Page Summary
With the tremendous growth in Forex trading platforms available today, it can be challenging to identify which trading platforms are best for you. Let’s look at a few essential criteria for choosing the best trading platform for you.
When looking at these criteria from a high-level perspective, there are five primary criteria to consider when making your choice in a trading platform, which are:
Fees: Fees are probably the most critical factor when determining a trading platform. If the fees are beyond what you can pay currently, there’s no point in looking or researching any other factor. In contrast, if the fees fit your budget, this is the first step in identifying a trading platform for your use.
Reliability: The next question is whether or not the platform will function reliably. It’s nearly impossible to generate profit with an unreliable platform and, even if you do, there may be difficulties when withdrawing your earnings.
Licensing: Licensing is where things can start to get a little confusing, as different regions of the world have different licensing requirements (and sometimes no licensing requirements). We strongly recommend choosing a trading platform that is tightly regulated by a monetary authority in that region. Licensing provides a measure of security that you cannot get otherwise.
Usability: Ease of use is a significant factor when choosing a trading platform because you cannot make any profits if you cannot complete the trade at the right time.
Leverage: This refers to the access to margin, the margin requirements, and the general ease with which funds can be transferred from account to account, such as new deposits or withdrawals.
Using these pieces criteria to inform your decision, you’ll undoubtedly be able to narrow the list down very quickly to five or fewer platforms that serve your needs.
Should you use a proprietary trading platform or a commercial trading platform?
One of the first steps when choosing a trading platform is filtering through all of the variety of platforms available. The first division you should make is between proprietary platforms and commercial platforms. Proprietary platforms or platforms that are built by a specific company and not used anywhere else. Commercial platforms are developed by a company software company that specializes in the development of trading platforms. That means many different brokers and traders use their platforms in a variety of industries.
One of the benefits of a proprietary trading platform is that they have specialized features and benefits they can only be had with that broker and with that platform. If your trading style and strategy require those particular features, a proprietary trading platform is probably your best option. Proprietary platforms tend to be preferred by high and traders because they allow the broker to deliver superior execution speeds.
One of the limitations of using proprietary platforms is that they don’t transfer over to different brokers. That means if you want to move to a new broker, you will have to relearn the entire platform before you’re able to start trading again. This proprietary nature also means that there may be some trading strategies or styles that you will not be able to experiment with. In these situations, commercial platforms are significantly more flexible.
Commercial trading platforms such as MetaTrader are generally more user-friendly and more attractive to use. While they may lack some levels of customization that a specific broker might offer, being able to use the same trading platform across a variety of brokers is priceless. You can switch between brokers whenever you want and continue to use the same platform.
Other Forex Related Software
Robots
Particularly in the Forex and Binary Options market, there is a wide variety of software that may make the job of traders a bit faster and easier. Automatic trading software called “trading robots” are programmable pieces of software that execute trades on the trader’s behalf and are most recommended for trading beginners. While many of these robots are less than stable, some of them have been able to perform consistently despite dramatic changes in market conditions. While all robots are limited to the algorithmic programming they have received, some robots are able to perform consistently under the majority of trading conditions. (Check out this article to learn more about trading robots or check out this review of Option Robot)
Charting Software
Probably the most useful type of software for expert traders is their charting software. Charting software is a tool used by traders to visualize movement and patterns within their specific markets. Charting is a required tool for technical analysis. It is used extensively to build and test strategies as well as identify and choose specific buy-sell points. Probably the most well-known charting tool is Autochartist, which can recognize patterns within the data and present them to the trader. This ability helps you to make better trading decisions.
Conclusion
In the end, the most crucial factors that determine the success of Forex traders is the strategy they choose and their ability to follow that strategy. While the trading platform itself cannot guarantee success, being familiar and comfortable with the trading platform is vital in being able to execute on winning strategies. That’s why you need to carefully evaluate all trading platforms according to the criteria outlined above so that you can take your first steps toward achieving trading success.
FAQ
What factors are essential when choosing a trading platform?
The most important criteria for choosing a trading platform are fees, reliability, licensing, usability, and leverage.
Should I choose a platform because it’s on sale?
Generally speaking, offers are not a bad thing, and neither are sales. However, if the sale seems “too good to be true” or sales are happening too frequently, that business may be compensating with increased fees somewhere down the line.
What Forex software should I use?
If you are a beginning trader, we recommend using MetaTrader. MetaTrader is easy to use and comes with all the tools in the beginning trader needs, including the ability to integrate with advanced charting features. Also, be sure to review the news and analysis at Business24-7.ae regularly so that you have the most up-to-date information for your trading decisions.
Which is the best trading software?
This is a difficult question because the answer depends on your situation. A platform that is perfect for one situation may be ineffective in a different situation. Helping you to identify the best trading platform for your situation is why we wrote this article.
Disclaimer
eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFDs.
Please note that CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Past performance is not an indication of future results. Trading history presented is less than 5 complete years and may not suffice as basis for investment decision.
Copy trading is a portfolio management service, provided by eToro (Europe) Ltd., which is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.
Cryptoasset investing is unregulated in some EU countries and the UK. No consumer protection. Your capital is at risk.
eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs and makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication, which has been prepared by our partner utilizing publicly available non-entity specific information about eToro.