‘Education makes for better traders’
• New traders are increasingly being supported through online resources
Share trading is a skill that gets refined over time. It is for this reason that online trading provider IG places significant emphasis on education.
Shaun Murison, a senior market analyst at IG, explains that the ultimate purpose of the education offered by IG is to make better traders.
The firm offers its clients educational resources which are tailored to their particular trading skill levels, from beginners to expert day traders. These resources include written guides and online videos, regular webinars and seminars, as well as courses in DailyFX’s free online forex university. The IG Academy app is available on both Android and iPhone.
Says Murison: “As traders improve, the kind of education they need changes from theoretical to experiential. That means traders understand the theory of the markets as well as the platforms and products they trade.”
The world of online trading has seen a sharp increase in market interest from the rise in social communities on platforms such as Reddit, Twitter and even Facebook. This has broadcast market volatility around “meme” stocks and cryptocurrencies and brought a new range of retail DIY investors to the world of online trading.
However, new traders need to initially curb their enthusiasm as they educate themselves on how the mechanics of online trading and markets work, according to Murison.
“Fortunately, information and sophisticated trading tools have now been democratised to the public and have helped to fasttrack the learning curve. New traders now have access to resources online previously only afforded to professionals and financial institutions.”
He adds that the journey of a new trader is increasingly being supported through online resources provided by the broker or provider.
“Support is being provided on the ‘how to’ and ‘what to’ do in online trading. New entrants to the markets can even run practice accounts as they learn the ropes.
“These ‘demo’ trading environments allow for the analysis and execution of trades in a live setting, with the safety of ‘monopoly’ money. Once a person has progressed to a level of understanding and ability in the practice environment they can then migrate to the real environment where new lessons will be learnt such as the emotion of real profits or losses being realised.”
Ultimately, he explains, a successful trader can combine all of this theoretical and practical knowledge with a deep understanding of their own trading behaviour and data to make good choices. Profit is then a by-product of good training combined with disciplined trading practice.
The majority of IG’s client base are active traders drawn to the global concern’s continuous opportunity in more than 17,000 global markets.
The company offers a number of platforms to suit the needs and preferences of individual traders as well as mobile apps for clients to monitor their positions and trade on the move. Its executions are fast and reliable and occur at the most appropriate venue or venues, ensuring access to the most liquidity and the best price.
IG prides itself on its ability to provide up-to-date news, data and analysis from a global team of more than 30 analysts. Its DailyFX service is a leading portal for forex trading, charts, indicators and analysis.
The firm enables and supports clients in a variety of ways, says Murison. “In addition to IG Academy and the educational resources the company provides, we also provide daily and weekly reports, videos, webinars and podcasts — the latter from both in-house and third-party brokers and analysts — to help paint market narratives and guide traders through their market journey.”
It also offers sophisticated yet easy-to-use technology for desktop and mobile devices, providing traders with the necessary tools to analyse markets, manage risk and evaluate and learn from their trading successes and failures.
Murison explains that traders can manage their positions in the market through automated orders to enter and exit (buy and sell), alerts and push notifications while trade analytics tools allow traders to review their trading history looking at key metrics of their own performance including return rates, win rates and profit/loss ratios.
“Traders are also provided with live news services streamed to the online trading platform which, when combined with research and access to fundamental, macroeconomic and technical chart data, help to democratise the online trading world bringing tools and information to retail traders information previously only afforded to professionals,” he says.
“Combined, these offerings are aimed at promoting better trading behaviours and, in turn, success.”
THESE ‘DEMO’ TRADING ENVIRONMENTS ALLOW FOR THE ANALYSIS AND EXECUTION OF TRADES IN A LIVE SETTING