Trading Education

Forex Trading Platforms – Top 5 List!

What forex trading platform should I choose? Everyone who wants to take their first steps in the Forex world usually faces a very important question.

The question seems simple at first. But as soon as you start to dig into the topic, you get frustrated with the lists of top forex trading platforms with the pros and cons of all the possible choices on the market. To make it easy for you, I created my own short-list of the best forex trading platforms. It will be useful for all traders, including the beginners. With only essential information, you will be able to make the choice without spending too much time on studying all the data.

MetaTrader 4 Forex Trading Platform

MetaTrader 4 is the first thing that you will be offered when you decide to start your trading journey. And for good reasons: MetaTrader 4 is the most popular platform. The biggest number of brokers use it, and there are hundreds and hundreds of trading solutions of different varieties to choose from. It has 9 timeframes, more than 50 built-in indicators and other implemented features such as multicharting and one-click trading. It is suitable for creating and testing out your own strategies. Moreover, it has been on the market for more than 15 years, which shows its safety and stability.

MetaTrader 4 is the basic but most rational choice between different forex trading platforms. You will get lots of sources with information on how to use it to your benefit. You will also get trading solutions of all different sorts to fit even your most exquisite needs.

MetaTrader4 trading platform

Download MetaTrader4 by MetaQuotes Ltd. (only demo accounts)

MetaTrader 5 Forex Trading Platform

It is not possible to imagine the list of forex trading platforms without MetaTrader 5. The newer version of MetaTrader 4 was developed by the same company, MetaQuotes Software Corp. They aimed at expanding the functionality of the previous version. MetaTrader5 has 21 timeframes, more than 70 built-in instruments for market analysis; it is faster and more sophisticated than its predecessor is. The developers also made it possible to allow share CFD trading, which was not available for MetaTrader 4. But one single disadvantage trumps the impressive list of all the advantages. MetaTrader 5 uses completely different programming language than MetaTrader 4. This results in fewer users, fewer instruments to choose from, less information and less support.

MetaTrader5 Trading Platform

Download MetaTrader5 from the official website: https://www.metatrader5.com

cTrader

cTrader platform is in a lot of ways similar to MT4 and MT5. But many people consider it to be analytically and graphically far superior than MetaQuotes solutions. It also offers cAlgo which has a .NET framework and C# language – options that are more widespread than programming languages in MT4 and MT5.

However, it shares its most important disadvantage with MetaTrader 5. It is not as popular, which means that you will be more limited in choosing trading tools, and it will be harder to find information you need or to seek advice.

cTrader

NinjaTrader

NinjaTrader was developed and is currently based in Denver, USA. People use it mainly for analytical work. It has two versions. The first one is Pro, which is available via paid subscription only. The other one is Lite (which does not allow the user to design robots or implement third-party indicator systems). Six Forex brokers support the platform, which has a small but loyal community of ~60,000 traders.

NinjaTrader

HotForex MT4 Web Terminal

The MetaTrader 4 web terminal allows you to trade from any web browser. No download, no installation  – you will get access to this forex trading platform directly via a browser. The most popular (and respectively safe and stable) choice is HotForex WebTerminal which offers efficient trading with advanced analytical tools.

But web MT4 version also has some serious drawbacks. The biggest one is its limited functionality. It usually has just a few built-in indicators, no audible alarms. And you can’t load your own trading tools or customize the interface.

hotforex web terminal

Conclusion on Forex Trading Platforms

The final choice is always yours, you should make it based on your goals for trading. You are the only person who can find the right tools for achieving desired results.

With all that said, I will still give my own unbiased opinion, but there will be no surprises on this part. MetaTrader 4 is almost always #1 in all checklists of top forex trading platforms. It has been around for more than 15 years. The biggest number of traders throughout the world are using it – and in this case popularity equals quality. With MetaTrader 4 you will have all your bases covered – it is my personal choice as well, of course.

Oliver Murphy

Hi! We are Altra Forex Group, the team of the most qualified and experienced forex traders and programmers. Our Mission Statement: "Trading Forex Made Easy and Successful for Everyone"! Join our team today!

One Comment

  1. Thank you, Oliver, for your articles for beginners. I decided to switch to another broker because I didn’t want to trade on MT5. It has too many lagging problems.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

Back to top button
Close
Close