Test a trading idea before you trust it

Install the cTrader Windows or Mac application and sign in with a cTID from a TopFX demo account: free, and enough for everything on this page — how to open an account, and the platform as offered here — cTrader at TopFX.

If you already use Claude in the app or browser, you're already signed in — Claude Code uses the same Anthropic account, just from a terminal window instead of a chat window. New to Claude? You'll need a paid subscription or Anthropic Console access: the free chat plan does not include Claude Code (see the cost section below). Either way, install it once:

This means Claude Code specifically — a separate command-line agent, not the Claude Desktop app or the claude.ai chat you may already use. This guide needs an agent that runs directly on your machine (Claude Code, or another local coding agent like Cursor or Windsurf): Claude Desktop's connectors reach the internet through Anthropic's cloud, not your own computer, so it can't reach cTrader's local server in step 5.

Installing Git for Windows first is recommended — it gives Claude Code a bash shell to work in.

Not the cTrader app you already trade in — this is a separate, free command-line tool from cTrader that runs and backtests a cBot that's already built. It doesn't write or compile code itself — that part still happens in cTrader Desktop's Automate editor (step 7 covers it). Install it once:

(Spotware — cTrader's official developer — is exactly who these commands install from.)

Homebrew may print a wall of untrusted tap errors first — that's normal, it re-taps and installs right after.

Either way, confirm it's installed — this doesn't need you to sign in:

That's it for this step. Nothing else to configure yet — the credentials file (your cTID and a password file) only comes into play in step 8, when a command needs to touch your account to run a backtest.

The vendor's skills package — it teaches Claude how to drive the cTrader MCP server correctly (which tools are read-only, how to read the reports, the safe order to call things in):

Restart your agent once it's done so it picks up the new skills.

In cTrader: Settings → MCP Server. Tick "Enable MCP server"; leave "Allow trading via MCP" unticked. Keep cTrader itself running — the local server lives inside it, so your agent needs it open in the background to connect at all.

On Claude Code, run this as a plain terminal command (not a chat message; type exit first if you're inside one) — it registers the server itself, no config file to find:

On a different MCP-compatible agent (Cursor, Windsurf and others also work)? Paste this as a chat message instead — the agent finds its own MCP config and adds the entry for you:

Set up the cTrader local MCP server for me. Add the following to my MCP configuration, then verify the connection:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ctrader": { "type": "http", "url": "http://127.0.0.1:9876/mcp/" }
  }
}

127.0.0.1 means "this machine" — your agent needs to be running locally, on the same computer as cTrader, not in a remote or cloud session (Claude Desktop's connectors don't count — see step 2).

Restart the agent once more so it picks up both the skills package and the new server, then run this — it lists your accounts, confirms DEMO, and sorts the tools into read-only and changing:

List every account visible through the cTrader MCP server. For each one, state clearly whether it is DEMO or LIVE. Then list the available tools and sort them into two groups: read-only (data, history, reports) and changing (anything that could place, modify or cancel an order). Do not call any changing tool. Confirm the active account is DEMO before we continue.

Give Claude your rule in one message: instrument, timeframe, entry, exit, stop-loss, and the one parameter you want to tune. It hands back the C# source — paste it into a new cBot in cTrader Desktop's Automate editor and click Build there; that's what turns it into the .algo file cTrader CLI can run. On our stand the draft plus that build took 41 seconds for the example rule (EUR/USD, H1, SMA cross, ATR stop) — the full source is in the kit as cbot-template/SmaProbe.cs, a shape to replace, not a rule to trade.

You are drafting a cBot for cTrader Automate (C#) that will be backtested with cTrader CLI. Read the command reference at https://github.com/spotware/CLI-references before proposing any command. Do not invent options. Use placeholders for the account id and file paths. Never ask for a password.

Rule: <instrument, timeframe, entry, exit, stop-loss, exit rule>
Parameter to expose as a cBot parameter: <name, default, sensible range>

Deliver: (1) the cBot source, ready to paste into cTrader Desktop's Automate editor; (2) a .cbotset file with the defaults; (3) the exact backtest commands for the in-sample window <dates> and the out-of-sample window <dates>, with --commission, --spread and --report-json; (4) your assumptions and anything that is missing.

Do not start `run`. Do not place orders. Do not estimate returns.

Ask Claude Code to run this — twice, once for each time window (in-sample, then out-of-sample): same cBot, same command, only the dates and the output file name change:

First the in-sample window with report-in-sample.json, then the out-of-sample window (dates it hasn't seen) with report-out-of-sample.json. Account number and cTID are in cTrader; the password file is plain text with just your cTID password, never typed into the command itself.

Attach both JSON files and this is attempt N on this family of ideas — every parameter change counts as one attempt.

Attached are two JSON backtest reports from cTrader CLI: in-sample and out-of-sample. This is attempt number N=<n> on this family of ideas (every parameter set and every rule change counts as one attempt).

Write an acceptance report with exactly these fields, each quoting the report it comes from: trades (IS / OOS); net result sign (IS / OOS); max balance drawdown (IS / OOS); ProfitFactor (IS / OOS); buy-and-hold of the same instrument over the same period; cost sensitivity (a third report with the spread doubled, if attached); N and the noise threshold for N attempts; bootstrap of trade order (drawdown distribution, if computed).

Verdict: "not rejected" or "rejected", with the reason. Do not forecast. Do not recommend a position. Do not use the word "works".

"Not rejected" does not mean the idea makes money — it means it survived the filters you declared before the test. Full method in the journal section ↓