A little more than two decades ago, the forex market used to be an exclusive club. Forex traders were governments, banks, multinational corporations, and extremely wealthy individuals.
Most forex brokers who catered for retail clients targeted travelers who needed to exchange currency, and thus, had physical shops, kiosks, offices, or bureaus located strategically at airports, sea ports, and border crossing points.
Then came the internet, and this was the single most important catalyst for the exponential growth of the forex market.
Within a very short period, the floodgates were opened and regular people with relatively low capital were making huge profits on the forex market on a regular basis.
The internet led to the unprecedented creation of home-based forex trading business that was accessible to anyone and everyone in the world who had a web-connected computer.
That was then, and this is now. Perceptions have changed and so have lifestyles. No one wants to be glued to a computer screen all day everyday anymore, no matter how profitable it is.
People want to get engaged in other things and if they can make money on the go then the better.
The number of people walking around with laptops and working on buses, subways, airplanes, restaurants, and cafeterias was growing and it was evident people do not want to stop their lives to make a living.
Phone companies realized this and there has been a wave of products aimed at increasing the flexibility and mobility for those who want to work on the move.
Mobile Trading Versus Desktop Trading
As mentioned earlier, no one wants to stay glued to their computer screens all day long, and that is the main reason for the growing popularity of mobile trading.
However, mobile trading will for some time still be a supplement rather than a replacement for desktop trading.
This is because of the fact that as advanced as the mobile trading platforms are, they still have disadvantageous limitations in their software and hardware capabilities.
The trading experience is still so much better on the larger screen of a computer and conducting forex trading and market analysis is so much easier and more accurate when using the advanced features of a PC or laptop.
Nevertheless, with a 24 hour market, most traders will just use one or two hours in a day to work on their computers then use their mobile devices the rest of their day to follow the market and manage their trades.
Mobile Devices
Apple is considered the trailblazer in coming up with devices designed for greater mobility at high efficiency levels for workers on the go.
The phone has ceased to be a tool for just making calls and sending texts. Every phone producer in the world is making devices that are not only internet enabled, but also come with applications designed for enhanced work and play.
Phone service providers have reacted positively to this by bundling data services in their plans.
Forex brokers have followed suit and partnered with software vendors to come up with innovative apps that allow traders to follow the forex market and trade right from their hand-held devices.
Forex traders can now trade on mobile forex trading platforms from any mobile phone, PDA, or SmartPhone that runs on a Windows Mobile, Android, Symbian, or iPhone operating system.
To trade, one has to download and install forex trading applications from their broker’s website or from an apps store such as iTunes.
However, there are brokerage firms that offer trading capabilities from the mobile versions of their websites thus enabling traders to make trades directly from their mobile web browsers without having to download or install any apps.
Click here to read a review of some of best brokers that allow traders to use mobile devices for trading.
Forex Platforms
There are over 50 different platforms designed for the iPhone alone today, and that number is bound to increase as more brokers design high-performance trading platforms to attract clients and give their customers a competitive edge.
Apart from this, there is a more or less equal number of trading platforms designed for other types of hand-held devices. The most popular platforms are currently for the iPhone followed by Android and Blackberry.
Lite Platform
Some devices do not have the high capabilities and the fast speeds available on high end devices such as the iPhone.
For these devices, forex brokers and software vendors have come up with trading platforms that have limited functionalities.
These Lite trading platforms will only allow the trader to take some basic actions such as view their account information, open trade orders, view their account and transaction history, close orders and exit trades, and view the current states of their bonuses.
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Mobile Trading Platform Capabilities
There are non-trading forex apps for your device that will allow you to follow forex news, go through a real-time forex training and education, track forex information, review FX market calendars, and even show real time prices and trends.
The above functions will be found on most apps, including Lite trading platforms.
The advanced mobile trading platforms will have all the features available on a desktop platform.
These include tracking currency pairs and their performance in the foreign exchange market, making entry orders, stop orders, take profit orders, trail stops, and all other features necessary for entering, exiting, and managing a trade.
You will be able to view margin levels and apply for leverage. One can also conduct their forex market analysis and track price shifts using their devices.
The most advanced mobile apps will have multi account manager functionalities for use by asset managers who have to trade multiple accounts on behalf of their clients.
Summary
While most brokers and traders still feel desktop trading offers better analysis, tracking, and trading tools, they all agree that mobile trading offers a highly effective trading supplement.
With a high performance hand held device, you can easily and effectively manage your currency trading online account from wherever you are conveniently and profitably.
The leading mobile forex trading platforms such as MetaTrader4 are exact replicas of their desktop versions and therefore one does not need to go through a new steep learning curve in order to begin trading successfully and profitably.
There are also trading sites that allow you to manage your trades direct from a browser so you don’t have to worry about purchasing apps or downloading and installing them.
