Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
The MetaTrader (MT) platforms (MT4 and MT5) are no doubt the most popular and widely-used forex trading platforms. Most brokers have MT in their offering for two reasons – on one hand, they prefer to pay for a ready-made product than to develop one of their own and on the other, traders are well familiar with them and prefer to use the services of a broker that offers them.
However, a number of reputable forex brokers with large global client bases offer products built in-house with features made to their preference. Many of the platforms are very successful and used by other brokers, too.
Following are some of the leading forex brokers that offer in-house built trading platforms (in alphabetical order):
CMC Markets – Next Generation
CMC Markets is a broker that solely relies on its own trading platform Next Generation. The platform offers about 10,000 financial products available for trade, including forex, binary options, spread betting and a large CFD offering (forex, commodities, shares, indices, and treasuries).
Next Generation is available as a mobile or web-based platform. It features multiple chart types, technical indicators, drawing tools, date ranges, interval sizes and real-time updates. It also has built-in news service, economic calendar with alerts, options for creating watchlists and for viewing client sentiment for every product. In addition, an Insights function that provides commentary on global markets by a CMC Markets analyst.
Users can chose between five different trading layouts (five-minute chart, fix chart, market overview, share, and trade ideas layouts).
Forex.com – FOREXTrader Pro
Designe specifically for forex trading, Forex.com’s ForexTrader Pro offers access to more than 45 forex markets including the major currency pairs and crosses, plus exotics. It features a large charting package, pattern recognition software by Autochartist, eSignal, and a custom-built Strategy Center.
The platform is available via web, download and full suite of mobile solutions including iPhone, iPad and Android apps. IG offers tutorials and 30-day demo account which allows investors to test the platform without risking real money.
In addition, Forex.com also supports MT4.
FXCM – Trading Station
Trading Station has about all features available on the MT4. It uses NDD execution model, severalorder types (one-click, double-click, and click&confirm), chart and automated trading, pre-loaded strategies and backtesting, among others. A big advantage is that it provides access to exclusive for FXCM tools, including live news from DailyFX (a news and analysis service which was recently acquired by peer IG Group) and Good Till Date, which is a unique order type that lets users execute at specific times, as well as the Real Volume indicators tool, which opens FXCM’s trading book of 200,000 traders around the world.
Trading Station is also available across all platforms – as a desktop and mobile application and as a web-based platform.
In addition to Trading Station, the broker also supports the MT4 and NinjaTrader.
FxPro – SuperTrader and FxPro Markets
FxPro has two separate proprietary trading platforms in its offering – SuperTrader and FxPro Markets. Both platforms provide access to forex pairs, CFDs on spot indices, spot energies and spot metals. Both platforms are very convenient for less experienced traders. In addition to its own platforms, FxPro supports MT4, MT5, and cTrader.
FxPro SuperTrader has more advanced features for automated trading. Users can chose trading strategies, set parameters of choice, apply risk controls and leave the rest to the platform. Traders can still close positions and strategies manually. The broker charges no fees for this platform.
FxPro Markets is FxPro’s recently launched all-in-one trading in-house platform. It has very basic features and is overall similar to the cTrader platform, which the broker also supports. It has single tap order execution and fast speed and is accessible via the web and via mobile devices. FxPro Markets is available only to clients of FxPro’s unit which holds licenses in Cyprus and South Africa, but not to that which is regulated in the UK.
IFC Markets – NetTradeX
NetTradeX, launched in 2006, offers access to a wide choice of forex pairs, indices, stock and commodity CFDs. IFC Markets refers to it as a trading-analytical terminal. The platform is available for desktop devices (Windows), as well as for mobile devices (iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Windows Mobile). Also, users can download NetTradeX Advisors, additional terminal for Windows which is considered to be complementary to the main terminal.
A unique feature that is available with NetTradeX is the option to trade in personal composite instruments (PCIs). Users can create their own PCIs (cross rates, currency indices, stock portfolios, etc.), using the GeWorko method where one combination of assets is quoted by another combination.
In addition to the NetTradeX, IFC Markets also supports MetaTrader 4 (MT4), the world’s most widely used forex trading platform.
IG Group
IG’s self-branded trading platform offers access to forex and CFDs markets. It is web-based (also available in mobile version) with a number of features, including one-click dealing, trading straight from charts and watchlist creating and editing.
The platform is completely customizable and offers access to various other platforms. Users can launch ProRealTime charts and IG charts, as well as add direct market access (DMA) prices, advanced charts, trailing stops, buffer limits and multiple deal tickets.
In addition, IG clients can also use MT4.
HYCM – PrimeTrader and HYCM Mobile
PtimeTrader and HYCM Mobile are HYCM-developed trading platforms. The two have multi-asset capabilities with various instruments available – forex, commodities, indices and stocks. PrimeTrader also offers oil/gas and metals.
Traders can view a complete trading history and account information, use charts and tradable prices for all products. PrimeTrader has Guaranteed Stop/Loss option available, as well.
HYCM’s platform portfolio also includes MT4.
Oanda – fxTrade
Oanda has developed fxTrade, a platform for trading in forex and CFDs. Its rich charting features and simple and customizable interface make it the perfect choice for novice and advanced traders. It is also convenient as it is available as a desktop, mobile or web platform. A major feature of fxTrade is its fast execution speed of as little as one millisecond. About 98% of trades are executed by the broker globally in 0.05669999 seconds (based on data for August 2014 – August 2015).
In addition to its in-house platform, Oanda also offers Protrader Multi-Connect (PTMC) and MT4.
Plus500
Plus500 is also on the list of brokers who offer their own in-house built platform exclusively. The Plus500 multi-asset trading software is popular for placing orders in CFDs on stocks, indices, forex, ETFs, gold, oil and silver. The platform offers real-time market quotes and commission-free trading via a single type of live client account.
Since the broker has wide geographical exposure, to meet client needs its proprietary trading platform is available in dozens of languages. It is also accessible through cross platforms – desktop – Windows OS; mobile – iOS (including Apple Watch), Android and Windows Phone; and web-base.
Saxo Bank – SaxoTrader, SaxoTraderGO
Saxo Bank offers its multi-asset proprietary trading platform for desktops – SaxoTrader, and for mobile devices – SaxoTraderGO. The broker used to offer a web-based version, SaxoWebTrader, but it discontinued it in September 2016, as well as two other mobile platforms – SaxoMobileTrader and SaxoTabletTrader, which it has also discommissioned.
The mobile version was launched in May 2015 and is available for devices with Android and iOS operating systems. Saxo Bank has been strongly enhancing and the mobile platform and has announced intentions to continue to add more features to it in the near future. Once it launched its in-house built platform set, Saxo Bank ceased offering MT4 and switched to its proprietary offering instead.
Saxo Bank’s trading platforms are fully customizable. Users can chose what markets, instruments, charts and trading components they want to see and how and create a trading environment of their taste. Both SaxoTrader and SaxoTraderGO offer basics features, such as advanced charting, technical indicators, trading straight from charts, analysis tools, indicators, live news feeds, etc., but they also have some more enriched features, including tools for comparative analysis and for suggesting trading ideas.
ThinkMarkets – ThinkTrader
ThinkTrader launched its first proprietary platform ThinkTrader in July 2016 when it commenced operations under a new brand (it was previously doing business as ThinkForex).
ThinkTrader is a multi-asset milti-device trading platform. It provides access to a wide range of markets – forex, CFDs, commodities, indices, and metals. It is available for desktop (Mac only) and mobile devices (Andoid and iOS), and as a web-based platform. Users can easily customize the design and functionality of the platform. They can add widgets and charting tools, choosing from more than 100 indicators, data analysis, Autochartist and Reuters News. The platform also has a one-click trading feature for fast and easy execution.
In addition to its proprietary platform, ThinkMarkets also offers clients the world leader MT4.
Trading 212
Trading 212 offers exclusively its proprietary self-branded trading platform with millisecond execution of all types of pending orders and multi-language customer support. The advanced platform is a great alternative to the MT4. It provides access to more than 750 instruments, including a wide variety of currencies, CFDs on gold, oil, stocks and indices. It also provides a wide range of professional built-in features, such as charting and technical analysis tools, real-time financial news feeds, economic calendar.
Unique features are Trading 212’s financial charting engine ProQuant (for analyzing market trends and building own strategies) and crowdsourced news platform Tradebird (for news, investment insights, charts and price levels), both built in-house and directly integrated into the trading platform.
Trading 212 is a web-based platform available as browser extension for Opera, Chrome and Firefox. It is also available as a mobile application (iOS and Android). In fact, the Trading 212 mobile app is the top downloaded trading app in the UK (based on App Annie data for 2016).
XTB – xStation
xStation is a multi-asset platform with an open API software. It is web-based and available for desktop devices, as well as for tablets, phones, and smartwatches. The platform has an average trade execution speed of 85 milliseconds, in addition to intuitive and fully customizable design. I is equipped with Bulk Order Closing function that enables users to lock in profits or limit losses with a single click.
In addition to standard forex trading, the platform supports Multiple Account management solutions (xMAM), social trading (xSocial) and binary options capabilities (xBinaries)
XTB’s proprietary trading platform is also offered by other brokers, imcluding AMarkets, Currency House, and xDirect.
Meanwhile, addition to xStation the broker also offers MT4.
