Simply, trading with live market data is the only way for you to progress and learn to trade. Otherwise, your trading decisions won't be based on how the live market behaves, and you could put in a lot of practice without improving your Forex trading skills.

Remember that the purpose of this software is to prepare you to earn real money, so the best trading simulators are ones that have real-time data feeds. Many free trading simulators offer virtual deposits of EUR 5, to EUR , While this might sound like a great opportunity to get a lot of trading practice, the truth is that unless you are planning to deposit those amounts in a live account, you won't be simulating real trading conditions.

Think about it - if you have EUR , on a demo account, you can make a lot of losing trades, and still have plenty of virtual money left on your account to continue practicing.

However, if you then open a live account with a deposit of EUR 1,, you will need to manage that money much differently, because you have less to lose.

Unfortunately, because you were practicing with a much higher account balance, you wouldn't have learnt risk management, money management and trading strategies that are appropriate for the smaller balance you have in your live account. This is why it is vital to start simulated trading with an amount that is close to your expected deposit amount once you decide to start trading in a live account.

For example, if you plan to trade with EUR 10, euros, you have to start trading with a virtual capital of EUR 10, too. There is a range of stock and Forex trading simulators available, and many of them offer very different features and functionality. If you focus on the simplest or most basic platform, you might need to upgrade later due to missing features.

In other words, it's better to choose the more advanced and complex platform, to have a good foundation for your future trading. Forget the binary trader simulators that promise you quick wins. This is why starting out with an advanced platform, like MetaTrader Supreme Edition might save you time in the long run.

However, an advanced free trading platform is only really necessary if you plan to become an intraday forex trader. If you are a long-term trader and do not require detailed analysis every day, you may need to choose a platform that is the most accessible for you. Nevertheless, your simple platform should always provide you with real-time currency rates, and other additional features necessary for you to be successful in long-term trading.

One specific feature to look for when comparing stock market simulators is the option to manually test your trading strategies based on historical data - this is known as backtesting. The benefit of this approach is that you can find certain market events to test certain trading strategies, rather than waiting for a similar event to occur in real time and losing valuable practice time.

So make sure to go out and find popular strategies and try them out. You never know how effective these strategies will be until you try them. Most stock market simulators and trading simulation software is offered by online brokers. For this reason, it's important to make sure the broker you are choosing is trustworthy, as this will likely be your platform choice once you have gained enough experience on a demo account.

Online brokers are diverse and offer different platforms, different available instruments, different trading costs and different support. Learn more about choosing a good Forex and CFD broker here. Now that you know what a Forex trade simulator is, the benefits of using one and what to look for, you might be wondering which trading simulator we recommend. At Admirals, we think the MetaTrader trading platform - a professional trading software - is one of the best trading simulators available.

It's also the world's most popular trading platform, with a large support community, and the most advanced functionality for Forex and CFD trading online, which makes it the best option for someone who wants to start trading online with a free online trading simulator.

In addition, Admirals also offers the exclusive MetaTrader Supreme Edition , which is free for all Admirals traders. MTSE includes a range of advanced features to help clients achieve the best trading results, including:.

If you're ready to start trading on a free Forex simulator, click the banner below to download MetaTrader 5 today! To access the MetaTrader simulator available for both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 , take the steps below:. While having a MetaTrader demo account is all you need to start trading simulations, there are some additional features in MetaTrader Supreme Edition that can be helpful for more advanced simulations.

MetaTrader Supreme Edition comes with two useful Forex and stock market simulators - one is the trading strategy tester, which allows you to test different trading strategies against historical price data. The second is the day trading simulator, which specifically tests day trading strategies. The strategy tester in MetaTrader Supreme edition is our best CFD simulator for simulated trading.

Here is how you can use it to test stock and Forex trading strategies:. In this example, we will use the Master Candle template, and will simulate approximately six months of trading note that this template is not one of the standard inclusions in MetaTrader Supreme Edition, so you will need to code the rules in MQL4 for this strategy, hire a programmer or obtain a template online.

Once finished with the visual backtest, click the Results or Report tab and view the result. In the example below, we can see that the Master Candle strategy has produced approximately 6.

The day trading simulator lets you place market and pending orders, set trailing stops, alter the stop loss and take profit on orders by clicking on the chart, save complex order definitions as templates, quickly close all open orders, and access many more features that are not available as standard in MetaTrader 4. Once you select your historical data, the day trading simulator will go bar by bar through the markets and you can manually pause it to place a trade. It will then add up those trades in a Profit and Loss statement at the end of the time period, as described here.

You can then apply different templates, add your indicators, trade normally, and see if your strategy worked or not. The major advantage of day trading simulators is the ability to backtest your strategy through different time periods.

In the example below, you can see the example of backtesting using a custom template. The end result was EUR 1, in profit. The day trading simulator will also allow you to thoroughly analyse your trading activity if you press the 'Analyse' button within the Mini Chart window.

The Smart Lines tool use line objects drawn on an MT4 chart as the stop-loss or take-profit for positions. They provide three main features:. When used with the day trading simulator, you can use the Smart Lines tool to make manual trades, which will then be tracked by the simulator. A window such as the example below will then pop up, allowing you to choose which action the line should take.

Another helpful tool in MetaTrader Supreme Edition is the SpeedFactor parameter, which slows down the simulation. The larger the value, the slower the simulation. The main way of controlling the speed of the Simulator is to use the slider next to the Visual Mode box, which contains values between 1 to You can also experiment with the slider to find the best combination for your computer, and how quickly you want the simulation to run.

Additionally, you can also control the speed of the simulation further using the EA's SpeedFactor property. You set this by clicking on the Expert properties button in the strategy tester, and then by altering the Value property on the Inputs tab. Source: AdmiralsTrading Simulator MT4. Another type of Forex simulator, aside from a demo account on a platform like MetaTrader, is a trading game.

While Forex games can be a fun way to start trading, the best place to start is using the software that you will actually use when you start trading on a live account. And the best way to do this is by signing up for a demo account - or Forex simulator - with a broker who also offers live trading, like Admirals does through MetaTrader 4 and Metatrader 5. The MetaTrader platforms are the most popular Forex platforms in the world and one of the most advanced platforms for online currency trading.

For that reason, there's a high chance that you will continue trading in a live MetaTrader account after trialling the free simulator. While Forex and stock trading simulators offer a great opportunity to practice your trading, it's best not to do too many demo operations in a trading simulator. Simply because it can be easy to treat a demo account as a crutch - one that prevents you from gaining experience trading the live markets using real money.

This is one of the reasons why many brokers have an expiry date on their simulators - usually 30 days after opening a demo account. After choosing your Forex simulator software, the first step for transitioning to a live account is to set a goal - what do you want to achieve in your demo account before transitioning to a live one? Then, once you start trading in a live account, don't be afraid of failure.

Traders often experience losses, especially towards the beginning of their trading careers. If you exercise risk management within your trading, you can manage the risks effectively, and may be able to avoid them altogether. There are many cases of traders who failed at some point but ended up producing significant profits. For example, Jesse Livermore became famous making a fortune by shorting the stock market in Not every trader's story is as dramatic and exciting as Livermore's. The good news is that, if you fear failure, you can gain experience and confidence by using risk-free Forex trading simulation software.

Before trading FX professionally, it is crucial to gather experience — preferably, without losing money in the process. You can do this by educating yourself on Forex trading, and practising what you've learned by demo trading, as we've discussed in this article. It's especially important not to be afraid of failure when trading in a Forex simulator.

We have observed that some Traders open positions and if they obtain losses they open another demo account to replenish their initial balance.

However, this isn't how you'd behave with a live account, and shows that you're probably not prepared to face the inevitable losses that Trading entails. Operating with a free trading simulator should not influence your purchasing power. Instead, we still encourage you to operate as you would in the real market. The next area to consider is creating a strategy.

Many traders find it difficult to start trading on a real trading account because they find it difficult and risky to engage in trading without a trading strategy. Fortunately you can see our best strategies for getting started here. If you're ready to take your trading experience to the next level, look no further than MetaTrader Supreme Edition! Gain access to fantastic features such as the correlation matrix - that enables you to compare and contrast currency pairs, as well as the latest trading information and technical analysis provided by Trading Central.

Receive all of this and much more! Click the banner below to receive your free MetaTrader Supreme Edition download! No matter which type of trader you are, experience gained on a demo account is a solid step toward achieving success in the forex marketplace. FXCM's Forex Simulator Options. In the live market, the software trading platform is your portal to the action.

So, in order to excel as a forex trader, it's imperative that your trading platform is user-friendly, swift and robust. As a leading forex brokerage firm, FXCM gives individuals the opportunity to practice trading the forex market on several unique platforms.

The following is a look at FXCM's featured offerings. Trading Station. Trading Station is an all-in-one software suite designed for the active forex, CFD and shares trader. Available on the Web 2. As FXCM's flagship platform, Trading Station offers free forex market access for account holders.

In addition, features such as VPS hosting, trade automation and the indicators of FXCM Apps are available. When you're ready, check out a free demo of Trading Station. MetaTrader 4 MT4. Since its launch, MetaTrader 4 MT4 has been among the most popular forex platforms on the market.

Featuring advanced functionality and second-to-none accessibility, MT4 is the go-to trading software suite for legions of forex participants worldwide. FXCM proudly supports MetaTrader 4, free of any trading restrictions. Also, MT4 account holders receive MT4 Expert Advisors EAs and Virtual Private Server VPS hosting. To begin streaming live cryptocurrency, forex and CFD market data free of charge, sign up for an MT4 practice account. NinjaTrader 8. NinjaTrader 8 is a diverse software suite that caters to futures, equities and forex traders around the globe.

Boasting powerful charting, order-entry and market study applications, Ninjatrader is a popular platform among market technicians. Whether you're building an indicator template or developing advanced order entry strategies, NinjaTrader 8 has you covered. Users of NinjaTrader 8 benefit from a collection of unique options.

Included in the platform's functionality are automated trading, the chart trader and advanced trade management ATM features. For those interested in strategy building, the Market Analyser gives users the ability to backtest historical data sets on multiple timeframes. Sign up for a free forex NinjaTrader demo account. Over the past several years, social and copy trading have exploded in popularity. At its core, copy trading allows market participants to emulate the trades of other traders and investors.

ZuluTrade affords users the ability to copy trade in the shares, CFD, cryptocurrency and forex markets. With ZuluTrade, you are able to mirror the actions of top traders in your FXCM account.

You can subscribe to signal providers with a proven track record of profitability. To see what this platform can do for you, get your practice trading account at ZuluTrade.

Trading View. When it comes to online charting apps, the popularity of TradingView is nearly unparalleled. TradingView offers active traders a risk-free way of backtesting ideas and studying current market conditions. TradingView supports a vast array of financial instruments, including stocks, cryptos, currencies and futures. FXCM now offers clients the ability to trade directly from TradingView charts. With TradingView Live Trading Integration, you are able to place orders on your TradingView chart and have the orders executed by your FXCM account.

To learn more about this exciting service, open an FXCM demo account today. ai is an automated trading platform that lets the user integrate systems and strategies in plain english. With Capitalise. ai, you are able to apply advanced technical indicators, automate trade execution and seamlessly analyse the market. The platform is ideal for systems trading as it supports backtest, simulation, performance statistics and low-latency functionality.

You can link Capitalise. ai to an FXCM Trading Station account quickly and easily. The entire process takes less than 10 minutes; simply complete a Limited Trade Authorisation for Capitalise.

ai and you're ready to go. To incorporate artificial intelligence into your trading plan, sign up for Capitalise. Getting The Most From A Forex Simulator. Before risking real money in a live account, spending some time on a forex simulator is a great idea. Of course, placing orders at random doesn't do much to improve one's trading skills!

Here are a few tips for getting the most out of a forex simulator: Respect The Trade. A forex trading simulator is the best tool for becoming proficient at order entry. However, make sure to practice like you play. If you repeatedly execute careless trades, then bad habits are more likely to form.

Although a demo account's pricing is free, developing bad habits is not. Be sure to respect each trade and treat it as if real money is in play. Raise The Stakes. Just because you are trading forex risk-free on a simulator doesn't mean that you can't have some skin in the game. Entering trade simulator contests or competing against friends can enhance the experience by placing value on your performance. Keep It Realistic. If you're an average retail trader, then taking huge positions on a forex simulator doesn't do much to develop your trading skills.

Before starting to sim trade, establish your expected live account size. Then, adhere to this amount when demo trading. Forex simulators and practice accounts are powerful tools for trader development. But, it takes dedication and discipline to make your practice productive.

To get the most out of a demo account, it helps to honor each trade, have at least some skin in the game and apply realistic leverage. In doing so, you will be better prepared for the myriad challenges presented by the real market. Articles published by FXCM Research Team generally have numerous contributors and aim to provide general Educational and Informative content on Market News and Products. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA is one of the oldest and probably best-known stock indexes in the world.

It is composed of 30 U. Four of the 10 largest U. companies ranked by market capitalisation were members of the DJIA as of 8 June These are the 10 largest publicly traded companies in the U. Familiarity with the wide variety of forex trading strategies may help traders adapt and improve their success rates in ever-changing market conditions.

A futures trading contract is an agreement between a buyer and seller to trade an underlying asset at an agreed upon price on a specified date. Due diligence is important when looking into any asset class. However, doing one's homework may be even more important when it comes to digital currency, as this asset class has been around for far less time than more traditional assets like stocks and bonds and comes with substantial uncertainty. Conducting the proper research on cryptocurrencies may require a would-be investor to explore many areas.

One area in particular that could prove helpful is simply learning the basic crypto terminology. Certain lingo is highly unique to digital currency, making it unlikely that traders would have picked it up when studying other….

There are plenty of free forex trading platform available with online brokers, but not all are good choices. Our experts look at the best trading platforms for CFD and currency trading you can use for free.

With over 20 years of investing experience and 10 years of trading, Justin co-founded Compare Forex Brokers in He has worked within the foreign exchange trading industry for several years and for several of the largest banks globally.

Justin achieved Honours in Commerce and has a Master's degree from Monash University. He also owns Innovate Online offering digital marketing services with over 20 employees.

Fact Checked. Our forex comparisons and broker reviews are reader supported and we may receive payment when you click on a link to a partner site. MetaTrader 4 is the most renowned trading platform in the world of forex trading and considered the benchmark among forex traders.

MT4 continues to lead market share even after the release of MetaTrader 5 in Source: Finance Magnates Intelligence. MetaTrader 4 provides retail traders with a substantial range of technical and analytic tools to trade forex. MT4 has one of the largest trading communities which allows countless opportunities for social trading, add-ons and automation tools. Another advantage is the ease you can switch to other brokers, as so many brokers offer the platform. While MetaTrader 4 is generally considered the best platform in the market, there are weaknesses to note.

Across the range of major currency pairs available on MT4, Pepperstone achieve lower average spreads in comparison to other brokers.

spreads are taken from each broker's website and updated monthly. Pepperstone also provides competitive commission fees. The below table shows the commission fees for each foreign currency. The below table calculates the trading costs of buying forex assets and compares this cost across different brokers.

This calculation is commission plus spread costs. You will notice that the larger the trade size, the greater the potential saving. Speed testing revealed Pepperstone as the fastest forex broker through an analysis conducted in On average, it took 85ms to execute trades using Market Order Execution.

Faster speed reduces execution lag time meaning less slippage and therefore more accurate pricing and a better chance of complete order fill. This is a collection of tools such as expert advisors and indicators which will help get more out of the Pepperstone MetaTrader 4 trading experience. Since its founding in Australia in , Pepperstone has grown to become a widely accepted and reputable forex broker.

Originally regulated under ASIC Australian Securities and Investments Commission Pepperstone now also has the following tier-1 regulators. The broker has a strong reputation for excellent customer service which is backed with a number of awards over the years, including:. The Pepperstone customer service team has experience trading themselves, so are equipped to help with all your trading support needs.

MetaTrader 5 MetaQuotes successor to MetaTrader 4. This platform is an improved version of MetaTrader 4, as it has the same user interface but offers more features. Key improvements on MetaTrader 4 include:. Most notably, MT5 is built for assets that require trading through exchanges. This means MT5 is a better option if you wish to trade stocks and stock CFDs. While MetaTrader 5 is an improved platform compared to MetaTrader 4 and despite being around since , MetaTrader 4 continues to be more popular among forex brokers, including Ox Securities.

In MetaQuotes announced development will cease for MT4 and new MT4 licenses will not be made available to brokers. This announcement should see more brokers take up MT5 in future and this should accelerate the growth of the platform. Below shows the details of a Forex Magnates MetaQuotes study which shows MT5 is beginning to gain traction in the market. MetaTrader 5 offers 38 technical indicators, 44 graphical tools and 21 timeframes to help you with your analysis.

Perhaps the biggest benefits of MetaTrader 5 are:. Features of MT5 include a broader range of timeframes, several pending order types, netting and hedging mode options, depth of market function, and partial order filling policies. A major change to the MetaTrader 5 platform is the programming language, known as MQL5. While MQL5 is a superior language than MQL4, it has the following cons:.

MetaTrader 5 community and marketplace is much smaller than with MetaTrader 4. This means there are fewer candidates for social trading and less choice of products from the MT5 marketplace. IC Markets is an excellent choice of broker for MetaTrader 5. The brokers offer the following notable features. IC Markets is known for the low spreads it offers for the major currency pairs.

The broker outperforms many other forex and CFD providers in this area based on ECN-style account types. ECN spreads mean prices are set by liquidity providers competing against each other, which ensures they offer the best possible prices.

Commissions with IC Markets are also relatively competitive. IC Markets brokerage fees are the best for all brokers the Compare Forex Brokers team has reviewed.

Data collected in revealed an average trade execution speed of This can be considered blazing fast by any measure. IC Markets is able to achieve this by placing their server at the Equinix NY4 data center where over over financial providers are also located. Traders wanting even fast execution can sign with a VPS provider which can reduce speeds to 1ms latency. Forex, indices, commodities, bonds, futures, and crypto like Bitcoin are all available through IC Markets, making them the broker offering one of the most CFDs to be traded on the MT5 trading platform.

As a key feature of MT5, traders can access share CFDs through IC Markets on the ASX, NYSE, and NASDAQ. As an innovative social trading platform, ZuluTrade is quickly becoming a widely popular feature for copy traders. IC Markets offer ZuluTrade along with their suite of other tools including ZuluRank to analyze traders on performance and reliability , ZuluGuard to protect accounts running out of capital , and a simulation tool which allows traders to learn and test the process of copy trading.

This mirroring service integrated with the IC Markets MetaTrader 4 account, making copy trading very straightforward. The platform also has measures in place to ensure traders that can be followed trade with the intention of being successful and not for commission profits. cTrader is the 3rd most popular available trading software for free.

Developed by Spotware, the platform is available on desktop, Web Trader and mobile devices. cTrader is especially popular with scalpers due to its fast processing speed.

While cTrader market share data is not available, the table below shows the popularity of the 3 leading trading platforms based on their respective community websites and app downloads.

cTrader is known for its large number of indicators, timeframes, and exceptionally fast execution speed. The main advantages of cTrader include:. In addition to these features, cTrader has its own version of Expert Advisors called cTrader Automate formerly cAlgo. Coders will appreciate the use of C which is a language well understood by programmers. Traders needing further help have access to resources such as cTDN forums and cTrader Developer Network.

As mentioned, cTrader is a close competitor but remains the third most popular trading platform behind the MetaTrader platforms mentioned previously. The smaller market share implies a smaller online community of traders.

In terms of accessing liquidity and trade execution speeds, the Spotware server is located in the UK as opposed to MetaQuotes which is in the USA. This may not be an issue for some traders. FxPro never interferes with pricing through the trading process. The broker uses liquidity from other traders taking the other side of the trade, where this cannot be achieved the broker uses STP to complete the trade.

This system means FxPro can allow fast trade execution speeds of Quotes shown through FxPro are therefore extremely accurate to the price the order is filled to.

When comparing trading platforms on FxPro, spreads can range from 1. For cTrader, however, spreads are on average around 0. Trading costs are optimized by using cTrader through FxPro.

FxPro is able to deliver orders each second and achieves superior speed compared to MetaTrader. FxPro is regulated under several key global markets, including the European Union FCA and CySEC , South Africa FSCA , Dubai United Arab Emirates , and the Bahamas, making the broker a suitable choice for traders worldwide depending on the entity that matches their location.

This also provides traders with more options regarding trading conditions, such as leverage and negative balance protection, which can help protect retail investor accounts. Over financial instruments including forex pairs, futures, spot indices, shares, metals, and energies are offered by FxPro on the cTrader platform.

The extensive range of trading instruments is another feature alongside training courses, news, analysis, and trading tools provided by FxPro that enhances the trading experience with cTrader. FxPro is the best-suited broker for cTrader due to its high-standard infrastructure with co-location servers , fast execution speeds, tight spreads, and a wide range of financial instruments. A few noteworthy features of FxPro include:.

eToro is a multi-asset trading platform that incorporates social and trading features. As a social trading platform, eToro stands out from competitors in the copy trading field for 3 reasons:.

The eToro trading platform offers a large range of CFD trading tools. These include cryptocurrencies, stocks, forex, commodities and ETFs and are available with zero commission costs. Traders can choose between a Windows download, WebTrader and iOS or Android app for mobiles. This allows you to spend more time doing other things while traders you copy do all the research and investing. Beginners to trading with minimal experience can benefit from this, as they can learn from and copy more experienced and successful traders.

This feature works like an index where you can copy a portfolio compiled from some of the best traders in the eToro community. eToro regularly rebalances these portfolios to ensure you are receiving the best possible portfolio.

It seems that there are countless available trading styles, Forex strategies, and Forex systems. Furthermore, all the analysis and insight can be shared through the widely used TradingView social media interface. This allows traders to trade and practice their strategies with virtual money before testing their skills on the live market. Plus Has Top Regulation As a global operator, Plus is expanded in subsidiaries known as PlusAU, PlusUK, PlusCY, and PlusSG for their regulating entity in Australia, UK, Cyprus, and Singapore, respectively. Some key features of the software include live market screening, customizable alert signals, market volatility analysis, historical performance data, economic calendar and news, and more.

Categories:

• Binary Options online
• Binary Options
• Forex
• Forex Brokers
• Forex Bitcoin