators
Finally, on the list of the features, we get to the most important ones – i.e. technical analysis indicators. cTrader offers more than 50 indicators to its customers, which is a high number compared to well-known trading platforms such as MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5.
The indicators that are offered at cTrader are classified in 5 different groups. These groups include trend indicators, volatility indicators, volume indicators, oscillators, and finally another group known as other to the indicators that do not fit the definition of the four groups.
cTrader Compared with MetaTrader 4
There are many differences between MetaTrader 4 and cTrader. First of all, while MetaTrader offers only 9 time frames, cTrader has provided users with 26 time frames. This can be quite useful for traders who want to trade in smaller time frames, such as day traders or scalpers. Also, as mentioned above, you can detach every single chart in cTrader, something that is not possible with MetaTrader 4.
Another difference is in the so-called one click orders that you can place in the market. Such orders come with many constraints with MetaTrader. But with cTrader even one click order will let you customize your order by defining things like stop loss or profit targets.
Another important point of divergence between the two trading platforms is related to automated or algorithmic trading. As you might know, you can actually create trading bots or expert advisors for trading platforms. But this totally depends on the programming language that was used in the development of the platform.
The language used in the design and development of MetaTrader 4 is called MQL4. While the programming language used for cTrader is C#. But what does this mean for you as a trader?
Well, it can be a totally neutral point if you do not know how to program. But if you have a background in coding, then you can write expert advisor with C# for cTrader.
Remember that these differences should not be counted as the advantage of one over the other quickly. There is so much more that goes into making a decision with regard to the trading platform that you choose.
Conclusion
cTrader has come to be a really popular trading platform among forex traders. It offers many useful functionalities that can help traders have a more straightforward and accurate trading experience. This includes excellent technical analysis tools in addition to advanced charting functionalities.
