Questions to answer while testing platforms

Questions to answer while testing platforms

If you are looking at this page right now, I am guessing that you are interested in financial markets and would like to know more about it. What I can tell you is that you are right for trying to know more about it before you invest in global financial markets. To begin with, you will need to decide on the platform to use for your trading and that is not always an easy feat to achieve. There are thousands of trading platforms out there and they are different and unique in different ways.

To make your work easier, I am going to look at some of the answers to some of the questions you should be asking before you settle for a specific trading platform on the internet.

What Types of Securities Can You Trade on the Platform?

This is a very important question to ask before you start trading because not all trading platforms offer the same capabilities and securities for people to trade in.  As such, you will need to start by choosing a platform that offers the type of securities you intend to trade. You should rule out any platform that doesn’t automatically allow you to trade the securities you want. From the platform you choose, you should be able to trade the kind of IPOs, futures, options, fixed-income securities, and securities that you prefer.

There are times when you may find that that the particular security you are looking for is not available on the platform you chose, but you know well that the brokerage supports it. In such a case, you might have to check the settings of your account to see if there are changes you need to make so that you can be able to trade the securities you want.

Are quotes in real-time? Are they streaming?

Another very important of choosing a platform where to trade securities is the whether the quotes are made available to you in real-time or not. There are a few ways that you can use to pull up the price of a specific security on most platforms. However, not all of these ways or even platforms are usually capable of pulling up the most up to date prices. To avoid problems like this, you should only trade on platforms that give you the most recent prices so that you can time your trades most efficiently. Timing matters a lot when it comes to trading securities. Markets.com is one of the trading platforms that offer the most recent trade prices that you should consider checking out.

Can you set up customized watch lists and alerts?

If you have been engaged in trading for some time, you should know by now that timing is very important. For this reason, it is advisable to obtain a trading platform that allows you to set up alerts so that you can know what is going on with your trades. Notifications can be set up to be sent via email, text message, or a desktop notification. Luckily, markets.com allows you to do all these.

Skye Marshall

Ivy Skye Marshall: Ivy, a social justice reporter, covers human rights issues, social movements, and stories of community resilience.