Best Forex Trading App For Beginners

What We Liked

• A trading platform specifically designed to support mobile Forex trading
• Free access to Copy Trading research ideas
• Regulated by Tier-1 authorities including FCA and CySEC
• No extra charges for following Copy Traders
• User-friendly functionality

One of the front runners in the race, which provides the best forex trading app for beginners is eToro. This increasingly popular broker has millions of clients on its books and has, to a large extent, built its success on the strength and simplicity of its forex trading app.

The functionality of the eToro app is particularly user-friendly. The principle of selling one currency and buying another can take time to come to terms with, but the eToro app does help with that. The trade execution monitor clearly outlines all the details of the trade you are about to put on. Exposure, financing costs (if applicable), stop losses, leverage and take-profit details are all laid out in front of you. Adjusting any of them to suit your preference can be done by simply clicking a button.

The eToro Virtual account is also set out in precisely the same format as the Real account. This means that you can practice with the $100,000 Virtual dollars the platform gives to eToro Demo account users. When you are ready to take the next step of trading with real funds, all the functionality of real trading is the same. The Virtual account will continue to be accessible even when you are trading with real money. It is also a useful tool when you want to test any new strategies or trading ideas in a no-risk environment.

The eToro app has a lot going for it. The trading spreads are in line with the peer group. Its functionality is incredibly user friendly, but the Copy Trading service gives the app another dimension. Copy Trading involves following the trading decisions of others and applying them to your account. You choose who to copy and the amount of your capital to use. You also decide when to break that relationship. There are no extra fees for taking on a Copy Trade compared to trading your account on the back of your own decisions.

The funds still stay in your account, you don’t give anyone any of your hard-earned cash, but just take their trading decisions and apply them to a portion of your funds. Allocating capital to a third-party does come with risks, but if the return is a profitable one, then you can take comfort from backing the right horse at the right time. There are no commissions to pay as Copy Traders are recompensed for their efforts by eToro, not by you.

Copy Traders devote a lot of time to developing a strategy to attract clients. They are also keen to share a lot of their thoughts on markets as a means to drum up business. All information has a value and eToro clients are at an advantage in that they can access the opinions of these other traders for free. Even the process of carrying out due diligence before linking up to a specific Copy Trader allows you to take on the ideas of others. eToro, for example, ensures potential Copy Traders have to share their trading track record, explain if they ‘run’ their own money, and how traders might best benefit from following them. 

What We Liked

• Trading platform hits all the right spots
• In-app news updates
• Hot on cyber-security
• Great market coverage

Plus500 claims to be the ‘UK’s number 1 CFD broker’ and provides one of the best trading apps for traders. It ticks a lot of boxes for someone new to trading forex. The firm is well regulated and operates under licence from seven different authorities, including the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) and CySEC (Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission).

One further security feature is the inactivity time-out function which adds an extra layer of protection. That is entirely appropriate considering how easy it can be to misplace handheld devices. Plus 500 also offers advanced risk management tools on accounts.

The fact that the site has millions of users suggests it’s doing an excellent job of giving its clients the tools with which to trade. The broker is adding approximately 30,000 new customers each month as more people visit the site to try out their trading app.

The functionality of the app is particularly user-friendly. It’s straightforward to register, to browse the currency markets, consider market moves and place a trade. There is also a range of intermediate and advanced trading tools which can be brought into your trading – trailing stop losses being one example. The ‘tick’ price chart, which shows real-time price moves, is also useful when entering into a trading position.

The ‘Notifications’ function of the app provides you with a summary of current market events. It covers company announcements, market reviews, features on specific currencies and ideas on macro-economic trends. The amount of thought-provoking information presented is appropriate for mobile traders. There is enough to keep you informed but not too much as to be overwhelming.

What We Liked

• Attractive layout and easy navigation
• Trade sharing function
• Interactive chat rooms
• Strong on research and education
• Up-to-date market analysis on real trading opportunities

IQ Option was founded in 2013 and has become a universally recognised platform specialising in binary options trading. The trading platform is proprietary and comes with a lot of features that other platforms don’t support. The forex trading app experience is best described as being straightforward yet impressive.

The IQ Option app does more than most in terms of transferring the desktop experience to handheld devices. Yes, you can book quick-fire trades and there are also research and learning materials available if you have time for a more considered approach.

The Settings monitor lays out quite how many neat tools are available. As the default settings on accounts set some of these to ‘off’, it is well worth checking out this part of the site. It’s possible to share your live deals and see trades of other traders as they happen in real-time.

IQ Option hasn’t cut any corners in the quality of graphics, and the site has an attractive aesthetic. Combined with easy-to-use functionality this makes the app an excellent option for those just starting out trading forex.

What We Liked

• Lots of useful resources
• Excellent trading functionality thanks to the market maker status
• Tier-1 regulation
• Easy and fast on-boarding
• Market leader in operational and cyber-security protection
• No withdrawal fees

AvaTrade offers forex traders a one-stop-shop approach. The onboarding process is incredibly simple, the trading functionality and site navigation are very straightforward, and it also has extra resources to cater to intermediate and advanced traders.

Opening an account at AvaTrade can be completed with as little as £100. Once onboard, you can access a range of powerful analytical tools that can be used on various charts. The user-facing parts of the site are impressive enough, but a lot of what is good about AvaTrade goes on behind the scenes.

As the firm is a ‘market maker’ grade broker, it carries out your instructions deep in the heart of the forex markets. Being closer to the action can result in tighter trading spreads and better-quality trade ‘flow’.

AvaTrade is a broker of a healthy size. The firm trades across five continents and is registered with six regulators. Its trading volumes are a sign of how successful it is and that it has ‘institutional’ grade clients on the platform. Retail brokers using the forex trading app are therefore able, to some extent, piggy-back off the reputation and strength of those larger firms.

The broker has a global outlook, so client protection depends on an individual’s domicile. It is regulated by a range of Tier-1 authorities including Central Bank of Ireland, ASIC (Australian Securities & Investments Commission) and in Japan by the Financial Services Agency

What We Liked

• Trading Central trade suggestions in real-time markets
• Great charting functionality
• The uniquely transparent pricing structure
• Excellent research and learning tools
• Tier-1 regulation (Cysec)

Libertex has received more than 30 international awards, including best trading application in the European Union as presented by Global Banking and Finance Review. It has also picked up the award for Best Trading Platform by FinEXPO. The firm certainly offers what can only be described as a strong contender for the title of best forex trading app for beginners.

The attractive and easy to navigate app platform is packed full of trader-friendly features. The charts are particularly easy to work with and suggest they have been specifically designed to cater to users without any specialist knowledge or trading experience. One example of this is the Trading Central tool, which can be clicked on to access a trading idea specific to that time and place.

The Trading Central trade tips may not always work out, but beginners who studied them would iron out a lot of ‘newbie’ errors faster than they might do independently. Onboarding is very straightforward, but even those first steps onto the site prompt suggestions from Libertex, offering learning and education support.

The firm is regulated by CySEC, which is one of the most trusted regulatory agencies. It has an interesting and very transparent approach to trading costs and offers clients the chance to trade all markets with zero spreads and no hidden fees.