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Add a trial version

Provide your customers with a free trial version for a safe and controlled way to test your algorithm before making a purchase. A well-designed trial showcases your product value, protects your intellectual property and ultimately drives higher sales.

Note

Provide a trial version when publishing a new product in Store instead of uploading it as a separate product.
For already published products, add a trial product or update the trial.

Warning

After publishing a product or trial in Store, never delete the original .algo file from your cloud storage in any cTrader app. Otherwise, you will lose access to the source code, and future versions of your product will no longer be linked to the original algorithm.

Trial rules

  • The trial should deliver real value.
  • Clearly describe what the trial offers to buyers.
  • Outline limitations in the trial description.
  • Whenever the paid product changes significantly, update the trial to reflect improvements.

Trial limitations

Trial limitations ensure that potential buyers can test the general behaviour, logic and quality of your algorithm, but cannot fully replicate the functionality of the paid version. A trial that is too restrictive may discourage potential buyers.

Follow these steps to add limitations to a trial version:

  1. Duplicate your algorithm to create a new copy.

  2. Use one of the following limitations:

    • Demo only for cBots – code the trial to work only on demo accounts.

    • Specific limitation – allow the trial to work on both demo and live accounts, but implement one explicit restriction such as daily profit cap, hardcoded symbol and period, fixed parameters or reduced functionality.

      Warning

      Avoid configuring your cBot trial for backtesting only because traders who use cTrader Mobile and Web will not be able to run it. Backtesting is available only in the cTrader Windows and Mac apps, and this limitation will reduce adoption and sales of your product.

  3. Save and build the new algorithm.

Add a trial

For an existing product, open Your products in your Store account, click the More icon next to the product, then select Publish trial.

Now, provide the required details on the Publish trial page.

  • Select from Cloud – select the trial version of your algorithm from cloud storage.

    Note

    The Type field is locked when publishing a trial because the algorithm type of an existing product is already defined.

  • Algorithm name – select the trial version of your algorithm by name from the list.

  • Upload new – upload the trial version of your algorithm as an .algo file (maximum 10 MB) after exporting it from cTrader.
  • Trial limitations – specify the limitations users will experience when using the free trial version compared to the full paid version.

Click the Publish button once you are finished.

Update a trial

cTrader Store allows you to easily replace the existing trial version with a new one when necessary.

Open Your products in your Store account, click the More icon for an existing product, then select Update trial.

On the Update trial page, follow the same steps as when adding a trial.