Best trading platforms, 9 rankings by criterion

• For futures14 platforms
• Included at no extra cost by a prop firm11 platforms
• For algos and EAs11 platforms
• Order flow and footprint10 platforms
• Mac-compatible8 platforms
• In the browser, no install8 platforms
• For forex7 platforms
• Cheapest6 platforms
• For copy trading3 platforms

A criterion becomes a ranking on two conditions: it must be readable from a typed column of the database, and therefore checkable against the vendor page the value came from, and it must gather at least three qualifying platforms. A feature absent from the vendor's documentation is not counted as present. And a technical capability never implies permission: that a platform can automate a strategy says nothing about what the prop firm allows, and the two are checked separately.

For futures

Futures on the CME, Eurex and ICE are the market of almost every tracked prop firm. A platform must give access to them, which requires an exchange data feed and a connection to a clearing broker. Platforms whose vendor states that market are listed, ordered on the number of tracked firms that offer them.

Included at no extra cost by a prop firm

A platform included in a prop firm's offer costs the trader nothing extra: the challenge is paid for, the licence comes with it (D-034). It is the cheapest route to a professional platform, and the ranking orders platforms on the number of tracked firms that include them at no extra cost. A firm that documents compatibility without saying who pays does not count towards that number.

For algos and EAs

A platform is listed here when its vendor exposes an API or a scripting language, which allows a strategy to be automated rather than clicked. As with copy trading, technical capability does not imply permission: several firms forbid automated systems on the evaluation, and each firm's record says so. Ordered on the number of tracked firms that offer them.

Order flow and footprint

Order flow covers the tools that show the book and the trades rather than price alone: footprint, volume profile, DOM, heatmap. They only make sense on centralised markets, where volume is real and published, so essentially on futures. The ranking counts how many of those four tools each platform offers, and lists only those with at least one.

Mac-compatible

Some platforms in this industry run on Windows only, which forces Mac users onto a virtual machine or a remote server, with the latency that adds. Only platforms whose vendor publishes a native macOS build are listed. The ranking orders them on the number of tracked firms that offer them, otherwise an excellent but unobtainable platform would come first.

In the browser, no install

A browser platform needs no install, is identical from one machine to the next and runs on any operating system. In exchange it depends on the connection and generally offers less execution precision than an installed client. Platforms whose vendor publishes a web build are listed, ordered on the number of tracked firms that offer them.

For forex

Forex and CFDs trade over the counter, with no centralised volume: order flow tools lose their meaning there, and the platforms that dominate that market are not the ones that dominate futures. Platforms whose vendor states that market are listed, ordered on the number of tracked firms that offer them.

Cheapest

The ranking compares the lowest monthly price published by the vendor, entry tier included, and places platforms on a free model at zero. A platform whose price is not published is absent rather than listed with a guessed figure. Read it alongside the ranking of platforms included in an offer: the cheapest to buy is not always the cheapest for the trader.

For copy trading

Copy trading mirrors orders from one account onto one or more others. It is what makes running several evaluation accounts in parallel possible, a common practice that not every firm allows: the platform's feature says nothing about the firm's rule, and the two must be checked separately. Platforms that have it are listed, ordered on the number of tracked firms that offer them.