A crucial part of your trading is the selection of charting software, together with the data feed that you require to drive it. There are a myriad of choices, as any search on the Internet will reveal, and they can be quite expensive. Bearing in mind that you will be using your trading platform all the time, and that your trading capital will be significantly more than its cost, it does not make sense to skimp on this particular tool. All the major charting packages will allow you to download and use a demonstration version for a period, and once you have narrowed down the features that you require, I encourage you to do that for two or three of the shortlisted candidates.

Most online brokers offer quite detailed charting packages built into their websites, and for the occasional trader this may prove sufficient. Certainly, all the common indicators are usually available, and many can even be set up to your favorite configuration for the next time you log in. However, what you have with your broker’s website is what they decide to give you -- if you invest in a charting platform then you are able to customize it to your requirements.

While there are some attractive upstart charting packages, if they are not established with a large user base then you may have more difficulty finding custom applications to suit your trading style. For this reason, you may want to stick to the longer established bigger names in the market, unless you want to do all the custom programming yourself. Look for a well supported user base with an active forum, and hang around the forum for a while to see what issues current users have with the software.

When you try a demo version, you should look for software that is instinctive to use, and gives you flexibility to change the configuration. It is useful to try it using two screens, which many computers are capable of driving with no modification. If you have a monitor left over from your previous computer system, you might try to connect it. You will find using two screens greatly multiplies the usefulness of the program.

Some software provides a whole new programming language for you to customize its performance, and this feature will allow you to create your own indicators from the basic information, giving you the ultimate power to realize your trading dreams.

The choice of data feed depends on the type of trading that you are considering. For instance, if you are day trading in real time you will probably want to have a Level II facility, which will show you the unfulfilled and pending buy and sell orders, and will be continually updated. Be warned that the free data feeds, such as Yahoo and MSN, are usually delayed for some minutes, so if you want to actively trade you will need to pay a subscription for a decent service. It goes without saying that it must be compatible with the software that you like, and you may find that the software manufacturer shows a preference for one particular data provider.

Mark Soberman of NetPicks LLC has been trading for over 20 yrs and offers free educational resources, online discussion forums, live forex and futures signal services, as well as live webinars.7 Secrets