cTrader: Market Replay

What is Market Replay?

Market Replay is a powerful feature in cTrader that enables traders to simulate real-time historical market conditions. It’s designed to replicate past price movements as if they were unfolding live, allowing users to practice, test, and refine their trading strategies without any financial risk. Market Replay is ONLY for simulation/testing, not live trading.

This tool enables you to travel back in time and relive specific market scenarios using historical data. It’s an ideal environment for developing manual trading skills, testing various trading approaches, and learning from past market behaviour, all without impacting your live or demo account balance.

Navigating Market Replay

Steps in utilising Market Replay	Click here to view the complete steps: Locate the "Market Replay" icon at the bottom part of the toolbar, which can be found on the right side of the chart: Once the market replay icon has been clicked, it should be highlighted. Move the pointer back along the chart timeframe and choose a date and time from which the playback will start: Once you've selected the desired date and time, the Market Replay window will appear on the platform, allowing you to configure and start the simulation. Refer to the example below: Starting Capital - Enter your initial investment. Since you simulate trading on historical data, any amount may be added here. Start date and time - You can adjust the start date and time if your initial choice was inaccurate. Data - Choose between m1 open prices and the most precise real historical tick data. Speed - Set the playback speed. Once started, a market replay will appear in a new window. Note that cTrader will need time to load data, and the loading speed will depend on the selected data type: The Market Replay UI consists of six key elements: Market Replay Controls: Play/Pause Stop Fast-forward 1 bar Add Timestamp Calendar progress bar to track simulation time Playback speed slider to control the pace of the replay Trading Chart: Displays the price movements of the currently selected symbol, allowing you to analyze chart patterns and place trades during the replay. TradeWatch Panel: Contains five informative tabs: Positions Orders History Equity Trade Statistics New Order Tab: Lets you place pending or market orders manually as you would in a live market. Market Replay Settings Tab: Provides customization options for the replay session, including symbol selection, timeframe, and start/end dates. Timeline Tab: Displays a timeline of key events and annotations added during the replay for better session tracking and review.
Adjusting Market Replay Settings	Click here to view the complete steps: When Market Replay is playing, you can return to the ‘Settings’ tab to adjust your initial parameters. Follow the steps below to do so: Click the ‘Stop’ icon located in the upper-left corner of the Market Replay window. Once stopped, the settings will become editable. The ‘Settings’ tab is now active on the right side of the page (scroll down), and you can configure the following parameters as shown below: Date Range: Choose the start and end dates/times for the historical data you want to load in Market Replay. Click the arrow next to the date to open a calendar and pick your dates easily. Starting Capital: Set the amount of starting money you want for the replay. Try different amounts to see what fits your risk comfort level. Data: You can choose between two types of data. M1 bars from Server: Uses 1-minute price data (open prices only). It’s a bit less accurate than tick data, but loads much faster, especially for long periods. Tick data from Server: Uses every price movement (tick-by-tick) for the most accurate results. It takes longer to load and uses more computer resources. Important Notes: If you use M1 bars, you must manually set the spread. If you use Tick data, the spread is calculated automatically based on historical data. Spread: Enter a fixed spread value or click "Random" to have the system choose a spread within your set minimum and maximum limits.
Trading on Historical Data	Click here to view the complete steps: Starting Market Replay: Once done with adjusting the settings, proceed with the steps below to fully utilize Market Replay: Restart Market Replay – After adjusting your settings, restart Market Replay by clicking the 'Play" button in the top-left corner of the window. View Price Data – The chart will now display historical price data. Use cTrader Tools – You can use all standard cTrader features for trading and analysis, such as: Drawing Fibonacci fans Placing horizontal lines Taking market snapshots Use the toolbar on the right side of the chart for these tools. Trend lines on the chart highlight key market movements: Playback Speed: Adjust playback speed with the Speed slider, manual input, or arrow keys to fast-forward events or slow down for careful decisions. How to place an order Just like live trading, the ways to open an order are: The New Order tab (right of the chart) QuickTrade buttons (top of the chart) Right-clicking the chart and selecting an option from the menu To close open positions individually or all at once, please take a look at the Trade Watch tab below the chart. How to Play Back or Fast-Forward The calendar slider at the top moves from left to right based on your playback speed. While it is NOT possible to rewind Market Replay, you can fast-forward by dragging the slider to the right to jump ahead to any moment. Use the Play/Pause and Stop controls for regular playback, or click Fast-forward 1 Bar to advance one bar at a time according to your selected timeframe: How to Add Timestamps Think of timestamps as bookmarks on the timeline that let you quickly fast-forward to specific events. To add a timestamp during Market Replay, click the "Add Timestamp" icon to the left of the calendar slider. You can also drag the slider to the right (not left) to the desired moment, then click Add Timestamp. A new timestamp will appear above the calendar slider. To move a timestamp along the date range, simply right-click on the calendar slider near the spot you want to bookmark. To edit the timestamp position, drag and drop a timestamp along the calendar slider. Alternatively, right-click on it to open the ‘Edit timestamp’ menu. Here, you can edit the date and the exact time:
Analysing Replay Performance	*Click here to view the complete steps:* Equity tab: In the Market Replay window’s ‘Trade Watch’ display, the additional ‘Equity’ tab shows a dynamic chart for visually evaluating trader performance, alongside the ‘Positions,’ ‘Orders,’ ‘History,’ and ‘Trade Statistics’ tabs: On the equity chart, the X axis illustrates the total number of trades you have made. The Y axis tracks funds. Trade Statistic Tab Since Market Replay does not affect the funds in your actual trading account, whether it is Live or Demo, the ‘Trade Statistics’ tab then presents the following summary: The chart highlights essential statistics, such as the total number of winning trades you have made. Timeline Tab The timeline tab can be found on the right side of the Market Replay, below the "New Order" tab. The ‘Timeline’ tab can be used to see a dynamically updated record of all timestamps you have added and all orders you have placed during the currently active Market Replay, helping you associate your performance with specific events: To edit timestamps directly from the ‘Timeline’ tab, hover over a timestamp to reveal a ‘Cog’ icon to the left of the ‘Bin’ icon. Click the ‘Cog’ icon to set a new date and time: At the bottom of the ‘Timeline’ tab, you’ll find controls for customizing display filters, adding timestamps directly from the tab, and exporting or importing timestamps: This functionality is beneficial when you want to retry certain Market Replays and save time on timestamp management. For this purpose, you should download and upload `.rptm` files.

Key Benefits of Market Replay

Market Replay is an invaluable tool for evaluating and refining one’s manual trading skills. Specifically, it provides the following benefits:

Safe environment – Practice trading without risking real funds using standard cTrader order functionality.
Quick strategy testing – Test manual trading strategies efficiently with adjustable playback speed.
Easy navigation – Use timestamps to skip to key moments without having to replay entire sessions.
Trackable statistics – Access detailed trade statistics and timelines to analyze and refine strategies.
Skill enhancement – Ideal for both new and experienced traders to develop and sharpen manual trading skills.
Risk-free learning – Simulate real market conditions using historical data with no impact on account balances.