A CFD trading platform is software that your broker offers to trade contracts for difference (CFDs) on financial markets. When you open a CFD account with Questh X or with one of the many other brokers, a platform is usually provided for free alongside the accounts. Platforms provide you with real-time market data and enable you to place and manage your trades, often with access to leverage to place trades on margin using a smaller amount of capital. Most CFD trading accounts have platforms that are web-based, so you can access them from anywhere in the world while the best brokers also offer mobile apps, so you can trade on the go. A Questh X account offers a number of options for the platform, including the Questh app and Questh X Pro desktop application.

There are a lot of CFD brokers and platforms to choose from, so it takes some digging to choose the best broker. Firstly, you need to consider what your goals are as a trader. What are you looking to trade? What markets are you interested in? How much risk are you willing to accept? Most new traders are categorised as retail traders. Retail traders trade for themselves and need a retail broker. Once you know this, you can start to narrow down your options. Next, you need to look at the features and functionality of platforms. What tools and resources does it offer? Does it provide real-time market data? What amount of leverage is available? Is it user-friendly? It is possible to find out what other traders think of a broker and its platform tools through online trading forums. Finally, you need to consider financial costs. All online brokers charge a spread on every trade but some CFD accounts charge commission on trades, some stipulate minimum deposit requirements while others offer different margin requirements or may have monthly fees or annual fees for use of data or different platforms.

When you trade CFDs, you don’t actually own the underlying asset. Instead, you are entering into a financial contract with your broker to speculate on how high or low the price of the asset will go. If the price moves in your favour, you will make a profit. The risk is that it can also move against you so you will have a losing trade. Your broker will add to or subtract from your account balance, according to the result of the trade. CFDs are a leveraged product, so you only need to put down a small deposit of money (margin) into your trading account to open a position. Using margin gives you the potential to make a much larger profit (or loss) than if you were to trade the asset outright. The use of leverage means a higher risk of losing more than your initial deposit.