Mobile Trading Platforms
A new wave of trading technology has hit the markets: the mobile trading platform. What are they really?
There used to be a time that the only way to trade the forex market was to do that through a telephone call put to the broker, who would implement the trade using their dealing desk. Traders were not in control of prices at which the currency pairs were bought, and were also not in total control of trade exits.
Then the desktop trading platforms came into the picture. Using a downloadable .exe file, traders could download a trading platform to their desktops and laptops, and trade from there. While this was a vast improvement over the telephone trading style, it also had its own problems. Sometimes, the .exe files were corrupted and it was impossible for traders to set up the platform in such cases, relying on the broker cleaning up the file for download. In addition, it was impracticable to carry a desktop computer around, and setting up the trading platform any time the trader was on another computer was a cumbersome task.
To deal with some of these issues, web-based platforms were introduced. These did not require any downloads and so made it possible for the trader to access the trading platform on another computer with ease. However, the web-based platforms did not solve the issue of portability, as the trader still needed access to a computer every time.
A great need therefore arose to be able to design trading platforms that could be used wherever the trader was, without having to bother about carrying a desktop or laptop wherever the trader went. Enter the mobile trading platform.
Mobile trading platforms are trading platforms designed for the mobile phones. The concept of developing trading platforms that could be used on mobile phones came at at the time that smart phones were introduced in 2006. Microsoft introduced the Windows phones, followed by Apple which gave us the iPhone and iPad. Google eventually launched the Android OS on which compliant phones from Samsung, HTC, LG and others work.
Let us now talk about each of the various platforms on which mobile trading platforms work.
FX Platforms for the iPhone and iPad
These two devices are products of Apple. Some brokers have created mobile trading platforms specifically for the iPhone and iPad. The following brokers offer a forex trading platform for the iPhone:
a) Oanda
b) FxPro
c) Forexyard
d) GAIN Capital (forex.com)
Some brokers even have functionality for CFD and PAMM account trading. One of the best forex trading platforms for the iPhone is iTradeMobile, used by FXCM, and dbFX.
FX Platforms for the Android Devices
An example of a forex trading platform built for the Android device is the FX Trade Interceptor. It is a free, multi-broker trading platform. The application is 100% free and has the following features:
a) Streaming quotes and price charts.
b) Push-price alerts.
c) Synchronized trading with the TradeInterceptor desktop platform.
d) FX QUOTES and streaming CHARTS from top forex brokers in one single interface.
e) Real-time chart updates.
f) Live trading with one or several forex brokers. This is possible because of the Trade Interceptor multi-broker technology, enabling traders to trade from the quote grid or from the charts.
Instant and accurate trade execution is possible using the chart trading feature. Trading positions can be synchronized in real-time using the Trade Interceptor desktop trading platform and the trader can set alarms on the desktop and receive them on the Android phone, even when logged out from the Android trading app.
The complete set of trading tools such as indicators for technical analysis, charting tools and TRENDRISK™, an exclusive chart analytical tool are all available.
