How to choose the best trading platform in Singapore for beginners

While the platform is the technology – the ‘what’ as well as the ‘where’ of trading – your broker is the ‘who’. This is the company that owns the platform and is your intermediary, the trading services provider buying and selling on your behalf within different markets.

Just like all service providers, different brokers will offer different things. Some are strictly trading-focused, while others are only for investors, for example. We have a platform that caters to CFD trading.

You’ll also want a platform that’s available whenever and wherever you want to trade. It should be available on your mobile phone, desktop, tablet and more. It may even be able to give you access to third-party platforms, too.

We offer access to the following platforms:

• Our award-winning online trading platform²
• Mobile trading
• Algorithmic trading
• Well-known international third-party platform MetaTrader 4
• API trading for seasoned traders
• Direct market access on L2 Dealer and ProRealTime for professional traders

3. Products and markets

Not all trading platforms will give you access to the same products and markets. So, if you have a specific asset in mind to trade or invest in, you’ll want a platform that has a good offering in that space. If you’re not sure yet what market you want to trade, you’ll want a platform that gives you exposure to as many different assets as possible.

Here are just some of the markets we offer on our platform:

• Over 10,000+ international shares, including Tesla, Apple, Alibaba, Alphabet and much more
• More than 30 of the world’s top indices, including the Singapore Blue Chip, FTSE 100, Dow Jones, S&P 500, Germany 40 and more
• Over 80 of the most popular forex pairs to trade, including major pairs like the AUD/USD and GBP/USD, minor pairs like the USD/SGD, emerging currency pairs like the AUD/CNH and even exotic pairs like the EUR/CZK
• All 32 major commodity markets, including gold, oil, gas and soft commodities like sugar and wheat
• Thousands of ETF markets covering indices, sectors, commodities and currencies
• Numerous themes and basket trading that follow global market trends, including clean energy, robotics, electric vehicles and more
• Trading on the future direction of interest rates in several of the world’s biggest markets
• Bonds and futures to speculate on changes in long-term interest rates

4. Platform costs and exchange fees

Another important factor to consider when choosing your platform is how much it’ll cost to trade with that provider. It’s important to know what these fees are.

For example, you’ll need to add funds to your account to make it ‘valid’ with some brokers, which isn’t the case with us.

Then, there’s the fact that many brokers may charge a fee for when you deposit the funds with which you’ll trade. With us, you can make bank transfers free of charge and there’s no minimum amount you’re required to deposit.

Instead, if you’re trading, the main charge you’ll need to consider is ‘the spread’. This is the difference between the buy and sell prices when you open a CFD position. In most cases, we charge our own spread on top of the market spread, as our fee for the trade.

5. Tools

As a beginner trader, you’ll want access to as many tools as possible to maximise your chances of success and also explore what will work best for you. Some of the features we offer are:

• Charts – a huge variety of ways to view your preferred market, from candlestick trading charts to Heikin-Ashi, HLOC, line charts and much more – plus 19 drawing tools within those charts
• Trading signals – actionable ‘buy’ and ‘sell’ suggestions for you from our platform, based on analysis of the chart patterns of your chosen market
• Alerts – automatic, customisable and free-of-charge notifications which alert you to specific market parameters, that you choose, free of charge
• Indicators – helpful formulas you can view on any market’s price chart to help you with your trading strategy – we offer 32 different indicators
• Trading analytics – computational analysis from our platform of your positions, based on your trading data, to help you evaluate and improve your performance

Another powerful tool you use if you’re a beginner trader is our demo account, which enables you to finetune your strategy, as well as familiarise yourself with our platform, before using your own money. You’ll get $200,000 in virtual funds to practise with - which you can use before opening a live account and starting to open real positions.

We also try to make withdrawing and depositing funds as easy as possible. You can withdraw your money whenever you like, for free. Plus, you can make deposits with a bank transfer or with your bank card.

8. Customer service

You’ll also want the very best support possible, so that you can count on your provider when you need them most. We’re ranked as the No.1 CFD provider¹ for a reason – our customer support is there to help your chances of success in trading, right from the moment you become a client.

You can contact us 24 hours from Monday to Friday.

When you’re a beginner trader, we can be especially hands-on if you need. Our experienced team and site provides services that guide you to the right tools for your needs – from setting up automated price change alerts on your desired markets to getting you started with free online courses.

These include self-learning opportunities with IG Academy, plus hundreds of articles with trading strategy tips and expert market analysis.

Beginners’ trading platform comparison

Here’s an additional breakdown of all our platforms compared to one another, so you can choose the best one for your needs and skill level: