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cTrader MarketsGetting Started

Getting Started

cTrader Markets is a Python 3.12 FastAPI service. Credentials come from an Open API application at openapi.ctrader.com , plus a one-time browser OAuth2 flow.

Create a virtualenv and install

cd ctrader-markets
python3.12 -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/python -m pip install -e '.[dev]'
cp .env.example.forex .env.forex

Fill credentials (in this order)

1. CTRADER_CLIENT_ID / CTRADER_CLIENT_SECRET

Register an application at openapi.ctrader.com . The client id and secret are shown on the application page.

2. CTRADER_ACCESS_TOKEN / CTRADER_REFRESH_TOKEN

A one-time browser OAuth2 flow, done by hand. Open this URL (substituting your client id and the redirect URI registered with the application):

https://openapi.ctrader.com/apps/auth
  ?client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID
  &redirect_uri=YOUR_REDIRECT_URI
  &scope=trading

Log in, approve, and copy the code query parameter from the redirect. Exchange it for tokens:

curl -s 'https://openapi.ctrader.com/apps/token' \
  -d grant_type=authorization_code \
  -d code=THE_CODE \
  -d redirect_uri=YOUR_REDIRECT_URI \
  -d client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID \
  -d client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET

Put accessToken and refreshToken into the env file. The service refreshes them from then on and persists the rotated pair to TOKEN_CACHE_PATH — see Token Lifecycle.

3. CTRADER_ACCOUNT_ID

This is the numeric ctidTraderAccountId, not your account login number. It needs only the access token, so discover it once the tokens are in place:

ctrader-markets --profile forex --discover-accounts

4. SYMBOLS

Exact, case-sensitive cTrader symbolName values. Startup fails closed if any cannot be resolved, so list the real ones:

ctrader-markets --profile forex --discover-symbols

For a Deriv profile, do not copy the symbol names from mt5-trader/.env.example.deriv. Those are Deriv’s MT5 synthetic indices and will not resolve on a cTrader broker.

Start against CTRADER_ENVIRONMENT=demo with a demo account. Demo and live are fully separated connections and cannot be mixed.

Run

ctrader-markets --profile forex    # reads .env.forex   → :8010
ctrader-markets --profile deriv    # reads .env.deriv   → :8011
ctrader-markets                    # reads .env

Running without --profile reads .env. A missing env file is a startup error naming the example to copy.

Next steps

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