If you want to make money from foreign exchange trading, you will need to download forex software. There is no way around it you have to be able to use a computer in order to trade currency exchange, these days. In the old days it was possible to trade stocks by calling your broker, but forex has never really worked that way.

This is because forex trading did not begin until the gold exchange standard was relaxed when the Bretton Woods Agreement was dissolved in the 1970s. At that time foreign exchange trading was dominated by banks and major financial institutions. By the time private investors were getting heavily involved, the internet had arrived and forex software came into play.

Therefore to trade currencies you will need a computer and a reliable broadband internet connection with which to trade the forex market. Broadband is important because you will need to perform a forex software download which takes a lot of computer power and you will be dealing with prices that change within a second. You cannot afford to have delays, hang ups or a slow connection so a fast broadband connection is necessary to run your forex program. Equally, your computer must be relatively new say, less than five years so that you have a relatively recent operating system and your PC or Mac needs to be running efficiently.

If your computer has many files and other software on it that you have to wait five minutes for anything to download, you should consider getting a new one exclusively to run your forex program for fx trading. Having a dedicated computer for your online trading has many advantages in any case.

For example, it will mean you do not have to share the computer with your spouse or family. It will be available whenever you want to trade. And if you want to run any forex software that requires a permanent internet connection, such as a forex robot like FAP Turbo, Forex Megadroid or Forex IvyBot you can leave it switched on and know that nobody else will mess with it. Foreign Exchange is a 24 hour market so there are big advantages to having automated forex software trade for you at times when you could not be online yourself.
In addition, having a second computer dedicated to your trading means that you have a backup. Computers of all types very often develop problems, either with hardware such as the hard disk or with software through viruses and malware. If a disaster suddenly happens to your main trading computer, then having another in the house means that you can continue trading. This could be very important if you have open trades with no stops. The result of not being able to access a computer for several hours could be catastrophic.

The main software program that you will use will be the forex trading platform provided by your broker. In most cases, you access this online through their website. You do not need to download anything. Through this platform you will access many services including charts, a demo account and your actual trading account. This means that you can trade either in demo mode or for real, on the live market, through the software provided by your broker.

A few brokers use desktop forex platforms instead of internet based platforms or you can use Keith Cotterill’s, The Ultimate Forex Predictor or TUFXP for short although this will only run on a Microsoft Windows computer. With a desktop platform, you download the software to your own computer. The desktop system may be faster but it has the disadvantage that you have to keep your computer on all of the time if you have an open trade with a stop loss. If the system is internet based, you can set your stop loss in your account on the broker’s forex software, switch off your computer and know that the stop will still be active.

Forex Trading Platforms: Which is the Best For You?