Choosing the right trading platform is, by no means, an easy feat. You may be a skilled trader, but the wrong trading platform can make all your efforts go down the drain. An efficient trading platform makes forex trading easier by ensuring reliability and dependability.
The process of choosing an online trading platform demands a careful decision-making process that allows you to evaluate different platform options and decide on one that suits you best. Before you do that, though, you should know what you exactly need from a trading platform. Once you’ve sorted that out, you’ll know what to look for.
Of course, there are certain factors that every good trading platform should have. Here are six things to look for in an online trading platform:
Accessibility
Every forex trader has his or her own set of trading needs. Similarly, everyone trades differently. To cater to varying needs, an online trading platform needs to be accessible from anywhere, regardless of where you’re working from.
The best trading platforms allow you to perform all kinds of transactions and has the ability to fit into your lifestyle, despite how hectic it is. Thus, always look for a trading platform that is not only accessible but is also convenient for you to use. In this day and age, it’s also essential to work on a trading platform that you can use from your mobile phone.
One trading platform you should definitely look into is Forex.com. This Forex.com broker review highlights the platform’s mobile trading options. With an app available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, traders can execute trades, personalize charts, create watchlists, access their accounts from anywhere, and get real-time alerts.
Availability of Information
Due to the risk involved, forex trading requires you to analyze huge chunks of information before you eventually make a decision. The ideal trading platform should provide you with all the information needed in one place.
Many online trading platforms provide fundamental and technical information, both, to help you make better decisions. Such information usually involves financial data, such as dividend yields, earnings per share, price-earnings ratio, and statements, such as the income statement and balance sheet.
You should also ensure the platform you choose gives you real-time updates on various things that are going on. This usually included political and economic news that could affect forex prices. This aspect makes trading easier for you since you won’t have to go somewhere else for relevant information.
Security
Since forex trading involves sensitive information, a trading platform must offer top-notch security. You need to ensure your personal data isn’t at risk by choosing a platform that is as secure as it can be. For this, you should know the kind of data encryption the platform uses, which will give you an idea of how your data will be transmitted over the internet.
Top-notch trading platforms employ the use of firewalls at server and application levels, both. They also use separate synced servers where data is stored, to ensure it is recoverable if any data gets lost.
Value for Money
Every forex trade involves multiple transaction fees and commissions that affect the result. Sometimes, brokers don’t tell you about these service charges and banking fees explicitly, since these charges affect your overall transaction costs and, hence, have an impact on your ending profit or loss.
Due to this, the online trading platform you choose should be equipped with a live calculator that provides transparency on the charges that are involved with every trade. This calculator will give you a clear idea of the additional costs you’re likely to incur and, hence, give you the real value of your trade.
Connectivity
Forex trading occurs at an international scale with multiple currencies involved. You may sometimes choose to trade with major currencies involving the most popular currency pairs, while other times you may want to work with other, less-commonly traded currencies.
Due to this, an online trading platform should have an excellent connection with multiple international stock markets, such as the London Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange, Deutsche Boerse, and NASDAQ.
Trading Tools
Perhaps the main factor that differentiates an excellent trading platform from a mediocre one is the variety of trading tools it offers. One such trading tool is a stop-loss, which basically stops a trade when the price of a currency falls below a specified level. There are many advantages to a stop-loss, most importantly, that it prevents you from losing too much of your investment.
Another tool you should focus on is a Good Till Date that shows your preferred validity date, which ensures you don’t need to enter your details every time. Trading platforms also provide traders with SMS notifications and alerts that keep you updated on minor and significant fluctuations in your traded currency pairs. There are even alerts available that inform you of other pairs that may fit into your category. These trading tools are quite beneficial to forex traders since they make trading easier.
Conclusion
An online trading platform plays a huge role in how successful you will eventually be as a forex trader. It requires considerable research and is definitely a step that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Once you know what you’re looking for, though, choosing a platform will come easy.
What other things should you look for in a trading platform? Let us know!
