The foreign exchange market (forex) is where currencies are traded. In times of economic uncertainty, forex creates long-term opportunities that are easily accessible to anyone. This article explores the benefits of forex and reviews the best forex platforms for beginners.
The benefits of Forex trading
- The forex market is the largest financial market in the world, trading $4 to 5 trillion daily. Why is its size a benefit? Liquidity. Given the amount of trade going on at any given minute, you don’t have to wait to buy or sell. You can do it instantly, with a click, because you’re guaranteed to find someone willing to trade back.
- Getting started doesn’t cost a lot of money, especially compared to trading stocks and options. That’s why the forex market has global appeal, it’s accessible to individuals who don’t have much start-up capital. In fact, it’s the most accessible trading market in existence.
- Nobody owns the market. The forex market is decentralized without any middlemen. The market is influenced by the economy itself, not by a boardroom. This makes it possible for the market to create a level playing field.
- Even if the market is falling, you can still trade. Some forex trading strategies depend on it. Opportunities are available in any market condition.
- Even a small deposit allows you to essentially “borrow” money from your broker to trade larger amounts of money. This is one of the most attractive features of forex. Any time is a good time to dive in.
Now for the best forex platforms. For beginners, it’s especially important that they are a trusted brand providing a strong variety of educational resources, access to quality market research and a user-friendly online platform. Keeping this mind, we’ve explored three of our favourites.
eToro was founded in 2007. It’s a low-risk platform, and absolutely the best platform for social copy and cryptocurrency trading. It also offers a user-friendly interface that is very helpful for beginners. It’s pricier than most of its competitors and its market research tools require some improvement, but overall it delivers exactly what it promises.
The Plus500 is an extremely user-friendly web-based trading platform. Though it offers only basic features, a great choice for beginner forex and CFD traders
Markets.com, thanks to its MarketsX platform, is also easy to use and beginner-friendly. Though expensive, it offers a good set of features including integrated research, market analysis, webinars and educational videos.