Whether you’re new to trading or have been in the industry for a couple of years, you likely prefer mobile devices or a PC. While both options don’t affect your success in the trading market, there’s a significant difference between trading on a mobile device and using a PC. Each option comes with various advantages and disadvantages, which explains why traders must carefully consider their needs when choosing between the two. Most forex trading platforms in Singapore have in-built mobile/desktop software or separate apps on Android and iOS.
In this article, we differentiate between trading on a computer versus a mobile phone and when you should use any of them.
Screen Limitations
The most obvious difference between a mobile phone and a PC is the screen size limitations. Even when using a tablet, a PC monitor/ screen will be the most convenient choice for a trader from a size standpoint.
The size of your screen could have several implications in analyzing the price action, which might affect your success. When using a mobile device, some subtle details might be hard to observe, but it’s better for investors who like to trade while on the go. However, the best trading app can solve the issue through interactive charting, which allows a user to zoom, scroll, resize and personalize items.
Reading the Price Action
Conducting your trades’ technical analysis using a PC platform allows you to see the market from various angles and spot resistance/support areas where you can place a potential trade. However, price action needs to remain constant.
Trading apps can help you with advanced charting, ensuring you always get updated charts. Unfortunately, no trader can manage to look at a desktop screen 24/7. That’s why mobile trading apps are important, as unexpected events can occur at any moment.
Executing Trades – The Faster Option
Trade execution has long been a priority for every brokerage company out there. Fortunately, the latest technological advancements have enabled individuals to place their trades at an extremely fast rate at the comfort of their homes. However, placing your trades using a desktop platform isn’t the same as using a mobile app, especially when you consider how long it will take for the order to be open.
When you’re using a desktop platform, trades can be placed within a few seconds. A mobile app, on the other hand, can be slightly slower, although most Android/iOS trading apps are well optimized today. The reduced speed of executing trades is because mobile trading apps must go through various pages and adjust trade parameters.
Focusing on Trades
Computers have lots of distractions that can hinder your main focus, which is trading. There are games, books, the internet and lots of other things. These distractions are increased further with mobile phones, as you might easily feel the need to check messages, phone calls, social media, and other things.
With desktop platforms, you can consciously select the applications you want to access and avoid distractions. However, the distractions in your mobile phones are inbound and can be hard to avoid at times. Even when you can disable some of these distractions, it will be hard to conduct your business and continue running your life without a hitch when trading.
At times, your mobile phone will give you the ability to move to a quiet place and explore the real world. That might sound great, but it might cut you off from what’s happening around you.
Errors Made When Trading
The problem with using mobile apps is that their keyboards will force you into another window away from the trade charts or reduce the content size on your current window. Both options aren’t great for traders and it’s even worse when you have hands that are larger than average.
Unlike mobile apps, desktop keyboards make it easier and faster to select stock, the order type, number of shares and even submitting the trade. That’s great as it’s likely you’ll be in a rush to execute a trade.
Features
Whenever traders say they need at least 5 indicators, it’s likely that such people aren’t making any serious cash. There are several basic features that will give you tremendous help when trading, but mobile trading applications lack enough space to pack everything. For everything you gain in mobility, you’ll need to sacrifice in capabilities.
Mobile applications allow you to trade from anywhere, but you’ll need to get accustomed to buying and selling stock in the style that meets the needs of the app. However, you get various features that might not be available with desktop platforms, including market research, price alerts, graphs, and historical data. These features can be highly beneficial to every investor.
A Complementary Approach
While there are several differences between mobile apps and desktop platforms, they both share a complementary relationship. Mobile applications are great for day trading while on the go, while desktop platforms are excellent for helping you focus and clearly view all the indicators while trading. That’s why it’s better to combine both mobile and desktop platforms for better management of your trading account instead of choosing one.
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