If you want to be a daytrader, first you have to get your tools in order and given that day trading is an online job, your tools are your software. There are multiple kinds of software out there to help you make better deals and ultimately better profits. The types go all the way from something you can use as a beginner in the game, to the way more advanced that you will get to use once you understand a lot more about day trading. And before you even start trading you should get a precise idea of how your tools they work.
Boiled down there are four types of software you can use as a daytrader;
Charts
Being able to follow the price movements of your assets is a very important tool, software that makes this possible are essential. The different software that makes market charts, will also offer analytical tools to apply to your chart. The tools that come with at first might be very basic but depending on the seller of the software, there are options to upgrade and get more advanced charting tools, which in the end will give you better insights.
Trade Making Software
You will need some kind of trading platform to do your trades. These can sometimes just be electronic platforms, but depending on which of these you choose, they can also sometimes be an installable piece of software.
Starting Data
These pieces of software are for collecting and giving you the information of prices of assets for that day. These are useable for deciding which assets to trade that given day.
Non-broker software
Most software you will use will often be found through the broker whom you are dealing with. A thing to have in mind about this kind of software is that it is only applicable to that broker’s platform. If you want to do business with multiple brokers, going with third parties are often your go to. They will be able to merge the information from all of them and give you a single feed.
DO YOUR RESEARCH!
Once you know your strategy and know what it requires you now have to find a broker. As mentioned certain brokers offers certain software for you to use. If you can find one that offers all you need, that is great. But maybe, you find one that offers some of them, but has other elements missing, that you like a lot and you would like to use anyway. This is where you have to dig into the third party suppliers of trading software. When trying to find what suits you, have you strategy in mind and recognize which gaps the software you use now has for executing it and then act accordingly.
A key point to look for in trading software is the speed of execution. The trading business is a fast moving environment and you will often have to do split second decisions and you want your software to respond instantaneously