You know what, forex charting software is an important part of forex trading because you need to make sure that you're able to use the forex software, to actually trade the forex system you want to trade.

If the forex charting software that you're using is lacking in an area, such as the ability to plot your own words and markings, or indicators onto the chart, then you'll find that forex trading will take you a lot longer, and cause frustration!

By the time you finish this article, you'll know exactly what to look for in forex charting software to enable to you to paper trade and live trade, a lot easier and faster.

Here's a list of what to look for when checking out forex software:

1. Are the charts easy to read? Many charts are now able to be customised, including the color and layout, to what you want. Just check that this is possible, if the charts are in any way difficult to read.

2.Do the charts load up relatively quickly? Demo accounts may sometimes be slower to load than their real accounts, so if you find a charting package that you like, but it's not as quick as expected, ask the provider to find out.

3. Can you save your forex chart layouts as a customised template? You should be able to do this on most charts, but make sure that the layout loads up properly the next time you run the software. That is, both the currency pairs and time frames are loaded correctly again.

4. Can you write your own notes and marks, and draw lines on the chart easily, and on the places that you want to? And do these marks stay on the chart even after the chart refreshes? Some forex systems require you to plot peaks and troughs, and support and resistance lines on the chart to see if there's an entry set up on a currency pair. And you'll want these marks to actually stay on the chart for the entire trading session, otherwise you'll have to do the sane work all again! Some charts don't allow you to place your own marks to indicate peaks or troughs, or to plot lines where you need to. So make sure that whatever you need to do to trade your forex system, that you can actually perform them on your charts!

5. What indicators can be plotted on their charts? Place all the indicators that you need on your charts, to firstly make sure that they are available, and then save the whole layout as a part of your customised template. Again this ensures that you're able to use the platform to properly trade your system.

6. Does the forex charting software have programming capabilities? If you have basic steps in your system which are 100% mechanical, you can save time and effort by programming these steps onto the chart, whether they are to determine peaks or troughs, or times when the system gates are all passed, so that they can be displayed automatically. You'll need to use the programming language of the forex charting software in order to do this.

7. Finally, do you need historical forex data as a part of your forex charting software, so that you can backtest forex trading systems? If you do, then you'll need a compatible data source. For example, if you have WealthLab, you can get a compatible source of historical forex data (not that easily available!) from www.forex.datahq.com.au

So there you have it. You now have a checklist to use, when looking at forex charting software, to ensure that you can actually trade the system that you want to trade.

This will save you tons of time and frustration!

Mark Hamburg helps you to go from forex novice, to actually understanding what you need to know to trade forex, quickly and easily! To learn more valuable forex tips, tricks and hints, go now to his site to learn how to read forex charts and forex charting software and much more.