Broker to Trading

What is a good online trading platform ? It could be argued that what is a good platform depends to some extent on the experience level of the trader. A less experienced trader may want a platform which is easy to use, an intermediate trader may want a platform which has scope for the more advanced strategies they may wish to use and more experienced traders may want to be able to use more advanced tools, such as trading with robots, particularly the capacity to program robots using their own strategies such as those the trader has used when trading on their own behalf. So to find a good platform depends to some extent on matching the experience of the trader with the capacity of the platform.

This said, a less experienced trader may wish to start with a platform which has advanced features and grow into these features over time, if they stick with trading. This can be a kind of motivation, as the trader discovers that trading is not in and of itself an easy task. An example would be starting with MetaTrader, which is a platform offered by a wide range of brokers. But which MetaTrader ? Currently there is MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). MT5 is in fact the successor to MT4 and has a number of enhancements on MT4, though broadly speaking they have a similar functionality. Since MT5 is however the successor platform to MT4, the trader may wish to start with this platform. Another possibility is to use a platform which combines elements of the advanced functionality of MetaTrader with a user friendly interface, of which cTrader is arguably an example.

If the trader wishes to start with a platform designed to be user friendly then there are a number of possibilities. However what is user friendly can be more than a question of the ease of use of the platform. For example, while some traders may wish to use and develop their own analysis, others might wish to see the views of other more experienced traders, or copy their trades. Thus they may wish to consider a user friendly platform with social and copy trading. Others however might be satisfied with applying technical and fundamental analysis to find exit and entry positions. This said, platforms can also provides trading signals, for example based on pattern formation.

Thus to choose a good trading platform, the trader can pick out features the platform offers and see if they conform to their expectations of what they want when trading. This may be easier for more experienced traders. Platforms have a similar basic functionality, at least with regard to traders who plan and execute their own trades, though even here some may have more depth in terms of features offered.