Software

Software for a forex trader

Software for a forex trader is divided not by price and not by the number of features but by the moment at which it intervenes. Some show the past, others let you repeat it without money, a third kind stops you pressing the button right now. Those are three different tasks, and substituting one for another is pointless: a journal will not stop revenge trading, and a limiter will not show why it happened.

Software for a forex trader: six tools and what each one does

The list is deliberately short. Reviews of software for a forex trader usually have twenty entries, seventeen of which are the same thing with different logos. Here there is one representative per class plus one where the class matters more than the brand. Services for analysing forex trades stand in the catalogue next to the limiter deliberately: these are different answers to different questions, and confusing them is expensive.

Tools shown: 6 of 6. The filters are off by default: the list is short and worth reading in full before narrowing it.

ALAllocationA portfolio of strategies and risk rules

A portfolio of several strategies on one account: each is given a share of capital and its own copying rules. The decisions about size and about what gets copied at all are taken in advance and by a setting rather than at the moment of a drawdown.

ClassPortfolio of strategies and risk control

Where it worksA web platform on top of an MT4/MT5 account

DataThe capital stays on your trading account

ImportConnecting the account, strategies from the catalogue

What it gives psychologyMoves the portfolio rules out of your head and into settings

Tool review

EWEdgewonkA journal that analyses your state

The only one of the mainstream journals where a trader's state is not a field for a note but a measurable field on a par with the entry price. It calculates statistics broken down by tags: what the trades marked as impulsive cost.

ClassJournal and analytics

Where it worksA desktop program

DataStored on your own disk

ImportMT4/MT5 statements and CSV

What it gives psychologyA breakdown of statistics by state tags

Tool review

FTForex TesterA history simulator for manual practice

A desktop simulator: history plays back candle by candle at a controllable speed, trades are opened by hand. A tool for collecting a sample of execution faster than real time does.

ClassA manual trading simulator

Where it worksA desktop program

DataA local quote history

ImportIts own quote databases, your own data

What it gives psychologyA hundred trades by the rules in an evening instead of a quarter

Tool review

FBFX BlueFree account analytics and a simulator

A set of free tools around MetaTrader: an account statistics breakdown on the website and a manual trading simulator on history inside the terminal itself. It is forex-specific: it counts in points and lots, not in shares.

ClassAccount analytics and a simulator

Where it worksA website plus an MT4/MT5 plugin

DataThe statistics are published on the service

ImportConnecting an MT4/MT5 account

What it gives psychologyPractising the execution of a plan without money

Tool review

TVTradervueAn online journal with review

A web journal with tags and notes on trades. Its strong side is review through somebody else's eyes: the journal can be opened to a mentor or a colleague with a link, without sending exports or collecting screenshots.

ClassJournal and analytics

Where it worksA browser

DataOn the service's server

ImportExports from many brokers, including MT4/MT5

What it gives psychologyTags and shared review without sending files

Tool review

EALimiter expert advisorA class of tools, not a brand

An expert advisor in the terminal that closes positions and forbids trading once the daily limit is used up. The only tool in the section that does not show but obstructs: it intervenes at the moment of the breakdown.

ClassLimiter

Where it worksMT4/MT5, less often a broker's platform

DataThey go nowhere

ImportNot required

What it gives psychologyEnforces the stop-day without any willpower

Tool review

Four moments of intervention — four classes of tool

It is useful to keep the time axis in mind: a tool works either before a trade, or during it, or after it — and one class works even before the first trade exists. Mixing up the classes is the main cause of disappointment: people expect discipline from a journal, and it only measures it.

01After the trade: journal and account analytics

They show what has already happened and turn the feeling «it was a bad week» into a number. They prevent nothing, but without them it is unclear what exactly to fix: a trade journal answers the question «what does this habit cost me».

Edgewonk, Tradervue, FX Blue

02Before the trade: a history simulator

It lets you repeat the execution of a plan many times without money. It speeds up not the learning of a strategy but the collecting of a sample: a hundred trades by the rules in an evening instead of a quarter of real time.

Forex Tester, FX Blue

03During the trade: a limiter

It closes positions and blocks the terminal once the daily limit is reached. It intervenes at exactly the moment when the decision is being made by a state rather than by the system.

An expert advisor in MT4/MT5

04Before the first trade: portfolio and shares

The earliest possible moment of intervention. The decision about how much capital each strategy gets and what will be copied at all is taken once by a setting — and is not then revised during a drawdown.

Allocation

What software for a trader really changes

Below is an honest division. On the left is what a tool does better than a human, on the right what is loaded onto it in vain.

+Calculates what you will not calculate by handExpectancy broken down by tags, the distribution of results by hour, the share of off-plan trades. By hand that is done once, and it is needed every month.

+Stores the sampleSix months later you will not remember what was in your head in March. A record made at the moment of the trade is the only source.

+Speeds up the accumulation of experienceA simulator plays a year of history in an evening. For practising execution that is incomparably faster than a live account.

+Follows a rule without youA limiter does not get tired and does not negotiate. A daily limit written into an expert advisor works even on the evening when you are ready to break it.

−Does not create disciplineA journal shows the share of trades by the rules. Raising it will still have to be done with rules and limits, not with installing software.

−Does not replace a trading planA tool calculates by your criteria. If there are no criteria, it will calculate noise and produce a handsome report about nothing.

−Does not cure tiltNo report gets read in the state it was set up for. Only what fires automatically works.

−Does not give an edge on the marketNone of the programs in the section improves an entry. All of them work with your behaviour, not with price.

How to choose a tool for your task

The order is the reverse of the usual one: first the problem is named in figures, and only then a class of tool is sought. The reverse order produces a subscription that goes unused from the second week.

01Name the problem with a number

«A third of trades are off plan» or «after a stop the average size is twice as high» is a task. «I want to be more disciplined» is not a task; you cannot choose a tool for it.

a journal review

02Determine the moment of intervention

The problem is visible after the trade — you need a journal. The problem is in execution — a simulator. The problem is at the moment of the breakdown — a limiter.

one minute

03Test it on a free one

The «journal» and «account analytics» classes have free options, including a spreadsheet you set up yourself. It is worth paying for what a spreadsheet does not have.

a month

04Count one metric

A tool is justified if after a month the share of trades by the rules has grown. If it has not, the software is not the issue.

a month

What is not in this section and why

noPrices and tariffsLicence costs and the contents of tariffs change more often than the page is updated. A price named here would go out of date and mislead — check on the developer's site.

noRankings and places in a top listTools are not ranked by «bestness»: each has its own class of task, and comparing a journal with a limiter is meaningless. The order in the catalogue is alphabetical, so that position means nothing. One caveat: Allocation is built by our own team — this is stated in the first paragraph of its review.

noSignals and expert advisors that tradeThis section is about tools for working on behaviour. Programs that take trading decisions for you are a different subject with a different set of risks.

there isMechanics and limitsWhat a tool does to behaviour, at what moment it intervenes and what it is pointless to expect from it. That does not go out of date along with the version.

Where to start if you have no tools yet

The order of adoption matters more than the choice of brand. It is the same regardless of what you trade and for how long.

A nine-column spreadsheetA journal in any form matters more than a journal in the right program. For the first month a spreadsheet is enough: it will show whether you will keep records at all.

A daily limit in an expert advisorSecond in order and first in effect. A rule that is followed without you changes the result faster than any report.

Account analyticsOnce at least forty trades have accumulated there is something to calculate. Before that any report is fortune-telling from a short sample.

A paid journal or a simulatorOnly once it is clear which breakdown the spreadsheet lacks. The reverse order produces an unused subscription.

The one metric a tool is judged by

Not profit: it depends on the market and on the period. The share of trades made by written rules depends on you, and it is that which a tool has to move. Calculated from the journal over a month.

Rule-following share = trades by the rules ÷ all trades

Month	Trades in total	Of them by the rules	Share	What it means
Before the tool	60	37	62 %	Every third trade is off plan
First month	58	44	76 %	A novelty effect, not yet an indicator
Second month	61	50	82 %	Looks like consolidation
Third month	59	50	85 %	The tool is justified

The difference between 62 % and 85 % is 13 trades a month that used to be opened off plan. What one such trade costs is computed by the cost-of-a-trade calculator; at costs of $4.40 and an average loss on an impulsive entry of even a quarter of the risk, that is a noticeable sum over a year. If after three months the share has not grown, the software is not the issue — and the money for it was spent in vain.

Frequently asked questions

Which software for a trader is the most necessary?

The one that closes your task in figures. If the share of off-plan trades is above a quarter — a limiter. If it is unclear where the money is going — a journal. There is no universal answer, and «top 10 programs» lists do not provide one.

Can you do without software altogether?

Yes, and the first month is better done exactly that way: a spreadsheet and written rules. Software saves time on calculations but creates neither the rules nor the habit of following them.

How does account analytics differ from a journal?

Analytics calculates from the trades in the terminal: price, size, result. A journal adds what the terminal does not have — the state before the entry and the reason for the decision. The first answers what happened, the second why.

Do these tools work with brokers in my country?

Everything that imports MT4/MT5 statements works with any broker that provides those terminals. Services with a direct connection to the account depend on the broker — that is checked before paying.

Is it worth publishing your account statistics?

Public statistics are disciplining, but they add a new emotion — trading for an audience. If you decide to publish, agree with yourself in advance that you will not change behaviour for the sake of a pretty curve.

Will a simulator replace a live account?

No. A simulator practises execution, not your relationship with money: on history there is neither a real loss nor real fear. That difference is examined on the page about moving from demo to live.

DiagramShare of trades by the rules over four months

Software for a forex trader

Software for a forex trader: six tools and what each one does

Four moments of intervention — four classes of tool

What software for a trader really changes

How to choose a tool for your task

What is not in this section and why

Where to start if you have no tools yet

The one metric a tool is judged by

Frequently asked questions

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