How the right platform can improve your CFD trading

CFD trading is one of the more popular trading types in the UK. Picking the right trading platform can improve your experience and chances of making a profit.

An increasing number of people in the UK are taking up trading as a hobby.

With access to a ton of information on the internet, learning about finance and different ways of investing money is easier than ever. The newest type of trading takes place on the cryptocurrency market, with digital coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Trading with contracts for differences, CFD, started back in the 1990s already, but has had a big boost over the last few years thanks to a large number of easy-to-use platforms with smart tools, which are constantly developing.

For a UK CFD trader, there’s no shortage of brokers and trading platforms to choose between. What’s important is picking one that will fill your needs and provide you with the functionality needed to maximise your trading experience.

Speculating on price movements

If you’re new to CFD trading, you might wonder how it works and what makes it attractive to so many people.

Simply put, trading with a contract for difference means you speculate on price movements on different financial markets such as forex, cryptocurrency, or commodities.

Instead of buying the assets, you have a contract with the broker and exchange the difference in price between when the position opens and closes.

Quick trades and leverage

CFD trading allows you to make quick trades, often short-term and hence day trading is popular. The leverage means you can make bigger profits without paying the full cost of the units.

With higher reward comes higher risk though, since the leverage also means that your potential loss is higher. By doing proper research and utilising functions such as stop losses you can lower the risks.

How to recognise a good CFD trading platform

The choice of CFD trading platform will affect your trading experience, since they have different kinds of interfaces, tools, prices, and terms and conditions. Services like customer support are also worth considering.

Brokers can offer a selection of different platforms to choose from, for example an app for your mobile phone and different software for when you use your laptop.

A good trading platform should give you:

· The ability to trade with one click

· Charts and real-time pricing

· Tools for risk management like stop loss

· A large selection of technical indicators

Customer service

Although not directly related to your trading, good customer support can save you when difficult situations come up. Especially when starting out, you want to make sure that there’s someone available to help you if you need it.

Available markets

Which broker and platform you choose depends on what you want to trade and on which markets. Knowing this will help to narrow down your options.

Features that suit your skill level

When you first start out trading, you probably don’t want or need the most complicated features. By starting out with a simpler platform, you can save costs and avoid getting overwhelmed.

Look up which providers offer the basic tools that you need and where you can add extra features later on if you think you will need those.

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