cTrader vs OANDA API
The same fields from the cTrader Open API record and the OANDA 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.
- cTrader Open API is a platform API, offered through the brokers that carry the platform. OANDA is recorded as a broker with an API of its own.
- This site documents no endpoints for cTrader Open API and 33 endpoints for OANDA. That counts what has been documented here, not what each API offers.
- This site has decoded 53 error codes for cTrader Open API and 242 error codes for OANDA.
- The limits register holds 2 limit records for cTrader Open API and 1 limit record for OANDA. Each limit record carries its own scope.
- The cTrader Open API record holds a demo claim, verified at its source. The OANDA record holds a demo claim, verified at its source. The wording of each is in the Demo row below.
- A quickstart is built here for both.
cTrader Open API and OANDA, field by field
| Field | cTrader Open API | OANDA |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Platform API, offered by many brokers | Broker with its own API |
| API family | Protobuf over TCP/WebSocket, JSON over TCP/WebSocket, Python package, C# package | REST (v20), HTTP streaming |
| How you get access | Register an app at openapi.ctrader.com; Spotware reviews new apps, so describe your use case in detail.Creating a new applicationchecked | Account Management Portal > My Services > Manage API Access, accept licence, generate personal access token.OANDA v20 Introductionchecked |
| Who can use it | Supported by all trading accounts of any cTrader affiliated brokers by default, which means both demo and live accounts.cTrader Open APIchecked | Needs a v20 account; available in all divisions except OANDA Global Markets and OANDA TMS Brokers S.A.OANDA v20 Introductionchecked |
| Demo | Yes: separate demo endpoint; demo and live environments are fully separated.Proxies and endpointschecked | Yes: fxTrade Practice environment with its own token.OANDA Development Guidechecked |
| Authentication | 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 | Bearer personal access token, generated in the Account Management Portal after accepting the API licence.Introduction, OANDA v20 REST APIchecked |
| Streaming | 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 | HTTP chunked transfer encoding carrying JSON objects, not WebSocket. The development guide states at most 20 active streams, with requests above that rejected, and no more than 2 new connections a second. The best practices page advises no more than 100 requests a second on an established connection. Sources: https://developer.oanda.com/rest-live-v20/development-guide/ and https://developer.oanda.com/rest-live-v20/best-practices/, both read 23 September 2026, development guide re-read 24 September 2026.OANDA Development Guidechecked |
| History depth | 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 | Historical pricing back to 2005, on the introduction page. Candles: at most 5,000 per request, 500 by default, on the pricing endpoints page. Transactions: at most 365 days per request, in pages of up to 1,000.OANDA v20: Introductionchecked |
| Limits |
|
|
| Endpoints documented here | None yet | 33 |
| Error codes decoded here | 53 | 242 |
| Official documentation | help.ctrader.com | developer.oanda.com |
Go deeper on each side
cTrader Open API
- cTrader API page, the full record
- cTrader API quickstart, credentials to a first call
- cTrader API limits, in the table above
- cTrader API error codes, each with its fix
- cTrader Open API with Python
OANDA
- OANDA API page, the full record
- OANDA API quickstart, credentials to a first call
- OANDA API limits, in the table above
- OANDA API error codes, each with its fix
- OANDA API endpoints, each with its source
- Get your OANDA trade history into a spreadsheet
All comparisons. New to this? Getting started with API trading.