what is a trading platform 
a trading platform is a software system that is used to trade securities it allows investors to open close and manage market positions online through a financial intermediary such as an online broker trading platforms are frequently offered by brokers for free or at a discount in exchange for maintaining a funded account and or making a specified number of trades per month the best trading platforms offer a mix of robust features and low fees understanding trading platformsa trading platform is a software system offered to investors and traders by financial institutions such as brokerages and banks they essentially enable investors and traders to place trades and monitor their accounts platforms allow investors to open a variety of brokerage or trading accounts including margin accounts cash accounts retirement accounts and self directed accounts through these accounts traders can make buy and sell orders for stocks bonds exchange traded funds etfs and mutual funds among others trading platforms often include other features that help investors make important investment decisions these features can include real time quotes and interactive charts along with a range of charting tools streaming news feeds and premium research platforms also may be tailored to specific markets such as stocks currencies options or futures markets types of trading platformsthere are two types of trading platforms commercial and proprietary platforms the market for online trading platforms was estimated to be worth 10 03 billion in 2024 this figure is expected to grow to over 14 20 billion by 2031 1