Automated trading systems are widely used by institutional investors, but this doesn't mean they are out of reach for retail traders.
Industry giants, from eToro to Fidelity, now offer simplified versions of automated trading in their services. These options cater to a wide range of users, from absolute beginners in need of clear instructions to those seeking partial automation or a completely hands-off experience.
We've combed through numerous platforms to find the best automated trading platforms in the UK. Below, we list the top options, ranked by usability, features, and costs, and provide a guide for beginners.
Best Automated Trading Platforms UK at a Glance
Overall best-automated trading platform - Capitalise.ai
Best automated trading platform for beginners & hands-off traders - eToro
Best app for investment & savings - Fidelity Go
Automated trading platform with the best app - CMC Markets
Best free automated trading platform - AvaTrade
Best automated trading platform for options trading - ProRealTime via IG
Best for experienced traders - Tradestation
Top 7 Automated Trading Platforms Reviewed
| Name | Score | Visit | Currencies | Minimum Deposit | Assets | Account Types | Disclaimer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 8.7 | Visitetoro.com | 20 | £50 | CFDs, Commodities, Stocks, Cryptocurrencies, Forex, Options | General, Corporate, Professional | Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. Your capital is at risk. 76% of retail CFD accounts lose money. | |
 | 9.0 | Visitxtb.com | 2 | £250 | CFDs, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies, Forex, Options, Stocks, Penny Stocks | General, Professional | CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 73% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. | |
 | 7.5 | Visitavatrade.com | 7 | £100 | Stocks, CFDs, Forex, Cryptocurrencies, Commodities | General, Corporate, Professional | ||
 | 4IG | 8.9 | Visitig.com | 5 | Stocks, CFDs, Forex, Commodities, Options, Derivatives | General, Margin, Corporate, Stocks & Shares ISA, Professional, SIPP, Joint | Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 70% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. | |
 | 9.0 | Visitpepperstone.com | 10 | CFDs, Forex, Cryptocurrencies, Commodities, Stocks | General, Corporate, Professional, Joint | Between 74-89 % of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. | ||
 | 6.5 | Visitfidelity.co.uk | 16 | Stocks, Options, Penny Stocks, Forex, Derivatives, CFDs, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies | General, Corporate, Margin, SIPP | |||
 | 7.5 | Visitcmcmarkets.com | 10 | CFDs, Stocks, Forex, Options, Penny Stocks, Cryptocurrencies | General, Corporate, Stocks & Shares ISA, Margin | Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 77% of retail investor accounts lose money when spread betting and/or trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. |
Capitalise.ai is among the most functional and easy-to-use automated trading platforms currently on the market. You can use everyday English to set precise rules with simple “if/then” sentences. The platform offers a variety of trading features to execute, from simple smart notifications to timed trading, to elaborate trade correlations to index or asset values, and creating entry and exit positions based on the moving average. You can also monitor the news or refer to historical data to arrange trade entries and exits.
The platform allows you to build your own strategy and tweak it along the way or choose from prebuilt strategies that match your investment personality. Please note that the platform is not a standalone brokerage but integrates with online brokers. The supported platforms in the UK include some of the major brands like Fidelity or AvaTrade. Also, the Best growth funds in the UK can be a great source to look at to further expand your investment portfolio.
As a world-renowned social trading platform, eToro is an excellent solution for traders who wish to educate themselves further about investing. It has enriched its sleek and easy-to-navigate interface by launching eToro Academy, which covers all the basics of trading and investing through various channels, including podcasts, videos, articles, and webinars. Besides the academy, eToro also features a social hub where investors can have discussions and observe one another’s trading behaviour.
Copy Portfolio feature helps beginners learn by practice and close monitoring, and traders who seek a hands-off experience. With a filtered search, you can identify traders that match your risk tolerance and investment personality by analyzing their preferred assets, average returns, and risk ratings and deploying copying after. The process is completely automated but still requires frequent monitoring. We have also curated an in-depth eToro review UK for further information about the platform.
Fidelity Go’s goal-oriented services allow you to choose from long-term goals like retirement or major purchases. While you can remain focused on a single goal, you can add multiple accounts with different goals attached. Those with assets valued over £20,000 can also access a financial advisor for professional help at a 0.35% annual fee.
Depending on your preferences, Fidelity Go helps you achieve your goals through taxable and IRA accounts, and deposits are automatically invested based on your portfolio requirements. Placing trades is a fully hands-off experience where you don’t have to manually choose stocks or arrange entry times. The platform offers 14 risk levels, so it is fairly easy to identify a portfolio design that matches your tolerance.
CMC Markets offers exposure to Metatrader 4, a third-party trading platform offering trade automation and integrating with numerous online brokers. With this trading app, you can automate trading over 200 instruments, including forex, indices, and commodities. There are 175 forex pairings to choose from, and with an FX Active account, you can trade with 0.0 pip. CMC Market is considered one of the best brokers for beginner forex traders.
AvaTrade offers commission-free forex and CFD trading but comes with ongoing maintenance fees. The platform extends its offerings via two automated trading platforms focused on portfolio mirroring, Duplitrade and AvaSocial.
An Mt4 compatible platform, Duplitrade is a signal-basis tool with which traders can follow a more experienced investor’s signals, like an asset, buy price, buy size, stop loss / take profit level, and trading strategies in real-time, and copy it automatically to apply to their own portfolio.
AvaSocial, as the name suggests, is a social trading platform where investors can directly communicate with experienced traders whose portfolios they can also copy to develop their own. AvaTrade is considered to be one of the best forex brokers UK.
Note that while AvaTrade is regulated across the EU, Israel, South Africa, Japan, and Australia, it is yet to be licensed by the FCA in the UK.
Offering stocks and mutual funds along with an intuitive
design, Tradestation is highly regarded by its users. A wide range of customizable overlays, multiple indicators, and real-time data are included in the platform's charting functionality. While the interface is intuitive, traders without much experience may find it overwhelming due to the sheer number of moving parts.
Using its portfolio analysis tool, you can backtest your strategy using historical data to assess its performance before executing it and analyze your allocation using robust reporting features.
You can automate any trading strategy after backtesting. While non-technical traders can utilize technical indicators and pre-built strategy components, programmers can develop custom indicators and strategies and put them to work. The Walk Forward Optimizer offers a pass/fail report for your strategy before automation.
What Are Automated Trading Platforms and How Do They Work?
Automated trading platforms execute preset trade entries and exits or simply notify when to do so, following a set of predefined rules and market conditions. While some brokers offer in-built automated features, many offer exposure to Metatrader 4 and Metatrader 5. Mt5 is considered to be faster and more efficient and presents access to more markets than Mt4.
When using these platforms, you have to arrange a precise set of rules. Once you set the parameters, programs called Expert Advisors (EA) that monitor financial markets find opportunities suitable for your needs and either automatically set up a position or notify you.
Platforms vary depending on the extent of the automation:
If you'd like a hands-off experience: You can try out copy trading platforms, robo-advisors, or fully programmed platforms,
If you prefer having some sort of control: You can try out signal-based services and manually execute orders.
It’s possible to install the Mt4 platform on a mobile device, and platforms with automated trading options often offer a mobile application, web services, and desktop workstations.
Learn the Differences: AI Trading vs Automated Trading vs Algorithmic Trading
These words are usually used interchangeably – but they refer to different types of tools:
Automated trading platforms allow traders to set specific rules for trade entries and exits, which are automatically executed by the platform. These rules can be based on simple conditions or complex strategies, but they don't adapt or learn over time. The focus here is on executing predefined strategies with speed and efficiency, reducing the need for manual intervention.
An AI trading platform uses artificial intelligence to analyze market data, predict market movements, and make trading decisions. They can learn from market conditions and adapt their strategies accordingly. These platforms often use machine learning and data analysis to offer predictive insights and automated decision-making, aiming for higher accuracy over time.
Algorithmic trading platforms are a subset of automated trading. They use mathematical models and algorithms to execute trades based on market data analysis. These platforms can handle complex strategies that involve high-frequency trading, arbitrage, or market making. Unlike AI platforms, the algorithms do not learn or adapt but follow set rules designed by traders.
So shortly, AI trading platforms focus on learning and adapting using artificial intelligence. Automated trading platforms emphasize executing trades based on predefined rules. Algorithmic trading platforms specialize in using complex mathematical models for trading. Each offers unique benefits, whether it's AI's adaptability, the efficiency of automated trading, or the strategic depth of algorithmic trading.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Automated Trading Platforms
- Emotionless Trading: Automated systems eliminate the influence of human emotions, reducing the risk of impulsive decisions based on fear or greed, thereby preventing overtrading and other emotional biases in trading decisions.
- Backtesting Capability: These platforms allow traders to backtest their trading strategies using historical data, providing insights into how these strategies would have performed in the past. This process helps in refining strategies before applying them to live markets.
- Efficiency and Speed: Automated trading systems are capable of executing trades at a much faster rate than human traders. They can analyze the market and execute trades in milliseconds, which is crucial in fast-moving market conditions.
- Diversification and Consistency: By trading multiple accounts and strategies simultaneously, automated platforms help maintain diversification, spreading risk across various instruments. They also ensure consistency by adhering to a predetermined trading plan, thus avoiding the pitfalls of ad-hoc decisions.
- Technical Failures: Dependency on technology means that any disruption in internet connection, power supply, or system malfunction can lead to missed trades or significant losses. This requires traders to monitor their systems regularly, somewhat negating the automation aspect.
- Over-Optimization: There's a risk of creating a trading strategy that performs exceptionally well on historical data but fails in real-world conditions. This over-optimization can make a strategy too tailored to past conditions, lacking the flexibility to adapt to new market dynamics.
- Complexity and Cost: Setting up and maintaining an automated trading system can be technically complex and expensive. The need for programming knowledge or the cost of purchasing and customizing pre-built software can be prohibitive for some traders.
- Lack of Intuition: Automated systems lack the human intuition and flexibility to adjust to unexpected market conditions or to recognize when a trading signal might not be as robust as it seems. This can lead to trades that a human trader might have avoided.
How Much Money Do You Need to Get Started?
Minimum deposits can be higher for automated features compared to regular trading, yet it is possible to find platforms with minimums of as little as £100. It’s wise to follow the minimum deposit, especially for your first few tries to get a feel of the software and verify the results.
Best Free Automated Trading Platforms With Zero Commission
The majority of trading platforms skew towards commission-free trading today — here are the best options with no commission policy, along with low minimum deposits.
What Can You Do With Automated Trading Platforms?
Much like regular brokers, automated trading platforms vary in terms of the assets they can monitor. Depending on the platform, you can automate stocks, futures, options, forex, or cryptocurrency trading. For investors interested in automated trading, finding the best futures broker in the UK with reliable technology and advanced tools is crucial for executing trades efficiently and maximizing potential profits."
Best Automated Trading Platforms UK for Beginners
By nature automating trading is an advanced activity as traders need to be experienced enough to identify the right set of rules to execute — but it’s possible to find beginner-friendly investing platforms and features for those who’d like to get a feel of it.
For example, portfolio copying of an experienced (and successful) trader is the ultimate beginner tactic as it’s educational and potentially lucrative. Or you can opt for semi-automated robots with signals, where you are notified of certain market conditions immediately and place trades on your own.
Can You Use Automated Trading Platforms Everywhere in the World?
If it also offers online brokerage services, automated trading platforms vary greatly in terms of which countries they serve. That being said, it’s possible to find an international service accepting UK traders and allowing access to foreign markets.
How Do I Choose the Best Automated Trading Platform?
Here are a few points to consider whilst choosing the best auto trading platform for your specific needs:
Decide how much automation you require: Would you like to have a full hands-off experience, or would you rather have a bit more control over your portfolio?
Try out before opting in: Make sure to use a demo account before starting to trade with actual funds. You can try out auto features with a brokerage demo account, and for robots, you can install the software on MT4 and run the platform in demo mode. Alternatively, you can contact customer service to understand your options on the free trial.
Consider the costs: Standalone automated robots can come with monthly subscription fees; think of them on top of the broker fees you will use with them.
Unless it’s a service of an online broker, automated trading robots are not overseen by any regulatory body simply because they don’t offer financial services, only advice. This means that they operate out of an accountability framework, which may push some cautious traders to opt out of fully automated robots.
There’s also the inherent risk of mechanical failure, especially for those who don’t operate on a server and are dependent on an internet connection.
