Trading software works like a platform that brings together all the statistical data as well as prices and price analysis of various financial products such as stocks, commodities and other assets. It also provides analysis and decision support tools and features as well as online order placement tools. They can work 100% online or be downloaded from a computer or tablet.
The most effective trading software
Online trading has grown significantly over the past few years thanks to increasingly powerful software that includes more and more practical features. With so much on offer, it can be difficult to choose and find the best trading platform.
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The best classic trading software:
Online or downloadable platforms provided by brokers or online brokers are called "trading software".
In order to find the best online trading software, it is therefore the platform's features that you should be interested in. For this, here are the points to validate:
- Usability: Good trading software should be easy to use so that you can take positions quickly and efficiently.
- Customization of your account: Being able to customize the display of your account, your assets and your positions is a real plus that will also save you a lot of time.
- Decision support tools: Brokers are competing with each other to offer their clients more and more practical features to reduce risks and increase profits. Make a comparison of the different solutions offered.
- Specific features: Some trading software include specific modules such as social trading or automatic trading which represent other ways of trading, particularly interesting for beginners.
- Demo accounts: Testing a trading software using a demo account is a great way to test it without commitment.
Learning to trade software :
Another type of trading software that you can find online is trading training software. This is software that works in the same way as traditional trading software or platforms but in a fictitious way in that you do not invest your own capital but trade with fictitious funds.
Thus, these softwares can be interesting for setting up or testing trading strategies. By testing different strategies with these software, it is indeed possible to improve your technique without risking your capital. They are usually offered by online brokers but also by independent companies that focus solely on the learning part of trading.
When offered by brokers, this trading software allows you to test the platform that will be used by the trader in real conditions and thus learn to master it or discover its various tools and features. Of course, in order to train effectively in online trading, it is also necessary to have a solid knowledge of the subject and therefore to be trained beforehand in a theoretical manner on the functioning of the markets and the various methods of analysis.
The advantages of online trading software:
There is a general distinction between online and downloadable trading software. Here we will start by looking at the advantages and disadvantages of 100% online trading software from CFD brokers.
As far as the advantages of these online trading software are concerned, the following can be noted:
- Great accessibility: Unlike downloadable trading software, online trading software can be accessed anywhere and on any medium and is therefore not dependent on the device on which it was installed. You can access it from your computer, home or office, tablet or smartphone. In short, all you need is a personal login and password to access your trading software from any device connected to the Internet.
- No installation required: If installing programs and software is not your forte, online trading software offers another major advantage as it does not require any downloads and therefore no specific installation. This lack of physical installation of software on a computer, tablet or smartphone has other advantages. This means that you are not locked out of your positions when the medium in question breaks down.
Of course, online trading software also has its drawbacks including:
- Less analysis capability: The most efficient trading software as far as analysis is concerned is without a doubt the software with download. Indeed, online software can not use too complex algorithms because it could slow down the connection and therefore the speed of placing orders. Also, if the online software will correspond perfectly to the needs of the less experienced traders, the more experienced investors will prefer the offline versions which will offer more advanced technical signals and therefore more interesting from a strategic point of view.
The advantages of trading software with download:
Of course, there are also downloadable trading programs that have their own advantages and disadvantages. We would like to tell you more about them here.
As far as the benefits of these software programs are concerned, these include the following:
- Power: Installing trading software on your computer will of course give you more power than with online software. They use the power of your processor to operate and offer more sophisticated analysis and therefore better quality.
- Greater speed: Still because they do not work online but directly on your computer, the software to be downloaded does not suffer the congestion of connections of the main tools present on the platform such as algorithms, indicators or automatic trading which once again use the power of the computer and not that of the Internet which is devoted to the display in real time of the market data and to the placing of orders.
As for the main disadvantages of this type of software with download, they are the following:
- Highly dependent on hardware: These programs are largely dependent on the hardware on which they are installed. Also, as mentioned above, if the computer on which you have installed your software crashes, you can no longer access your trading account.
- The need for a large free space: These software with download, because of their great power, require most often for their installation a large storage capacity of the hard disk so as to be able to download and store all the data from the market.
- The need for sufficiently powerful hardware: The vast majority of download trading software can only be installed on hardware with the necessary power. It is therefore almost impossible to use them properly on small devices such as tablets, but preferably on quality computers.
Considering the above advantages and disadvantages of both types of trading software, the choice of one or the other will depend solely on your needs, your trading style and the hardware you have available to trade with.
The most advanced professional trading software on the market:
Some trading software available on the market is considered professional software although it is also aimed at individuals. This includes software that incorporates money management tools such as the MetaTrader trading platform. This software allows the investor to manage his risk and exposure in the financial markets and can be extremely useful for all types of strategies.
The latest version of the Metatrader trading software, Metatrader 5, has indeed been equipped with numerous money management tools for individual traders and other decision support tools, including customizable indicators with alerts, improved trading algorithms and trading assistance tools. As for the money management tools themselves, these are features that allow you to better monitor the exposure of your trading account in real time, to calculate the number of lots you wish to trade according to a predefined risk level with the possibility of determining it as a fixed amount or as a percentage of the total capital.
However, although the advantages of this type of professional trading software are really useful and numerous, this software is more particularly aimed at the most seasoned traders who are able to understand the market issues and determine, for example, the indicators to be taken into consideration or the ideal level of risk since this platform is entirely customizable.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I install trading software?
To install trading software on your computer, tablet or smartphone, you must first create an account with the broker that offers it. This is because trading software is a platform that can only be accessed by investors who have an account that allows them to trade on it. Once this account has been created, you can download the platform from the link provided by your broker and connect to it using the login and password provided by the broker.
Can I trade without software?
It is still possible to trade without trading software, by placing orders over the phone and through a broker. However, this has certain disadvantages, particularly in terms of time and speed of execution of orders on the market. It is therefore preferable to use an online brokerage service to gain more direct access to the markets and greater autonomy.
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. 77% of retail CFD accounts lose money. You should consider 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.
