The cTrader trading platform was first released in 2011 by a company called Spotware in an attempt to compete directly against the two dominant trading platforms in the market; MetaTrader 4 & 5. cTrader quickly became popular among regulated forex brokers and others for its good and intuitive design, and this popularity continues to this day.
Due to the fact that many of the larger regulated forex brokers have developed their own proprietary trading platforms, cTrader is particularly popular among smaller forex brokers. However, the platform is almost always offered as one of many alternatives, and is almost never offered as a broker’s only trading platform.