What do you need in your trading platform?

Please, give your reasons and examples here about features which you value the most in a trading platform.I'm not asking you to give names of your favourite software. Please, describe features,which you find useful or you would like to have them your trading platform.


As for me, it's very important to have a function which gives opportunity to manage all my orders actively and modify them by one-click. It's just because right now I start scalping.

What about you?

Hello..
from my own "experience" which am just recovering from... you don't need much on your trading platform.. because the more indicators the more the headache and difficult decision to make. what i recommend is just a plain chart with simple trend following indicator, trend confirmation indicator, fibo and trendline....also try to have more knowledge about other strategies used by the professionals...

Every trader is different. Some platforms try to be everything to everyone, and often they don't do a good job at it.

Personally:

 

1. A platform that can efficiently manage a high volume of price data (high frequency of updates, or high tick rate.)
2. Flexibility in order management, everything from OCO, to position merging, to contingent orders, if you can imagine a process for order management, it should be available or easily done via scripts.
3. A flatten all button.
4. Not only a built in scripting language, but an API link on the platform level so 3rd party programming environments can have full access to the platform's quote feed, historical data, and execution capabilities. (This is desktop level, not API level direct with the broker.)
5. Lastly, I'd like to pay upfront for the platform and have the company who publishes it generate their revenue only from the platform sales to end users, not from the brokers and trade volume the platform executes like other setups. This is to ensure I can get the lowest execution and spreads possible from brokers.

However, like I said, every trader is different. For some, a more user friendly interface and better charting would be best.

Like any software Trading Platform should be as easy as it can be. People do not have to click 10 buttons to execute 1 particular action.

Yes, this is not the main point but do not disparage the value of user interface

So the trading platform should become more and more user friendly and ergonomic, here are some examples:

- executing trades in 1-2 clicks
- ability to open/manage trades directly from charts (so the trader do not have to enter price value but he should be able to select the price level from the chart)
- multi-touch support for mobile devices
- Multiple monitors support for desktops

and many other features which save trader's time.
Our time is the most valuable resource so the software should do its best to save our time.

I think it depends on the type of trader that you are.

If you are using EAs than different things are important to you...

Generally I agree with lakenside. the less the better.

Thank you for a such informatibe feedback, friends!

Can you explain me, please, some information, which I didn't understand.

Jack Larkin, could you explain me "flatten all button" means? may be you can give me any examples in other trading platforms? And the last point in your post - you mean like Ninjatrader or multicharts? trader byus software?

Metroman, I agree with you that time is the most valuable thing in our life. Could you please describe here what other platform's feature save traders time in your opinion?

Flatten all.. like a panic button. Some platforms have a "flatten" button that, once pressed, closes all positions and cancels all orders. This is kinda like a "oops" button in case you messed up and need to remove market risk quickly, or, something really spooks the market (say a political figure does a press meeting that was unplanned and it's causing your EURUSD positions to go sideways) and things aren't going as planned.. if you are managing many positions, it might take too long for you to individually close each one (plus pending orders,) so a single panic button would do it efficiently.


As for the paid software comment. Yes, kinda like NinjaTrader or MultiCharts...

My main concern is that brokers get locked into a backend system that gives them little room to innovate. MetaTrader 4 requires MT4 Server, and unless 3rd parties get a license to use the protocol that communicates to MT4 Server as a client device, they get sued (see the drama behind Xogee)

Worse yet, because MetaQuotes wants to dominate their platform (instead of leaving it open for innovative products to compliment/add-on to it) they actively crush other companies out by copying their features and force brokers to keep using them since the broker invested so heavily in their MT4 Server backend. A good example of this would be how the recent success of copy-trade services (like ZuluTrade, FXCopy, etc..) were met with MetaQuotes putting out a social trading subscription service and building a tab right into MT4/5 which lets any new user browse and subscribe to signal services.

The cost of MT4 Server itself is expensive and ongoing, so this cost gets pushed to the end user in the form of higher commissions or wider spread. And brokers have a hard time investing in their own backend or platform since so many retail traders demand MT4.

It's a sad state of affairs really.

Anyhoo.. I noticed you've asked these questions before and on a few forums.. so I guess you're doing a bit of market research yourself or for your company. (I actually had a business analyst job interview once where I had to do a case presentation on adding a new feature to an existing trading platform that would be desired by professional traders. Your questions reminded me of it.) Good luck in whatever it is you're doing!

Jack Larkin, thanks again for your explanations. They are very valuable for me and I appreciate your help very much! And, yes, I do like to make some kind of researches