During the four months that have passed since I had written my introductory overview of the cTrader platform, the software received several important updates from its developers. I was quite excited to find out some of the changes yesterday when I tried to convert one of my new indicators, so I think it is about time I give my opinion on them.
It is now possible to change the chart’s trading symbols retaining all the chart object and attached indicators.
Quick trade settings for handy application of SL/TP and slippage tolerance.
Built-in countdown timer till the new bar. It was previously implemented with a custom indicator, but it is much better in a form of a built-in platform’s feature.
They added tick volume and a plethora of the related volume indicators.
Optional period separators are now available to show time period borders bigger than the current timeframe. E.g. they show months on daily timeframe, weeks on H4 and so on.
Deal map to explore trading and backtesting history directly on chart — cTrader’s implementation is much more informative than MetaTrader’s one.
Daily change in pips and percentage is now visible upon mouse-over on trading symbols in the Market Watch window.
Chart scale to easily grasp the dimensions of the current chart, similarly to the scale on maps.
Ray chart object for convenient angle measuring.
The platform is now using UTC timezone instead of the server’s timezone. A trader may now adjust chart’s timezone to the one of his own choice. Custom indicators and robots can do that too — they can operate in the timezone given by their coder. I consider it a step forward in this field as many traders are very confused with all these timezone differences in MetaTrader (and in other platforms too).
Fibonacci expansion and Andrews’ pitchfork objects have been added. cTrader is still far from catching up with MT here.
Both trading history and backtesting results can now be exported to Excel. Although I find the HTML reports in MT4/5 much more convenient, it may be an appealing feature to many Forex traders, especially those who use Microsoft Excel in their analysis or trade logging. Moreover, exported statements now feature time detailed to milliseconds.
Ichimoku Kinko Hyo, Average True Range and Donchian Channel (incorrectly spelled as Dochian in the platform) have been added to indicator list. ATR and Ichimoku had been previously implemented as custom indicators but the latter was much worse than the current native indicator. It would have helped me a lot had it been present when I had coded my Ichimoku Chikou Cross EA for cTrader.
Custom robots and indicators can now plot trendlines (and other lines) on chart. They can also use boolean (true/false) input parameters, which I would consider a bug-fix rather than a feature.
It is now easier to code robots if you want to set stop-loss and take-profit in pips rather than in absolute price levels.
Another bug-fix feature — a discontinuous line support. It is now possible to create indicators that plot interrupted lines.
Backtesting is now possible on the maximum period of two and a half years instead of 1 year.
According to one of my polls, cTrader looks to be quite popular among traders. While MetaQuotes is spending its time and efforts on monetizing the product and protecting its financial well-being fighting “protocol infringes“, Spotware seems to be more concerned with improving their product. Yes, cTrader’s functionality is still far behind MetaTrader’s, but it is not necessary for cTrader to become yet another MetaTrader. Spotware still has a chance to create a unique platform with enough features to be a real competitor, especially if they add more trading classes to an already powerful coding language of their cAlgo — C#.
If you have some personal notions about cTrader platform and the way it is being developed, please feel free to share them using the commentary form below.
