Forex Trading Software In 2024

We were impressed with Pepperstone’s lightning-fast limit order execution speeds and competitive spreads, which make a genuine difference in a market where every millisecond counts. The range of software features available for MetaTrader 4 is comprehensive and user-friendly. It’s no surprise that Pepperstone bagged the Investment Trends award in 2022 for client satisfaction and trading experience, cementing its reputation as a leader in the field.

The best broker we found offering MetaTrader 4 was Pepperstone. The broker offered excellent trading conditions, such as low trading costs and fast execution speeds, which is why we scored 98/100 in our recent review.

In addition to the trading conditions, Pepperstone offers Smart Trader Tools that provide the MetaTrader 4 platform with 28 additional Expert Advisors and indicators for free. Although they do not automate your strategies, we did find they improved the trade management features of MetaTrader 4 with EAs such as Trade Terminal.

The Trade Terminal EA gave us a big picture of our current open positions and enabled us to close all of our trades quickly at once, a useful feature if you scalp the markets.

Smart Trader Tools also added 18 additional indicators to MetaTrader 4’s 30. We think these additions are excellent, as they include the High-Low and Pivot indicators, which automate drawing key support and resistance levels each day. These indicators will save you time if you day trade breakouts.

You can take full advantage of the MetaTrader 4 platform by trading multiple assets on Pepperstone. The broker offers 62 currency pairs, 25 indices, 1,000+ share CFDs, 25 commodities, and 19 cryptocurrencies, an impressive range of markets to trade. One thing to note is that if you want to trade share CFDs, you need to use the MT5 or TradingView platforms, as the MetaTrader 4 platform doesn’t have the facility to support these markets.

While using the MetaTrader 4 platform, we found the standard account to have low spreads, averaging 1.12 pips on EUR/USD with no commissions on the trade. However, it is possible to get cheaper spreads through the Razor account, as our analyst, Ross Collins, highlighted that the broker offered its spreads at 0.0 pips 100% of the time across the major currency pairs.

Zero pip spreads are excellent if you’re a scalper or automate your trades with an EA, as you’ll be effectively only paying the commission, which is $3.50 per lot traded. With the fixed commission, you won’t have to worry about trading around volatile times or price spikes, as you’ll be paying the same commission.

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We liked IC Markets for its exceptionally low spreads, which can make a real difference to your bottom line. Additionally, the extensive range of tradeable markets means there’s something for every type of trader. The selection of platforms and trading tools that genuinely enhance the trading experience is what really rounds out the offering. For these reasons, we have no hesitation in naming IC Markets as a top pick for those after low spreads and a broad product offering on MT5.

MetaTrader 5 has many improved trading features, such as integrating a native economic calendar into the charts and labelling high-impact announcements so you can avoid opening trades during those times.

From our testing, we found MetaTrader 5 to offer a familiar interface like MT4, which we liked as it was already simple and easy to navigate. MetaTrader 5 also expanded its range of technical indicators to 38+, including Stochastic and Envelope indicators, while also increasing timeframes with smaller intervals, such as 10-minute charts.

We saw an improvement in the performance boost from the new 64-bit architecture of MT5’s software. This boost reduced the software lag caused by using multiple indicators on a chart and also improved the processing power of Expert Advisors executing trades.

During our testing, we executed our trades using an IC Markets Raw account. As an ECN-style broker, the broker provided a solid environment to test the Depth of Markets (DOM) tool, where the liquidity providers’ order books are streamed directly to the platform. The DOM allowed us to find market order flow, which helps analyse current market bias and strength. Using the DOM tool is an advanced form of analytics that scalpers can use with ECN brokers.

With IC Markets’ 1700+ market range, we could use MT5’s ability to chart stock CFDs, which was missing with MT4. You can access 1,600+ stock CFDs, which pair nicely with the DOM tool. IC Markets covers 61+ currency pairs, 26+ commodities, 25+ indices, and 18+ crypto markets.

While testing the platform, we found the IC Markets Raw account to offer the lowest spreads. Our analyst ran a test against 14 other brokers with similar Raw accounts and found IC Markets to average 0.19 pips on EUR/USD, placing it first on our leaderboard.

We took to BlackBull Markets for our TradingView software experience, and good reason. During our tests, this New Zealand-based broker consistently delivered some of the quickest spreads in the game. They also offer one of the best FX demo accounts we’ve had the pleasure to use, making it an ideal option for traders who want to hone their skills before diving in. If you’re keen on TradingView, BlackBull Markets is a top-notch choice.

Tradingview is one of our favourite trading platforms thanks to its advanced charting with over 110+ indicators and drawing objects. It provides excellent tools for technical analysts like us. TradingView consistently updates the platform with new features and indicators, making it an evolving platform driven by the average trader’s demand.

As TradingView is built as a web trading platform, you can access the same charts (including drawings) across multiple devices. We think this is excellent as you won’t have to remember important support levels if trading on the go. It also means you can use the platform on any device connected to the Internet, making it accessible to all traders.

Even though TradingView is an advanced platform with features that other platforms like MT4 can’t compete with, you cannot fully automate your strategies. Instead, you can either set up your strategies to send you alerts when conditions are met or use a third-party tool to connect your TradingView strategy with MT4 to execute the trades.

If automating your trades 100% is important, then MT4/MT5 is better, which BlackBull also offers. However, we think receiving alerts instead allows you to verify all signals generated, giving you a chance to avoid a potentially poor trade entry.

While testing TradingView, we used BlackBull Markets’ standard account as the broker offers free TradingView premium subscriptions if you place live trades with them monthly. This upgrade unlocks more potential with TradingView, giving you access to larger price data and more technical indicators on charts.

The free upgrade isn’t the only thing good about BlackBull Markets. Our analyst, Ross Collins, found that the broker had the fastest execution speeds in his tests compared to 19 other brokers. Ross mentioned that BlackBull Market had a limit order speed of 72ms, which affects your execution times on pending orders, stop loss and take profit orders, so it’s important to have fast speeds.

We were quite pleased with our experience using GO Markets, mainly its low commissions, making it our top pick for cTrader forex trading. In our analysis, this broker consistently offered the lowest commissions for a No Dealing Desk, ECN-style setup, which is a massive win for any trader. They also bring a broad selection of platforms to suit various trading styles. If you’re into equities, you’ll be chuffed to know they offer access to more than 2,500 ASX stocks, all with competitive spreads.

We think cTrader is a blend of TradingView and MetaTrader 4 with its excellent charting tools and ability to automate trades on the platform. While exploring the cTrader platform, we found it offers 65 indicators and 100+ advanced timeframes, which included time-based and price-based settings (such as Renko).

Like the MetaTrader platforms, you can automate your strategies with cBot (cTrader’s version of Expert Advisors), which you can program or download cBots from the marketplace.

cTrader also has a wider appeal as the software works on all devices natively, including Mac. Trading with the software natively lets you use its full features, whereas, on MT5, you can only use the platform on a Mac with an emulator, which limits some of its features or makes them difficult to use.

Like MetaTrader 5, cTrader has depth of market access, allowing you to view the liquidity provider’s order book. We found this feature to work better than MT5’s implementation, as it’s natively built into the order ticket for convenience, allowing you always to keep an eye on the order flow.

When you use GO Markets with cTrader, the brokers have a lower commission on the platform than their peers. The commission is $2.50 per lot traded, $1 lower than the industry average, so if you use cTrader for scalping or trading large volumes, you’ll save a small fortune with GO Markets.

When it comes to social trading, eToro indeed leads the pack. With over 25 million members globally, this broker has built a community where traders can genuinely benefit from each other’s expertise. We especially liked their top-notch proprietary platforms, loaded with powerful trading tools to give you an edge. The copy trading features are the real standout, allowing you to mimic the strategies of successful traders. For these reasons, we’re confident in naming eToro as our top social trading broker.

In our tests to find the best social trading software, we felt that eToro’s CopyTrader ticked all the boxes with its in-depth copy trading features and low trading costs. The platform is set up perfectly for people who want to leverage other experienced traders’ knowledge without learning to trade themselves.

We found the CopyTrader platform easy to navigate. The software lists recommended traders based on performance and categories like “most copied” as suggestions. This list is useful if you are new to trading and want to access the best traders on the platform without exploring it.

However, if you know what you want from a trader, the platform has an advanced search feature that filters the 2,000,000 active traders based on your selections. We like that the search tool gives you 14 metrics to use to filter the traders, especially with categories like “Copy AUM” (Assets Under Management) and “Number of Copiers”.

These two categories are important because other traders use them, which is a large trust signal. After all, it shows that other investors are risking their funds with the copied trader.

After using the tool to select the traders to copy, we were impressed with the advanced stats available to analyse the trader, letting us vet the trader thoroughly. One metric we used was to see how many people recently copied or exited the trader, essentially giving us a flow of trust. If people are closing their positions with the trader, this can be a red flag that they are not currently performing.

From our testing, we also found that copy trading on eToro was cheaper than expected. The average spread on the standard account we used was 1.00 pip on EUR/USD, which is lower than the industry average and better than other social trading software, like ZuluTrade.

We found Eightcap a solid choice, especially if you’re keen on automated crypto trading. This broker differentiates itself by offering Capitalise.ai integration, which is top-notch for setting up your automated crypto strategies. Their extensive range of cryptocurrency products adds value to their platform.

MetaTrader 4 is a popular choice for automating trades; however, we found that Eightcap offered Capitalise AI, which we think is an excellent alternative for automating crypto strategies. The tool allows you to automate your strategy without knowing how to code, opening up new opportunities for traders with successful strategies who want to automate them.

We tested Capitalise AI to see how easy it is to generate a strategy. Impressively, you simply type in your trading conditions for entry and exit, and Capitalise AI will develop the strategy for you. In comparison, this was significantly faster than coding an Expert Advisor on MetaTrader 4 (and cheaper).

After the strategy was developed, we liked that you could backtest it to see its performance over the past 90 days, allowing you to see each trade and find optimisation opportunities. In addition, if you are not ready to make the strategy live, you can forward the test by “simulating” the strategy on a demo account, letting you see the strategy perform in real time.

Eightcap is a solid choice that works well with Capitalise AI as it offers the most crypto market CFDs compared to its peers. The broker has 95 crypto CFDs to trade, over two times the amount eToro offers, making it a decent choice if you want to automate your strategies across a range of cryptocurrencies.

A bonus of trading crypto with Eightcap is that they are regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), offering protection for your funds should anything happen. This protection is something you may not find with a crypto exchange.

We found AvaTrade a standout choice for those interested in social trading, mainly with MT4 and MT5 platforms. Their collaboration with third-party services like ZuluTrade and DupliTrade, along with their proprietary AvaSocial platform, offers traders a robust selection of social trading options. This sets them apart, especially considering that eToro only offers its social trading platform. AvaTrade’s approach allows you to choose the platform that suits you best for copy trading.

Our tests found that AvaTrade offers multiple social trading platforms, including ZuluTrade, DupliTrade, and AvaSocial. We wanted to try ZuluTrade because it allows you to find and mirror other traders, copying their profitable (and losing) trades. This tool makes it ideal for those with little trading experience.

We like how simple ZuluTrade works. You use the web platform to find traders you want to copy and allocate funds to each trader. Once you have invested in that trader, your MetaTrader 4 (or MT5) platform will automatically mirror the trades, letting you profit when they profit and lose when they do.

During our test, we used the search tool to find traders who matched our trading criteria. You have 25+ settings to filter traders who don’t match your needs. The depth you can use to filter copy traders is better than eToro’s, allowing you to narrow traders based on risk management, trading style, and, of course, how many follow them.

However, we think this tool can overwhelm a new trader with choices. ZuluTrade also categorises the traders depending on their performance, which you can use to find experienced traders to copy.

Because you do not control your trading times, variable spread brokers with ZuluTrade may charge wider spreads during volatile times or when there is less liquidity. That’s why we recommend AvaTrade, which provides fixed spreads that do not widen (or narrow) based on market volatility. Using fixed spreads ensures you always get the same spreads throughout the trading day and keeps your trading costs low.

AvaTrade’s fixed spreads are surprisingly low compared to variable spread brokers. While testing the broker, they offered EUR/USD fixed spreads at 0.90 pips, lower than other low-cost brokers such as eToro and Eightcap.