Broker API HubMenu

Capital.com vs cTrader API

The same fields from the Capital.com record and the cTrader Open API record, side by side. No winner is picked: which one suits you depends on what you are building.

Independent and unofficialNewest check

Risk warning: CFDs and spread bets are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You can lose money on these products, and each provider publishes its own loss figure under FCA rules. You should consider whether you understand how they work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Automated and API trading can amplify losses through bugs, connectivity failures and runaway orders.

What the two records show

Differences you can see in the records themselves. These are counts of what this site holds, not a verdict on either API.

Capital.com and cTrader Open API, field by field

FieldCapital.comcTrader Open API
KindBroker with its own APIPlatform API, offered by many brokers
API familyREST, WebSocketProtobuf over TCP/WebSocket, JSON over TCP/WebSocket, Python package, C# package
How you get accessEnable 2FA, then Settings > API integrations > Generate new key, with a custom key password.Capital.com Public APIchecked Register an app at openapi.ctrader.com; Spotware reviews new apps, so describe your use case in detail.Creating a new applicationchecked
Who can use itAny Capital.com account (demo or live) with 2FA enabled. Regional limits not published.Capital.com Public APIchecked Supported by all trading accounts of any cTrader affiliated brokers by default, which means both demo and live accounts.cTrader Open APIchecked
DemoYes: separate demo base URL.Capital.com Public APIchecked Yes: separate demo endpoint; demo and live environments are fully separated.Proxies and endpointschecked
AuthenticationPOST /session with the X-CAP-API-KEY header plus login credentials returns CST and X-SECURITY-TOKEN, sent on later calls. The session expires after 10 minutes of inactivity.Capital.com Public APIchecked OAuth 2.0 authorisation code flow: the auth code lives 1 minute, the access token 30 days. Scopes are accounts, which is read only, and trading, which is full.Account authenticationchecked
StreamingWebSocket wss://api-streaming-capital.backend-capital.com/connect, maximum of 40 epics per subscription; the session lasts 10 minutes and is kept alive with ping.Capital.com Public APIchecked Yes: spot quotes, depth of market and execution events on the same connection, at 50 requests a second per connection (5 for historical data) with a heartbeat every 10 seconds. Host live1.p.ctrader.com port 5035, SSL mandatory for TCP and WebSocket. Spotware recommends at most two connections, one demo and one live, each carrying an unlimited number of accounts of that type.Messageschecked
History depthCandles: max 1,000 per request (default 10), MINUTE to WEEK. Activity history: max 1 day per from/to call. Transactions default to last 10 minutes.Capital.com API referencechecked Trend bars and ticks by from/to timestamp with optional count; deals by range with maxRows. Cash flow history max 1 week per request.Spotware OpenApiMessages.protochecked
Limits
  • Requests a second, not historical data: 50. Per connection, requests that are not for historical datahelp.ctrader.comchecked
  • Requests a second, historical data: 5. Per connection, historical data requests onlyhelp.ctrader.comchecked
Endpoints documented here36None yet
Error codes decoded here2453
Official documentationopen-api.capital.comhelp.ctrader.com

Go deeper on each side

Capital.com

cTrader Open API

All comparisons. New to this? Getting started with API trading.