Best Mac Forex Trading Platforms for 2021

If you live in the U.S., the best trading platform for your Mac computer is thinkorswim from TD Ameritrade. For non-U.S. residents, Saxo Bank’s SaxoTrader Pro desktop trading platform and SaxoTrader GO web and mobile trading app are excellent trading software for Mac users.

Much like a Windows computer, your Mac laptop or desktop machine likely already has a powerful balance of the hardware and software capabilities necessary to run the best trading platforms. Likewise, iOS devices such as the iPhone can run even the most demanding mobile trading app for Macs.

Nearly all Mac computers made in the last decade have a fast processor, large hard drive, and enough RAM to meet your needs regardless of the Mac trading platform you use. Desktop trading platforms can be more resource-intensive when installed locally, compared to using a web-based version, so it’s good to know what the system requirements are if you decide to use forex trading platforms for Mac.

Yes, you can trade forex on a MacBook by either using the web or desktop version of the trading platform from your device. Even the smallest MacBook, the 12-inch, can be used for forex trading, in addition to the hardier MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models.

CMC Markets provides the best web-based platform that can be used by forex and CFD traders on any computer running the latest modern browsers. For desktop-based software, TD Ameritrade’s thinkorswim is the trading platform to use and provides access to multiple asset classes, including stocks, forex, and commodity futures.

The best trading platforms cover all the bases, offering low commissions, a wide range of markets, news, and research, and plenty of trading tools alongside powerful charts, in a user-friendly software design. ForexBrokers.com’s comparison tool can help narrow down the options important to you when choosing a broker.

Yes, the long-awaited native Mac version of MetaTrader was recently released by the developer, MetaQuotes Corp., so you no longer need to use emulators to simulate Windows on your Mac. (If you are looking for MetaTrader 4 for Mac, you can download the installation file directly from the developer here.)

Some brokers offer MetaTrader for Mac as an installation file, but their .dmg files have the emulator wrapped together with the application and create the Windows simulated environment. The most established Windows emulators for Mac are Parallels Desktop software, which requires a paid subscription, or VMWare, which allows you to install other Windows applications on your Mac in a virtual environment. There are also free, open-source emulators, but they can be less stable, such as Wine version 6.1 and PlayOnMac version 4.3.

The Stocks app is a program and widget that is available by default on MacOS, version Mojave 10.14 and later, and can be customized in the notifications center or by launching the app. Search for “Stocks.app” on your Mac using the finder lookup tool, and launch the program to see stock quotes powered by Yahoo Finance, charts, and news headlines from various top-tier providers like the Wall Street Journal and CNBC.

Almost every Apple computer comes now by default with a fast processor, powerful video card, plenty of storage, and enough RAM to satisfy even the most demanding trading platforms used for day trading.

Pro tip: When building a trading rig for Mac trading software, Apple desktop and laptop computers can be configured to be very powerful and can easily cost several thousand dollars depending on setup (i.e., 64GB of RAM, 4.0 GHz processor, 1 TB SSD). In almost all cases, that will be more than is necessary for trading platforms, even if you have a decade-old Apple computer with base model specifications.

The current version of the TradeStation platform is designed for Windows; the developer suggests using an emulator such as Parallels Desktop to run it in a virtual environment on a Mac. I’ve personally found that Parallels version 16 works very well for running the TradeStation desktop trading platform on macOS (version 10.5 or later).

Trading on a Mac computer is no different than on any other computer, except that if you want to install a desktop-based platform, you must be sure there is a compatible Mac version. Otherwise, you’ll be limited to using web-based trading platforms and mobile apps. Many of the best brokers offer Mac versions of their desktop software, or their web-based versions are excellent alternatives.

IC Markets is an excellent forex broker for scalping. IC Markets is used by a significant number of algorithmic traders and provides both MetaTrader and cTrader platforms, where you run automated high-frequency trading programs such as scalping-based strategies and can even place orders in between the spread. And IC Markets’ Raw Spread Account features zero spreads, plus commission.

Pro tip: Whether brokers claim to offer Straight Through Processing (STP) or an Electronic Communications Network (ECN), these descriptions are not as important as how your broker's business model actually operates, including its order execution policy during fast markets when spreads can widen.