How to choose the best beginners' trading platform (2024)

You’ll also want a platform that’s available whenever and wherever you want to trade. It should be available on your mobile phone, desktop, tablet and more. It may even be able to give you access to third party platforms, too.

We offer access to the following platforms:

• Our award-winning online trading platform²
• Mobile trading
• Algorithmic trading
• Well-known international third-party platform MetaTrader 4
• API trading for seasoned traders
• Direct market access on L2 Dealer and ProRealTime for professional traders

3. Products and markets

Not all trading platforms will give you access to the same products and markets. So, if you have a specific asset in mind to trade or invest in, you’ll want a platform that has a good offering in that space. If you’re not sure yet what market you want to trade, you’ll want a platform that gives you exposure to as many different assets as possible.

Here are just some of the markets we offer on our platform:

• Over 17,000+ international shares, including Tesla, Apple, Alibaba, Alphabet and much more
• More than 80 of the world’s top indices, including the FTSE 100, Dow Jones, S&P 500, Germany 40 and more
• Over 80 of the most popular forex pairs to trade, including major pairs like the GBP/USD and EUR/USD, minor pairs like the CAD/CHF, emerging currency pairs like the AUD/CNH and even exotic pairs like the EUR/CZK
• All 27 major commodity markets, including gold, oil, gas and soft commodities like sugar and wheat
• More than 5400 ETF markets covering indices, sectors, commodities and currencies
• Numerous themes and basket trading that follow global market trends, including clean energy, robotics, electric vehicles and more
• Trading on the future direction of interest rates in several of the world’s biggest markets
• Bond ETFs and futures to speculate on changes in long-term interest rates

4. Platform costs and exchange fees

Another important factor to consider when choosing your platform is how much it’ll cost to trade with that provider. It’s important to know what these fees are, and what this entails.

For example, creating an account with us is completely free of charge – which is not the case with all platforms. You also don’t need to add funds to your account to make it ‘valid’, as with some brokers.

Then, there’s the fact that many brokers may charge a fee for when you deposit the funds with which you’ll trade or invest. With us, you can make bank transfers free of charge and there’s no minimum amount you’re required to deposit.

Instead, if you’re trading, the main charge you’ll need to consider is ‘the spread’. This is the difference between the buy and sell prices when you open a spread bet or CFD position. In most cases, we charge our own spread on top of the market spread, as our fee for the trade.

You’ll pay a small commission when trading on share CFDs, as well as when you’re investing. However, if you’re an investor who places three or more trades in the previous calendar month, you’ll be charged no commission on US shares and just £3 per trade on UK shares.³

5. Tools

As a beginner trader, you’ll want access to as many tools as possible to maximise your chances of success and also explore what will work best for you. Some of the features we offer are:

• Charts – a huge variety of ways to view your preferred market, from candlestick trading charts to Heikin-Ashi, HLOC, line charts and much more – plus 19 drawing tools within those charts
• Trading signals – actionable ‘buy’ and ‘sell’ suggestions for you from our platform, based on analysis of the chart patterns of your chosen market
• Alerts – automatic and customisable notifications which alert you to specific market parameters, that you choose, free of charge
• Indicators – helpful formulas you can view on any market’s price chart to help you with your trading strategy – we offer 32 different indicators
• Trading analytics – computational analysis from our platform of your positions, based on your trading data, to help you evaluate and improve your performance

Another powerful tool you use if you’re a beginner trader is our demo account, which enables you to finetune your strategy, as well as familiarise yourself with our platform, before using your own money. You’ll get £10,000 in virtual funds to practise with, which you can use before opening a live account and starting to open real positions.

We also try to make withdrawing and depositing funds as easy as possible. You can withdraw your money whenever you like, for free. Plus, you can make deposits with a bank transfer or with your bank card.

Successful bank card payments are deposited immediately, while bank transfers my at times take up to three working days maximum. In the meantime, you can upload a proof of payment to trade with the funds right away.

8. Customer service

You’ll also want the very best support possible, so that you can count on your provider when you need them most. We’re ranked as the No.1 platform in the UK2 for a reason – our customer support is there to help your chances of success in trading or investing, right from the moment you become a client.

You can contact us by phone, online chat, email or Twitter – 24 hours a day from 8am Saturday to 10pm Friday (UK time).

When you’re a beginner trader, we can be especially hands-on if you need. Our experienced team and site provides services that guide you to the right tools for your needs – from setting up automated price change alerts on your desired markets to getting you started with free online courses.

These include self-learning opportunities with IG Academy, plus hundreds of articles with trading strategy tips and expert market analysis.