Over the past few decades, trading platforms have changed a lot. Once, they were very simple pieces of software where investors could trade. Today, they are very complex and are not only created for the actual trading process but can also be used for complex market analysis.
Everything was quite simple in the world of trading platforms prior to 2004-2005. But, then MetaQuotes released its breakthrough trading platform, MetaTrader 4, and the Forex trading market, and the way people view it has changed forever.
Not only has it become a lot easier to trade currency pairs after the release of MetaTrader 4, but it has become a lot more rewarding. There is quite an easy explanation for this. MetaTrader 4 has allowed Forex traders to not only open and close trading positions but also use very complex algorithms to double-check their ideas about the price movements in the market.
By utilizing the technical indicators, which are directly added to the charts, traders are able to better understand the major trends in the market, as well as possible reversals of those trends. While back in 2004 MetaTrader 4 was mainly for Forex trading, it has changed a lot since then.
After the release of MetaTrader 5 in 2010, the trading platform started being used for other financial markets as well. This includes stocks, indices, CFDs, cryptos, and many others. These two trading platforms, while very similar to one another, are still completely different platforms and are offered by the majority of the Forex brokers as individual platforms.
There are numerous Forex brokers available in the market that offer at least one of these two trading platforms. While many offer both of them, others only offer either MT4 or MT5.
Among the brokers that have widely adopted either of the MetaQuote’s trading platforms is ClickTrades. As his very detailed Click Trade review indicates, the broker offers traders only MetaTrader 4. This should not come as a surprise at all, however, as MT4 is the most adopted trading platform globally.
But, these two trading platforms are not the only ones that have forever changed the way people trade. There are many other programs that have changed the way people view trading platforms. MT4 and MT5 are just two great examples of the huge transformation that the trading platforms have experienced over the past few years.
How did the trading platforms change
The biggest difference between the trading platforms two decades ago and today is the aim of using the trading platforms. Once, the only aim that using trading platforms had was to open and close positions. Today, this is nowhere the truth.
Moden traders are using trading platforms not only open and close positions but to also analyze the financial markets. Let’s discuss a specific example of Forex trading. Say that you are trading a certain currency pair based on the fundamental analysis that you had done beforehand but you are not quite sure whether to trust this information or not.
A great way to double-check your ideas is to use technical analysis. The technical analysis became available for retail Forex traders thanks to the modern trading platforms. Platforms such as MT4 and MT5 offer traders numerous Forex trading charts. These charts are able to display past information about the market.
In just a few clicks, you can add special technical indicators to your charts. These indicators are using the price movements on the chart to find momentums, trends, and different types of price levels. Some indicators can even give you information about support and resistance levels which can be quite useful while trading.
Also, some of the indicators can also give you information about the possible upcoming changes in trends, called reversals. If these indicators confirm your ideas about the direction market could take, you can make orders with a lot more confidence.
Why do some brokers offer custom platforms?
While there are numerous Forex trading platforms, such as MT4, MT5, NinjaTrader, cTrader, and many others, there still are some Forex brokers who decide to create a platform of their own. This is a very common practice in the market.
There can be numerous reasons behind this decision. For example, there might be a Forex broker the team behind which believes that none of the available trading platforms are good enough to fulfill the ideas that they have.
On the other hand, the reason might be a little bit less special – connected to money. You see, as much as MT4 and MT5 are very useful, their adoption can cast the brokers some money, and not every broker is willing to pay such money for that.
Rather, these companies might prefer to create platforms of their own. This way, they can customize the platforms better to their ideas.
Mobile trading platforms
Many things have changed in the financial markets over the past few years, but one thing that is truly amazing is mobile trading. Thanks to these applications, traders can keep in touch with the financial markets without the need to sit in front of their computers the whole day.
The majority of the modern Forex brokers offer traders access to mobile trading, and this can be especially good for those traders who are constantly on the go. By using modern Forex trading applications, these traders do not have to worry about getting home in time, as they can trade from anywhere they want to.
Mobile applications for Forex trading are offered by individual Forex brokers around the world. In most cases, the majority of these applications are capable of doing everything that actual Forex trading platforms can do.
The trading platforms have changed and developed a lot over the past few years. Not only did the become stronger, but they are also a lot easier to use. The transportation that the Forex trading apps saw was very important for the further development of the whole market.