Four broker features that are not worth the hype

  • By Harrison Cole

  • September 26, 2018
  • 11:34 pm BST

Every broker offers a range of features they deem exclusive to attract potential clients. Many of these features are extremely useful and beneficial, but there are a few that aren’t all they’re made out to be. The additional features offered aren’t necessarily harmful, but many of them aren’t nearly as useful as suggested. The following four features offered by many Forex and CFD brokers should not be included as deciding factors when choosing your ideal online trade provider.

  1. AutoChartist 

AutoChartist is a highly popular function available from many brokers, and it does indeed work well. It is a program that tracks and indicates technical patterns on various charts that monitor market movement and price action. It is effective because it provides you with the necessary data to assist your trades. However, it does not help you as a trader to improve your knowledge and skills in technical analysis. In addition to this disadvantage, AutoChartist can also pick up patterns that are not as relevant or useful as they might seem. An example would be a pennant pattern on a five-minute chart, which is not a major pattern type you should focus on and might distract you from more noteworthy patterns.

  1. Broker forums 

Brokers offer forums for connecting with other traders and exchanging ideas, which can prove helpful when used correctly. The reality, however, is that these forums are seldom used for the right purpose and often turn into a place where traders will troll each other or insult one another. This is not only a waste of your time, but it will distract from your purpose of being with the broker. False advice can also float around in conversations and should not be trusted blindly. A forum should not be seen as a benefit offered by a broker and is usually best left untouched.

  1. Provided analysis

Nearly all brokers offer the service of professional analysis of charts and patterns. This analysis is conducted by hired professionals in the industry, who perform the analysis for you and provide the results. Traders can then use this information to plan their own strategies. This is not necessarily bad. In fact, it can be useful for those starting out in the trading industry. The danger comes when those looking to learn CFDs and Forex depend entirely on this provided analysis to plot their trades. Relying on this analysis not only delays your process of learning analysis skills and methods, but it can also lead you to trade more often instead of moderately and wisely.

  1. Dow Jones news feed

 The most popular trading platform used across the industry is the MetaTrader 4 platform. It is reliable and extremely effective, but not all of its features follow suit. MT4 has a function called the Dow Jones news feed, which provides news updates that are influential to the various markets. There is no doubt that this news is trustworthy and accurate. However, by the time the news is updated on the feed, it is likely to be outdated and no longer advantageous to your trades. A more advisable approach would be to conduct news analysis manually instead of waiting for the updates through this function.

These features are common and often seen as exclusive, but they are not the key factors to be considered when choosing a broker. It is important to note that they are beneficial but do not provide you with any special benefits. On the contrary, these features might delay your growth as a trader and should be used carefully in conjunction with your own strategies, research and techniques.