The only thing as important in forex currency trading as your forex strategy is your online forex trading platform. In the earlier days of FX trading, you would have a broker doing this work for you. However, now you can conduct forex currency trading online and have a computer do the work for you. An online forex trading platform will give you all the current market conditions and the trends that have occurred in the past 24 hours, week, month, year, and beyond.FX trading platforms will also give you up to the second market news that will be affecting the prices of currencies the world over. It will also let you easily and quickly enter and exit trades so you’re right on the ball. As you may have guessed, online FX trading platforms are a powerful, one-stop tool that can help you make or break deals. So what are the features you should be looking for?

Automation is one of the big ones. Forex currency trading is a 24 hour a day, international market and unless you’re a forex freak you will not want to be spending your entire day glued to your computer screen! And even if you were, you probably have a day job to attend, making this unfeasible. Automation takes care of this problem for you: automation in an online forex trading platform allows the software to enter and exit trades for you when certain pre-set conditions and thresholds are met, like a currency reaching a certain peak or bottom. The more sophisticated FX trading platforms allow you to program it to enter and exit a trade based on complicated algorithms, but don’t worry about those until you become advanced in forex currency trading or unless you’re a mathematics whiz.

Look for a FX trading platform that allows you to view and print any and all of your transactions and orders quickly and simply. You will also want an FX trading platform that allows you to enter and exit trades with one-click, not with a series of pop-up confirmation windows.

It is much more preferable to have online forex trading platforms that have separate charting applications. Say you want to enter and exit a trade on a last minute’s notice. You run to your laptop and open your FX trading platform, but your internet connection is slow! Much of your computer’s memory will be eaten up when trying to open your platform’s financial graphs and charts. If you have a separate charting application, you can open your FX trading platform without the charts, enabling you to quickly buy or sell currencies at the right moment. This feature can help you earn profit you otherwise wouldn’t.

Ask the brokers you are considering whether they offer more than one platform: it’s always good to have choices and to try out as many online forex trading platforms as possible. MetaTrader is an industry favourite, but many competitors exist. However, MetaTrader is what many are familiar with, and if you are taught on it, you may find it convenient to stick to this FX trading platform in your forex currency trading. It is always recommended to try out independent trading platforms as well as there are some excellent competitors out there for MetaTrader – find the online forex trading platform you are most comfortable with using.