Best Automated Trading Software

ProRealTime provides a decent setup wizard that you can follow to automate your trading strategy (including risk management rules) without knowing how to code.

IG Group’s advanced charting, real-time analysis, and auto trading made possible with ProRealTime have positioned them as one of my top picks for auto trading. ProRealTime provides reliable market data and diversified analytic tools for improved trading efficiency.

With a tight RAW spread of 0.16 pops for the EUR/USD currency pair and a major pair average spread of 1.38 pips, IG Group allows you to maximise profits and minimise losses.

Clearly, ProRealTime isn’t as popular as MetaTrader 4 or TradingView, but in my experience, it packs a punch with features. The platform comes with 53 technical indicators, 12 chart types including Heikin Ashi and Bar charts, and 20 timeframes ranging from tick charts to 1 year. Professional traders like myself will appreciate having such an extensive line-up.

Another standout feature is the range of automation tools available. While exploring the platform, I discovered the ProRealTime Trend tools, which automatically generate support and resistance levels based on major price points and update in real-time. This tool can also automatically generate trend lines, allowing you to easily identify short and long-term trades with the click of a button. I find this making so much sense in a fast-moving and trend-following market like cryptocurrency trading.

IG Group Offers ProRealTime For Automation

I am convinced that IG Group is a top choice for its extensive range of markets and low trading costs. We opened a live UK account with IG Group, and what stands out to me is the range of markets it offers. It’s extensive, covering 100 forex pairs, 12,000+ shares, 130 indices, 41 commodities, 6,000+ ETFs, and 7,000+ options markets. I appreciate that you can access all CFD markets through ProRealTime, while other platforms IG Group offers, like MetaTrader 4, cannot access shares and most of the ETF markets.

However, one downside of ProRealTime is that you cannot access the options markets as it is only available on the IG Trading Platform.

IG Group does not offer RAW spread accounts, so its Standard account is commission-free.

IG Group is one of the only brokers to provide the ProRealTime platform for free. If you do not want to sign up with them but want access to ProRealTime, it is still possible to subscribe to the platform directly for £24.00 per month.

eToro is my foremost recommendation for experienced and beginner traders looking for brokers with great copy trading features. In my opinion, having a great copy trading tool provides an easy entry point for those new to trading while enabling experienced traders to gain new strategies. There is also an excellent opportunity to diversify portfolios by observing other traders.

Using eToro means you can trade with decent standard spreads, that average 1 pip for the EUR/USD currency pairs.

While exploring the CopyTrader platform, I found that it has a filter button that brings up a range of options to narrow down eToro’s 20,000,000 copy traders based on preferences.

Compared with other copy trading platforms like ZuluTrade, I like that eToro offers a more comprehensive filter for choosing traders. For example, you can choose traders based on:

• the markets they trade,
• how frequently they traded,
• what their success rate has been in the last 30 days,
• plus 11 other options

Like IG Group, eToro offers only spread accounts with no commission, and I find its spreads competitive for that reason.

Since the focus of using eToro is to copy trade, you may not have full control over what assets your copy trader chooses. So I thought it’s a positive thing that eToro didn’t charge commissions on assets like shares and ETFs, which other brokers like IC Markets charge. This helps keep trading costs simple and makes it easier to review your copy trader.

The broker has a solid selection of markets on its platform, offering 68 forex pairs, 6,468 stocks, 36 indices, 68 commodities, and 127 crypto markets. Personally, using eToro for stock trading is a smart choice, given the extensive choice of equities that can be traded with the broker.

I find MetaTrader 4 to be a solid choice for my algorithmic trading needs. The platform allows me to program my strategies using Expert Advisors that automatically follow my trading rules. I also appreciate that MT4 already have a huge community, and even if you’re relatively new to algo trading, it will be easy to find custom indicators and strategies from other traders. This wealth of shared knowledge has been invaluable in developing my automated trading approach.

Pepperstone is my top pick for forex algorithmic trading. I’m impressed by the broker’s excellent automated trading capabilities when using Expert Advisors, combined with tight RAW spreads. Pepperstone publishes an average EUR/USD spread of 0.1 pips for its RAW account.

Ross Collins’s spread tests recorded Pepperstone’s RAW account at 0.19 pips on EUR/USD and 0.36 pips combined across six major pairs. Our zero-spread testing recorded its spread at its minimum for 100% of the recorded time, and that consistency suits trading algorithms on MT4, since your Expert Advisors enter the market against a spread that holds steady.

Lastly, the broker’s low trading fees, particularly zero deposit and withdrawal fee policy, with free VPS services on MT4 trading platform sealed the deal. This makes Pepperstone an ideal choice for active traders interested in capitalising on low-cost trading, and faster trade execution.

MetaTrader 4 is a versatile trading platform offering a range of tools, including 30+ indicators, three chart types, nine timeframes, custom indicators, and automated trading bots.

What stood out for me was the ability to create your own Expert Advisors (EA) to automate your strategies. You can download a free Expert Advisor from MetaQuotes and install it from within the MT4 platform, which keeps the whole process simple.

Once installed, you can simply drag and drop the EA onto the chart, and it will start to run based on the rules set.

I Recommend Pepperstone For MT4

In my opinion, Pepperstone pairs well with the MetaTrader 4 platform as the broker offers low spreads on both of their accounts, which is perfect for automated trading.

The Standard account is Pepperstone’s spread-only account with no commission, and the raw account advertises an average EUR/USD spread of 0.1 pips.. For active traders, the RAW account has tighter spreads, averaging 0.1 pips on EUR/USD, but charges a commission of $3.50 per lot.

ECN Broker Spreads	USD/JPY	USD/CAD	EUR/USD	EUR/GBP	AUD/USD
	0.30	0.30	0.10	0.20	0.10
	0.14	0.18	0.90	0.14	0.13
	0.30	0.50	0.30	0.50	0.40
	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.20	0.00
	0.24	0.70	0.16	0.54	0.29
	0.30	0.70	0.20	0.50	0.40
	0.40	1.20	0.00	0.40	0.90
	0.60	0.60	0.10	0.60	0.50
	0.39	1.03	0.28	0.63	0.87

Avg. spreads are taken from each broker's website and updated monthly. Last update on 1 Sep 2026

Another benefit of RAW spreads is that they can go as low as 0.0 pips. Our zero-spread testing recorded Pepperstone’s spread at its minimum for 100% of the recorded time, level with StoneX Trading and ahead of the other brokers in the table below.

Since spreads are this low on the RAW account, this makes Pepperstone a prime choice when automating your trades with MetaTrader 4. You’ll only pay the fixed commission of $3.50 for each trade and this will help keep your trading costs low and predictable.

Pepperstone ReviewVisit Pepperstone

I chose MetaTrader 5 as the best platform for CFD share trading as it offers access to global stock exchanges while maintaining the user-friendly interface of MetaTrader 4. What I like about MT5 is that it also offers novel features like the advanced Depth of Market tool and a native economic calendar. If you are a share trader, you’’ll get a combination of educational resources and deeper trading experience in one platform.

In Ross Collins’s spread tests of Standard accounts at 15 brokers, IC Markets had the lowest EUR/USD average, 0.73 pips. It also had the lowest average across the top five traded pairs, 1.03 pips, against an average of 1.49 pips for the 15 brokers.

It is also worth mentioning that IC Markets has great VPS services powering MT4 and MT5 platforms while providing a proprietary platform.

MetaTrader 5 on IC Markets improves on MetaTrader 4, extending the range of indicators to 38, 21 chart timeframes, and has new tools like Depth of Market.

I’m impressed by the Depth of Markets feature, which has been made possible by recent infrastructure upgrades. These upgrades have opened a direct connection to the liquidity provider which allows users to view the open order book.

The Depth of Market tool shows you all the open and pending orders at each price level. This way, you’ll get a complete idea of the demand’s direction, allowing you can make or adjust your trading ideas to reflect this.

In my opinion, this Depth of Markets feature will be a helpful additional indicator to support your technical analysis across various market conditions. It provides raw price action data, meaning that it shows actual demand, making it a powerful intel for making unfiltered trading decisions.

I Recommend IC Markets With MT5

IC Markets is my top choice when it comes to trading with MetaTrader 5. The broker offers a wide-selection of asset classes and 1,600+ share CFDs across several major exchanges, including the FTSE, ASX, NYSE, and NASDAQ.

If you like to trade different financial instruments in multiple markets, the broker offers 61+ forex pairs, 25+ indices, 26+ commodities, and 18+ crypto markets. In all of these markets, you can take MetaTrader 5s features to your advantage.

Ross Collins’s spread tests recorded IC Markets’ RAW account at 0.32 pips combined across six major pairs, against 0.49 pips for the 15 brokers tested. Its EUR/USD average was 0.19 pips.

RAW Spreads Tested By Ross Collins	EUR/USD	AUD/USD	GBP/USD	USD/JPY	USD/CAD
	0.20	0.48	0.44	0.47	0.64
	0.19	0.19	0.41	0.36	0.61
	0.19	0.23	0.27	0.24	0.24
	0.46	0.85	0.96	1.04	1.01
	0.22	0.23	0.17	0.27	0.16

Avg. spreads are taken from each broker's website and updated monthly. Last update on 1 Sep 2026

As you can see, this placed the broker joint third, slightly behind StoneX Trading and Fusion Markets, which are well known for their low spreads.

cTrader is my top choice for robot trading software. It lets you develop your own robots, called cBots, in C#, a standard programming language you can use to automate any strategy. I am also quite impressed to find that the platform has extensive backtesting and optimisation tools, helpful if you want to improve your cBots without risking your funds.

FxPro is my recommended option for retail investors seeking brokers with robot trading software via cTrader Automate. cTrader comes with advanced charting and technical analysis packages, allowing you to conduct in-depth market analysis.

FxPro does not require a minimum deposit to open an account, which helps if you are starting out.

I like the cTrader platform and find it a cross between MetaTrader 5 and TradingView. It combines the automation features and depth of market tools of MetaTrader 5 with the excellent charting tools of TradingView.

cTrader has 70+ technical indicators, 11 chart types, Depth of Market access, and tools that allow you to copy trade and automate your trades. Personally, I prefer having an extensive analysis tools, and this platform checked off many items on my list.

A downloaded cBot file installs automatically, like new software, with the file handling everything. Once installed, you click the blue play button, and the cBot opens a chart and starts running.

Another point that stood out for me is connecting to the cTrader platform via a proxy. This means that trades are executed closer to the exchange, helping reduce the ping. This will be a significant advantage if you automate trades as it speeds up the platform’s execution.

FxPro Is A Good Choice For cTrader

FxPro is my pick for cTrader. A key factor is that FxPro is an STP broker, allowing it to fully leverage the platform’s performance and tools, such as Depth of Market access.

RAW Account Spread Comparison	EUR/USD	AUD/USD	AUD/JPY	EUR/GBP	EUR/JPY
	0.44	0.57	1.04	0.71	0.90
	0.00	0.20	0.10	0.10	0.20
	0.01	0.02	0.50	0.27	0.30
	0.10	0.10	0.90	0.20	1.20
	0.03	0.03	0.24	0.21	0.51
	0.11	0.30	0.47	0.40	0.44
	0.90	0.13	0.17	0.14	0.14
	0.16	0.29	1.50	0.54	0.68
	0.30	0.40	0.50	0.50	0.50
	0.00	0.00	0.50	0.20	0.30
	0.20	0.40	0.60	0.50	0.70

Avg. spreads are taken from each broker's website and updated monthly. Last update on 1 Sep 2026

When it comes to using trading robots, I think RAW accounts are best as they have tighter spreads and fixed commissions. Simply put, your trading costs will remain comparable even when the markets are more volatile around news announcements because you’ll be paying the same commission, no matter what.

I highly rate TradingView for allowing users to develop an automated trading strategy which can run 24/7 without the computer turned on or any software running.

This is a game-changer compared to other platforms I’ve used, which typically require computers to be powered on to run automated strategies. I also find it convenient that my strategies sync across multiple devices, allowing me to monitor and adjust them from anywhere.

BlackBull Markets had the fastest limit orders in our 2026 execution test, at 72 ms, first of 36 brokers, which is why it suits automating your trades with TradingView.

Its fast execution is what makes BlackBull Markets my pick for automating trades with TradingView.

I highly rate TradingView for allowing users to develop an automated trading strategy which can run 24/7 without the computer turned on or any software running.

This is a game-changer compared to other platforms I’ve used, which typically require computers to be powered on to run automated strategies. I also find it convenient that my strategies sync across multiple devices, allowing me to monitor and adjust them from anywhere.

BlackBull Markets had the fastest limit orders in our 2026 execution test, at 72 ms, first of 36 brokers, which is why it suits automating your trades with TradingView.

Its fast execution is what makes BlackBull Markets my pick for automating trades with TradingView.

BlackBull Markets’ spreads are not the tightest in the market, and I still find them reasonable given how fast you can execute your trades.

Additionally, I appreciate BlackBull Markets’ offer of free premium TradingView access for live account holders who place at least ten lot trades with them over a month. This is an excellent bonus, as it allows to increase the number of price alerts available so you can potentially capture more trading opportunities.