Do cTrader Brokers Have Increased Trader Profitability?
cTrader is one of the most popular forex trading platforms although it’s still considered the underdog against its competitor MetaTrader 4. There are not many forex trading platforms out there besides those developed by brokers. Yet there are still only a few of those.
Because of its popularity, the rumour has emerged that forex traders who make use of this platform have fewer losses and produce more profits. It is not really known where such a rumour has originated. We believe there is a combination of reasons which contribute to increased trader profitability on cTrader.
- cTrader was designed as an STP and ECN platform which connects directly to external liquidity sources. Not internal market-making desks.
- cTrader spend the first 6 years of its existence without any kind of dealing desk functionalities, even so, we are led to believe these features are limited to which brokers can use them.
- cTrader doesn’t allow brokers to interfere with the internal logic of the platform. Whereas brokers can easily install plugins on other trading platforms.
- All of the above factors act as a deterrent to brokers who have less than honest intentions.
For this reason, we have taken on the task to conduct some basic research. Since most brokers are required by regulators to publish statistics of their client accounts profitability ratio, we can try and assess the validity of this rumour. Let’s check the results.
Below you will find a list of forex brokers with cTrader platform as well as the percentage of loses incurred by clients of the respective broker. For good measure, we have also included brokers which do not have cTrader and have in fact built their own trading platforms.
FxPro Trader Profitability
FxPro was founded in 2006. The company is headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus. The company has operations around the globe, including a significant presence in the United Kingdom where they offer Spread Betting as well as Forex and CFD trading. FxPro operates in 173 countries and has more than 870,000 customer accounts worldwide. It is one of the most reliable brokers on the market and the very first broker to offer cTrader back in 2011. FxPro is regulated by the FCA, CySEC, FSCA, DFSA and SCB.
FxPro offers MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader. According to FxPro 77% of clients lose money.
Pepperstone Trader Profitability
Pepperstone was founded in 2010. The company is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia where the company is regulated by ASIC. Pepperstone also has a significant presence in the UK, where they are regulated by the FCA. Pepperstone also has a growing presence in Cyprus and the UAE as they actively expand operations. Pepperstone launched cTrader in 2013.
Pepperstone offers MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader. According to Pepperstone, 71.4% of clients lose money.
IC Markets Trader Profitability
IC Markets was founded in 2007. The company is headquartered in Sydney, Australia where the company is regulated by ASIC. IC Markets also has an entity regulated by the FSA in Seychelles and a significant amount of operations in Cyprus, where the broker has an inactive CySEC license.
IC Markets offers MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader. According to IC Markets, ???% of clients lose money.
Purple Trading Trader Profitability
Purple Trading was founded in 2016. The company is headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus where the company is regulated by CySEC. Purple Trading also has branches in Prague and Brno in the Czech Republic.
Purple Trading offers MetaTrader 4 and cTrader. According to Purple Trading, 73.2% of clients lose money.
Fondex Trader Profitability
Fondex is a brand that was launched in 2017. However, it is a trading name of TopFX, an institutional prime broker which has been operating since 2011. TopFX and therefore Fondex is based in Limassol, Cyprus and regulated by CySEC.
Fondex offers only the cTrader platform. According to Fondex, 73.17% of clients lose money.
Conotoxia Trader Profitability
Conotoxia was founded in 2017. Conotoxia belongs to the same group as Cinkciarz which is one of Poland’s largest money exchange platforms. Conotoxia offers forex CFD trading. The company is based in Limassol, Cyprus and is regulated by CySEC.
Conotoxia offers only the cTrader platform. According to Conotoxia, 65% of clients lose money.
Brokers with Custom Platforms
Now we have taken a look at a range of brokers which offer cTrader exclusively as well as in combination with other platforms such as MT4. Let’s explore the client profitability of other forex brokers which offer their own platforms, such as IG Markets, CMC Markets and Saxo Markets.
IG Markets Trader Profitability
IG Markets was founded in 1974 and is considered somewhat of a heritage brand in the UK online CFD and Spread Betting industry. IG Markets is based in London and listed in the London Stock Exchange. The group has physical offices all around the world. IG has its very own trading platform developed in-house. This platform handles most of the companies trading and very few clients actually use MetaTrader 4.
IG Markets offers its own custom trading platform and MetaTrader 4. According to IG Markets, 75% of clients lose money.
CMC Markets Trader Profitability
CMC Markets was founded in 1989. The company is considered a pioneer in the online trading industry for being one of the first companies ever to offer online trading over the internet. CMC is headquartered in London, regulated by the FCA, listed on the London Stock Exchange and has a global presence. The company has developed it’s own trading platform technology which is called Next Generation. Alongside their own platform, CMC offers MetaTrader 4. The company offers a wide range of investments products, which of course includes Forex, CFD and Spread Betting.
CMC Markets offers its proprietary platform called Next Generation and MetaTrader 4. According to CMC Markets, 75% of clients lose money.
Saxo Markets Trader Profitability
Saxo Markets was founded in 1992. The company is based in Copenhagen, Denmark where the firm has a banking license. Saxo has offices and licenses all around the word. The company offers two trading platforms developed in-house, these are SaxoTraderGo and SaxoTraderPro. The company doesn’t offer MetaQuotes platforms at all.
Saxo Markets only offers its own SaxoTraderGo and SaxoTraderPro platforms. According to Saxo Markets, 72% of clients lose money.
Conclusion
Looking at the above figures a very loose conclusion can be made. It might not actually be the cTrader platform itself which is preventing traders from losing money. It could actually be the MetaTrader platforms which most brokers offer that causes traders to lose money. Brokers who build or select technology that is genuinely better for the clients usually have longevity and positive customer experiences in mind.
