The 8 Best Trading Platforms

You've made the decision to give trading a try — now it's time to choose a platform that aligns with your investment style. But with so many options out there, where do you start? Which trading platforms are available in the UK, and which ones are considered the best? What features should you be looking out for? In this article, we'll answer all of those questions and help you navigate your options with confidence.

What are the best trading platforms in the UK?

This all depends on your investment style. The same platform is not recommended if you are a novice, or if you trade forex or futures.

Therefore, we are going to look at each of these trading platforms more individually.

Below is a list of the best trading platforms of 2025, so you can easily compare them and decide what trading platform to use:

eToro

eToro is a widely recognised social trading platform that allows users to trade a variety of financial assets, including stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, commodities, and forex. eToro focuses heavily on social trading and investment copy features, enabling users to replicate the trades of experienced investors.

eToro was founded in 2007 and has since grown to over 20 million users worldwide. It is especially popular for beginner traders, as it offers an intuitive interface and a social community aspect, where traders can interact and share insights.

eToro’s strengths lie in its user-friendly interface and social trading capabilities. The platform allows you to follow and copy the trades of other successful traders, making it easier for novices to enter the world of trading. It offers commission-free stock trading, which makes it appealing to retail investors. However, some assets, such as CFDs and cryptocurrencies, may involve higher spreads and fees.

eToro

• Equities, ETFs, crypto both real and derivatives
• Social trading e copy trading
• User-friendly platform and demo account

Visita

61% of investor accounts lose money by trading CFDs with this provider.

Some of its features include:

• CopyTrading: Copy the trades of successful investors automatically.
• Social feed: Engage with other traders, see market trends, and share strategies.
• Demo account: Practice trading with virtual money.
• Zero commission on stock trading.
• Mobile and web platform: Trade from anywhere with its fully accessible apps.
• Wide range of assets: Access stocks, forex, cryptocurrencies, and commodities.

Platform Features

eToro is widely considered the best copytrading platform and stands out in social trading, allowing:

• CopyTrader: Automatically copy the trades of other users in real-time.
• eToro Community: Access a vibrant trading community for insights, ideas, and discussions.
• Risk Management Tools: Set stop-loss and take-profit levels to manage risk on trades.
• Mobile App: Trade on the go with a robust mobile app for Android and iOS.

eToro has introduced features like CopyPortfolios, which are pre-built portfolios based on certain themes or asset classes (like tech stocks or cryptocurrencies). These portfolios allow investors to diversify without having to pick individual assets.

For more advanced traders, eToro provides access to CFDs (Contract for Differences), allowing for leveraged trading. For more information, read our eToro review.

Trading 212

Trading 212 is a well-established trading platform that offers commission-free trading for stocks, ETFs, forex, and CFDs. Founded in 2004, Trading 212 is particularly known for its easy-to-use mobile app and strong customer service. Also, it's one of the most searched brokers and compared with many others like Trading 212 vs Freetrade.

Like eToro, it’s designed to be accessible to beginner traders but also includes advanced features for experienced traders. Trading 212 provides access to a wide range of assets, including fractional shares, which is appealing to traders who want to invest in high-value stocks with smaller amounts of capital.

While Trading 212 doesn’t have the social trading features that eToro offers, it stands out due to its commission-free model, making it especially attractive for those who are interested in cost-effective trading. It also offers an easy-to-navigate mobile app and web platform. Traders can enjoy features such as advanced charting, risk management tools, and access to real-time data.

Some of its features include:

• Commission-free trading: No commission fees on stocks, ETFs, and CFDs.
• Fractional shares: Invest in expensive stocks with small amounts of capital.
• Advanced charting tools: Tools for technical analysis and real-time data.
• Mobile app and web platform: Fully functional platforms for trading anytime, anywhere.
• Real-time data: Get accurate, up-to-date market data.

Platform Features

Trading 212 stands out with its user-friendly platform and zero-commission trading model, making it accessible for both beginners and experienced traders. Key features include:

• Fractional Shares: Invest in high-value stocks with small amounts of capital by purchasing fractional shares.
• Zero-Commission Trading: Trade stocks and ETFs without paying commission fees, making it more cost-effective for regular investors.
• CFD Trading: Access leveraged trading with CFDs on a variety of assets like forex, commodities, and indices.
• Demo Account: Practice and test strategies risk-free with a demo account before investing real money.
• Mobile App: Enjoy a seamless trading experience on the go with Trading 212’s mobile app for both Android and iOS.

For more advanced traders, Trading 212 offers CFDs, enabling leveraged positions across multiple asset classes. The platform also provides essential risk management features like stop-loss orders, ensuring you can control risk while trading.

For more information, see our Trading 212 review.

ProRealTime

ProRealTime is one of the platforms that offer the most security. They have more than 1,000,000 clients worldwide for whom they provide access to more than 17,000 markets. Without a doubt, it is one of the most complete platforms with a new simplified interface with which you can develop your knowledge on what technical analysis is and trading for free, without the need to be registered.

Thanks to its new ProRealTime Web Platform feature, you will have the opportunity to observe price charts of more than 500,000 assets (indices, stocks, commodities, cryptocurrencies, currencies...) in real-time (with just a 15-minute delay), at no cost and without the obligation to sign up, leave your email, or have to endure annoying ads every 10 minutes, thus facilitating your trading analysis in less than 5 minutes.

Here are its main features:

• Financial instruments: Indices, stocks, commodities, forex...
• Analysis tools: +100
• Price: 0 euros (no registration required)
• Real-time: Yes (15-minute delay)
• Account types: ProRealTime web (it's free), ProRealTime complete and mobile.

Of course, if over time you find yourself happy using the platform, you might consider upgrading to the full ProRealTime account, which offers a broader range of features, such as its powerful screener.

The new platform is perfect for intraday trading, as it features more than 100 indicators like the RSI or the moving average and more than 30 real-time drawing tools.

Additionally, it allows you to trade directly from the chart, enhancing usability and analysis. The platform is fully customisable and also offers several advanced tools:

• ProRealTrend: This tool can automatically draw trend lines on multiple time units.
• ProScreener: This tool scans the market and automatically finds instruments with the user's customised trading criteria.
• ProBuilder: This tool enables the user to create their own indicators.
• ProBacktest and ProOrder: These two tools allow the user to create their own strategies, with or without programming, test them with historical data, optimise them, and execute them automatically.

Opening the ProRealTime web platform is tremendously simple. And it only requires two clicks, without even needing to register, as already mentioned.

Interactive Brokers

Next, we move on to analyse Interactive Brokers’ platform for forex and multi-asset trading.

Firstly, the most notable aspect is that Interactive Brokers offers direct market access with institutional-grade execution, making it highly suitable for professional and advanced traders. That said, it should be noted that IBKR has developed a powerful yet complex platform environment.

For example, traders who want to engage in multi-asset trading have access to a vast selection of instruments including forex, stocks, options, futures, and more — all from a single account.

Additionally, the platform supports a wide range of advanced order types, algorithmic trading, and customisable tools to suit sophisticated trading strategies.

Lets briefly have a look at the main features:

• Financial instruments: Over 100 currency pairs, plus stocks, options, futures, bonds, and ETFs
• Analysis tools: Extensive, including advanced charting, technical indicators, and algorithmic trading capabilities
• Price: Low commissions and spreads (commission-based pricing; no hidden markups)
• Real-time: Yes, with direct market data and real-time execution
• Account types: Individual, joint, corporate, and professional accounts (with variable minimum deposit depending on account type)

For more information, read our Interactive Brokers review.

MetaTrader

The trading platform of MetaTrader is one of the most used and well-known trading platforms globally. Many online brokers use its platform to offer it to their users when trading and thus attract more clientele.

MetaTrader is one of the best trading platforms because it offers a wide range of customisable charts, indicators (more than 90 built-in), and automatic trading systems. This platform is better known as Meta Trader 4 and now with its update Meta Trader 5 or MT5

It offers complete information about the following markets:

• Forex
• Futures
• And various types of derivatives.

It also allows executing different types of orders through technical analysis. And as is often the case in many trading platforms, it offers the possibility to create a free trial account temporarily.

The platform can be downloaded for free from the web, and to operate directly from it, you will have to do so through Brokers that have their license, such as ActivTrades or Admiral Markets which have advanced options to use this trading platform from their broker.

Cluster Delta

Let´s take a brief pause from the more classic trading platforms (PRT, metatrader, etc.) to talk about Cluster Delta: the professional trading platform adapted to Order Flow operations.

In this way, the platform will show you how they cross, and how the candles look inside, or in other words, the pure skeleton of the price structure, how many bullish and bearish orders are in each price tick.

Without a doubt, this is a guarantee with lower risk when operating, however, it includes more than 30 indicators, all of a professional nature: the market profile, footprint, cumulative delta...

Furthermore, if you are looking to perform more classic operations, Cluster Delta allows you to integrate indicators that you have customised from platforms like Metatrader 4 and 5, cTrader, and Ninjatrader.

Here are its main features:

• Financial instruments: stocks, futures, forex, indices, and cryptocurrencies
• Analysis tools: +30
• Price:
  • Monthly: USD 7.5
  • Quarterly: USD 25
  • Annual: USD 64
• Real-time: Yes
• Account types: standard.

TradingView

TradingView is a platform designed for everyone to consult charts and has more than 30 million users worldwide. It has created a community in the form of a social network where users can comment and track assets. It also offers a lot of information on training, live trading, and analysis.

It has advanced features depending on the type of analysis and the level of experience, and the quality of its charts is very high.

In Tradingview you can consult all kinds of information regarding:

• Stocks
• Indices
• ETFs
• Forex
• Cryptos
• Bonds
• Funds
• Economic ratios (inflation, unemployment...)

NinjaTrader

NinjaTrader is a trading platform widely used generally for trading currencies or forex. Unlike ProRealTime, Ninja Traders focuses on execution rather than analysis. The platform has over 15 years of experience and more than 60,000 users.

However, NinjaTrader is one of the leading and benchmark platforms and, therefore, one of the most demanded by users. It offers a free platform for practice that will give you access to real-time Forex and futures data, as well as stocks and currencies.

As its offer in the futures market is a benchmark, it has very low operating costs and commissions here, as well as more than 100 indicators and a large amount of historical data. Some of its features includes:

• Selection of data providers including Kinetick
• Variety of third-party add-ons
• Free apps and tools developed by users
• Free product training webinars
• Educational videos and help guide
• Advanced charts
• Trade simulator
• Strategy backtesting
• Real-time scanner
• Market replayFree end-of-day data for stocks, futures, and Forex. 

Bottom Line

So, what trading platform should you use in the UK?

Ultimately, the best platform for you will depend on your individual trading style, experience level, and the features you prioritise most—whether that's low fees, advanced charting tools, or a user-friendly interface. Each platform caters to different types of traders, from beginners seeking simplicity to experienced traders requiring robust features.

By understanding these nuances, you can choose the best online trading platform in the UK that most aligns with your needs and start trading with confidence.

FAQs

What is a trading platform?

A trading platform is a software solution designed to facilitate the trading of currencies, stocks, commodities, and other financial products. This platform provides a means for investors to conduct transactions in a financial market, perform technical analysis, obtain information, buy and sell stocks, and monitor their investment portfolios with chartist drawings and indicators.

The trading platform connects to a series of liquidity providers to offer investors a wide range of financial instrument prices. These prices are updated in real-time, allowing investors to react immediately to price changes. The platform provides tools to help investors analyse markets and make informed trading decisions.

For these reasons, apart from considering regulation, Market and Product Offerings, Taxation, Commissions, and Customer Service, we should also review the investment platform and which of them are integrated into the best brokers for trading.

What tax will I pay on buying and selling shares?

Stamp Duty: 0.5% on most UK share purchases (not charged on AIM or international stocks).

Capital Gains Tax: Payable on profits above £3,000/year. Rates: 10% (basic-rate), 20% (higher-rate).

Dividend Tax: First £500 tax-free, then 8.75%–39.35% depending on your income.

What Should a Good Trading Platform Have?

Security: Strong protection for your funds and personal data is essential for safe trading.

Ease of Use: An intuitive interface reduces errors, builds user confidence, and attracts beginners.

Trading Tools: A wide range of analysis tools helps identify opportunities and customize strategies.

Automated Trading: Lets you set up and run trades automatically — saving time and improving efficiency.

Asset Variety: Access to a broad range of markets supports diversification.