BEST FOREX TRADING PLATFORMS 2021
Do you have a lot of doubts about forex trading platforms? Well,not anymore, because the following article will solve all your doubts. We will give you deep insights about online forex platforms, which will provide you with an edge over others. We are going to explore the hidden aspects and give away deep knowledge of online forex platforms. We will make sure to outsmart the competition.
Forex refers to foreign exchange; it is the place where currency trading on a global scale occurs. The forex trading happens in pairs; for example, someone will buy US dollars using an equivalent amount of British pounds. Here, the USD acts as quote currency and British pounds as the base currency, respectively. In simpler words, you are buying one currency by selling the other currency. It is generally represented as EUR/USD = 1.3, which shows that 1 euro is equivalent to 1.3 USD. Did you know that the entry barrier is shallow in online forex platforms? A person with an initial capital of 500-1000 USD can start a trading account.
What is the Best Forex Trading Platform?
Investment Gold Index is a financial services company founded in 1974, and it is a UK-based online forex platform. In recent years, it has come forward as the world’s leading online trading provider. It is regulated by agencies like the UK’s FCA, US CFTC and NFA, Singapore M.A.S., and Bermuda Monetary Authority,which are renowned regulating agencies from all over the globe, making sure fair practices are maintained and a level playing ground is provided for both individuals and business.
I.G. has 178,000 worldwide clients trading with them. It ranks in the top 20 list for total money traffic received as a forex brokerage. The website itself gets 16 million visitors per month, with the majority being from the United Kingdom.
Their trading instruments include indices, cryptocurrencies, corporate shares, and commodities. I.G. has a 24/7 customer service allocated to dealing with trading and guiding new users through their forex trading platform. On the other hand, the downsides of this forex trading platform include the user interface that is challenging to understand for new traders.
Let us explore the Trading Platforms that I.G. offers to its users
I.G. provides two types of trading platforms: WebTrader and Meta Trader 4 (MT4). The software needs to be downloaded and installed on your desktop. Additionally, there is an I.G. app available for people who prefer to use their mobile devices.
For beginners in trading, it is recommended that they use Meta Trader 4, since it is easier to understand when compared to WebTrader. A piece of discretionary advice must be made here for beginner traders to never put their money in areas where there is a high risk, without having a deep understanding of the forex trading platform. Your hard-earned money can vanish in a matter of moments if you are not investing wisely.
Meta Trader 4
It is the most commonly used forex trading platform in the world. 11-15 million people use Meta Trader 4 for their forex trading needs. It is the primary trading and charting platform for currency trading. MetaTrader 4 was introduced in 2005 by a software company named Metaquotes.
It is licensed to forex dealers worldwide who can pay for a licence and receive the right to use Meta Trader 4. This means most forex dealers use the same online forex platform and brings uniformity in the forex trading platforms, since the MT4 trading platform will look, feel and act precisely across all the different forex dealers.
You can easily navigate the interface, even if you’re a beginner. It displays quotes and prices, charts for trading, and even systems that allow you to run automated systems strategy. Under the option of the market watch, you can find a list of all the financial instruments available on the trading platform.
You can create multiple sub-accounts under the same dealer to keep your trading well organised. The platform also offers options like expert adviser and scripts. An expert adviser is essentially a robot that gives you insights about forex trading, and scripts are the codes that you can run to manage the status of all your trades. You can automate the opening or closing of your dealings with the help of scripts. You don’t have to worry about losing all your money. Before you start your trading account, make sure you make a demo account.
Why should you always start with a Demo Account?
Features of the demo account are designed to integrate new users into their existing trading platform. Demo accounts greatly help new traders learn the basics of forex trading and how to use the forex trading platforms without losing real money. It is supported by fake funds and replicates the functionality of the original product. It gives interested clients a chance to test the product for themselves before making an educated decision.
Trading platforms launch extensive marketing campaigns that get their demo account to reach an audience of prospects.
- Following the herd mentalityis a no-go when it comes to Forex trading. Before you start following your neighbour’s advice in forex trading, we want to tell you some facts.
- Eighty per cent of traders lose money on online forex platforms. It is a statistically proven fact that whichever way the vast majority of traders are trading, whether that’s long or short, this is usually the wrong direction. So you might want to reconsider your uncle’s advice on this matter.
Best Forex Trading on Apps
There are no security concerns while trading on mobile apps since each user has his unique credentials. It is similar to using any other app on your mobile device.There are a lot of options for people looking for trading apps. Following would be the list of such apps used for online forex trading –
- I.G. – Supported and managed by the well-renowned I.G. group. The I.G. Group created a mobile application that allows forex traders to manage their accounts easily from their phone. It is available on IOS and Android.
- Forex.com – This app is run and managed by forex.com, which claims to be a one-stop shop for all the forex trading services.
- CedarFX: It is the only forex trading app that claims to be eco-friendly. It offers the option of choosing a green account with no commission.
- HYCM: It allows its users to trade in 69 pairs of unique currency. Other than forex trading, it also provides stock and ETF trading, investing in commodities.
Different types of Forex Trading Platforms
Did you know that there are different types of forex trading platforms? When it comes to forex trading, multiple options are available to traders that want to start trading in forex. We are going to learn about them below:
Dealing Desk
You have to be dealing with market makers. It is the market maker who takes the opposite side of your trade. They offer the brokers a fixed spread and trade in nano sets, which minimises the risk. Market makers are suitable for beginner traders. Nano lots allow proper risk management.
Non-Dealing Desk
This trading is for experienced traders who have a good understanding of the market. But here, you have to create a larger size minimum, compared to Dealing Desk. In N.D.D., the spread is variable; the spread varies depending on the volatility in the market. Spread values fluctuate regularly based on economic announcements, shifts in global markets, and worldwide events of global importance. This volatility enables brokers to make a profit, depending on their analysis and predictions of markets. N.D.D. brokers usually take commissions on every forex trade and sometimes take a cut from the spread.
Straight Through Processing
In S.T.P., your broker is the link between you and other liquidity providers. The broker takes your order and routes it to a liquidity provider. S.T.P. brokers communicate with many liquidity providers. They have an extensive network of influential people and can help the broker make a successful forex trade portfolio.
Electronic Communication Network
E.C.N. takes the commission from each forex trade instead of taking a portion from the broker’s spread. The broker is paying to access the liquidity provider and to interact with them. The prices or offers from various banks are provided by E.C.N. brokers, which keeps the inter bank market transparent. E.C.N. brokers are unlikely to trade in nano lots, and thus only experienced traders are recommended to trade with E.C.N. brokers.
Why is choosing a forex trading platform important?
The number of online forex trading platforms increases, and all of them claim to offer excellent services to their customers. However, many brokers do not commit to their word. Before choosing an online forex platform, you should consider several factors, which are as follows:
Regulation
Regulation is the most important thing when it comes to selecting your forex trading platform. You must know by which agencies the broker is being regulated and whether those regulating agencies are legit or have credibility in the market.
Regulators put limits on the leverage offered by the brokers to perform proper risk management. The primary function of putting limits is to avoid drastic financial losses when a trade might go the other way. Regulations are also made that define eligibility criteria for firms. For example, firms in the US. must have a capital of 20 million USD. We will put down a list of well-known regulation agencies. They are as follows:
- FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) –A world-renowned regulating agency based in the UK, regulating 58,000 financial services firms.
- CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) –An independent agency based in the US, it was founded in 1974. This agency’s primary task is to regulate the US derivatives markets.
- NFA (National Futures Association) –A self-regulatory organisation based in the US. Its function is to safeguard the integrity of the derivatives market.
- M.A.S. (Monetary Authority of Singapore) – The agency mentions that its function is to maintain sustainable growth of the economy without inflation.
- B.M.A. (Bermuda Monetary Authority) – Institution that regulates the financial aspect of Bermuda.
Efforts
You must keep an eye on how your broker executes your trade and observe whether there is a lag time every time you put on a trade or if it is instantaneous. Especially at the time of a major news release, you want to analyse if your spread widens drastically. In general, pay attention to how the spread moves around.
Customer Service
Customer service can be the deciding factor between you making money or losing money because of some glitch. You want to keep in mind that real money is at stake. So you must choose the online forex platform that you can approach via phone or live chat as soon as possible, in case of emergency. Use of emails is highly discouraged from getting an answer to your queries, as it is a time-consuming process.
Ease of Withdrawal
You don’t want an online forex platform that gives you more reasons why you cannot withdraw your money. The reasonable time for money withdrawal will be around four to five business days. When withdrawals exceed that time frame, you should become very concerned. The money is ultimately yours, and you should be able to deposit and withdraw it whenever you want. If the forex platform offers you a bonus for keeping the money in the system, that can be a red flag also, and you might want to report to the respective authorities.
Security
Make sure you are not submitting your essential details to a fraudulent financial firm. There can be serious repercussions and possibly financial loss. If you don’t know much about them, you should check with their previous clients and do some research on the internet. It’s essential to check for regulating agencies as well. In addition, do not fall victim to any get-rich-quick scams offered by fraudulent forex trading platforms.
Trading cost
Trading costs can take a massive cut from your forex trade profits. Make sure to research the brokers that have low trading costs but still provide decent services. But on the other hand, brokers require funds to provide you services, so make sure your broker hits the sweet spot between the trading cost and services. For traders that deal in high volumes, a high trading cost will negatively impact their overall profit from forex trade.
Conclusion
It is clear from the information provided in this article that forex trading can be a profitable endeavour. Precautions certainly have to be taken while choosing your broker and forex trading platform. We listed the things that you should be aware of in a descriptive manner. We hope this will help you navigate through the random information presented on the internet.
With the proper knowledge that we have provided here, even a beginner will navigate their way in forex trading and through various forex trading platforms. Forex trading is not a piece of cake; it is not for everyone. Most first attempts, if not supervised, have high chances of being financially unsuccessful. To avoid any loss of money, people should carefully choose the online forex platform that is a legit, certified and regulated broker who can help you put your money in such a way that the risk of loss is significantly reduced. I.G. ( Investment Gold Index) is the most reliable online trading option. There have been cases where they have refunded the loss of money due to a technical issue from their side. The customer service of I.G. is unmatched, and in case of any problem, their customer support is just a call away. They help you resolve the issue and initiate compensation if the issue resulted in financial loss. Still, some users might find the user interface of the I.G. forex trading platform hard to understand and navigate.
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