Trading at Forex: Tips for choosing the best trading platform

Before you start analyzing the factors that determine which trading platform is best for us, it should be noted that when we speak of platform we are not referring to the broker. Often, you will find articles that relate either to broker and platform as synonyms that represent the same reality, and that's not exactly true.

It is true that, as a general rule, the trading platform will provide us the broker you have chosen the following advice for choosing the best broker. Although it is also true that a single trading platform may be valid for trading Forex with different brokers. In short: the platform we use has to be accepted by our broker, but they are not the same. The trading platform is our tool, while the broker is our broker to execute the orders derived from our analytic work on the platform.

The trading platform is much more important than it seems

Often the fact of having a trading platform or another is a secondary factor for anyone who approaches the world of trading in general, or Forex in particular. "The I of the broker is well" it is a classic save when a decision, it must be said, can be complex especially when we are just starting and our knowledge and experience with trading platforms is reduced.

But nothing is further from reality: the trading platform and how well we play with it we are key factors in our operations. There is more to understand the trading platform as responsible for translating our computer screen anything that might be happening in the market. If that translation does not allow you to have a complete, simple and quick understanding of market reality, your operational decisions will necessarily be conditional.

What is more, in addition to analyzing the market and make decisions about it, the trading platform is allowing us to interact with the market; ie enter buy and sell orders, the stop loss, executing planned strategies while the operation is in full swing, etc. As surely you've already understood, leaving the decision to the trading platform to a simple "which facilitates my broker" is a risk to be avoided.

Tips for choosing the best trading platform

Metatrader

Once you are clear that the trading platform is much more important than it seems, here I leave a few tips so you can assess what is the best trading platform for your day:

The trading platform is the one that allows you to capture your knowledge of trading on the real market. It has to be complete in functionality and easy to use at once. For example, if you normally work with Heiken Ashi and a platform does not have them, it is clear you should look for another platform. And so it is with many options that not all platforms are available: customized strategies, automated trading, possibility of backtesting, etc.

Rate seriously choosing a multi-broker platform rather than a proprietary platform. Proprietary platforms are those that only serve to operate with a particular broker, and in the world of trading, the less you establish definitive links, much better. If you have to spend a certain time in learning the operation of a trading platform, best done in you you can take with you to broker you consider appropriate. In this regard, they include platforms like Metatrader, NinjaTrader Tradestation or, the most popular (and also free) the first one.

Evaluates the software is valid for the computer you usually plan to do trading. If you have a Mac, for example, the platform should be available for OS, because if not, you'll have to use other tools to use the trading platform on your system. It is increasingly common for some platforms offer flash version or java of it, so simply with an Internet browser can make use of them, something very important if you are very interested in mobility and do not want to stick to operate from a single computer. Of course, in the latter case, the customization options may be more limited.

Prior to "marry" with a trading platform, you should test it regularly. Not worth to be 2 or 3 hours with the platform, probably because those first hours will be complex itself by a simple learning curve effect and adaptation to the platform. Learn the operation of the platform for about 5 hours, and then additional dedicates at least 10 hours in simulated operate with it. If after all this process do not feel comfortable with it, you can be pretty sure that platform is not for you.

tradestation

It will be very important to understand that there may be no perfect platform. So if you do what I advise in the previous point, it would be good to each platform discarded write a small report in which you express what you like and what you dislike platform you just try. More than anything because it is possible for 3 or 4 to try to be even worse than after the first rescue and you'll need for your day to day operations.

Once you have chosen the platform that you operarás, it delves into functionality. You will be surprised to see how a good knowledge of some of the functions that the platforms available to us may end up marking important differences in your daily operations. Making the most of our trading platform is part of the success factors that separate a large trader of a normal one.

Do not start with a real-operate platform until not completely mastered its use, especially anything that has to do with the management of operations. It's great that perfectly mastered the layout of support, resistance and Fibonaccis, but what is really critical is that you know placing orders with stop loss, you know go to market an operation, you know move your profit over the course of the operation to miss a good move, you know go along with a dynamic stop the operation to squander all the accumulated gain at a certain time, etc. That is, perfectly mastered everything on operational real.