Along with the well-known MetaTrader 4, the US broker GAIN Capital Holdings, Inc. has developed its own forex platform called FOREXTrader PRO. The company offers its financial services under the name Forex.com. Platform is available as desktop and web-based versions.
Desktop version is available for Microsoft Windows users only and the company offers to Mac users to trade through FOREXTrader Pro.web.
Following the installation and logging into the platform, the default workspace is loaded. It looks relatively complicated and may not be suitable for beginners. The platform is organized in six main menu tabs on the top whose options are shown in the bar below them. Initially, there are five windows that can be resized, moved outside the workspace or placed at a different location.
Trading panel is below the main menu bar where the instruments are shown as cubes. Each cube shows the symbol name, amount, sell and buy prices, the spread and daily high and low values. Market orders can be placed directly by clicking on the buy or sell buttons. Open positions appear in the separate window with tabs Open positions, Active orders and Activity log. Take-profit and stop-loss of the open position can be set in the New Order window that appears afterwards. Right click on the open position calls My Position window, where it can be modified or closed. Double click on the open position shows its details window, where it can also be closed. Customers can choose between market or instant execution modes. This can be set from the execution mode menu in the menu bar.
One of main windows is dedicated to the charts that are organized as tabs for each instrument. There are 12 time-frames – from tick to 1 month. Tabs are intended for different instruments or for the same instruments with different time-frames. Thus, customers can monitor long-term and short-term trends at the same time. Charts can be displayed as candlesticks, bars or lines. There are options to save and loads chart templates, or to save a current chart picture. Colors and display options can be changed from the Preferences button. Graphical objects include trend lines, vertical and horizontal lines, Fibonacci retracements, text and stamps (arrows and lines) but their placement is not so intuitive and can be discouraging. There are nearly 60 indicators that is sorted by groups. Charts can be zoomed by clicking on magnifier buttons or by dragging price or time bars, while the mouse scroll wheel moves charts left or right. Orders can also be placed from the chart window by clicking on the sell or buy buttons.
The other windows are for news and economic calendar, for instruments list and custom watch list and for Autochartist. Autochartist recognizes market patterns and suggests the next price direction. It is well organized and can be a useful feature for fans of technical analysis. Orders can be placed directly from this window and by right click on the symbol from the instrument list window.
The other tabs from the main menu bar are Research and Ideas, Charting, Account, Customize and Help. Their options are structured by features. Account tab provides possibilities for reporting past trading activity, changing the password, depositing funds and changing the margin. Customize tab shows options for changing the layout and skin, setting inactivity time and disabling sounds.
