Online trading is a cut-throat industry and can seem like an overwhelming place for beginners. Not only do you need to hone your trading strategy, but you need to choose the best tools to turn the best profit.
With such a huge range of trading tools on the market today, how do you know which are the most reliable — especially if they’re free? The good news is that most trading tools can be beneficial to you in some way, it’s just about finding the right tools to suit your strategy.
So, if you’re new to online trading, here are some of the top tools you can rely on to help you dominate the market.
Why Are Trading Tools Necessary?
A huge part of the success of an online trader is the arsenal of tools they have at their disposal. But how exactly are they helpful?
- Stock trading tools help you to analyze the market
- They set parameters for a continuous turnover of profit
- Day trading tools help you to evaluate patterns in trading data
- These tools can also help you interpret data objectively, and remove emotion from your trading decisions
Not only this, but trading tools are essential in locating new trading and money-making opportunities. In other words, they generate buy and sell indicators for you.
Some online trading tools are a brilliant asset to beginner traders because they help you to understand and grasp the fundamentals of trading concepts. Overall, this is what makes you a far better and more successful trader.
Master the Art of Trading: The Best Trading Tools by Category
Gone are the days of having to interpret mountains of data across multiple screens. Today, online traders have access to apps and dashboards that consolidate all trading programs into one place — you can learn more about that here: https://www.swapfol.io/app/
Some of the best tools for day trading are actually free, while some are included in an online trader or broker’s platform. Some tools may charge a small fee. If you’re just starting out, stick to the free-of-charge options at your disposal until you get the hang of things.
Here are some of the best stock trading tools to add to your repertoire:
1. Online Charting Platforms
Learning how to read and interpret charts is an essential skill as an online trader. Some of the top charting platforms that help to make this process simpler and streamlined include:
- Tradingview – a very popular platform that includes all global markets, including Forex, futures, stock, indices, and more
- MT4 – this charting platform suits Forex traders, it’s highly responsive, simple to use, and has zero lag time
- InvestingNote – this is one of the best platforms for investors looking to identify value, based on historical reports
- Stockcharts – known as the pioneer of charting, Stockcharts offers platforms such as Line, Renko, Point & Figure, and Candlestick
Traderwave is a relatively new platform on the market. Despite this, it’s quick, reliable, and simple to use. This platform focuses on detailed data in Asian-Pacific markets, so if this is where you prefer to trade, this is the platform for you.
2. Stock Scanning Platforms
In today’s online trading world, it’s easier than ever to scan stocks that best meet your requirements. With a multitude of stock scanning platforms, you can now view the stock options available to you with the simple click of a button.
No matter what your requirements are, there stock scanning platforms are fool-proof:
- Finviz – this platform is sleek, convenient, and allows you to search for stocks based on dividend yield, earnings growth, and net profit margin
- Busystock – with this platform, you have access to an impressive set of filters. You can screen stocks based on technical, fundamental, descriptive, and more
- Zacks – this is yet another comprehensive scanner that focuses on the fundamental aspect
Then there’s also ASX Stock Screener. This is actually a stock screening app, specifically designed for Android devices. It typically scans the Australian market based on stock chart patterns and technical analysis.
3. Stock Backtesting Tools
A crucial part of your success as an online trader today is the ability to build dynamic trading strategies, but also backtest them to assess their success rates. Nowadays, you can do all of this from the comfort of your desk or couch!
Some of the top backtesting tools to help you build solid trading strategies include:
- QuantConnect – this tool allows for flexibility when testing your strategies, but you will need a bit of programming knowledge in order to operate it
- Profitspi – this is a simple-to-use tool that requires no programming knowledge. You can backtest stocks using a range of criteria include volume, moving averages, and more
- Paststat – as the name suggests, this tool gives you access to seasonal stock patterns. With this information, you can backtest stocks with a range of different criteria
One of the best features of the QuantConnect platform is that you have access to a community of traders who are often willing to share the tried-and-tested strategies they have developed. This means you can clone their winning algorithm for the best stock strategies and profits.
The Profitspi tool also allows you to backtest stocks on various exchanges including the NASDAQ, SGX, NYSE, Toronto, and Hong Kong.
4. Online Trading Heatmaps
If there was any tool that could truly up your trading game, it would be heatmap tools. Essentially, you can gauge who the top performers are within various markets. And you can do all of this within seconds.
Heatmap tools are beneficial whether you’re a swing trader, day trader, or intra-day trader. Some of the top heatmapping tools are:
- Finviz – this tool is incredibly powerful and covers various stock exchange markets such as China, Japan, Hong Kong, Canada, the U.S., Brazil, and more
- StockTwits – designed mostly for U.S. traders, you can quickly identify the top stock sectors in the U.S. market
- MyFxBook – with this tool, you have complete access to all the real-time action in various markets. It also offers data on the most and least volatile currencies, indices, and metals
- Barchart – this is one of the best tools for futures traders and allows you to view the most and least volatile markets on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis
Bear in mind that with MyFxBook, you have the added bonus of being able to analyze various markets within a one-minute timeframe, right up to a monthly timeframe.
5. The Forex News Calendar
It’s no secret that global news has an effect on stocks and trading on a daily, if not minute-by-minute basis. This is why you need a tool to help you stay on top of what’s happening in the news on a global basis.
Bad and good news is equally important as a trader, so here are the top Forex news calendars to help you keep track:
Forexfactory
This tool offers an in-depth news calendar and boasts the most members in their trading forum. This means you also have access to top trading strategies, other brokers, and more.
Forexlive
This one of the best tools for up-to-the-minute updates on currency news, and where stop orders are resting. If you’re looking for trading webinars that cover price action, supply and demand, and indicators, then the FxStreet platform is your go-to.
6. Online Trading Journals
A trading journal is undoubtedly one of the most fundamental and crucial tools for any type of online trader. Why? Because it gives you insight into your performance as well as historical statistics, and areas you can improve your trading strategy.
These Forex trading tools are all free to use, and include:
MyFxBook
This is one of the top trading journals for Forex traders and syncs your trading account with their server. This gives you historical data on trading performance, expectancy, drawdown, and winning rate.
One major drawback, however, is that it doesn’t allow you to filter your trading as per their setups. This can make it tricky to see which trading setups are performing better than others.
FxBlue
Similar to MyFxBook, you have access to all of the same features, but you can filter your trade setups for more accurate results. This way, you are able to analyze all of your trading setup performances and rule out the better-performing setups from the weaker ones.
One major disadvantage is that it does not sync with as many trading platforms.
TradeBench
This is a popular trading journal for EFT and stock traders. Basically, all you have to do is enter your trade setups into their server, which then churns out trading performance metrics for you.
This platform allows you to customize your trading reports as you see fit. It also allows you to filter your data according to trading setups, and exit techniques.
Get Your Fact-From-Fiction Fix Right Here
There are a plethora of trading tools that every single online trader could benefit from in some way, shape, or form. No matter your online trading niche or preference, use these tools to enhance your trading strategy and turn the best profits possible!
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