Top Forex Trading Simulators for Serious Traders
- Matt Crawford
- Sep 18, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 20, 2024
The benefit of a trading simulator cannot be under estimated as a new trader. When I started trading there was no such thing as simulating trading. You jumped in the ring and you traded. You learned about trading through doing. This is expensive and most people today just lose money and they call it tuition to the market. In my opinion trading simulators can save you thousands in needless losses.
As a professional trader and former broker I am going to narrow down the best Forex trading simulators based on my personal experience.
Any seasoned professional trader would need to put Bookmap on the list. Bookmap is trading and charting platform that focuses on orderbook visualization. If you are like me and can't trade without volume, then you have everything you need in Bookmap's trading simulator.
I am a huge Sierra Charts fan but I found it very complicated to build a heatmap into it. While it is possible to do this in Sierra, it's still quite complicated and with the 3 month learning curve I had, it just does not make sense for the average beginner trader.
Bookmap is simple and intuitive. The one click trading system in my opinion reminds me a little of Ninja Trader, you can just get the order on the chart. This was a difficulty I had with Sierra Charts. In replay mode you simply could not do things fast enough.
Anyway, there are a few things I don't like on the surface. It's not customizable as say Sierra Charts or Trading technologies but I guess it wasn't designed to be, so I am not going to be too hard on it. What really stands out is that it only covers Forex futures not spot FX but if you are a Crypto trader then you get the free Crypto data, so you can get away with trading on the free plan but the platform is targeting futures and Stocks that have real reportable volume and spot FX just simply does not have reportable volume. That said as a simulator you are still getting the same market information, in other words if you can trade futures FX you can trade spot.
All in all I would say Bookmap is great as a Forex trading simulator. It is intuitive, easy to use and the heatmap and one click trading system is where it really excels, so if your jam is order flow trading, market profile and market depth visualization then go with this option.
By the way, if you want 50% Off Bookmap for your first 3 months, then click the button below.
I am surprised ATAS is not getting more attention. I stumbled on this by pure accident when I was looking for options to my Sierra chart subscription. I was blown away. The level of customization in ATAS is phenomenal. You can setup clusters with a few simple clicks, it has Market Profile and market depth all built into the platform as part of its professional tool kit.
ATAS definitely has more features than Bookmap and you can trade Forex, you just need a feed in from your broker. ATAS does feel a lot like ToS (Think or Swim) in relation to look and smoothness but I still think the interface is not as pretty as say Ctrader that seems to just be a little well built but Ctrader is not a simulator I know. It would be just be nice if the GUI looked more finished.
All in all ATAS is a great trading simulator for Forex traders to cut their teeth on. It has all the tools you need as a professional trader, like market profile and much more. Its measly €69 price tag feels like a steal for what this platform offers. Click the button below to get a free demo.
Okay, so these are my top trading simulators for 2024. I am not going to overload you with other options because these are the most cost effective and they have the best tools if you are looking to start trading with a more professional edge. In today's market it does not make sense starting with a basic candlestick chart when everyone is analysing order flow or looking at large statistical data sets. AI is likely to change the game further.
My top pick will be ATAS due to the sheer scale of customization and the access to spot FX. However I love Bookmap's smooth visualizing interface, it was clearly built for the more demanding futures traders in mind so the differences are very minor. Anyway folks, that's all for now.