Review: cTrader 3 - Spotware trading platform

It's here - the cTrader 3 trading platform is available for download from today. From official information about the upcoming update Spotware's flagship product exactly one week has passed. It is today that the new version marked with the symbol "3" debuted. A small revolution was to be expected from preliminary reports. Is that also the case? We invite you to read our review.

Read: Review of the cTrader 2 transaction platform

cTrader 3 - the long-awaited update

Although about 8 years have passed since the debut of the platform, the Cypriot company did not slow down throughout this time. Updates were released on a regular basis, and each of them usually brought many new, innovative options. However, we have reached a level where the multitude of functionalities began to disturb, and the software has grown into several separate applications. The constant addition of more goodies could be compared to the Jenga arcade game - as you add new levels, the risk of the structure collapsing increases. And cTrader was slowly approaching this stage.

In order to maintain the functionality of using it, it was necessary to "renovate" it, so that the users themselves would not get lost in the available solutions.

cTrader 3, or three in one

The main change announced by Spotware was to be merged into one cTrader application as well cAlgo (actually already Automate). cAlgo so far it was a separately installed platform for creating, operating and testing automated strategies. Such a division was certainly not very convenient for traders and you had to do something about it.

In addition to merging cTrader with cAlgo, the module was added on the occasion Analyze, used to analyze investment results. Thanks to it, we can monitor the history of our transactions and changes in the account balance much more precisely.

The developers created three modules in one and, consequently, decided to add a new menu to the left side of cTrader - a vertical bar with the function of switching between the mentioned functionalities. Is this the optimal solution? This will probably be determined by the individual needs of each trader. If someone does not use automated strategies, this is the benefit of quick access to cTradera Automate it will not matter to him.

The new vertical menu bar permanently took up additional workspace - in the name of three buttons and bringing the platform settings options to the top. As a result, most of this space is simply empty these days. But it is possible that the authors of the software have further plans for it, and we will see this in future updates :-).

We are still waiting for the addition of the fourth module for copying orders - CMIRROR - which will eventually be renamed to cTrader Copy. Its temporary lack may result from the broker we have chosen for the test - FxPro. But we will certainly test this module for you in the near future, sharing our impressions in a separate article.

Simply switching between tabs could be more efficient. At least in my case, the operation of the transition between the commercial part and Automate, Czy Analyze, gives the effect of freezing the platform for about 2 seconds.

cAlgo -> Automate

The automatic part was renamed from cAlgo to Automate, but otherwise little has changed. But is it wrong in this case? Probably not :-). Of major changes: expanded Visual Studio, and added to the API support for Stop Limit orders, TS parameter, event handling and several others - more details. Developers should be satisfied.

Analyze - account history

A complete novelty to help users monitor their results. Partially Analyze We get a sack of statistics, where we can analyze the results, broken down by symbols, time interval, and the entire account. In total, we have up to 7 modules. This is a place with much more accurate statistics, which traders more and more often require.

MetaTrader or xStation 5 have similar functionality. Did Spotware do it better than competitors? I would like to write that yes. But I have the feeling that it was all gone, and it looked even nicer. I have the feeling that the introduction of this function is not an innovation that cTrader is famous for, but simply an attempt to catch up with competitors.

Changes in the interface

Traders with a conservative approach lack of radical changes in appearance should be pleased. There are not too many modifications, and those that have been introduced properly do not require changes to existing habits.

In addition to the introduction of the aforementioned new menu bar on the left, the platform layout has been balanced by flipping the toolbar on the right side above the graph in the default layout (although it can still be moved to the "old" location).

There was a curious situation when testing the 3.0 version and changing the toolbar location. The bar has moved, but to the module Automate, as a result of which I had two identical toolbars in this module and not one in the trade window, with no possibility of moving it back.

So far, at the top of the platform, in the menu, we had as many as 23 buttons with various functions - from changing the language, through platform settings and placing new orders, to access to settings or FIX API. It was decided to relieve this bar of functions to a large extent - as a result, we only have 8 buttons on the top. The rest were meticulously buried with additional tabs.

The menu from the lower left corner, where 4 buttons were previously available, has disappeared: Trade Accounts, IB Center, Fund Management, FIX API. All of these functions were duplicated or moved directly to the broker's site, so it was probably considered unnecessary.

Less key news

There are more modifications introduced by Spotware, but in my opinion they are extremely unimportant. What still deserves attention is the introduction of new tick intervals. The current range allows us to choose one of 27 values ​​in the range from 1 tika to 1000 tics. Why was it not decided to create independent TFs? It is not known. It's a pity.

Summary of cTrader 3 - Great or stagnant?

The changes are visible and can be felt after a short use of the platform. But does this update deserve a completely new designation, going from "2" to "3"? I have some doubts about that. The new version is not a revolution that could have an effect "Wow". This is a necessity forced by the developers themselves. If you expect more, unique innovations, a completely new interface, or even a refreshed look, then you will probably be disappointed. If cTrader is your main platform, after a short while you will appreciate the introduced modifications, but after a long time you will not be able to even indicate the differences between the 2 and 3 versions :-).

Polish language version. In his eyes he pricks a very random translation of phrases in Polish, but this is certainly a matter of one of the next updates.

We look forward to the further development of Spotware!