The technology is constantly evolving and it has also made a huge impact in the world of financial trading. Brokerage firms today offer a variety of tools in order to make trading easier to their clients. Trading platforms are among those. With so many options to choose from, it is hard to make a short list of the best Forex platforms. But we are able to divide them into two groups: Forex web trading platforms and downloadable platforms.
Choosing a platform
Once you begin your journey into the world of Forex trading, you have to make a decision which platform you want to use. It all comes down to your individual preferences and personal needs. If you are trading from your home desktop computer, you might want to look into the downloadable software. If you are constantly on the move and trading with a number of different devices, web-based Forex platforms might be more suitable for your lifestyle.
Web-based vs. downloadable platforms
If we take a closer look, it is clear that these two types of trading platforms are pretty dissimilar. The first difference is the fact that a web-trading Forex platform runs on Java. That particular programing language ensures that they can be accessed through any type of internet browser. While this can be very useful, there are a couple of downsides as well.
The lack of tools
If you go for a web-based trading platform, the chances are you will not have all the features that are typically available to the users of the downloadable platforms. Those include advanced charts, various newsfeeds, and some types of trading signals as well. If your trading method depends on a solid technical analysis, a web-based platform will simply not meet your criteria.
Prone to crashing
Since internet browsers are known to crash from time to time, the chances are you will be interrupted in the middle of your trading session every once in a while. There is simply nothing you can do to prevent this. Also, the speed of the execution depends on the speed of your internet connection. Your orders might not be executed right away and that often annoy traders. Trading is a precise endeavor that simply demands quick response. There should be no delay when you are buying or selling.
Conclusion
All in all, web-based Forex platforms are inferior when we compare them to the downloadable ones such as MetaTrader 4. Yes, they can be useful if you are a beginner that does not demand plenty of advanced tools for analysis. However, if you are a professional trader, they might simply not give you everything that you require from the best Forex platforms.
Surely, FX trading web-platform is super useful if you are not tied to a single computer and you are using a number of devices for trading. All you need is a strong internet connection and you will be able to trade wherever and whenever. But if you are trading on a professional level, downloadable platforms are the way to go.