Professional trading platform in Nigeria

What is a professional trading platform?

Trading software has many names: trading client, platform, terminal. But the essence is the same: to allow opening and closing trades through a broker. It is hard to imagine modern internet trading without using an electronic trading platform. 

The terminal allows the trader to analyse, open deals and makes working out the trading system much easier. That's why choosing a platform is an important stage in every trader's or investor's career.

If you're in Nigeria and you want to start investing, you need to compare several online brokers in the market to find the right one for you. And to make it easier for you to decide, we can help you sort out the questions: What is a professional trading platform in Nigeria? And what criteria should you consider when choosing?

As stated earlier, an electronic trading platform is software that connects a client to a broker. Traders are connected to the broker's servers through interactive terminals through which they can see current prices and open or close positions. 

It should be noted that some platforms work via a web browser and do not require installation on a computer. But most trading platforms must be installed on the device (PC) from which you will be trading.

One of the most important factors to assess before joining a new brokerage platform is the type of instruments you can trade. For example, stocks, options, currencies, commodities, exchange-traded funds, cryptocurrencies, etc. 

Every trader prefers to work with a broker that offers the best conditions. For example, low initial capital or demo account requirements, a wide range of additional services and resources, such as online trading signals, news reviews, analytics or a personal assistant. Quality platforms have technical analysis tools with built-in indicators, and their main advantage is that you do not have to analyse the market personally. 

On a really good electronic trading platform any trader can connect their account to a monitoring service and get detailed statistics on it. 

In just a few steps trader gets completely automatic tool for statistical analysis: drawdowns, profitability, maximal loss-making and profitable trades, etc. All these data will help you to adjust your actions and tactics. It is worth noting that in today's reality trading terminals have become extremely convenient - they can be installed not only on computers, but also on smartphones and tablets. 

Trading from a mobile device is especially useful for traders who use exchange trading as an additional source of income and do it separately from their main job. Also, if you like to travel, a mobile app will be handy because your phone is always with you. Ideally, the app's settings and controls should be as simple and straightforward and, most importantly, the basic order types should be supported.

The best online trading platform is the one which is the safest and most reliable. The terminal is where the trades are made. The safety of a trader's capital depends on how well it is protected from hacking and data interception.

Also, the platform should work stably and without slowdowns. If the terminal is slow, the quotes are not displayed immediately, but with a delay. This is not good for trading. You simply will not have time to open trades at the prices that suit you. Always pay attention to the interface of the software. It should be intuitive, and it is even better if you can change it to suit your needs. For example, place certain elements where it is convenient, hide unnecessary elements, change the colour scheme, font size and signal settings.

From all of this we conclude that the main things to look for when choosing a professional trading platform in Nigeria are: reliability, security, functionality and a clear interface. 

Note that interactive platforms can be universal, i.e. designed for any kind of trading. Some platforms, on the other hand, only allow you to trade in a certain market. Let's take a brief look at them.

Platform for online stock trading

Stocks are the most classic and therefore the most popular type of investment. This market will require constant monitoring and sufficient knowledge from the investor. You can invest in stocks both long term and short term.

In the first case, investors see equities as a way to accumulate funds and receive dividends in the course of several years. The risk of investing is much less: as a rule, the long-term trend of shares is always directed upwards, so an investor with patients may not be afraid of losing money.

If we consider the second case, on the contrary, traders wish to earn on stocks quickly, as they say "here and now".

When a trader chooses a stock to speculate on the stock exchange, he or she pays attention to two main criteria - liquidity and volatility.

The profits of a stock speculator can be higher than those of an investor - at least with the right experience. But the main idea behind short-term trading is not so much high interest, but rather regular income. 

The speculator does not care which way the price goes. The main thing is that there is an active and predictable movement in the market.

CFD contracts are a very convenient instrument for a trader.

They allow traders to profit from price changes in shares of large companies. An important feature and advantage of such contracts is that a trader does not receive shares as a property, hence, he does not have to meet the requirements of a qualified investor and have a large deposit.

Speculating on the stock exchange, traders often use margin trading, i.e. borrowed funds from the broker. It creates a leverage effect: the speculator can spend more money than he has in his account.

A platform for online forex trading

This platform is used to trade currency pairs. In total, more than 20 currencies are traded on the currency market, which amounts to more than 70 currency pairs.

The essence of currency trading is to buy/sell currencies at a lower price and then sell them at a higher price, in other words, currency trading is speculative trading, which generates profits for the trader.

Two different currencies (currency pairs) are chosen before a trade is made. One is the base currency and the other is the quoted currency. Most commonly, the Dollar is chosen as the base currency, while the quoted currency can be any other currency. The idea is to correctly predict how the rate of the quoted currency will change in relation to the base currency. 

It is important to be aware that currency rates can change almost every second. This occurs, for example, due to the change in supply or demand for one of them by banks, specific governments, ordinary people, etc. It is very important to keep track of world news and price charts for the target trading instruments, this allows the trader to make relevant forecasts and buy or sell one or another currency. A correct forecast is the basis of stable income on Forex. 

By diversifying risks, not betting too much and using moderate leverage, a trader can avoid serious losses and errors.

You should know that Forex trading is available 24 hours a day, five days a week. This means that you can make profit from this market whenever you want.

Platform for online options trading

An option (contract) is a derivative instrument that allows you to effectively reduce the risk of existing positions in both the futures and stock markets. An option is always based on an underlying asset. You have to realize that there cannot just be an option, but there can be an option on a particular stock, on an index, on commodities, on currencies, etc. An option has a predetermined price and a deadline after which the contract will take effect. 

This contract can be either a buy contract, which means that the buyer has the right to buy the underlying asset, or a sell contract, which means that the buyer has the right to sell the underlying asset. 

Positive aspects of options:

• The Put and Call option is an extremely simple tool. You just have to understand the nature of it and in a couple of weeks you can master all the subtleties.
• Low starting deposit requirements.
• The possibility of flexible management of risks, profits and losses. It is the most flexible financial instrument.
• Wide range of assets.

In binary options trading, in spite of similarity with regular options, a more convenient mechanism, especially for traders, is applied. Profit and loss level of the deal is known in advance. Besides, the profit in them which amounts to 70-80% and more of the contract value does not depend at all on how many points the price of the asset went up (or down) - here the trader has to predict the direction of the price movement.

A platform for online commodity trading

The commodities market is an important sector on which not only producers, buyers and traders, but also entire countries with their own economies, are heavily dependent.

Commodities are regarded as a variety of raw materials, minerals and foodstuffs. The most liquid assets are oil, precious metals, cereals, sugar, corn and coffee.

Commodities can help diversify your long-term investment portfolio and can increase your return on speculation.

You can choose to trade commodities in a variety of ways:

• Buying shares in companies associated with a particular commodity.
• Using exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
• CFDs (or Contracts for Difference)-allowing the trader to speculate on the ups and downs of the market without having to own the product.
• Options are another type of derivative, allowing the trader to trade the changing value of a product without having to buy it directly. Options also benefit from leverage.

Platform for online ETF trading

ETF funds are the simplest method of portfolio investment.  

There are many ETFs that issue stocks that replicate a specific index or sector. For example, an ETF with ticker symbol SPY copies the entire S&P 500 index and has good stability. You don't have to buy each of the securities individually and think about what proportion to include them in your portfolio. 

There are also ETFs that copy the oil industry, transportation sector etc. These stocks are a miniature copy of the "whole market". 

ETFs can be traded in different ways. They can be traded speculatively, intraday, they can be held as long-term investment positions, or they can be used for hedging purposes. It all depends on your trading strategy. 

The composition of the fund's portfolio is available to the holders of securities at any time and changes in the price of a purchased asset is immediately visible as they occur in online mode along with the price of the entire portfolio of the fund. 

Because investment funds invest in many securities at once, this reduces the overall level of risk for the investor.

A platform for online cryptocurrency trading

The digital currency has recently established itself as a practical and promising asset.

Unlike classic speculative trading, crypto trading does not require a large deposit or leverage.  The high volatility of cryptocurrencies reduces the minimum entry threshold and makes this type of earning accessible to a wide range of investors.

The most popular currency pairs are BTC/USD and ETH/USD. This is not surprising, as Bitcoin and Etherium are the largest cryptocurrencies in terms of capitalization.

And there are more than 1,000 cryptocurrencies in total. Many of them look promising but are cheap. If you anticipate which cryptocurrency will skyrocket in value and buy in time, the earnings will be decent. 

On a professional trading platform, you can trade cryptocurrencies using CFDs, or you can buy digital currency in its original form and keep it in your cryptocurrency wallet until the price rises, and you want to sell it. You can predict changes in the price of digital coins through technical or fundamental analysis, or you can use analytical data compiled by topical resources. 

Don't get hung up on any one digital currency, no matter how dynamic it is. Don't forget: diversification not only reduces risk, but can also increase investment returns.

Before you start trading digital currencies, find out how cryptocurrencies work, how their value is secured and why they are volatile. Keep an eye on the market and constantly expand your knowledge base.

Platform for online index trading

An index is a specific basket of assets that best reflects the performance of a particular sector or asset market.  The main idea behind index investing is to make the process of investing in securities as simple as possible for the investor. The strategy of index investing implies that an investor in his portfolio will fully replicate the structure of a particular index by investing in the assets of which it is composed. Accordingly, there is automatically no need to select and select shares and allocate them to shares.

Figuratively speaking, a stock index is a ready-made basket of stocks. And if you would like to earn additional income due to growth in e.g. the US economy, all you need to do is buy a derivative, whose underlying asset is the US stock index. Moreover, you can also make money on the downside if the stock index declines by opening a trade to sell the financial instrument and then buying it back at a lower price.

Through the platform, traders with a small initial amount of money are given the opportunity to trade instruments such as CFDs on indices. 

This means that when you trade CFDs on indices, you are looking to profit from the movement of the index, not to invest in the index itself.

How to start using a professional trading platform in Nigeria?

Once you are familiar with the trading platforms and which market you are more interested in, you can get started and make your first trades. 

But first you, as a new user, will need to get registered. Most trading platforms in Nigeria now require clients to be verified by providing personal details and documents. From this, traders get higher deposit/withdrawal limits and the ability to trade with leverage.

Terminal registration

On your registration page, you will need to enter the details requested by the system. Simply follow the instructions. Enter a valid e-mail address, create a password (of course nobody needs to know it but you), then confirm that you agree to the terms and conditions of the online platform. 

After completing and submitting the form you will receive an email to activate your account. 

If you have not traded before and do not know if trading is for you, a demo account is the best way to find out.

Demo Account

The best brokers almost always provide their clients with a free demo account.

A demo account is an exact replica of a real, standard account where you trade with virtual money. You will have access to all the basic tools, functions, analysis tools, etc.

Demo accounts are often chosen by beginner traders as a means to learn and gain experience, while experienced traders may consider trying out new strategies or testing specific solutions in a real market environment. 

After all, even the most well- thought-out and theoretically successful trading idea needs to be tested. Only then you will be sure of its effectiveness.  Don't pass up the chance to practice with a demo account.  Learn to trade on it, following your strategy, and achieve consistent profits (albeit virtual ones).

If something goes wrong, go back to the previous step: fill the gaps in your knowledge, improve your trading system. Keep doing it until you are consistently getting positive results in a few weeks or months. Only after that, open a brokerage account.

Real trading account

In order to fund your real account and start trading for real, you must make a deposit equal to the amount requested by the terminal. Of course, you can make a larger deposit if you like, but it is better to take your time and start gradually.

Clicking on the "Deposit" option will take you to the payment page, where you will deposit your account using the payment systems specified on the platform. Using the same payment systems, you can easily withdraw your funds. Remember to ask about fees and charges before you fund your account. Now that you have money in your brokerage account, you can place trade orders.

To conclude our review, which we hope you enjoyed, it is worth reminding you that when choosing a professional trading platform in Nigeria it is a good idea to learn the theory and opinions of experienced people before you start to avoid mistakes and safeguard your investment. 

You need to take trading very seriously, learn a lot and constantly improve. The best online platforms always provide customers with free tutorials and materials, as well as 24/7 technical support.

If you use a poor-quality platform, you will not get results. Consequently, if a broker offers a quality product, it means the company is trustworthy and willing to spend its own money for the convenience of its clients. And that already speaks in its favour.