Building your practice
Platforms: cTrader and TradingView
4 min
Beyond MetaTrader, two platforms are worth knowing: cTrader for execution and TradingView for charting and analysis. Many traders end up using more than one.
cTrader
A modern trading platform built around transparent, ECN-style execution.
- Clean, modern interface and fast order entry, with level-2 depth of market shown clearly.
- Favoured by traders who care about execution quality and tight raw spreads.
- Automated trading via cBots, written in C# (the cAlgo/Automate environment) — more approachable than MQL for those who know mainstream languages.
- Supported by fewer brokers than MetaTrader, so availability can be the deciding factor.
TradingView
Primarily a charting and analysis platform — and the de facto standard for it — accessible in any browser.
- The best charting experience available: huge indicator library, clean drawing tools, and a strong social/idea-sharing community.
- Custom indicators and strategies in its own Pine Script language, easy to learn.
- Works across every asset class — forex, stocks, crypto, futures — in one place.
- Trade execution is available through connected brokers, but many traders use it purely for analysis and execute elsewhere.
A common setup
A very typical professional arrangement is TradingView for analysis and charting, paired with MetaTrader or cTrader for execution at a regulated broker. There is no single "best" platform — match the tool to the job, and let your broker's support and your own workflow decide.
This content is for educational and informational purposes only and is not investment, financial, tax or legal advice. Trading and investing carry risk, including the possible loss of capital. Any performance shown by third-party tools is hypothetical and not a promise of future results. Do your own research and consider professional advice before making any decision.