AvaTrade Review

Forex traders in South Africa aren’t lacking in Forex broker choices, and one that has gotten a lot of positive feedback is AvaTrade. Before you open a new Forex account with this company, you may want to read our review first.

History of AvaTrade

AvaTrade, was established in 2006 as an online forex and CFDs broker and has since built a great reputation and perfect track record. What makes AvaTrade stand out from other brokers is that they offer trading of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, etc.

Other trading assets comprise of commodities trading, CFDs, stocks, market indices, equities, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) as well as bonds. AvaTrade has shown tremendous growth over the past few years executing more than 2 million transactions monthly to a value of over $60 billion. AvaTrade provides an array of trading platforms and offers great support in English and other languages, 24 hours a day, 5 days per week.

Headquartered in Dublin, AvaTrade also boasts an office in South Africa which is why forex traders in South Africa cannot overlook AvaTrade as a preferred broker.

Is AvaTrade Regulated in South Africa?

AvaTrade is regulated by the FSB (Financial Services Board) in South Africa and hold licenses in core financial hubs around the globe. Regulated territories include:

• European Union
• British Virgin Islands
• Australia
• South Africa
• Japan

Minimum Deposits

You can open a forex demo account and get a feel for trading the forex market with AvaTrade. If you do sign up there is one standard account available with a minimum deposit of $100 required. The account offers a leverage of 1:400, with floating, variable and fixed spreads available beginning at 0.9 pips. Compared to other forex trading platforms, the spread is average.

Bonuses

If you’re a new client and just opened an account with AvaTrade, you will get up to 100% first deposit bonus! The higher your deposit, the higher the sign-up bonus will be.

Methods of Payment

AvaTrade clients can make deposits and withdrawals with all major South African debit/credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, Maestro), bank wire, Skrill and Neteller.

Accounts Types

Demo Account: This account comes with no risk and an excellent way to learn the basics of forex trading or test signals or Expert Advisors. Practice does make perfect.

AvaTrade’s live accounts are divided into four: Silver, Gold, Platinum and AVASelect. The minimum deposit requirement goes up, but the features and benefits increase.

AvaSelect: Its Ava Select program is unique. If you trade volume or deposit exceeds $100,000, you will be entitled to several special offers such as custom trade options, dedicated customer support, faster withdrawals and educational programs.

AvaTrade Trading Platforms

One of AvaTrade’s main attractions is the vast number of trading platforms it on offer. AvaTrade’s clients have a choice of 8 main types of trading platforms to pick from.

These platforms include:

• MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform
• Meta Trader platform for Mac
• Meta Trader platform for mobile trading (Android & iOS)
• Meta Trader platform for floating spreads
• Meta Trader platform for web trading
• The proprietary AvaTradeAct platform forex and CFD trading
• Platforms for Automated trading (Mirror Trader, ZuluTrade, Robox, MQL5 and API Trading)

Order Types

AvaTrade provides several orders types including trailing stops, entry stops, stop loss orders, entry limits, limit orders, market orders. These are essential features if for online trading in South Africa. AvaTrade also has other features which other trading platforms don’t have, such as a CD Rollover. With this, AvaTrade will swap a contract that has reached maturity prior to it expiry date. It then makes up for the price difference between the contracts.

Security & Leverage

Your funds are contained in separate accounts for security, and you can also do spread betting and hedging. With a leverage of up to 400:1, you can conduct a variety of forex trades on any of the financial instruments at your disposal. You access spread betting via MetaTrader 4 via both demo and live account. Availability in the demo account is good so you can sample it first.

Spreads

AvaTrade recently introduced lower spreads. Spreads equates to around 35% less during liquid times. These are the current spreads offered (Updated, 26 July 2017)

Website Features and Navigation

The AvaTrade website provides a lot of information for both new and advanced forex traders. Navigation is simple with all major features and options in their respective tabs. English is the default language, but it is also available in Taiwanese, Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, Spanish, Italian and other languages.

Depending on the account you may also be entitled to daily forex trade analysis, live webinars and other benefits. If you are a long-time forex trader you will appreciate the advanced options on the website so you’ll be able to do a lot of custom trading.

If you’re new to currency trading, the info on the AvaTrade of informative articles and education.  With the right tools at your disposal anyone can learn how to profit from forex trading, spot trends and make informed trading decisions. Members also get access to the Forex Trading Strategies eBook where you’ll learn technical analysis, stop loss and how to make sound trading decisions.

Other AvaTrade features:

• Its trading platform provides live market news which can help you make the right decisions.
• There is a page on the website focusing on economic indicators. You can use the info here to guide in you trading decisions. The data is updated regularly and is formatted in a way that is easy to comprehend.
• Economic data for the US, Europe, the Pacific Rim, China, Japan etc. are divided so you can concentrate on the areas that matter to you. Breaking economic news are reported immediately so you will be the first to know.
• There is an economic calendar so you can mark the important economic related news that will take place during the day. Results can be filtered by importance, date and instrument so they’re as precise as you need them to be.
• You will also find a section called A to Z which contains essential info about fundamental and technical concepts as well as the various financial instruments available.
• For forex newbies, you can use the AvaTrade glossary to learn as much as you can about the jargon currency traders use.
• There is also a section here called Sharp Trader where you can get information and insights from the best traders in the business.

Deposit as little as $100 and receive up to 100% Bonus

Pros

• South African Regulated Broker
• 100% bonus match on first deposit
• Demo accounts available
• Leverage up to 400:1
• Choice of trading platforms
• Floating and fixed spreads available
• Variety of trading instruments
• Plenty of educational resources

Cons

• Market maker model
• The demo account doesn’t allow all the platform options
• Spreads are average

Verdict

AvaTrade is a reputable award-winning broker with more than 10 years of experience. AvaTrade is regulated by the FSB and has an office in Johannesburg. Friendly, efficient customer service is a bonus. With numerous trading solutions offered to Forex traders in South Africa we give AvaTrade the thumbs up!

SUMMARY
South African regulated Forex broker. 8 Forex Trading platforms to chose from. Great Support. Loads of educational materials. Perfect Forex broker from beginners to advanced.