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By Joshua Rodriguez Date June 27, 2022 FEATURED PROMOTION
We’re living in the age of automation. From reordering groceries to paying your bills, and soon even driving, automation is helping to take the everyday decision-making out of many aspects of modern life. Automation has also entered financial markets. Algorithmic trading has become a hot topic in the stock market. These automated trading strategies that were once only available to institutions are now available to everyone. There are several providers that allow you to automate your trading in the stock market, forex market, or other financial markets. It can be hard to determine which automated trading platforms are the best because of the sheer volume of offers in the space. However, we’ve made your decision easier by building a list of the five best platforms to automate your trading. The Best Automated Trading Platforms
Our pick for the best overall auto trading service is Interactive Brokers because the company does many things right. The broker offers effective automated trading, including the use of stop-losses to manage risk, low trading fees, and all the tools you need to be successful if you take manual control of your trading.
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Get Priority Access Other automated trading platforms made the list because they shine in one or two key areas. Some offer copy trading, while others provide access to cryptocurrency, allow you to customize the auto trading experience, or have made names for themselves in industries like forex. Best Overall Interactive Brokers
Founded in the late 1970s, Interactive Brokers has grown to become one of the most trusted names on Wall Street. The company is a full-service brokerage that operates the largest electronic trading platform in the United States by daily trading volume. Since we’re talking about automated trading here, that’s where we’ll start with Interactive Brokers. The company works with Capitalise.ai to make automated trading possible on its platform, which comes with a few big perks: English Language. You don’t need to know Python or any other programming language to create automated trading algorithms. Capitalise.ai and Interactive Brokers let you build trading bots using nothing more than the English language. Free to Automate. Interactive Brokers licenses the automation capabilities from Capitalise.ai so you don’t have to pay a fee to use automated trading. Backtesting. You can backtest your trading strategy using historical market data to make sure you’ve got a winner before risking your hard-earned money in your live trading account. Aside from the capabilities of the automated system you’re able to access, there are several reasons to consider trading with Interactive Brokers. The company earned its position as a leading platform by listening to traders and giving them everything they want, where they want it, with reasonable pricing. As you build your automated trading bots, you’ll benefit from some of the most comprehensive charting and technical analysis tools on the market today. Moreover, you can automate trades of all assets available on the platform, including stocks, options, futures, contracts for difference (CFDs), commodities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and fixed-income securities. If you’re not sure where to get started in the stock market, check out the IBKR Campus, a comprehensive educational resource that will teach you everything from the basics of financial markets to the intricate details of some of the most complex trading strategies. To top it all off, Interactive Brokers provides world-class customer support 24 hours per day, five days per week. If you have questions as you get started, you can rest assured that a knowledgeable representative will be ready and able to answer them. All told, Interactive Brokers provides the perfect mix of education, automation, and trading tools to fit just about any trader with just about any trading style. Best for Copy Trading eToro
eToro is another popular full-service brokerage that operates in a wide range of markets. However, the company really shines in terms of trading automation with its copy trading service. Copy trading is the next wave of social trading, and eToro is one of the pioneers in the space. The idea behind copy trading is simple. You dig through a list of professional traders who make their trades available for people to copy and choose the one you believe is a good fit. Once you decide to copy a trader, eToro makes all the trades they make proportionally in your account. For example, say you have a $10,000 account balance and you copy someone with a $100,000 account balance. If the trader you copy makes a $10,000 trade, you will automatically make a $1,000 trade in the same asset with similar entry, take-profit, and stop-loss prices. Everything happens in real-time so your trades are executed as closely as possible to the way the original trades are executed. If you don’t want to automatically copy a trader, you can receive their trades as trading signal emails and manually decide which trades you’re going to execute and which don’t fit with your strategy. eToro was one of the pioneers in the copy trading industry and is easily the best in the space. Additional Features
eToro shines in a few other areas too. These include: Cryptocurrency. eToro is one of the few mainstream brokers that offer cryptocurrency trading. You can use manual crypto trading or automatically copy successful crypto traders as they trade assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Commission-Free Trading. You don’t pay any trading commissions when trading domestic stocks, ETFs, or options on eToro. Trading School. Learn how to trade like a pro at eToro’s Trading School. The school features articles, videos, and webinars that will help you become more successful in the market. Best for Professional Traders NinjaTrader
NinjaTrader has become a top choice among day trading experts. The platform is known for some of the best trading tools, technical indicators, and charting capabilities available. It’s also a professional’s paradise when it comes to automated trading. The NinjaTrader automated trading system is completely customizable. Its powerful API is especially attractive if you’re an experienced trader who wants to build a complex trading robot from the ground up. And if you are a beginner, you can start with one of more than 100 advanced trading algorithms that are already available on the platform. However, it’s important to test your trading bot before adding it to your live trading account. You don’t want a mishap in the code to cost you any of your hard-earned money. Once you build or choose a premade bot, use NinjaTrader’s demo account and backtesting tools to see how it will perform in a real-life environment before taking it live. Additional Features
NinjaTrader is a great place to build your own automated trading robots, but that’s only the beginning. Some additional features the platform’s users rave about include: Charting Tools. NinjaTrader has a robust list of charting tools and technical indicators that make analyzing the market a breeze. Software Add-Ons. There are more than 1,000 software add-ons built by hundreds of developers. You can add custom indicators, trading strategies, and risk management tools to your trading desk for minimal fees. Start Small. NinjaTrader comes with some of the lowest capital requirements and even offers low-value margin loans so you can start small and scale up. Best for Automated Forex Trading Forex com
The forex market is the most liquid market in the world, and one of the most popular forex trading platforms available today is Forex.com. It’s also the best place to go if you’re interested in automating forex trades. You can tap into your Forex.com account using REST API to build and deploy automated trading systems. But doing so may be cumbersome for beginners because you’ll need to know at least one programming language — like JavaScript, Python, Ruby on Rails, or Java — to build an automated trading robot. When you build your trading bot, it will be able to communicate with the Forex.com trading platform, sharing market data like real-time streaming prices and trade execution. Your bot can also trade using advanced order types in more than 80 markets around the world. Additional Features
Forex.com is the leading forex broker in the United States. It earned this position by providing a long list of tools and features. Some of the most impressive features of the platform include: Mobile App. The Forex.com mobile app gives you lightning-fast trade execution abilities with one-swipe trading. Best Forex Trading Tools. The platform was built for forex traders and includes all the charting tools and indicators you need to successfully trade currency pairs. Active Trader. Take advantage of the active trader program to earn cash-back rewards as you trade, reduce your trading fees, and avoid paying fees for wires and bank transfers. Best for Customized Forex Trading Robots MetaTrader 4
MetaTrader 4 is a popular trading platform among the most active forex traders. The platform features state-of-the-art technology with the potential to bring your trading to the next level. Some of the most impressive features of the platform are related to automated trading. You can develop automated trading bots known as Expert Advisors along with your own technical indicators using the company’s proprietary MQL4 programming language. The bots are completely customizable and you can design them for trading in all market conditions. When you build a trading bot, you can move it to a free demo account for backtesting. The platform also features a strategy tester designed to optimize your bot to produce the best possible returns with the lowest possible risk. If you’re not an expert trader and programmer, don’t worry. With MetaTrader 4, you can download one of hundreds of prebuilt Expert Advisors to start your algorithmic trading journey as you learn. Additional Features
Innovative technology is at the heart of the MetaTrader 4 trading platform. This innovation has led to several additional features, including: Trading Signals. You can access a long list of forex signals from various signal providers, although you must pay varying subscription fees to subscribe to trading signals. Copy Trading. MetaTrader 4 is one of the most popular forex copy trading platforms, but you must pay subscription fees to copy trades from signal providers. Demo Accounts. Test your trading skills before risking your hard-earned money with MetaTrader 4’s free demo account. Methodology How We Select the Best Automated Trading Platforms
We used five criteria when curating this list of the best automated trading platforms. In particular, we looked into the overall trading experience, automated trading success rates of the providers, customizability of the trading algorithms, the end cost to you, and the platform’s overall ease of use. Here’s how we decided which automated trading platforms made the cut: Overall Trading Experience
The overall trading experience has several moving parts. Of course, you want to generate reasonable profits, but you don’t want to beat your head against the wall because of technical issues with the platform along the way. We didn’t just look at the set-it-and-forget-it automation available on each of the platforms above. We also looked at the manual trading experience, tools available, educational features, fees, and more — all of which make up the overall experience you’ll have on a trading platform. Automated Trading Success Rate
Automated trading is the name of the game, but these trading opportunities mean absolutely nothing if they’re not profitable. After all, how long are you going to use a robot that produces a flat line or worse? There are two ways to go about automated trading with the providers listed above: Copy Trading and Prebuilt Algorithms. These are the easiest options. You find a trading strategy or expert trader you’d like to copy, click a button, and you’re off to trading. Custom Trading Bots. These are a bit more involved. You program your own bots using your own trading strategies. Of course, we can’t test the returns generated from your personalized trading bots, but we can and did look into the returns generated by each platform’s copy trading and prebuilt algorithmic trading services. The services with the highest success rates made the cut. Trading Algorithm Customizations
Prebuilt bots and copy trading are perfect for some traders. That’s especially the case for beginners with little market knowledge. However, expert traders generally want more. They want the ability to customize the algorithms that drive their trading bots. We chose the platforms that feature customization capabilities with few to no limitations in how far the customization can go. In fact, this is one of the biggest reasons Interactive Brokers claimed the best overall spot. Not only are the trading bots on the platform completely customizable, but that customization is also done in plain English. You don’t need any programming experience to get the job done. Cost
Trading in financial markets is about making money, not spending it. We realize that most quality services come with some form of cost. People don’t work for free. However, we only listed companies that we believe charge reasonable fees in relation to the services they provide. You won’t find any price gougers here. Ease of Use
Finally, the best platforms are so easy to use that beginners are able to sign up and start trading with a minimal learning curve. All the trading platforms listed feature the tools and data you need when you need them. Automated Trading Platform FAQs Frequently Asked Questions
Automation is an interesting and complex topic, especially when applied to finance, so it’s normal to have a question or two about automated trading platforms. Here are the answers to some of the most common: Is Automated Trading Profitable
There are countless automated trading algorithms, and the developers behind each will say theirs is the best. The truth is that algorithms are similar to human traders in one way: some are consistent winners and some end up losers. It’s important to backtest automated trading strategies before using them in your live trading account. How Much Does a Trading Bot Cost
Trading bots vary wildly in cost depending on the tool’s provider. Some trading bots are completely free to use while others may require you to pay monthly subscription fees. Many of the bots listed above are free to use and none cost more than $100 per month. Can I Lose Money With Automated Trading
Absolutely. There is no such thing as a guaranteed profit in financial markets. Trading automation completely alleviates the risk of human error, but even the best algorithms aren’t 100% accurate, and losses will happen occasionally. As with any short-term trading, never trade with money you can’t afford to lose. There are plenty of ways to limit your downside risk you should become familiar with before you automate trades. You can also backtest or use simulated trading to test your automation strategy before risking any real money. Is Copy Trading or Algorithmic Trading Better
Copy trading is the process of copying the moves made by expert traders. Algorithmic trading uses algorithms that look for the best entries and exits from a statistical standpoint. Both can be effective ways to generate a profit and both can lead to losses. Algorithmic trading gets rid of the risk of human error, while human intuition may bring opportunities to light that an algorithm would miss. So, the answer to this question is more about personal preference. Your success depends a great deal on the expert trader you plan to follow or the algorithm you plan to use. How to Choose the Best Automated Trading Platforms
The best automating trading platform for you may not be the best platform for me. You should consider the following factors when you choose a provider to work with: Cost. Some automated trading providers are free, while others will come with one-time or monthly fees. Consider the amount of money you’re willing to spend to take advantage of these trading systems. Experience. You shouldn’t try to build your own trading robot if you have limited market experience. Instead, you should compare prebuilt automated trading services to find one that fits your trading style. Asset Class. Each trading platform supports its own list of asset classes. It’s important to make sure your broker supports forex if you’re interested in trading currency pairs, or derivatives if you’re interested in trading options. Consumer Reviews. Take the time to read a few consumer reviews. If the vast majority of people have had a positive experience with the platform, chances are you will too. Stocks Invest Money TwitterFacebookPinterestLinkedInEmail Joshua Rodriguez
Joshua Rodriguez has worked in the finance and investing industry for more than a decade. In 2012, he decided he was ready to break free from the 9 to 5 rat race. By 2013, he became his own boss and hasn’t looked back since. Today, Joshua enjoys sharing his experience and expertise with up and comers to help enrich the financial lives of the masses rather than fuel the ongoing economic divide. When he’s not writing, helping up and comers in the freelance industry, and making his own investments and wise financial decisions, Joshua enjoys spending time with his wife, son, daughter, and eight large breed dogs. See what Joshua is up to by following his Twitter or contact him through his website, CNA Finance. FEATURED PROMOTION
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