With Level II Pricing, cTrader by Spotware is the leading platform for expert currency traders. The top cTrader forex brokers offering the platform include FxPro, IC Markets and Pepperstone.
Updated: 01/04/2021
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Our April 2021 cTrader broker comparison for currency trading found determined the following winners
FxPro is Compare Forex Brokers top-rated forex broker offering Spotware’s cTrader CFD trading platform for the following reasons
1) Non-Dealing Desk Intervention Model For Best Prices – Hybrid Dealing Model Tight Spreads
2) Fast Execution Speed With cTrader – Avg execution time < 11.6ms – 82% of Trades have no slippage, 9% positive slippage – No requotes 99.32% of the time, Positive requotes 0.32%
3) Advanced Technical Analysis Tool – Trading Central integrated with cTrader
FxPro is a ‘No Dealing Desk’ broker (NDD) which means traders will get the following benefits when trading:
FxPro’s price engine execute clients’ orders with No Dealing Desk intervention using its unique hybrid execution model. With the FxPro no dealing desk intervention model, forex prices are sourced from a deep pool of tier-1 banks to bring you a volume-weighted average price (VWAP) which means the market order price will be the average and the best available price at the time. FxPro will then either internally match the liquidity price or hedge externally with liquidity providers using STP. This execution means all client orders are filled without any human intervention.
All trade orders are executed at FxPro’s Equinix Datacenters – LD5 in London and AM4 in Amsterdam, which are both co-located and cross fibre connected with tier 1 liquidity providers. By placing trading servers at the same Equinix data centres used by its liquidity providers, FxPro is able to complete most orders in under 11.06 millisecond (ms).
Fast trading execution is critical for reducing the opportunity for slippage, which means traders have a better chance of opening and closing with the quoted price and avoiding partial orders.
Among the many awards the broker has received over the years, we should mention the ones related to its execution engine:
FxPro has a partnership with the award-winning Trading Central which allows you to automate technical and fundamental analysis directly through the cTrader forex trading platform.
Trading Central is one of the premier providers of analysis charts, pattern recognition software of analysis views, and daily industry news on Web TV. These features help you identify real-time profitable trading opportunities.
FxPro is authorized to operate in a number of jurisdictions:
Overall, FxPro is the best NDD forex broker that allows traders direct market access. The cTrader trading platform enables traders worldwide to trade in a transparent ECN environment. With forex clients from over 170 countries, FxPro will hold your money in segregated accounts with tier-one banks. Give FxPro a try by clicking the button below.
View FxPro Review >>Visit FxPro >>
The overall rating is based on review by our experts
Compare Forex Brokers consider Pepperstone to offer the best trading experience overall when using cTrader trading platform for the following reasons:
1) Low Trading Costs – Tight spreads and commissions of 0.0035% of the base currency (i.e. if you are trading the EUR/USD, you will pay €3.50 per side for every 100,000 traded).
2) Pepperstone Execution Speed – no.1 for market order / 2nd for limit order speed
3) Multi-Regulated Broker – Tier 1 regulations in The UK, Asia, Australia, Africa
Low trading costs are critical for profitable trading, as they can add up a surprising amount with regular trading such as scalping and when high-volume trading. One of the key trading costs to look for is low or tight spreads. Pepperstone has a Razor (cTrader) account which uses STP trading execution to bring you ECN pricing.
A comparison of brokers offering STP trading that publish their average spreads on their website found Pepperstone offers some of the lowest spreads for multiple major currency pairs. While some brokers offer better spreads for particular currency pairs, if you are looking to trade multiple currency pairs, Pepperstone is a solid option.
Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 02/04/2021
Pepperstone not only offers some of the best spreads among forex brokers that offer cTrader, they also offer some of the best ECN pricing among all brokers.
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Another important trading cost is commission, commission costs with cTrader work differently to MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 account trading accounts. Pepperstone commission cost with their cTrader account is based on 0.0035% of the base currency that is being traded. So if you open your position with 100,000 of EUR/USD or AUD/NZD then the commission the trading cost will be €3.50 EUR or $3.50 AUD and an additional €3.50 EUR or $3.50 AUD when you close your position.
The foreign exchange market is moving up fairly quickly, and it requires very fast buying and selling. Due to the fast-paced electronic markets, day traders and scalpers need to have access to fast order execution and Pepperstone provides the best trading infrastructure to achieve this.
By placing servers at Equinix data centres in London and New York where some of the biggest liquidity providers are located, Pepperstone is able to guarantee ultra-fast execution speeds for both market orders and limit orders. Pepperstone advertises forex trading with:
Speed testing in 2020 using MetaTrader demo accounts with other brokers that have similar STP and ECN trading execution found Pepperstone had a market execution speed of 85ms which put them among the best speeds for brokers tested. Fast execution is important for reducing slippage, reducing rejections and completing fills.
In a similar vein, testing of limit order execution speed found Pepperstone is able to boast speeds of 100ms. Pepperstone’s market order execution speed is slightly faster than the limit order execution speed.
Pepperstone offers global tier-1 regulation with award-winning customer service.
Pepperstone is a well respected Australian Forex broker that aims for the highest trading standard for its clients and backs this up with Tier-1 regulators. Common practices these regulators apply include keeping your funds in segregated accounts with a ‘tier-1’ bank, protocols to protect your personal details and product disclosure statements so clients know what their expectation should be when using brokers products.
Pepperstone has the following regulation:
When trading with Pepperstone there is a minimum deposit requirement of USD $200 however this is not always enforced. Pepperstone offers a wide range of funding methods however these methods will vary by region.
The Pepperstone customer support team has strong knowledge about the cTrader. They can be contacted 24/5 via live chat, phone, and email to answer any trading related questions. Customer support features are extensive and include dedicated account managers for high-volume traders, online education library to learn all things about trading and webinars so you can interact with others when learning. All these features are why Pepperstone is one of the most awarded brokers for customer services. Awards Pepperstone have won include:
Overall, among all the forex brokers reviewed that offer the cTrader platform, the Australian-based broker Pepperstone is our first choice. Forex traders that want to open a cTrader account only need a minimum deposit of USD/GBP 200 or equivalent. Start your journey in the foreign exchange market by clicking the button below.
View Pepperstone Review >>Visit Pepperstone >>
1) The Tightest Spreads And Largest Currency Pair Range – 56% Of Currency Pairs Have Lowest Spreads – Choice of 65 Currency Pairs
2) Low Commission Rates And No Hidden Fees – $3 USD (Converted To Base Currency) per 100,000 USD traded – No Hidden Fees – No Deposit And Withdrawal Fees
3) Fast Trading Execution – Fast Execution For Best Trading
4) Copy Trading – cAlgo For cTrader – cTrader Copy
The IC Markets cTrader Raw Spread accounts have a 0.0 pip spread for the EURUSD 62% of the time. Of the Brokers offering cTrader, IC Markets offer the lowest published average spread for EURUSD along with other popular pairs such as EUR/GBP, GBP/USD and USD/SGD.
IC Markets Offers 65 major, minor and exotic currency pairs, traded with leverage of up to 1:500. The broker’s Raw Spread trading account allows for ultra-low spreads, starting from 0.0 pips on EUR/USD. The margin requirement for Forex trading is 0.2%
IC Market not only offers some of the best spreads when it comes to cTraders, but they also offer some of the best for all brokers.
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IC Markets commission when using cTrader is $3.00 USD per 100,000 units per side. This spot price will be applied when converting the $3.00 USD to the base currency being traded. For example, if you trade AUD/USD then $3.00 need to be converted to $AUD.
Other Trading Fees
IC Markets has no fees from their end when making deposits or withdrawals from your account. Funding methods include Credit Cards, Debit Cards, PayPal, Skrill, BPAY FasaPay. The only fee that will be charged is a $20 fee for international transfer however all brokers will charge this as its fee charged by the banks. When making a deposit there is a minimum $200 USD.
IC Markets also have no hidden fees. For example, many brokers charge monthly, semi-yearly and annual fees for inactive accounts. IC Markets have no inactivity fees.
What IC Markets, one of the best cTrader brokers globally, offers is a Forex trading solution that combines high-speed performance and deep liquidity. The average order execution speed as measured from IC Market’s servers to the client cTrader terminal is under 40 milliseconds.
Its cTrader platform grants access to the full depth of the market, which means all executable prices derived directly from the brokerage’s liquidity providers, are visualized. Forex traders will be able to observe the available volumes for every price level at any time, no matter which currency pairs they have selected.
IC Markets has its cTrader server located in the LD5 IBX Equinix Data Centre (London) and, thus, it is able to offer clients an exceptionally fast order execution. The IC Markets servers have the following advantages:
Note: IC Markets cTrader platform is quite appropriate for high-frequency trading as well as for scalping.
Among the best cTrader brokers we reviewed, IC Markets allow access to the widest range of tradable markets through its trading platforms, including MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. Clients can choose from 7 tradable asset classes:
IC Markets offers (like all cTrader brokers) offer cAlgo (now called cTrader Automate) which is software used to give cTrader automation capabilities. If you are looking to develop your own algorithmic trading and technical indicator, using c# cAlgo will allow you to do this. cAlgo also allows you to backtest your strategies.
Unlike most brokers, IC Markets also offers cTrader Copy (formerly called cMirror). The other brokers that offer cTrader Copy include Fondex, OctaFX and OMF. As the name implies, cTrader Copy is a copy trading software that allows traders and investors to copy the strategies of other traders from anyone using cTrader platform.
With over 15 billion worth of FX transactions processed on a daily basis, IC Markets claims the first spot for the best forex broker. Forex traders can choose between 3 different trading accounts with a minimum deposit of USD 200, but only the cTrader account is designed to offer the Spotware cTrader platform. Sign up for free by clicking the button below.
Compare Forex Brokers consider OctaFX to be a great option using cTrader for their swap-free account. Pro with OctaFX include:
1) Swap-Fee Trading Account For Islamic Traders
2) Copy Trading Through cTrader – Copy trade through cTrader with cTrader Copy
3) Fund Security With OctaFx – Negative Balance Protection and low slippage
Swap-Fee Trading Account For Islamic Traders
OctaFX is among the best cTrader brokers offering swap-free accounts designed for Muslim traders. Under the Sharia law, forex traders of Islamic belief are forbidden to charge or get paid interest rate.
OctaFX was awarded the Best Islamic Account Forex Broker in 2015. Designed specifically for Muslim clients, the Islamic Account no swap/interest charges for active positions held overnight. Instead of a swap, there is a fixed fee applied, which depends on the direction of a trader’s position.
For example, when trading 1 Standard Lot in EUR/USD on the MT4 Micro Account with USD as a base account currency, OctaFX clients will pay a fixed fee of USD 1.9 for a short position, or a fixed fee of USD 2.1 for a long position.
When trading 1 Standard Lot in EUR/USD on the cTrader ECN Account with the US dollar as a base account currency, clients will pay a weekly rollover fee of USD 20.
OctaFx client using cTrader need to select the ECN account. OctaFX swap-free accounts come with an additional fixed commission that is calculated as follows:
Commission = pip price * swap value of the currency pair
The cTrader ECN Account allows for commission-based trading with floating spreads of as low as 0.0 pips, with no markup. Clients can trade currency pairs with a maximum leverage of 1:500 and Metals with a maximum leverage of 1:200.
Prior to opening a live account, clients can do some practice on OctaFX’s risk-free Demo Account by trading in real market conditions with virtual funds. This way they can get accustomed to the broker’s trading platform and test various trading strategies with a peace of mind.
OctaFX offers a revolutionary social trading service through cTrader copy trading. OctaFX Copytrading is designed to offer:
Note* Forex social trading allows copy trading from a Master account to more Follower accounts. Additionally, you can learn trading strategies from more experienced traders. OctaFX main competitors in the social trading arena are eToro and ZuluTrade.
OctaFX is among the Forex brokers that allow clients to follow and copy the trading performance of top traders by accessing its copy trading feature.
Once they have funded their trading account with the broker, clients can filter through different leading traders by using parameters such as expertise rank, achieved gain, number of copiers or commission. A simple click on a top trader’s icon will reveal additional information about his/her trading activity and account specifications.
OctaFX offer guaranteed negative balance protection, which means that if your account balance goes into negative, then it will be readjusted back to zero. OctaFX will commence margin call when your account equity falls below 25% and stop out from 15%.
The broker has very fast execution with 97.5% of orders executed without slippage, which means your account is less likely to go into negative due to slow latency.
Based on our methodology of ranking forex brokers, OctaFX offers the best Islamic Forex accounts with no swaps. Even if you’re not a trader of Muslim faith, you can choose to trade on 3 different swap-free accounts. OctaFX will grant you a withdrawable deposit bonus that will boost your account up to 50%.
1) Use cTrader With Standard Account – Only Broker With No Commission (spread-only) Account For cTrader – Lowest minimum deposit – Highest available leverage with cTrader (1:2000)
2) cTrader ECN has Lowest Commissions – cTrader Commissions from 20 / mio (0.2 per USD million)
3) Risk Management Tools – Negative Balance Protection
Most brokers that offer cTrader only offer ECN style accounts with a commission based on how much you trade. Robo Forex is one of only two brokers that offer a spread only (commission-free) cTrader account.
This account is called the Pro-Standard Account. With this account, Robo Forex clients can choose from 8 asset classes including 36 currency pairs and CFDs on the US stock market, equity indices, metals, oil and 26 cryptocurrency pairs.
The Compare Forex Brokers Team is only are of only one other broker that offers a spread only account with cTrader. This broker is Axiory who offers a choice of two standard account types. This is the Standard account and the Max account. The difference between the two accounts is the Standard account permit leverage up to 1:400 while the Max account allows leverage up to 1:500. Spreads are wider for the Max account.
The Robo Forex Pro-Standard account has two main advantages of the Axiory accounts. These are leverage can go up to 1:2000 and have a minimum deposit of only USD 10 / EUR 10, which is less than USD 100 required by Axiory.
Robo Forex also offers a commission-based cTrader account. This is known as the ECN account. This account uses STP and ECN trading execution so has tighter spreads than standard style accounts. Commission for this account is USD 20 for each USD million traded each way. This is equal to $2 for each $100,000 traded. Unlike the Pro-Standard Account, leverage is limited to 1:500. Minimum deposit is USD 10 / EUR 10.
Among the cTrader forex brokers we reviewed, RoboForex was handpicked for providing negative balance protection. All forex brokers and CFD brokers that operate under the ESMA trading rules are required to offer Negative Balance Protection (NBP). Trading high-risk leveraged products can result in disproportionate losses which can exceed the initial funds deposited. RoboForex negative balance protection limits the losses to the account balance and is offered to all clients regardless of where in the world you are located. Other brokers such as cTrader broker such as Pepperstone, IC Markets and FxPro only offer guaranteed negative balance protection to clients in the UK and Europe is this is required by CySEC and FCA regulation.
RoboForex Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Belize-based International Financial Services Commission (IFSC). The company is an “A” category member of The Financial Commission, an independent self-regulatory organization and external dispute resolution body, and also participates in the Commission’s Compensation Fund.
RoboForex is among the Forex brokers, which have a negative balance protection policy in place. Since CFD and Forex trading is associated with a high risk of capital losses due to leverage, having such a risk management feature at their disposal enables traders to focus solely on their market analysis and strategies.
In certain market conditions (high volatility, for example) it is possible a trader’s account balance to suddenly turn negative. In such a case, RoboForex will automatically compensate him/her and bring their account balance back to zero. In other words, with a negative balance protection policy in place, the trader’s total risk is limited to the amount he/she deposits into his/her trading account with the broker.
To avoid a negative balance, it is highly recommended that clients be very attentive to their position size, their number of active positions and number of orders placed through their account. Additionally, using Stop Loss orders reasonably is another way for clients to protect their capital.
RoboForex has ensured an additional layer of safety for its clients by implementing a Civil Liability insurance program for a limit of EUR 5,000,000. RoboForex provides:
“market-leading coverage against omissions, fraud, errors, negligence, and other risks that may lead to financial losses of clients.”
Overall, RoboForex offers 0% commission for deposits and withdrawals on 5 different account types that safeguarded with negative balance protection. Forex traders can enjoy professional trading conditions with a minimum deposit of USD 10 and leverage up to 2000:1 (exclusive to the Pro-Standard account).
FiboGroup tops the rank for the best cTrader forex brokers with low commissions. All forex transactions come with a type of fee. Forex brokers will normally charge traders for using their services, one or a combination of these 3 types of fees:
Commission charges vary from broker to broker, and based on our review, FiboGroup zero commission trading can save you on the transaction costs.
Financial Intermarket Brokerage Online Group (Fibo Group) was founded in 1998 and still has its headquarters located in the British Virgin Islands. With offices in Vienna, Limassol, Shanghai, Singapore, Munich, Kyiv and Astana to support the broker’s global operations, Fibo Group offers:
FIBO Group Ltd is licensed and regulated by the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (FSC).
At the same time, to bolster its offering, become compliant with stricter regulatory standards and gain access to EU clientele, the company established another entity in the Republic of Cyprus, FIBO Group Holdings Ltd, which is authorized and regulated by the CySEC.
Among the regulated cTrader brokers our team reviewed, Fibo Group offers the most competitive commissions on its no dealing desk (NDD) trading accounts.
FiboGroup is a provider of Spotware cTrader platform that offers 6 main account types:
FIBOGroup offers 3 trading accounts with zero commission trading and 3 trading accounts with low commissions. The wide range of account types ensures that all forex traders will find something to fit its needs.
TradersWay offers accounts that can be opened with no minimum initial deposit or with as little as USD 10 for the ECN accounts. Forex brokers with low minimum deposit are suitable for novice traders who want to get their feet wet in the global foreign exchange market.
Established in 2011 and based in Dominica, TradersWay is an STP Forex broker offering online trading services for both beginners and experienced traders. This offshore brokerage is not regulated because in Dominica there are no regulatory agencies that rule over the financial sector.
Note: Trader’s Way is not regulated by any reputable Forex regulatory body across the globe!
Among the leading cTrader brokers we reviewed, TradersWay requires the lowest minimum deposit to open a live account.
The brokerage offers a plethora of account types that suit any skill level or risk preference:
Forex traders can keep their transaction costs down if they opt for a trading account with Trader’s Way. Trader’s Way offer commission-free trading on ECN environment and tight variable spreads. Buying and selling forex currency pairs with no commission can save you money in the long run.
View Trader’s Way >>Visit Trader’s Way >>
cTrader is the second most popular forex trading platform used by a large number of forex brokers based on key benefits, including:
Most of the time, timing is everything. The success of your trade will depend on how fast you can fill your order, and with cTrader, orders are filled in just milliseconds.
cTrader also supports simultaneous order processing – so if you’re entering several trades at once, there’s no order queue. Simple, smart, fast.
One click and double click trading are available from the top of every chart. Together with cTrader’s lightning-fast execution speeds, this gives you the fastest possible market entry option.
cTrader’s depth of market shows the full range of executable prices coming directly from liquidity providers.
Orders are filled against the full order book using Volume Weighted Average Price (VWAP).
cTrader gives you all the tools you’ll need for effective technical analysis, including common trend indicators, oscillators, volatility measures and line drawings, all accessible from directly within the chart.
Objects and indicators are easy to plot, modify and move, and our studies automatically adjust to your chart’s timeframe and zoom level.
cTrader offers a full range of orders to maximise your trading options.
Market orders, limit orders, stop orders and other rare order types such as market-range orders are available to help you make smarter trading choices.
cTrader charting is packed with features to suit the needs of any and all traders. Get the view of the market you need, when you need it with our different presentation modes, layouts and customizable templates.
Don’t miss your entry – identify trade opportunities with cTrader’s extensive indicator library. You can even build your own custom indicators in C#, download other custom indicators, and combine indicators together by using one to reference another.
With cTrader, your charts are also your best trading tool.
Using simple click-and-drag functionality, you can open and close orders, as well as modify stop losses, take profits and limit order entries. You can also see your profit and loss for each trade in pips and base currency from within the charts.
cTrader charts feature 26 time frames, including 2 Minute, 4 Minute and 12 Hour charts, to suit different trading strategies and help traders develop a market price projection.
You can also view charts on 6 different zoom levels for an in-depth or bird’s-eye view of currency price action.
ChartShots is a great way to share ideas, trading examples, and technical analysis strategies with other traders.
Set up your chart and click once with the ChartShots tool to open the image in a unique URL with multiple sharing options available. You can embed the chart directly into your web page or blog, or post it straight to your Facebook, Twitter or any of 300+ social networking sites.
Normally operating as two independent platforms, cTrader and our algorithmic trading platform, cAlgo, work effortlessly together to provide a seamless trading experience between manual and automated trading.
The platforms share chart templates and accounts (the same account can log in to both), and one is always easily accessible from the other.
Our Proxy connection settings allow for easy connectivity from any location, bypassing corporate or public firewalls which can often disrupt connection to trading platform servers and other services.
Traders using our algorithmic trading platform cAlgo can create their own custom indicators for use in manual or automated trading. Developers can specify any parameters and visual styles for the indicators.
Developed in C#, the cAlgo allows trading with robots that can be traded or developed. cTrader allows full back-testing so algorithms can be simulated based on past market movements. The cTrader website also offers bots to download. Traders can view how many have been downloaded and test them on the market. Indicators can also be downloaded from the cTrader website to help charting and to spot trends. This is the ideal forex trading platform tool.
cTrader is currently available in 14 different languages.
Supported languages include:
Justin Grossbard has been investing for the past 20 years and writing for the past 10. He co-founded Compare Forex Brokers in 2014 after working with the foreign exchange trading industry for several years. He also founded a number of FinTech and digital startups including Innovate Online and SMS Comparison. Justin holds a Masters Degree and an Honours in Commerce from Monash University. He and his wife Paula live in Melbourne, Australia with his son and Siberian cat. In his spare time, he watches Australian Rules Football and invests on global markets.
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