Trading¶

cTrader Trade – an app within cTrader used to place, modify and monitor trades, equipped with powerful charting and order-management tools.

Accounts¶

Trading account – any account that provides access to trading instruments and markets, allowing users to place, manage and monitor their trades in cTrader. Users can have multiple trading accounts under one cTrader ID, each possibly with different brokers or currencies.

Demo account – a simulated trading environment in cTrader provided for practice and testing, mirroring live market conditions but using virtual funds instead of real money. Traders can open a demo account with a cTrader broker and access it either through a broker-branded app or the cross-broker cTrader app.

Live account – a real-money trading account that connects cTrader users to live servers, where all trades are executed with actual funds, and where traders can make deposits and withdrawals of their trading capital. To open a live account, traders need to register with a cTrader broker.

Hedging account – a cTrader account type that allows traders to open multiple positions for the same instrument in opposite directions (buy and sell) simultaneously.

Netting account – a cTrader account type where all positions for the same instrument are combined into a single net position, automatically offsetting opposite trades.

Deposit – the process of adding real funds to your cTrader live trading account through your broker to support trading activities.

Withdrawal – the process of transferring funds from your cTrader live trading account back to your personal or bank account through your broker.

Account metrics¶

Balance – the total amount of funds in a cTrader trading account, calculated as all deposits minus withdrawals, plus the total realised net profit or loss from closed positions.

Equity – the total value of a cTrader trading account, calculated as the account balance plus unrealised net profit or loss from open positions.

Credit – broker-provided, non-withdrawable funds in cTrader that contribute to the account balance and can be used like a deposit to increase trading capacity, while profits earned from trading with credit can be withdrawn.

Bonus – broker-provided funds in cTrader granted as a promotion or incentive, used together with the account balance to increase trading capacity, with the bonus automatically converted into balance and becoming withdrawable once broker conditions are met.

Margin – the total amount of funds reserved to maintain all open positions in cTrader, where each position margin is calculated as position volume divided by leverage and denominated in the account deposit currency.

Free margin – the amount of funds available in cTrader to open new positions or absorb losses, calculated as equity minus margin used.

Margin level – a percentage value in cTrader showing how much of the account equity, minus estimated closing commission, is available compared to the margin used.

Fair stop out – a safety mechanism in cTrader that activates when the account margin level falls below the broker’s stop-out level, closing entire positions starting with the one using the largest margin to restore the account balance and protect it from further losses.

Smart stop out – a safety mechanism in cTrader that activates when the account margin level falls below the broker’s stop-out level, closing the minimum required portion of the largest positions to protect the remaining trades and account.

Unrealised net P&L – the current profit or loss from all open positions in cTrader, based on live market prices and not yet added to the balance.

Leverage – a financial tool that allows traders to use borrowed funds from a broker to increase their market exposure. This means that traders can open positions that are larger than their actual account balance by using only a fraction of the required capital as margin (1:50, 1:100, 1:1000, etc.).

Markets¶

Symbol – a tradable instrument in cTrader that shows how the value of one asset is quoted against another (EURUSD, GBPJPY, XAUUSD, etc.), with availability and specifications defined by the broker setup and liquidity providers.

Asset – a single currency (EUR, USD, GBP, etc.) or a group of symbols (forex, metals, energies, indices, cryptocurrencies, etc.) in cTrader, with availability defined by the broker setup and liquidity providers.

Current (spot) price – the real-time market rate of a symbol in cTrader, representing the most recent price at which it can be immediately bought or sold.

Ask price – the price at which traders can buy a symbol in cTrader, representing the lowest price a seller is willing to accept.

Bid price – the price at which traders can sell a symbol in cTrader, representing the highest price a buyer is willing to pay.

Spread – the difference between the ask and bid prices of a trading symbol, representing the cost of entering a trade and an indicator of market liquidity.

Buy – an order to purchase a symbol, anticipating that its price will increase. This is also known as opening a long position.

Sell – an order to sell a symbol, anticipating that its price will decrease. This is also known as opening a short position.

Depth of market (DOM) – a real-time display in cTrader showing the total volume of buy and sell orders for a symbol at different price levels. It allows traders to see how much interest exists at each price point and to place orders.

Market sentiment – the percentage of client accounts that expect a symbol price to rise or fall. This data is aggregated from all connected cTrader servers, providing a cross-broker overview of how traders are positioned (buy vs sell) for a given market.

Conditions¶

Liquidity – the availability and depth of buy and sell orders in the market, determining how easily trades can be executed in cTrader without significantly affecting the price. It depends on a broker’s liquidity providers (LPs) and their server configurations.

Slippage – the difference between the expected and the actual execution price of a trade, which occurs when market prices change rapidly due to volatility or low liquidity, causing an order to fill at a slightly different level.

Latency – a time delay between sending an order and its execution, which depends on internet speed, trader location, broker’s proximity to trading servers and liquidity provider response time. While latency exists in all online trading, in cTrader it is typically very small and does not significantly affect execution quality.

Swaps – an overnight charge or credit applied by the broker when a position is held open past the trading day in cTrader.

Commissions – transaction fees charged by the broker on their conditions, based on the volume of the trade, in cTrader.

Trading session – specific hours when trading is available for each symbol in cTrader. Session times may vary between brokers depending on their location, liquidity provider hours and local public holidays.

Stop out – a broker-defined margin level, expressed as a percentage, at which cTrader automatically starts closing open positions to prevent further losses.

Orders and positions¶

Order – an instruction to buy or sell a symbol under specific conditions.

Market order – an instruction to buy or sell immediately at the best available market price.It guarantees entry into the market but not the exact execution price, which may vary due to liquidity or slippage.

Limit order – an instruction to buy or sell at a specific price or better. It ensures that a trade will only be executed at the set price or a more favorable one, but it is not guaranteed to be filled if the market does not reach that price.

Stop order – a trigger to buy or sell that, once the market price reaches a specified stop level, activates a market order. It is often used to enter the market when price breaks a key level and confirms a trend direction.

Stop-limit order – a trigger to buy or sell that, once the price reaches a specified stop level, activates a limit order at a defined limit price or better. It provides greater control over execution price, though the order may not fill if the market moves beyond the limit range.

Pending order – an instruction to buy or sell in the future when specific price conditions are met. In cTrader, limit, stop, and stop limit orders are pending orders, as they remain inactive until triggered by market price.

Deal – the execution of a trader’s order in cTrader, representing the exchange of assets between the trader and the broker or liquidity provider. One order can create one or several deals, depending on market liquidity, and deals are used to open, modify or close positions.

Position – the total amount of an asset held from one or more executed deals. An open position shows the trader’s exposure to a symbol, either buy or sell, and stays open until closed by an opposite deal.

Long position – a trade that benefits when the price of a symbol rises.

Short position – a trade that benefits when the price of a symbol falls.

Order parameters¶

Lot – a standardised measure of trade quantity in cTrader that defines the amount of a symbol being bought or sold. In forex, one lot typically equals 100,000 units of the base currency, though the exact contract size is broker-defined and may vary by symbol.

Unit – the smallest measure of trade volume in cTrader, representing one unit of the base asset being bought or sold.

Volume/quantity – the size of a trade in cTrader, shown as volume in units or quantity in lots.

Trade side – a setting that defines which price (bid or ask) triggers the execution of an order in cTrader.

Pip – the smallest standard price movement of a symbol in forex trading, usually equal to the fourth decimal place (0.0001). cTrader also displays pipettes in the fifth decimal place (0.00001).

Market range – the maximum price deviation (in pips) allowed between the requested price and the actual execution price of a market order in cTrader. It helps limit slippage by ensuring the order is filled only within the specified range.

Entry price – the price level at which a position is opened in cTrader. It is configurable for limit, stop and stop-limit orders, defining the price at which the order will trigger or be filled.

Expiry – a time limit for pending orders in cTrader that specifies the exact date and time when the order will automatically expire if not triggered by the entry price.

Stop loss – a protection setting that automatically closes a trade when the market moves against the trader to a chosen level

Trailing stop loss – a dynamic protection setting that automatically adjusts the stop loss a fixed number of pips from the current market price. It moves in the trader’s favour as the price changes, maintaining the set distance, but remains fixed when the market moves against the position.

Take profit – a protection setting that automatically closes a trade when the market moves in the trader’s favour to a chosen level.

Advanced protection – a set of automated risk management tools in cTrader that help traders manage open positions more efficiently. They include multiple take-profit levels, break-even stop loss and trailing stop loss.

Other features¶

Quick Trade – a chart trading feature in cTrader that enables one-click order placement and management for fast and efficient trade execution.

Signal link – a link that traders can share directly from an order screen, open position or pending order in cTrader. It contains predefined order parameters such as symbol, direction, order type and more, allowing other traders to instantly react to market opportunities and place real orders.

Price alert – a notification feature in cTrader that alerts traders when a symbol price reaches a specified level, helping monitor market movements without constant chart observation.