Picking out a trading app can be a cumbersome task. There are dozens of different trading applications, each with features geared to a specific type of trading. There are several features you should consider when evaluating a trading application. You want to ensure that the application can access various technical analysis tools. Some applications provide access to a couple of assets, such as stocks and bonds. If you want a broad range of assets to trade, you need to find a broker that provides an app that allows you to access a wide range of assets.
You want access to an economic calendar and information that describes whether the release was in line with expectations. If you do not have a plethora of investment experience and are a novice trader, you want to ensure that your chosen app has a robust educational portal. Access to a demonstration account will help you decide if you can trade your strategy effectively with your desired trading app. Remember, there will always be times when you have questions and want quick and concise answers. Customer services is always a premium, and you want to ensure you can reach support in several ways, such as chat or email.
Where to Get Started
Determining the best trading app for you should start with research and due diligence. You can begin by defining yourself and your trading experience. Are you a novice trader or one that has years of experience? Do you have investing experience in some assets but little experience in others? Once you define yourself, you can determine what you are looking for and how you might find the different trading apps that will meet your investment needs.
Trading the capital markets is broad-based. You might be looking to invest directly in stocks or might want to trade a wide range of products. If you can narrow down the assets you are considering for your investment activity, you can start by looking for trading applications that focus on those products. If you are unsure what products you want to trade, you might start with a broader search.
You might consider starting by looking online and looking for reviews of trading apps. You could start by looking for the best contract for differences (CFD) trading apps or the best forex trading apps. Your searches might produce many reviews that reflect the names of brokers that provide trading applications. Do yourself a favor and read all the reviews that you can find. The reviews might not be accurate, but each will be a data point to determine which trading app is best for you.
What Should You Look For?
Each investor will likely have different features that will provide the best trading experience. If you are starting the investment process for the first time, make sure you find a trading application with a good education portal. Investing takes effort, and you need to understand why are market moves before you start risking capital on the future direction of a security. The best way to learn what is involved in investing is through your broker’s education portal. The information might not be comprehensive, but it will provide the concepts that will allow you to determine what else you might need to get your way.
For example, your broker might have articles or videos on technical analysis. Technical Analysis is the study of past price movements. From these patterns or studies, you can evaluate trends or momentum, which can help you determine the potential next move in an asset. If the trading apps education portal does not have a comprehensive technical analysis section, you can do further research to gauge the best tools to help you learn how to trade.
The trading app should also have an economic calendar. Like a regular calendar, the economic calendar shows you the dates and times critical economic reports will be released. The calendar might not explain in detail what each piece of information means, but you can then use that information to research if the report is essential to the future movements of the assets you are trading.
You want to ensure that the trading app you choose has information that will spur additional research and help you determine what is important to you.
Use a Demonstration Account
An educational portal is a great way to start after determining which assets are most interesting to trade. Another great tool is a demonstration account. A demo account is a type of offering provided by trading apps that allow prospective customers to experiment with a trading account. You can use the various features before starting to trade a live account. When you trade with a demo account, you use demonstration money provided by the trading app. You cannot lose or make any money with a demo account. There are several benefits to using a demo account.
You can test drive the trading app and see if it is easy to use. If you struggle to navigate the demo account trading app, you will likely have a similar experience when trading a live account. You will also see how your balance changes and what your profit or losses look like when trading. You can place a trade after you perform specific types of analysis. You also want to see if the application is easy to use and allows you to maneuver quickly and seamlessly through the app. Some applications have hotkeys that allow you to move directly to the trading or analysis tab. If these features are important to you, test them before you start trading a live account.
Another benefit of a demo account is that it allows you to test your trading strategies. Most demonstration accounts work in real-time. You can see if a strategy you plan to trade works and test it for a week or a month before you begin to trade your strategy using your live account. If your strategy does not work because you find out that you cannot transact where you expected, you have learned some valuable information before risking your capital.
You can also test the trading app’s different technical analysis tools available. Suppose you plan to trade using technical analysis as a decision criterion. In that case, you want to ensure that your app has a good technical analysis tool, so you don’t have to use an external product and then shift back to your trading app to place a trade.
You Might Want to Trade a Variety of Instruments
When you trade using a demonstration account, you should have access to most of the instruments your broker provides. One of the benefits of a large variety of trading instruments is that you can focus on trending assets. You might find that assets only trend only a fraction of the time. While it’s essential to focus on assets that you know their trading patterns, it is helpful to have several to choose from. If you plan to trade stocks, you want access to many equities. If you plan to trade CFDs, you want to ensure that the trading app has access to many CFDs.
Access to Customer Support
After deciding on a few different potential trading apps, you should contact them directly to see what kind of response you receive from customer service. Nothing is more frustrating than having an issue and no one to speak to or chat with to resolve your issue. Before depositing your capital, ensure you can contact customer support and the response time meets your expectations. You want to make sure that when you want to withdraw or deposit your money, you can get a representative to help you through the process.
The Bottom Line
The upshot is that you need to perform plenty of due diligence before you choose a trading app. You should also research and help yourself by determining what you want from a trading application. You can start by defining what products you want to trade and what kind of experience you have developed.
You also look at the educational portal provided by your broker to see if that information sparks any ideas. While the education portal does not have to be comprehensive, it needs to provide you with enough information that you can perform some external research.
A big plus is to have a demonstration account. A demo account will allow you to test-drive the trading app and see if it’s right for you. Just like new shoes, if they don’t feel comfortable when you try them on in the store, they are unlikely to feel comfortable when you get them home. Make sure you spend time testing a trading app with a demo account. If it’s easy to use and the maneuverability is quick, then you have likely found something appropriate. Additionally, use the demo account to test your trading strategies.
Lastly, connect with customer service before trading a live account. Nothing is more frustrating than having an issue and not receiving the appropriate response from customer service.
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