Trading Resources and Tools

To become a serious trader, you need discipline, and the best resources. And more often than not, you’ll be searching all over the place.

What are the best strategies? Where can I learn trading? What laptop should I choose ? Where can I find a backtesting tool ?

Well it’s all here. Here’s the fruit of hundreds of hours of research and practice.

The Complete Guide to the Best Trading Tools.

Let’s get started.

How to start trading step-by-step?

You need to take it one step at a time: learn the basics first, then set your goals, choose a trading style, pick a broker and demo trade. You’re all set.

How to Start Trading in 2021 : the Complete Step-by-Step Guide
The Beginner’s Guide to Forex Trading by Investopedia
The « School of Pipsology » over at Babypips.com
Investing for Beginners at Annuity.org
Stock Basics articles from Investopedia
How to Start Investing by Lendedu.com

What are the Best Trading Laptops?

You need a light machine, with a bright wide screen, good connectivity and that starts up fast. You could even pick a premium tablet.

Acer Aspire E15 – the most affordable option
Apple 13” MacBook Air– a fabulous trading machine
Asus VivoBook – the best value for money
Dell XPS 13 – the most portable option
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 – the best tablet option

And here’s an article on the ideal Day Trading or Gaming Setup if you’re looking for screens, desks, ergonomic chairs, keyboards or a mouse.

What are Some Good Backtesting Tools for your Trading Strategies?

Backtesting tools come in two categories: online portals such as Tradingview or computer software that runs offline. Some brokers also offer great backtesting tools, like Tradestation.

Forex Tester : a great trading simulator
TradingView : the best for social shared strategies. You can also code backtesting routines
MetaTrader 5 Trading Strategy Tester : Test and optimize your trading robot before you use it for real trading
Metastock D/C : powerful analysis tools for traders

What’s a Good Broker, and how do you find it?

A good broker will keep your funds safe, provide great execution, competitive rates, a powerful charting platform and great training material.

eToro : good for starters, social trading, cryptos. Very easy to use
Interactive Brokers : a power machine. Rock-bottom transaction fees. THE best broker
FXCM : for Forex adepts, with great rates and a powerful platform
IG : great platform, world leader in CFDs
TD Ameritrade : great for beginners, with the award winning Thinkorswim platform

What are the Best Free Stock Charting Sites?

To follow your portfolios and trades, lots of free tools are available. Choosing will depend on the markets you follow and the range of tools you require. Screeners, backtesters,…

TradingView.com : the leading charting platform in the trading world, hard to beat
Finviz : great for US markets. Fabulous screener
Stockcharts.com : award winning charting tools
Marketwatch.com : great on news
Google Finance : a simple free tool, build your watchlists
Freestockcharts.com : very elaborate platform, now part of TC2000
Yahoo Finance : very easy to use and navigate, great for starters
Trade Ideas : provides a free trading room

How do you Trade the News?

You need a real time news delivery service. In trading they are called Sqawks, online audio feeds that are widely used in banks and hedge funds.

Or you can go with more traditional news sites :

Bloomberg Markets : delivers authoritative business and market news
Daily FX : focused on Forex and Commodities
Seeking Alpha : the largest investing community in the world
FXStreet.com : includes a great Twitter feed
Forexfactory : great news calendars, and legendary forums

Where can you find the Best Dividend Stocks or learn Dividend Investing?

A few sites are dedicated to dividend investing. They teach you how to pick stocks with the best dividend quality (yield, regularity, resilience, fundamentals,..)

Dividend.com is your go to portal
Dividend investing articles by Investopedia
Dividend Growth Machine : a great book to supercharge your investment returns

What are Robo-Advisors and why they’re a great way to start Trading?

Robo-advisors are essentially online portfolio managers. They’re great if you’re comfortable with a hands off approach to trading and investing, all from your mobile.

Betterment: no minimum deposit, excellent mobile app
Wealthfront: a full range of services for hands-off investors
Personal Capital: leading financial tools for high net worth individuals
Ellevest: goal-based investing, targeted at women

Some Powerful Free Trading Platforms help you Chart Offline

If you want to practice during the week-end or setup your charts, some offline platforms are great tools with limitless functionalities.

Metatrader 4 (MT4) : a fantastic free of charge forex trading platform
Prorealtime : probably one of the most impressive platforms, integrates with leading brokers