In my professional career, I have traded across many different trading platforms. Some platforms were great fun while others were difficult to manage my hair. There are many trading platform for traders and they all offer different quality read here.

I would only list the best-quality platforms for communication if you needed to. If I did that, I could easily fill my mailbox full of cease-and desist requests and lawsuits. To illustrate why these platforms are great, I have highlighted some key characteristics. A platform’s ability and ability to function well is directly affected the quality of its datafeed. Assumed all platforms have a suitable feed. That variable can then be removed from the discussion.

1. Every platform should have a set of quality charting and other tools.

Trading and active chart requires the ability to draw in trend lines and Fibonacci-retracements. These symbols do not require any degree in physics. Entering trend lines and other symbols shouldn’t take too much time. It is important to remember that trading involves price action and not drawing lines on charts.

2. A platform design that is well-designed should be easy to understand and use.

A good platform should be easy to use. The software shouldn’t take more than 200 pages to use. The chart should be simple to read and the index readings must always be visible. Platforms that take too much time to set-up or require frequent maintenance will be difficult and costly. You will be able to save your settings with quality programs. If you open the program again the following morning, your exact settings should be displayed.

3. A solid platform will have all the indicators and oscillators you need.

It’s frustrating to not have the complete set or a method to add new indicators to your chart. Many platforms with lower prices have only five to six basic indicator. Good platforms should allow you to adjust the time periods and other variables to your liking. These functions should not take long. These functions should not take long and will not require you to read through 200 pages to determine how to set a 14-period setting for a commodity channel.

4. A good platform will offer many exit options and entry points.

A good trading platform allows you to quickly determine how many contracts are being traded and allows you set your stop loss or profit limit. This task should take little time and be simple. Trades can be scaled up at specific profit points by trading platforms. Good platforms will offer an intuitive trailing-stop feature that is easy and quick to set up. You should also be able set up bracket trades with little effort.

5. A platform that is reliable, stable, and resilient will never falter or give up.

Losing an active trade can be frustrating. Software incompatibilities cannot be tolerated. Your platform is the foundation of your business and should function as such. This is a requirement I have always refused to comply with. It was a frustrating day when I had to trade one for high instability on a platform. The platform was not reliable and I never will use it again. Software developers are acutely aware about the design flaws of trading platforms. These flaws need to be corrected so traders are able to trade without crashes. Buggy software is dangerous.

There are many other flaws in trading platforms software. These five stand out to me as deal-killers. These flaws won’t be tolerated. If I encounter them, I will change platforms immediately. To be expected, occasional glitches will occur. It is not professional to have a recurring glitch with the trading platform software.