cTrader Store: buying a cBot without getting trapped in a challenge
The cTrader Store is cTrader's official marketplace. It offers cBots, indicators and plugins created by independent developers, free or paid. It is convenient, but a bot you buy can also make you fail a challenge for reasons that have nothing to do with its performance. Here is how it works, and what to check before using it with a prop firm.
In short: the Store is the easiest way to install a cBot or an indicator in cTrader. But many prop firms prohibit commercial bots used by many traders. Read your prop firm's rules before you buy.
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What you will find on the Store
- cBots: trading bots that place orders automatically.
- Indicators: analysis tools displayed on your charts.
- Plugins: extensions to the cTrader interface.
- Copy trading strategies.
Products are sold by third-party developers whose identity is verified. The Store states that it is not a broker: it sells tools, not investment services.
Free, one-time purchase or subscription
A product can be free, sold as a one-time purchase, offered as a trial limited in time or in features, or, since July 2026, as a weekly, monthly or annual subscription. A subscription renews automatically, and cancellation takes effect at the end of the current period.
On refunds, the official pages contradict each other: the help center announces 14 days for all paid products, while the buyer FAQ mentions case-by-case handling. Check the policy shown on the product page before you pay.
Installing a product
- Sign in with your cTrader ID and click "Install" on the product page.
- The product is linked to your cTrader ID and syncs across your cTrader apps.
- A cBot can run in the cloud (cTrader Web or Mobile) or locally on cTrader Desktop. Desktop indicators and plugins only work on Windows and Mac.
- The product works on your demo and live accounts linked to the same cTrader ID.
For a cBot that needs to run nonstop on cTrader Desktop, a trading VPS keeps it safe from your computer's interruptions.
The challenge trap: shared bots
A bot sold to hundreds of traders produces the same trades on hundreds of accounts. Prop firms detect this, and several of them prohibit it:
- The5%ers requires you to own the source code and prohibits commercial bots whose trades are replicated by other traders.
- E8 Markets may close an account if the same bot is used by other traders.
- FundedNext prohibits bots on cTrader and bots designed to "pass challenges".
- FTMO allows bots, but warns that a third-party bot exposes you to its rules on maximum allocation and replicability.
Before you buy, ask yourself whether the bot will be used as is by many other buyers. An indicator, which does not place orders, causes far fewer problems than a cBot. The details for each firm are in our comparison of prop firms that accept bots.
Before using a purchased cBot on a challenge
- Test it for several weeks on demo with the exact account size and limits of the challenge.
- Check that it respects the daily loss limit, and add your own limit if possible.
- Check the number of orders and modifications per day: FTMO and E8 Markets cap server requests at 2,000 per day.
- Be wary of profit promises: no bot guarantees that you will pass a challenge.
Challenges are paid evaluations, and most participants fail. Only buy a challenge with money you can afford to lose. Read the risk warning