Forex Trading Platforms - Forex News by FX Leaders - FX Leaders

Many people are now familiar with online trading and in fact millions are trading themselves. Forex trading has moved online and is done through electronic trading platforms, which come in many shapes and forms.Besides finding a good broker, forex traders have to find a good trading platform as well, which is not that straightforward, especially since the competition has incentivized many providers of trading platforms to come up with many innovations and upgrade them continuously. 

So, while a lot of features are similar, everyone has their own special ones developed for PC, Web trading or Mobile platforms, which make their forex platforms different. This is a good thing, since there are many traders with different needs out there. Many brokers have their own built in platforms which they have developed, but there also quite a few white label platforms, like cTrader or Ninja Trader which many brokers offer. Although, a large part of the white label market share is taken by MetaQuotes Corporation, with its MetaTrader4 and MetaTrader5 platforms. In this article, we will introduce some of these trading platforms and take a look at pros and cons of both types of them.   

Top 5 Trading Platforms 

MetaTrader4 MT4

Everyone knows the MetaTrader4 platform by now. That was the main major breakthrough for the MetaQuotes Corporation, introduced in early 2000s and is the most famous trading platform. The MT4 is like the Facebook of forex platforms. It is pretty easy to use and has a friendly interface. The MT4 used to be the most reliable third party forex platform for online retail trading for a long time. The MT4 set the bar for everyone in the business, basically offering all tools and features that a basic trader needs to analyze markets and trade, such as one-click trading, exposure, account history, news, alerts, mailbox, market, forex signals, expert advisors, journal, etc.

MT4 introduced some new orders in the industry

Features	Pros	Cons
Multiple accounts Automated trading Expert advisers Multi charting 9 time-frames Pending orders Limit/Stop orders Phone alerts Over 50 chart indicators Running simultaneous MT4 platforms Hedging only on MT4	Easy to understand Low PC resources Multiple accounts Accepted in many PC systems Automated trading Easy to use indicators MQL4 trading Trading level alerts	Execution time varies No customized time-frame charts Historical data not always accurate No high frequency trading

 

MetaTrader5 MT5

 

MetaTrader5 platform was the next best thing that the MetaQuotes Software introduced to the online trading community. The community was already used to its previous MT4 trading platform, so the MT5 was in demand right away with forex traders. It brought quite a few new features with the MT5. While the MT5 was specifically designed for forex trading, the MT5 was designed to provide traders with access to CFDs, stocks and futures. The interface is similar to that of the MT4, which is a good thing, since traders don’t like to change too much from one platform to another and it has many more time-frames than the MT4, apart from services and other advantages. Two more types of orders were added to the MT5, with Buy Stop-Limit and Sell Stop-Limit on top of the four types of orders already present in MT4.

  

Remote trading is easy on the MT5 mobile platform

Features	Pros	Cons
Market statistics on various financial instruments Increased number of timeframe charts Customed financial instruments 6 different types of orders Economic calendar MQL5 programming language Hedging by request and netting	Unlimited number of charts Netting allowed  38 built-in technical indicators Buy stop-limit and sell stop-limit Depth of Market DOP liquidity Economic calendar Compatible with PC/smartphone systems Partial order filling 21 time-frames	Complicated due to advanced tools Purchase required for all Hedging only by request Most MT4 EAs not importable

Ninja Trader

The Ninja Trader platform has been one of the rivals of the MetaTrader platforms during the last 15 years. Ninja Trader was developed in 2003 and since conception it was intended to rival the MT4 trading platform, since it offered stock and futures trading, besides just forex like the MT4. If you have a funded account, the NinjaTrader platform is free to use for charting, market analysis, and live trading, while the SIM version is free even if you don’t have a funded account. Traders with high activity of trading finds the Ninja Trader platform quite handy to use due to its great charting features, innumerable applications from third-party developers, also for the brokerage it offers as well.

 

Ninja Trader has some advanced charting 

Features	Pros	Cons
Great charting with great tools Partial and full automation Simulation and back-testing available Easier to build trading apps Many third-party trading apps Great learning guidance for the platform Trading directly from charts	Amazing charting Chart trader order entry tool Thousands of trading apps Platform guides, video library Free daily webinars Depth of Market DOP liquidity Very fast to submit and manage SL and TP orders One cancels the other orders OCO Free basic demo platform	Limited news research Payment for premium features No supported brokers for equity and crypto Not own smartphone platform Data feed not included

 

ProTrader

 

The Protrader platform is another powerful and advanced trading platform in the forex industry, as well as another rival for the MT4. This platform was introduced in 2003, making it one of the oldest platforms for retail traders with a handful others, by PFSOFT, a Ukrainian company of trading and IT experts. The aim when it was designed, was to create a cutting edge platform for online retail forex traders, which would offer them access to most major markets, such as forex, commodities, options market, stock markets etc. The Protrader platform is already quite user friendly, but it also allows traders to rearrange the platform as they wish, which means that it is fully customizable. Speaking of customizing platforms, Protrader allows you to execute several trades at once, which is good for news trading, as well as placing limit orders direct from the chart. This platform is also quite hospitable to thousands of third party EAs and trading programmes, as well as offering depth of market tools too.

 

ProTrader has some nice scalping features

Features	Pros	Cons
Powerful and friendly interface and charting Fully customizable platform AlgoStudio for programming purposes and back-testing of algorithmic strategies One-click chart pending limit orders available Basket trading for multiple trade execution Scalper’s panel for quick trading Option’s Master for options	Friendly interface design Basket trading Great for scalping Fully adjustable terminal Beginner and professional workspaces Chart pending orders Options Master	Limited order types Small charting area

cTrader

 

The cTrader platform was introduced in 2010 by Spotware, which raised the standards of the online trading industry. The cTraders was designed to be used by ECN brokers, with several top names already using this trading platform, so it is a desirable platform for those traders who like trading directly through an ECN. The main functions of the platform are two, charting and trade execution. Therefore, cTrader charting and interface is very clean and it is very easy to use because of its simple UI. Besides, traders are issued with tickets containing all the details and there is a map option available to analyze all the trade performance as a whole, for individual pairs, for a certain time and so on. cTrader has the Open API for traders to build their own trading programmes. cTrader is used by several well known brokers, such as Alpari. 

 

cTrader has numerous technical indicators such as volumes 

Features	Pros	Cons
Electronic communications network platform Reliable and fast execution The spreads are very low and go to 0 pips in liquid times Available to follow other traders Price feed from many feed providers Platforms for Windows, Web, Mobile Over 60 Indicators	Alerts Trade tickets with all the details Map analysis of performance Multiple source pricing Very low spreads Advanced order types Fast entry and execution cTrader Copy	Not fully customizable Low number of EA and custom indicators Use of C# language instead of MQL

6 Top Broker Platforms  

eToro

 

As forex trading became increasingly popular, social trading also became popular. eToro which was founded in 2007 is one of the first brokers to introduce social trading en masse. In fact, that’s what eToro is most famous for. There is a large number of eToro traders which form a vibrant community. The eToro platform offers this feature with great efficiency and also offers the translate option for traders of many countries. Although, the best feature of the eToro platform is the eToro CopyTrader which evaluates top traders according to a smart performance analysis, carried out by algorithms evaluating leverage, exposure, number of trades open, volatility of traded assets etc. Traders can also have ready made portfolios, which is another great feature. Portfolios can either be for Market Portfolios for certain CFDs and Stocks based on algo strategies, or Top Trader Portfolios, where anyone on eToro can follow a number of top traders with the best performance score. If you are an experienced trader, you can also offer your services for a fee for other traders to copy your trades. 

 

eToro is most famous for its social trading network and features

 

Features	Pros	Cons
Social trading platform for traders to evaluate their trade ideas eToro TradeCopier allows traders to copy top traders 2 Types of copy portfolios: market portfolios and Top Trader portfolios  Fast account opening process Fully digitalized opening process The demo account stays active for unlimited strategy testing and practicing time $5 withdrawal fee and $10 inactivity fee after 1 year $200 minimum account deposit Low CFD spreads Covers forex, CFDs and cryptocurrency markets Back-testing and forex strategy optimization	Non-expiring demo account Vibrant trading community Low withdrawal and inactivity fees Social trading Trade copier Two types of copy portfolios High quality education Trading instrument sentiment indicator	Limited stop-loss functions for cryptos One base currency, the USD No news streaming Partially customized platform No streaming news Inactivity fee

 

IG

 

The IG Group is a London based financial firm, founded in 1974. The broker is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the U.K. and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) in Australia, which makes it quite safe. They also offer a wide range of financial markets to trade, which we cover in an exclusive article about IG, from forex to options, futures, commodities, cryptocurrencies, indices and bonds. But, besides that, they also offer a number of trading platforms to chose, from the usual third party platforms such as the MT4, the we based platform which is their main trading one, the mobile application, the IG Markets L2 Dealer, which is mainly designed for stock traders and the IG ProReal Time, which includes more than 100 indicators, but comes with a fee, which is refundable if you trade enough each month. IG has also introduced a new feature, the IG Smart Portfolio, which is an EA advisory service for traders to select among automatically managed low-cost portfolios. 

 IG offers a wide range of markets and instruments

Features	Pros	Cons
A very wide range of markets covered Alerts to trigger when a market moves an amount, hits a price level or meets your technical conditions Risk mitigation to protect accounts, including guaranteed stops for watertight protection. Unlimited access to Thomson Reuters’ news streaming service Virtual private server to install algorithms that automate trading Over 15,000 financial instruments to trade IG Smart Portfolio managed automatically Indicators appear only when you tap on IG Mobile App	Guaranteed stop losses Interbank ECN IG Smart Portfolio Easy to access web platform 1,000+ indicators for IG ProReal Multi-source price feed	Dormant account fees No interbank for forex No social/copy trading Management fees + % fees for Smart Portfolio

 

Oanda Trade

 

Oanda is one of the most famous brokers in the retail forex industry. Apart from the MT4 platform, Oanda offers its own trading platforms, the Oanda Trade Web, desktop and mobile application. In comparison to the MT4, the Oanda Trade platform is more modern looking. The coloring is less retro, the chart placement is better, as well as the layout of chart indicators. Charts are provided by TradingView, while the feed is provided by 25 central banks, which makes it an ECN broker. The desktop platform is fully customizable and it also offers sophisticated trader analysis, as well as offering a wide range of financial instruments. 

 

 Oanda offers a number of different chart layouts

Features	Pros	Cons
More than 10 types of charts + chart layouts Fully personalized chart layouts Ability to drag charts to different screens 50+ drawing tools Very low spreads during liquid times Sophisticated trade analysis Updated market analysis	GSLOs guarantee to exit trades Interbank ECN No minimum deposit requirement Up-to-minute news Economic calendar Multi-source price feed Updated market analysis Many educational videos and webinars $0 minimum deposit	Wider spread during illiquid times Fees when GDLOs are triggered Inactivity charges Only forex and CFDs No price alerts $5/lot forex commission

 

Dukascopy 

 

Dukascopy is another reputable name in the trading industry. Dukascopy is a Swiss regulated bank, which offers broker services as well, and some of the best services in our opinion. Apart from being a safe broker to do business with , it offers its own trading platform JForex, which provided access to the SWFX – Swiss FX Marketplace, which is a technological solution for trading, using a unique centralized-decentralized marketplace model. Dukascopy offers a wide range of markets to trade and a wide range of orders, such as market order, limit order, stop, take profit, stop loss, stop limit, trailing stop, place bid/offer, OCO, IFD etc. Besides that, Dukascopy platform offers the option to control the slippage when opening a trade. So, Dukascopy is an all-rounded broker.

 

 The Dukascopy platform is world class

Features	Pros	Cons
A very wide range of markets covered Rich and advanced platform More than 250 indicators to use Many unusual orders types, such as stop limit, place bid/offer, OCO, IFD Slippage control option to control maximum price slippage on execution Platform inbuilt plug-in customer support Multi-language interface for JForex Platform News and economic calendar Managed account option by professional traders	A regulated bank broker Interbank CCN Slippage control function Modern trading platform PAMM accounts Multi-source price feed EsiSwisse deposit insurance scheme Platform-built customer support 250+ trading indicators Multi-language platform	High minimum deposit High commissions Restricted leverage 14 days only demo account No US traders allowed Limited funding options

 

AvaTrade

 

AvaTrade is a forex broker regulated in Ireland among other countries, founded in 2006. Apart the MT4 and MT5 platforms, it also offers its own web trading platform, as well as the mobile AvaTradeGo platform. The web trading platform is quite simple to understand, use and trade, although it consumes PC resources. With AvaTrade platforms you get access to data on buy/sell positions from AvaTrade traders. The web platform, as well as the AvaTradeGo platform, have some interesting tools, indicators and features, one of which is the AvaProtect option, which you buy for a price. That’s a feature to protect your trades for a certain amount of time after you have opened it, with the option to renew it when the time purchased ends. But one of the downsides is that the product portfolio is limited as it offers only CFDs, forex, and cryptos, which is enough for many traders, but some traders might want access to more markets.

 

Ava WebTrader platform is really well designed

Features	Pros	Cons
An easy and fully digitalized process to open an account No deposit and withdrawal fees One stop shop register and deposit mobile platform Price alerts on AvaTradeGo AvaProtect option for safer trading 5 base currencies Web platform friendly and well designed, but not customizable $100 minimum deposit AvaOptions platform within AvaTradeGo for Mobile CFDs for cryptocurrencies	$0 withdrawal/deposit fees Low CFD spreads Easy account opening process Easy to access web platform AvaProtect order types AvaTradeGo including AvaOptions	Limited number of trading instruments Occasional crashes of AvaTradeGo platform $50/quarter inactivity fees Administration fees

FXCM

 

Forex Capital Market which is abbreviated into FXCM is another renowned online retail broker which started in 1999 and is based in UK, offering forex and CFDs. The account opening process is pretty straightforward with this broker and the quality of the education content is quite high. FXCM offers its own trading platform, the Trading Station, which is FXCM’s proprietary platform and available via desktop download, web or mobile device. The Web platforms is clean and fresh looking and the mobile is also pretty easy to use, but lacks advanced features. Although, the download version has some pretty good technical research tools.

 

FXCM offers lots of learning contents, such as video libraries, webinars, etc.

Features	Pros	Cons
Covers corex, CFDs and cryptocurrency markets Educational content is of high quality Fast account opening process Fully digitalized opening process Great technical research tools No deposit/withdrawal fees and low trading costs $50 charge for one year of inactivity Low CFD spreads Updated news and calendar section Back-testing and forex strategy optimization High number of orders, such as One-Cancel-Other (OCO), Good-Till-Date (GTD), Good-Till-Cancel (GTC), Immediate or Cancel (IOC) and Fill or Kill (FOK)	Guaranteed stop losses HTML5 for MT5 EAs Minimum deposit for non-EU clients at $50 Very low spreads on ActiveTrader Key trading levels Forex strategy optimization High quality education	$50 dormant account fees Low number of base currencies, 3 limited trading products Mobile platform not user friendly No price alerts

How to Select the Best Forex Trading Platform for You 

Forex brokers come in many shapes and forms, with different offers and products, as do traders, which have different requirements. If you don’t know what type of broker you are, you should go through our broker choosing guide, in order to make it easier to pick a broker suitable for your needs.

Someone must first know themselves what type of trader they are, before choosing a broker or a platform. Traders who specialize on short term trading and scalping would be better off with an ECN broker which offers low spreads during liquid times, such as Oanda or brokers who offer the cTrader platform. Traders new in the business might want to go with brokers that provide high quality education such as FXCM.

Traders who trade overnight and want their positions protected while they’re asleep, might prefer AvaTrade for the AvaProtect option. Frequent traders should avoid brokers with high trading fees, but long term traders, such as professional ones which don’t mind such costs would happily pay for broker with a wide range of market and professional coverage such as Dukascopy. 

About the author

Skerdian Meta // Lead Analyst
Skerdian Meta Lead Analyst. Skerdian is a professional Forex trader and a market analyst. He has been actively engaged in market analysis for the past 11 years. Before becoming our head analyst, Skerdian served as a trader and market analyst in Saxo Bank's local branch, Aksioner. Skerdian specialized in experimenting with developing models and hands-on trading. Skerdian has a masters degree in finance and investment.

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