Share Trading Platforms

[skiman1]

I am looking to buy various shares and would greatly appreciate any advice on a decent platform for doing so, I do not intend to be be day trading but will want access to the International Markets - any advice or suggestions appreciated. thanks

[lannarebirth]

I am looking to buy various shares and would greatly appreciate any advice on a decent platform for doing so, I do not intend to be be day trading but will want access to the International Markets - any advice or suggestions appreciated. thanks

You don't say if you have a brokerage yet for trading Intl markets, but I like Interactive Brokers. Crappy charts but good trading platform. It's a little twitchy for beginners so I'd recommend simulated trading till you're up to speed. For charting I recommend Tradestation or eSignal. Both are programmable but Tradestation is basically free (check that, it was last year) if you make 10 or more trades per month. You'll have to buy data feeds for both or use an IB data plugin. Me, I like eSignal:

[tariq786]

Have a look at Saxo Bank. http://www.saxobank.com/

Trading / Charts / Breaking news and many more.

[skiman1]

Thanks guys

[seymourvt]

I would go with Tradestation first then Esignal - NB. Esignal has much more coverage of world wide markets, inc. London and Thailand's SET.

I have used TS for years and swear by it, I have free charting via my brokerage firm, but it's crappy, so I am in effect running 2 platforms, one for charting (TS) and 1 for order entry (Laser) - my broker is CY Group, they are a US prop firm, and I use them because I get professional Leverage which is 20:1 instead of the usual 4:1 for intraday margin (overnight is 1:1 I think instead of usual 2:1).

You can get a really good free trial on TS, where you pay only data fees for 1 month and the platform($200 ish) ios free, however if you go through this site in London:

www.clickevents.com and find the TS trial page, there is a 2 month free trial for you to take advantage of if you want to.

hope this helps, let us know what you settle for.

www.freestockcharts.com is the best Free charting software I have seen yet, and use it when on the move.

S...

[badge]

depends what markets you wish to trade? I use gni/MF global for uk and eu stock CFDs. direct market access, your a market maker. having used all of the platforms in UK, I prefer the functionality of gni. comm. starts at .25% each side for shares i think, but its negotiable depending on trade volume; you can get it much lower and even min/max cost fixed they also are in the top 3 largest derivative brokers on the planet, so if you wish to trade anything else its easily done.

heres a market from y'day aftet the ftse had closed, but u can see the basic layout.

[badge]

also for charting purposes I use advfn.com. Its browser based and UK centric, which is perfect for me, but it covers most major markets and the charts are very malable; you can drag the data/axis around etc. also you can design a desktop feature as in this image, where you can have all the live charts of things that are of interest to you, i have overnight markets(US listings for bhp billiton and rio tinto, OZ bhp and rio, and HK hsbc and standard chartered), and asian markets.

Edited August 18, 2009 by badge