How does Fondex cTrader Automate Work?

Robots have been with us for a while now, not only helping us with home chores, but also - trading. In this article, we will present you with Fondex cTrader Automate - a powerful feature of Fondex cTrader Desktop application, which executes trades without you having to manually enter them yourself every time.

What is Fondex cTrader Automate?

Fondex cTrader Automate is the part of cTrader Desktop application that allows you to develop automated strategies, custom indicators as well as other helpful additions for Fondex cTrader. cTrader Automate is natively integrated with Fondex cTrader Desktop and allows you to develop your project in C#, one of the most popular programming languages in the world, as well as .NET, a very powerful framework that allows you to develop any kind of application.

How to Run a cBot

One of the basic functionalities of Fondex cTrader Automate is to allow users to run automated strategies. Even if you are not a programmer yourself, you can find and install thousands of strategies online for free or you can even have yours developed by an experienced programmer. All cBots installed and available in your Fondex cTrader, can be found in the Automate section of the platform.

As soon as you select the Automate section, you will receive a list of all the installed cBots as below

To start using any cBot, you need to create a new instance. To do so, click the plus icon (+) and select a Symbol to trade from the drop-down list or using the advanced search. You can also select Add Instance from the cBot Quick Menu by clicking on the arrow or right-clicking on a cBot. As soon as you do so, an instance with EURUSD symbol by default will be created.

The new instance of the cBot will be added below and its details will expand to the right automatically. You can adjust the instance’s parameters as per your preference.

To start a cBot click the Play button to the upper right of your cBot instance preview. Before you start your cBot, you can select a symbol to trade and set the cBot Parameters. 

To stop a cBot click the Stop button to the upper right of the cBot instance preview or to the top of the cBot chart to the right.

You can also backtest your cBot on historical data using cTrader Automate’s backtesting functionality

To backtest a cBot, select a cBot instance that you would like to test and proceed to the Backtesting tab to the right.

Define a time period for the backtesting by using the drop-down calendars or typing in the dates, or by dragging the slider between them.

Set your backtesting settings and when finished press the Play button for the backtesting to begin

You can find hundreds of cBots available for download at https://ctrader.com/algos/cbots 

How to Create a cBot

If you are an experienced programmer yourself and you want to create a new trading strategy, the process is really simple and straightforward.To create a new cBot click New to the upper right of the cBots tab. 

At the bottom of the list your new cBot will appear. You will be able to see the cBot’s code on the right side, inside the code editor. You can rename your cBot at any time by typing in the new name or by right-clicking the cBot preview and selecting Rename from the drop-down menu. Alternatively, select the cBot and press F2.

cBots are always created with a default template as displayed below

On the top, you will find some attributes for the robot such as the TimeZone and AccessRights.

The template comes with three methods commonly used in cBots, OnStart(), OnTick() and OnStop(). The OnStart() method is called when the cBot starts. The OnTick() method is called each time there is a new tick and the OnStop method is called when the cBot stops.

There are two methods that can be called by the Robots and contain the main logic of your trading strategy - the OnBar() and the OnTick() method.

By placing your code-logic inside the OnBar() method, your robot is getting called once, at the open of every bar.

By placing your code-logic inside the OnTick() method, your robot is getting called once, on every incoming tick. The OnTick() method is considered CPU intensive.

After you build your cBot successfully, you can use it as any other cBot, as described above.

How to Create a Custom Indicator

Fondex cTrader Automate can also be used to create custom indicators to be used on cTrader Desktop charts. The process to develop a new indicator is similar. First you need to create a new indicator by pressing the New button on the top right corner of the Indicators tab in Fondex cTrader Automate.

The Indicator will be created with the code from the default code template

Again, on the top, you will find some attributes for the indicator such as the TimeZone and AccessRights. Then in the body of the class, you can specify properties that will serve as the indicator’s parameters, using the Parameter attribute, as well as the indicator’s outputs, marked with the Output attribute.  In the case of the indicator there are two methods you need to implement inside your indicator, the Initialize() method and the Calculate Method.

The Initialize() method is used only once and it is handy when you need to initialize variables. In general, any variables that need to be calculated only once on start-up should be in the initialize method in order not to consume unnecessary resources.

The Calculate() method is the main method of the indicator.

It is called for each historic bar starting from the beginning of the series up to the current bar and then on each incoming tick.

In the case of multi-symbol/multi-timeframe implementation, it will be called on each tick of each symbol that is used in the indicator.

It is typically used for the calculation of an indicator based on a formula. You can check the indicator samples shipped with cTrader to understand how this method is used in other indicators.

Conclusion

Fondex cTrader Automate is a very powerful feature of cTrader that allows you to implement your own trading strategies or use third party ones. At the same time, it enables you to develop indicators as well as other handy tools making Fondex cTrader an even more powerful platform.

Shall you want to try it, simply open an account and follow the instructions as described above.

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The content provided in this material and/or any other material that this content is referred to, whether it comes from a third party or not, is for information purposes only and shall not be considered as a recommendation and/or investment advice and/or investment research and/or suggestions for performing any actions with financial products or instruments, or to participate in any particular trading strategy and cannot guarantee any profits. Past performance does not constitute a reliable indicator of future results. Fondex does not represent that the material provided here is accurate, current, or complete and therefore shouldn't be relied upon as such. This material does not take into account the reader's financial situation or investment objectives. We advise any readers of this content to seek their own advice. Without the approval of Fondex, no reproduction or redistribution of the information provided herein is permitted.