One of the best-known companies that offers trading platforms is Forex. Forex offers four different trading platforms. Basically, your computer capabilities will determine which platform is right for you. The four platforms are FOREXTrader, Java, HTML, and Mobile. By going to the Forex website, you can try out the four different platforms and see an item-by-item comparison of the four options.

Once you determine which platform is right for you might find a free trial for that platform. Free-trials allow you to try the trading platform free for 30 days. This trial will download onto your computer the same was as the purchased account. You will probably find out that you need several different platforms for different occasions. If you travel a lot and have to be away from your home computer, you will need to invest in platforms that have remote access. Companies such as Forex will allow you to have several platforms for the same account.

Other companies such as Master Trader let you purchase different trading platforms for different volumes of trade. You pay more per month if you want to do more trading. For example, you can purchase a plan for 0-20 trades per month or a plan for more than 50 trades per month. The plan for the 50+ trades per month will cost about double the plan for 0-20 trades per month.

E*Trade might be the most popular trading platform and the easiest to use. To use E*Trade you can choose to pay a flat fee based on the number of trades per quarter or you can pay per option contract. You can sign up for this service right from the us.etrade.com website by just clicking on the getting started button and filling in the online form. Once you are registered, you will not only be able to buy and sell stock shares on the internet. You will also be eligible to attend web-trading seminars for no charge. This might be the easiest trading platform for new investors.

If you are freelancing your way into the trading business, you owe it to yourself to become as educated as possible about the market and financial theory in general. It might seem like easy money. Especially if you have good luck right off the bat. However, the stock market is something that people study intensively. You cannot rely on "good luck" for too long. Eventually your luck will run out and good solid decisions will be needed.

If you are using trading platforms to buy and sell your stock, make sure that you know what to do if your server goes down. Often the people most interested in trading platforms are the ones doing minute-by-minute business. If you cannot connect to the network at the time that you need to sell you might be in big trouble. Do not count on always being able to access the internet. Have phone numbers and fax numbers available that you can use for trading if the internet is unavailable.