Automated Trading
Run your first cBot on a demo account
Start with a demo account and a cBot whose rules you understand. Your first objective is to verify its setup and behaviour, including the occasions when it should not trade.
What an instance means
The cBot is the program; an instance is one configured run of that program. Its account determines where orders go, its symbol determines the market it operates on, and its period supplies the chart bars used by period-based logic. Parameters are inputs defined by the developer, such as an average length or maximum spread.
A period of H1 does not necessarily mean “one trade per hour”. A cBot may react to ticks, completed bars or other events. Read its specification and confirm how it uses the selected period. Record the settings so you can reproduce the run.
Prepare and start on desktop
- In cTrader Windows or Mac, select the demo trading account and open Algo. Locate the installed tool in cBots and add or select an instance.
- Choose the account, symbol and period. Check the exact broker symbol, including any suffix. Review every parameter, especially volume units, stops, position limits and trading hours.
- Choose local or cloud execution where available. For a first run, use the environment supported by the developer; a local success does not prove cloud compatibility.
- Start the instance and confirm that its state changes to running. Watch the instance’s log output and the account’s Positions, Orders and History. Record the start time and the settings.
- Stop the instance using its stop control when you finish. Inspect open positions and pending orders separately. Stopping a cBot does not by itself guarantee that its trades are closed; that depends on its programmed stop behaviour.
Local or cloud execution?
A local instance runs on your Windows or Mac computer. The app, computer and connection must remain available; sleep or closing the app interrupts local execution. A cloud instance runs independently of your device and can be managed through Windows, Mac, Web or Mobile.
Cloud compatibility needs its own check. The environment is Linux-based, so Windows-only libraries and desktop interfaces cannot simply be moved across. External dependencies must meet cTrader’s packaging requirements; HTTP requests are not sent in the documented cloud environment. File-based state can be lost when an instance restarts. Consult the current requirements for the features your cBot uses.
Cloud instance allowances and demo runtime limits can vary by broker. Check the current cloud documentation and the status shown in your app instead of assuming a demo run will continue indefinitely. Custom chart indicators are not cloud instances.
Read activity before changing anything
Logs can show startup, parameter checks, signals, order responses and exceptions, depending on what the developer recorded. Compare log times with the instance symbol and account activity. A running status confirms execution has started; it does not prove that an entry condition occurred or that an order was accepted.
Check that another instance or manual trade is not producing the activity you see. Where available, use the cBot’s labels and recorded order or position identifiers to trace its own actions. Avoid launching a second instance merely because the first is quiet.
If nothing happens
Wait for the event required by the rules, such as a completed bar or a new crossover. Check market hours, historical bars, parameter values and any existing-position restriction. Use the troubleshooting sequence to separate “no signal” from a rejected order or stopped program.
After any code or parameter change, restart the evaluation deliberately and record what changed. Keep the original settings and evidence; otherwise it becomes difficult to tell whether a fix changed the cause or merely moved the test to a different market condition.