How to trade on cTrader step by step: orders, stop loss and lot size

To trade on cTrader, you log in with your cTrader ID, pick the symbol in Market Watch, open the new order window (F9), set the volume, Stop Loss and Take Profit, and click “Place order.” From there you manage the position from the Positions tab in Trade Watch: you modify it, protect it with a trailing stop or break-even, and close it in full or in part. This guide walks through every step with the platform’s actual button names, based on cTrader’s official documentation, and finishes with a lot size calculation for an EmergeFX account.

Step 1: log in to cTrader with your funded account

cTrader works with a single profile called the cTrader ID (cTID). According to the official help center, logging in with your cTID is the only way to access the platform, and every account linked to that profile appears together. If you don’t know the platform yet, start with what cTrader is and how it works.

1. Open cTrader Web in your browser or install the desktop version (Windows or Mac).
2. Enter the login email and password you received when your funded account was activated.
3. Select the account in the account selector (top). Check the account number and starting balance before trading.
4. If the account doesn’t show up, don’t try to link it yourself: cTrader states that users can’t link or unlink accounts from their cTID; the provider does it. Contact the prop firm’s support.

Step 2: understand the interface (watchlist, chart and trading panel)

The cTrader screen has four areas, and each one lets you trade in a different way.

Area	Where it is	What it’s for
Market Watch	Left panel	Watchlists with bid, ask, spread and daily change. Add symbols with the + icon or Ctrl+F.
Chart	Center	Analysis and direct trading: Quick Trade Buy/Sell buttons and draggable SL/TP lines.
Active Symbol Panel (ASP)	Right of the chart	New order form, market hours, market depth and “Symbol info” (lot size, pip position, commission).
Trade Watch	Bottom (Ctrl+W)	Positions, Orders, History and Journal tabs, plus the bar with real-time balance, equity, margin and P&L.

Build your own watchlist with the four or five symbols you actually trade (for example EURUSD, GBPUSD, XAUUSD and an index). Fewer open screens means fewer impulsive entries. To get your workspace ready, follow the guide to setting up cTrader correctly.

Step 3: how to open a trade on cTrader

The New order window opens with F9, with the New order button on the chart or in Trade Watch, or by right-clicking a symbol and choosing “Place new order.” The process is the same for all four order types:

1. Choose the order type (Market, Limit, Stop or Stop limit).
2. Confirm the symbol.
3. Click Buy or Sell.
4. Set the quantity in lots or units.
5. Turn on Stop loss and Take profit (step 4).
6. Click Place order.

Order type	When to use it	Key field
Market	Get in now, at the available price	“Market range”: the maximum deviation in pips you accept
Limit	Buy cheaper or sell higher than the current price (pullbacks)	Entry price: buy below the ask, sell above the bid
Stop	Enter in the direction of a breakout	Entry price: buy above the ask, sell below the bid
Stop limit	Breakout with slippage control	Entry price + “Limit range” in pips

Pending orders accept an expiration (Expiry). Use it: a forgotten limit order that fills overnight, on a wide spread, adds to your daily loss without you noticing.

Quick Trade: one-click trading

When you hover over the top of the chart, Buy and Sell buttons appear with a volume field. In the settings you choose between Single-click, Double-click or Disabled; single-click mode sends a market order with no confirmation. For funded accounts we recommend double-click: it prevents accidental entries with a volume left over from your previous trade.

Step 4: Stop Loss and Take Profit on cTrader (in pips or price)

A stop loss on cTrader can be set in two ways. Relative levels are measured from the actual fill price and entered in pips, as a percentage of balance or as a profit or loss amount. Absolute levels are set at an exact price and aren’t recalculated. The difference matters with slippage: the official help shows an XAUUSD filled at 4015.00 where a 2,000-pip stop lands at 3995.00, while an absolute stop at 3990.00 stays there.

• Multiple take profits: with “Add TP” you can add up to five levels, each with its own quantity. It’s the automatic way to take partial profits.
• From the chart: drag the SL and TP handles on the order’s or position’s price axis.
• Stop trigger: by default (“Trade side”) a buy closes on the bid and a sell on the ask. There are variants using the opposite side or two consecutive ticks.
• Server-side protection: your SL and TP stay active even if you close the platform or lose your internet connection.

Step 5: modify, close and partially close a position

Every open position appears in the Positions tab of Trade Watch. Double-click it (or click the gear icon) to open Modify position, change what you need and confirm with Protect.

• Close: the X icon on the row, or right-click and “Close position.” The Close menu in the top corner closes in bulk by direction, by winners/losers or by symbol.
• Partial close: in Modify position, reduce the position’s quantity; that’s how cTrader’s support team explains it on their official forum. If you plan it in advance, using several Take profit levels is cleaner.
• Reverse and Double: they flip the position or double its volume in one click. Use them carefully: doubling volume all at once runs into the position sizing consistency rules of many prop firms.

Trailing stop and moving to breakeven

The Trailing stop loss keeps a fixed distance from price, only moves in your favor and never goes back. The Break-even option uses two inputs: Trigger (how many pips in your favor price must travel) and Offset (how many pips beyond the entry the stop ends up). Official example: entry at 1.1000, a 30-pip trigger and a 5-pip offset; when price moves 30 pips, the stop moves to 1.1005. Both features are set in the order windows, not by dragging on the chart.

Step 6: check your history and statistics

Closed trades move to the History tab, with realized P&L for the selected period. For deeper analysis, cTrader’s Analyze menu shows net profit, profit factor, win rate, max balance drawdown, average duration and results by symbol. Review it every Friday: if a pair consistently drags you down, take it off your watchlist.

How to calculate lot size from risk on an EmergeFX account

Take a 25K EmergeFX Instant Funding account as an example: a $450 daily loss limit and a $1,500 static max drawdown. A practical rule is to risk at most $100 per trade, which lets you take four stops in a row without hitting the daily limit.

The formula is: lot size = risk in $ ÷ (stop in pips × pip value per lot). Before you calculate, check the symbol’s lot size and pip position under “Symbol info” in the side panel, because they vary by instrument.

Input	EUR/USD	XAU/USD (gold)
Size of 1 lot	100,000 EUR	100 ounces*
Pip size	0.0001	0.01*
Pip value per lot	$10	$1
Chosen stop	20 pips	$5.00 in price = 500 pips
Risk per lot	20 × 10 = $200	500 × 1 = $500
Lot size to risk $100	0.50	0.20

Note the classic mistake: with the same 0.50 lots on gold and a $5 stop, the risk would be $250, more than half the daily loss limit on a single trade. One way to check it on cTrader: enter the Stop loss in amount mode ($100) and see how many pips the platform converts it to at your chosen volume. If the resulting distance is smaller than your technical stop, the lot size is too big.

Useful shortcuts and the mobile app

Shortcut (cTrader Windows)	Action
F9	Open the new order window
Space	Quick symbol search on the chart
Ctrl + W	Show or hide Trade Watch
Ctrl + N	New chart
Alt + 2	Candlestick chart
Middle mouse button	Toggle the price crosshair
F11	Full screen

Shortcuts can be reassigned in the app settings. The cTrader mobile app (iOS and Android) uses the same cTrader ID and offers all four order types with Stop loss, Trailing stop loss and Break-even. It’s useful for monitoring and protecting positions, not as your main day trading tool.

A 10-minute routine before trading on cTrader

1. Check the calendar: identify the day’s high-impact releases (in New York time, ET). See how to trade high-impact news.
2. Confirm the active account in the selector and write down your start-of-day balance.
3. Work out your limit: starting balance minus the allowed daily loss. That’s the number your equity must not touch.
4. Check Positions and Orders: no old pending orders and no positions without a stop.
5. Check Quick Trade: double-click mode and the right volume in the chart field.
6. Set the lot size for each symbol with the formula above and don’t change it mid-session.

The most frequent slip-ups (forgotten stop, wrong lot size, duplicate order) are collected in common cTrader errors.

How to trade on cTrader with Emerge Profit

Emerge Profit’s EmergeFX accounts are simulated trading accounts on forex, indices and commodities, traded on cTrader or DXtrade. There are two ways to start:

• EmergeFX Evaluation (from $68): 1-Step, a 10% target with a 3% daily drawdown and 6% max; 2-Step, 8% and 5% targets with a 5% daily drawdown and 10% max. Minimum 5 trading days and no time limit. Static drawdown and weekend holding allowed.
• EmergeFX Instant Funding (from $120): no evaluation phase, accounts from 5K to 250K with a static drawdown, 1:100 equivalent margin, and swing and news trading allowed.

Three rules directly affect how you use cTrader: every trade must last at least 10 seconds, hedging (buying and selling the same symbol at the same time) is prohibited, and position size must grow gradually. To see how an evaluation plays out day by day, read forex funding challenge: rules and example.

FAQ: how to trade on cTrader

Sources

• cTrader Help – Orders in cTrader Windows (accessed November 2026).
• cTrader Help – Positions (accessed November 2026).
• cTrader Help – Trade protections in cTrader Web (accessed November 2026).
• cTrader Help – Chart trading and Settings (Quick Trade) (accessed November 2026).
• cTrader Help – Market Watch, Active Symbol Panel and Trade Watch (accessed November 2026).
• cTrader Help – Hotkeys, cTrader Windows Analyze and FAQ (cTrader ID) (accessed November 2026).
• cTrader Help – Orders – cTrader Mobile (accessed November 2026).
• cTrader Community – Partial Position Close (reply from the cTrader team, March 2020; reiterated in July 2023).

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