With a large number of signal providers offering their services, it can be difficult to know which one is the best to use, if in fact you decide that they're the best option for you.

You'll have to spend time and money finding out which will give you the most reliable information at a price you can profit from. However you do have an alternative in the form of forex trading software.

The biggest advantages of the forex trading software over signal providers are:

1.) You can download the software and run it on your PC.

2.) You only pay once - no monthly contracts

3.) You can see instantly when you should be trading - no waiting to be notified and potentially missing out on a lucrative opportunity.

So having decided that automation is your preference, which system should you go for? The first you should look at is Forex Killer.

Using Forex Killer, you'll be able to take historical data from forex brokers such as Interbank, Alpari, GFT, Saxo Bank and many others then input them into Forex Killer.

Next, you set your time frame and currency pair parameters, then the stop losses and take profits amounts and calculate your signals.

The two signals you will be given are for short and long term trading. You'll be told if you should be buying or selling and as soon as the signals you were shown are indicated start it running on your preferred platform - it's as easy as that. No waiting for signals to be sent to you and you can start as soon as you want.

Another product that's well worth having a look at is 5EMAs Forex System. It also uses an easy to apply system that's flexible enough to profitably day or swing-trade and even allows for scalping. It also includes new formula in calculating the trades.

There are also a number of eBooks on the subject of automated trading systems, such as Forex Trading Machine.

These eBooks give you a step-by-step set of rules on the conditions you'll be looking for before you even think about your next trade - if the conditions aren't right you don't trade, it's as simple as that.

Again, it's something you can easily determine yourself without the need for expensive providers.

There's a huge debate going on about the best method to keep control over your forex trading.

Should it be automated or are you better off making the trades yourself? Each method has its pluses and minuses, so let's look at the biggest of them all.

With the automated system of trading, you calculate a set of parameters based on calculations from historical figures.

These will tell you when to start trading, which direction (buying or selling) and give you an indication of the stop losses and take profit figures you should use.

You then put all of these variables into your preferred trading platform and wait to see what happens.

The length of time it takes to happen depends on whether it's a long term or short term trade, but essentially you leave it running until it either hits the take profits and makes you money or, it reaches the stop losses amount and leaves you with a predetermined amount of loss.

If you're doing it manually, you'll have to start by learning at least some of the chart forex trading software yourself, and then sit in front of the computer waiting for the right conditions to enter into a trade.

You then need to wait for the right conditions to exit the trade as well, which could take some time depending on how volatile the market is and what sort of profit margin you're looking to make.

The benefit to watching the trading yourself as opposed to setting and forgetting is that you will start to gain a feel for the market and the way it moves based on the indicators.

That feeling could lead to you exiting a trade and saving losses that you might have incurred otherwise. However, learning the indicators can take some time and a lot of trial and error.

You could be sitting at your screen for a whole day and make nothing in the way of profits. Then there's the 'human factor' to consider.

Are you likely to be panicked into a trade because of something you thought you saw in the indicators, and lose money on the trade you were in?

If you want to learn more about indicators and some of the other essentials to trading forex, I suggest you go to Stock Trader News.

There, you'll also find tools and services to set you on the right track with your forex trading career.