Welcome back to the C-Suite, a once a month interview where we talk to leading executives from around the retail trading industry. This time we’re speaking to Ilia Iarovitcyn – the CEO of Spotware, the company behind the cTrader platform.
cTrader recently won Best Trading Platform MEA at the iFX Expo Dubai 2025, on the back of its latest update – cTrader 5.0. We talk through what the latest updates were and why they’re proving popular with brokers and IBs.
You recently launched cTrader 5.0. Can you talk through what you think are the most significant new features in the platform?
One of the main developments, and one that we’re most proud of, is the launch of free algo hosting, with cloud-hosted execution.
We’ve had cBots, which are essentially automated trading strategies, for a long time. But the latest update means that you can acquire another cTrader user’s cBot or set one up yourself and have it run across any platform. So if you launch a cBot on mobile, it will also run on desktop.
Free cloud execution is a game-changer, providing seamless 24/7 operation of your cBot strategies without the need for third-party VPS solutions. With one-click cloud deployment directly from the mobile app, you gain unparalleled convenience and efficiency. This ensures your trading robots are always running, fully optimised, and accessible anytime, anywhere.
Another new addition to the platform are third-party plugins that can be used for things like algo and manual trading or customising the cTrader interface. We are already seeing some really interesting developments here, like traders integrating different charting formats into the platform and making customisations to panels and other parts of the overall user interface. It’s already expanding the way people use cTrader, which is what we wanted.
There were also some updates that were more relevant for IBs. I know a lot of our audience are always thinking about their partners, so can you explain more about these?
Sure, there are a few new features in this area.
One is that you have a new set of ‘invite’ tools. An IB can very effectively acquire new referrals by using bots, plugins, and indicators as marketing tools. It also makes it much easier for them to market a brokerage brand, particularly as this functionality also works for brokers own branded apps.
Another significant update for IBs and affiliates is the ‘Multiple Strategies’ widget. This allows an IB to collate different strategies from third-party providers, which they can then put into the widget. This widget can then be shared with existing or potential clients to drive more trading volume.
Something that cTrader has historically emphasised is on stopping fraud. In other words, there are features that stop the end client from being abused. Can you talk through what that means in practice?
There are several features within cTrader that protect traders using the platform. On a company level, we make any client that onboards with us go through a strict KYC process. We don’t let bad actors use our technology.
More importantly, there are no ‘plugins’ or other tools that companies can use to manipulate trades or in any way prevent traders from profitable trading activity.
Similarly, a broker cannot amend your trade without you knowing. For example, a cTrader broker cannot delete a deal, position, or any transaction, like scam brokers do on other platforms.
Another key factor here is that cTrader is hosted on Spotware’s cloud. This means they cannot do anything on the server end that would impact your trading activity as a client.
I always feel bad for tech providers as it seems like your work is never done – you always have to add new features. Maybe this will be an annoying question as a result, but do you have more new products and features in development at the moment?
cTrader has always embraced the idea of being the ‘Open Trading Platform’, meaning we encourage integrations with third-parties because that ultimately gives traders the products and technology they want.
That relates to our current product roadmap because what we ultimately envision cTrader becoming is something like a technology stack where brokers and traders use the platform’s backend but with whatever kind of customisation they want on the front end. We have already worked with large brokers on this, who have been able to build some great products as a result.
Without going into the specifics, what we are working on at the moment is a set of multi-platform plugins based on Webview technology, with a particular focus on Android and iOS.
The other product we are working to enhance further is the cTrader Store.
The store isn’t new but one of the things we are doing here is adding new features to make sure IBs play a much larger role in it than they already do, primarily by making it very simple for them to share and offer different algo strategies and plugins with clients.
How do you actually decide, ‘ok, we are going to make product or feature x’ and then roll it out efficiently?
There are now more than 8m individuals with an account on cTrader. Ultimately those people provide feedback and requests that we can use to develop the platform.
The same applies to the brokers and props we work with, who often act as a conduit between us and the end traders’ requests for new features.
Having said that, we also run a lot of online communities and are about to launch our own Discord Server.
These communities allow us to interact directly with traders using cTrader and make changes on the back of the feedback they give and discussions they have.
In terms of product roll out, we always run rigorous Beta testing programmes before making any new product or feature ‘live’. Usually those tests result in us fine tuning products before they are ultimately released.
How do you figure out what features are worth pursuing and which are not?
In general, I would say that you have a gut level understanding of whether a request is good or not when you first hear it.
But when you have so many traders using your platform, it means you also tend to see lots of people asking for similar things. When that happens, it’s usually a product or feature worth looking at.
Is there ever a big difference between what brokers and props want, compared to end traders?
Brokers and props usually have more technical requests that almost always benefit the trader, even if the reason behind it isn’t immediately clear to them.
For example, the fact we are cloud-based, have 24/7 support, and have invested millions in making sure we have uninterrupted up time and fast execution is something brokers and props appreciate.
But let’s say I am a trader in China. All I want is a stable service and fast execution. I don’t necessarily know what is needed to make that happen but I can see when it isn’t.
So brokers and props understand why what we do is important. The end client may not know the technical details underpinning what we do, but they are happy because they get what they want, namely no outages and fast execution.
Having said that, brokers also want things that are more about managing their business. So the new IB features in cTrader 5.0 are designed for brokers and props to help their partners get more traders.
cTrader also automatically scales its infrastructure to meet the specific needs of each broker. This ensures excellent trading platform performance regardless of the number of traders, positions, or other factors. In other words, brokers don’t need to worry about managing infrastructure for their trading platform at all. That benefits the end trader indirectly but it’s something brokers understand more concretely.
On the trader’s side, you obviously get a lot more requests for trading features. So if you look at the latest update, there are those improvements to charting tools and algo trading enhancements, which are what traders have been requesting.
What do you see as the main features those two groups – companies using cTrader and the end traders – will be looking for or using in 2025?
Many of our existing features continue to be what brokers and props find attractive. So that’s things like being able to scale in terms of accounts, symbols, and client groups, without seeing a commensurate increase in your technology expenses. We are also seeing consistent demand for account management and risk management tools, which are part of the cTrader package.
If I go back to cTrader 5.0 specifically, the latest updates reflect what brokers, props, and their end clients want today. Brokers and props always want more tools to onboard and retain clients and the new features for IBs and the cTrader Store will help them do that. Traders increasingly want algo trading tools, a strong mobile app offering, and the ability to customise their UI.
The latest updates do that too.Thanks to our community, we have a clear view of requests and trends. For example, in the cTrader Help Center, traders can already learn how to create a cBot using AI tools like ChatGPT. In upcoming releases, we plan to add support for Python, making Algo development on our platform accessible to an even wider audience of developers.
