The increase in the speed of information transfer on the Internet led to the practice of storing and processing data in the clouds, and these operations use the servers and data centers of the manufacturer or service provider.
Producers of the software picked up the trend and adapted the trading terminals to work in Internet browsers, thus providing the user with the opportunity to work online without installing the program on a personal computer.
The road to the clouds
The switch of trading platforms to cloud technologies is predetermined and conditioned by the benefit of brokers who receive a commission from each opened trade operation and are interested in increasing the number of those trades.
A potential client of the broker works at the computer 90% of their working time, but does not install third-party software. Thanks to web versions, a trader can trade in the workplace from the browser window at lunch time or eve during work time, thereby increasing the number of trades and the flow of potential commission fees for the broker.
The role of mobile Internet in the development of cloud platforms
With the development of 3G and more advanced networks, the mobile Internet has provided an acceptable speed of exchange of quotes between the client platform and the broker's servers. Tablets and smartphones have provided full coverage of the audience of traders.
Developers of software for online trading have released programs that work on mobile versions of operating systems.
Manufacturers of trading terminals implemented software in the cloud on Android and IOS for speed and user convenience.
Drawbacks
Initially, when switching to cloud technologies, trading terminals and mobile versions worked without installing the program. However, by now developers are still unable to implement indicators in full, and many mobile versions on Android and iOS do not support expert advisors and automatic trading mode.
Often trading strategies based on the analysis of streaming quotes use complex trading advisors and additional software capable of performing nonlinear calculations, as well as neural networks.
Therefore, cloud terminals are now used by traders only to monitor the current situation, and recently the demand for their installation has declined significantly.
Comparative characteristics of stationary and cloud trading terminals
Forex traders often use the Metatrader 4 and 5.
Both versions of this program support web platforms, which, however, do not support expert advisors, and the standard indicator package is reduced to 30 types. Metatrader5 additionally supports DoM and netting of positions. The new feature that summarizes the buy and sell orders for one instrument instead of locking the multidirectional deals has caused inconvenience to many traders. There are settings to disable this feature.
NinjaTrader - such platforms are usually called advanced due to the variety of functions and indicators. The developers have provided free access to the light version; the platform with a full set of features is paid. There is no web version of the NinjaTrader platform.
ATAS trading platform is a direct competitor of NinjaTrader. The main attention in the terminal is given to the analysis of the flow volumes of transactions, their display on the chart and in the DoM chart:
The implementation of functions allowing to use short-term strategies in the cloud made the developer stop at the version that suggested installing the program without adaptation to a fixed or mobile type of platform.
CTrader is a trading platform presented by developers in the form of a web terminal and mobile application. It was implemented without losing the basic functions of the stationary version. In regards to interface and functionality, this platform is similar to Metatrader.
Mirror Trader is a platform with social trading feature, which allows you to copy signals of other traders. The new mobile version, which contains basic functions, was released in early summer of 2017 in Japan. The manufacturer made the web version of the terminal available for automatic and semi-automatic trading. The Mirror Trader platform is available in stationary and mobile versions on three operating systems - Android, IOS, and Windows Mobile.
ZuluTrade platform is quite similar, it allows you to copy transactions of leading traders in automatic and semi-automatic mode using a paid or free version.
The number of various platforms has increased dramatically in recent years, and brokers got a tendency to develop trading terminals of their own brand, including web versions and mobile applications.
Despite different names, these platforms have similar characteristics: a set of indicators, working timeframes, trade orders. Traders who use innovative strategies or their own robots, and scalpers that trade using the DoM chart or streaming volume orders will not be satisfied with cloud terminals.
A trader-investor who copies deals, holds long-term positions or transfers funds to trust management, does not need to always be on the market, monitor indicators in the charts or use automated trading systems. Thanks to the availability of mobile applications and web versions of terminals, such an investor learns about the current state of affairs on their trading account by simply opening the platform on a smartphone, tablet or on any stationary computer.
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