Trading on Your Phone: What Beginners Need to Prepare, in 5 Steps

Many people now check charts and place trades on their phone during the commute or a lunch break. It is convenient, but the small screen, distractions and patchy connections make mistakes easier if you are not prepared. Here are 5 steps beginners can follow before they start.

1. Choose a platform with clear regulatory information and secure your account

Orders are placed in your broker's or trading platform's app. When choosing one, check at least three things:

• Regulation: which financial regulator supervises the company, and whether you can find it on the regulator's website
• Contract specifications: lot size for each product, typical spreads, and how overnight swap is charged
• Deposits and withdrawals: fees and how long transfers take

Once the account is open, set up security first:

• Turn on two-factor authentication and use a screen lock on your phone
• Avoid logging in to trading accounts on public Wi-Fi
• Never share your login with anyone, including self-styled "mentors" or "support staff" offering to trade for you. For how to spot suspicious signal groups, see how to spot fake free gold signals

2. Practise on a demo account first

Most platforms offer a demo account that trades live prices with virtual money. Get comfortable with these actions on your phone first:

• Placing market orders and pending orders
• Setting the stop loss and target at the same time as the order
• Moving the stop, closing part of a position, closing all of it

Many mobile trading apps have a one-click trading option that executes with a single tap. Beginners are better off turning it off to avoid accidental orders.

3. Write your rules before you open the app

The biggest risk on a phone is that trading is too easy. Before you start, write down:

• The most you will lose per trade, for example 1% of the account
• The maximum number of trades per day
• When you will not trade, for example the few minutes around major data releases

For how to work out lot size, see risk 1% per trade position sizing.

4. Use alerts instead of watching the screen

The best way to use a phone is not to stare at prices all day, but to let the price come to you. This is where the Borearis app helps:

• Key levels: support and resistance for the main markets each day, so you know where price may react
• Price alerts: set alerts at the levels you care about and open the app when price gets there
• Daily picks: trade ideas worth watching each day, with a reference entry, stop loss and targets
• Economic calendar: when major data and events are released, listed in UTC+8; also available on the website's economic calendar

Note that the Borearis app is a tool for market analysis and alerts; orders are still placed on your own trading platform.

5. Small details that matter on a phone

• Connection and battery: if you lose connection with a position open you cannot change orders, so check before important sessions
• Double-check the product and lot size: 0.01 and 0.1 are easy to confuse on a small screen, so look again before you tap
• Trade less around data: in winter time major US data is mostly released at 21:30 UTC+8, when prices jump and spreads widen
• Do the heavy analysis on a computer: the phone is good for execution and alerts; drawing support and resistance on a bigger chart is easier on a computer

Once you are set up, look at how the swing signals lay out entry, stop and targets, and compare them with your own plan. To get key levels and price alerts on your phone, download the Borearis app.

Borearis Research Team · For information only, not investment advice. Trading involves risk.