what-you-need-to-know-about-your-trading-platform-and-trading-toolsAs an investor, you should wholeheartedly understand the importance of your trading platform. If you’re not an avid investor and have only just introduced your self to investing, you need to learn about the tools of the trade sooner rather than later. With the right platform and trading tools, you’ll be able to amass a wealth of information regarding potential investments and will be able to build a solid foundation of knowledge, so you can eventually make much more profitable trades. Of course, it is essential to remember that each broker will offer a different set of tools and many experienced traders concur that the tools provided by CMC Markets are definitely the best. Within this investor’s guide, you will learn all about the platform trading tools.

What Is The Trading Platform?

If you’re brand new to investing, you are probably already lost. The good news is that the trading platform isn’t something overly complicated. In fact, it is nothing more than a type of software, which is designed to benefit the investor. This software can be provided to the investor for free, but some brokers will actually charge a fee to those that wish to gain access to it. The majority of investors will agree that paying a minor fee to gain access to the information provided will prove to be well worth it in the long run.

What It Entails

Now, it is time to learn about the different types of information you can acquire from utilizing your broker’s trading platform. Truthfully, the possibilities are nearly endless. Once you’ve setup a trading account and have funded it with a sufficient amount of capital, you’ll be able to access your specific broker’s trading platform. From there, you’ll be able to research potential trades. Although the information obtained will vary from one platform to the next, most will be able to provide you with the stock or commodity’s price, historic pricing information and details regarding the company.

If your platform contains market analysis capabilities, you will also be able to keep track of additional statistics and analytics. For instance, you will be able to inspect the volatility of various markets, stocks, commodities and other in-depth information.

Client Behavior

Although it will generally depend on the specific platform that you’re accessing, you may also be able to acquire details regarding the behavior of previous broker clients. With CMC Markets, it is possible to examine client sentiment information. Once you’ve accessed this portion of the software, you’ll be able to determine precisely how other investors are behaving towards a specific trade. If these individuals are selling the stock or commodity in large quantities, you’ll be able to know about it, so you can follow in suit.

It is also possible to inspect the overall monetary value of the positions. This information will be provided in a percentage form for easier classification and understanding.

Inspecting Update Time

Again, all trading platforms are unique and the markets fluctuate consistently. Therefore, it is pertinent for investors to be able to access real-time information regarding their current positions, as well as potential future trades. Some brokers will only provide periodic updates, which may occur every 20 or 30 minutes. If you wish to be able to watch the markets as they climb and fall, it is a good idea to select a broker, which delivers a trading platform that is capable of updating in real-time or as close to it as possible. This will help to ensure that you’ll be able to make maneuvers immediately and when they’ll be most profitable to you.

Generating Trading Ideas

Some trading platforms can actually give the investor the ability to generate trading ideas at the push of a button. When inspecting specific products or stocks, you will also be able to see other products, which are currently be traded by the same clients. This can be very beneficial and can help you acquire new ideas, while also following the behaviors of other investors. If you’ve found a trade, which has proven to be profitable for some investors, you should definitely utilize this tool to see precisely where these investors are also investing their money.

Various Layouts

Finally, there are various exchanges and markets, so it is pertinent to find a platform, which is compatible with them all. You should make sure that your trading platform is capable of displaying multiple layouts. This will give you the ability to inspect and monitor stocks on one screen, while examining FX on another.

Overall

All in all, your trading platform is truly pertinent and cannot be ignored. Although having access to this software for free is ideal, you should not be afraid to spend a little extra to access better tools and more helpful information. Doing so will give you the opportunity to make more profitable trades, so you’ll make your money in the long run.