Oanda is a forex and CFD broker that provides online trading services globally. Based in the United States, it is regulated by top regulatory authorities including ASIC, IIROC,FFAJ, MFSA, MAS, FCA, CFTC, NFA, BVI FSC. Oanda offers a variety of trading instruments, including shares, indices, forex, commodities, and metals. It supports popular trading platforms and tools such as MT4, MT5, fxTrade, and TradingView.
Though Oanda is a highly trusted and regulated forex and CFD broker, it has its strengths and weaknesses. In this review, we will take an in-depth look at Oanda, exploring its features, pros, cons, and more. By reading this review, you will gain a better understanding of whether Oanda is the right broker for your trading needs and preferences.
What is Oanda?
Founded by Drs. Stumm and Olsen in the USA in 1996, Oanda is one of the oldest and most experienced forex brokers in the world. The broker expanded into Asia in 2007, opened its London office in 2011, and its Sydney office in 2014. On its platforms, you can trade over 3000 forex, CFDs, and even real stocks.
Oanda Overview
- Founded In: 1996
- Founder: Dr. Stumm (a computer scientist), and Dr. Olsen (an economist)
- Headquarters: New York, United States
- Trading Instruments: 100+ trading Instruments including forex, indices, shares, commodities, metals, cryptocurrencies, metals
- Minimum Deposit: No minimum Deposit is required. You may deposit as low as $1
- Maximum Leverage: 1:50 (US), 1:30 (EU), 1:200 (other regions)
- Regulations: ASIC, CFTC, IIROC, FCA, PFSA, MAS in Singapore, FSA in Japan, FSC in BVI
- Trading platform: MT4, MT5, fxTrade app, Tradingview
- Account Types: Standard, Elitetrader
- Trading Fees: Spreads starting from 0.6 pips (EUR/USD pair)
- Payment Options: Bank Wire (BankTransfer/SWIFT), VISA, MasterCard, ACH Payments (echeck), BPAY, CHAPS, Check, DBS Bill Payment, Local Bank Deposits, Local Bank Transfers, Neteller, Payment Asia, PayNow, PayPal, SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT), Skrill
- US Traders: Accepted
Key Features:
- Applicable For: Applicable for all jurisdictions including ASIC,IIROC,FFAJ ,MFSA, MAS, FCA, CFTC, NFA, BVI FSC
- Account Opening: Fully Online Account opening. It may take only 5 to 7 Minutes. The demo account has 30 days of validity.
- KYC Verification: Required
- Trading Instruments: shares, indices, forex, commodities, and metals.
- Trading Platforms: MT4, MT5, WebTrader, NinjaTrader, MotiveWave, MultiCharts, TradingView
- Minimum Deposit: $0
- Maximum Leverage: Up to 30:1 (CySEC, ASIC), up to 1000:1 (FSA), and up to 500:1 for a professional account.
- Trading Fees: Trading fees (spreads and commissions) depend on account types. The minimum spread is 0.2 pips ($50 commissions per 1M) for the Standard account and Elite account
- Minimum Trade Size: 0.01 lot.
- Maximum Trade Size (Lot restriction per Ticket): 200 Lots
- Funding Currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, and AUD
- Maximum Number of Positions ( At a time): 200 for MT4, MT5 Live account, 100 for MT4, MT5, demo accounts, 2000 for Ctrader trading account.
- Maximum Volume per trade: The maximum volume per trade ranges from 50 to 250 lots, depending on the platform type and tradable assets. For Shares CFDs, the maximum volume is 1000 shares in total
- Trading Style Allowed: All including Scalping, hedging, and EA Trading.
- Stop Out Level (retail): 0%
- Margin Call Level: 60%
- Negative balance Protection: Yes
- Investor Protection: Available under ASIC and CySEC regulations. However, the Investor protection scheme does not apply to FSA jurisdiction.
Oanda Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Regulated by the CySEC, FCA, CFTC, JFSA, IIROC, ASIC, MAS and FSC BVI
- Clients can trade over 1800 forex/CFDs and over 2000 real stocks.
- Platforms: MT4, MT5, and Oanda mobile apps on iOS and Android.
- Trading tools provided are MetaTrader premium tools, Autochartist, Market pulse analysis, etc.
- Customer support is provided in multiple languages and via different channels.
- Fast and user-friendly account opening
- The TradingView platform is available, alongside several VPS services for MT4 hosting.
Cons:
- Bank withdrawals incur a fee which is transferred to the trader.
- Premium core accounts require a minimum balance of $20,000
- Inactivity fees are charged from dormant accounts.
- No account protection for U.S. clients
- No guaranteed stop-losses for U.S. or U.K. clients
- Traders in the U.S. cannot access single-stock CFDs
- No cent accounts, bonus programme for beginner traders
Our Ratings for Oanda:
Review and Reputation on Public Domains:
Public review sites like Trustpilot and Forex Peace Army have become important sources of information about brokers. Many traders share their real-life trading experiences on these platforms. However, there are also many fake or paid reviews on these platforms, and sometimes competitors leave negative reviews. This makes it challenging to find genuine reviews. By carefully reading the content and context of the reviews, you can often discern their authenticity. Do not blindly rely on these reviews; instead, use them as part of your overall broker research process
Oanda Ratings and Reviews from Trustpilot:
Oanda has earned a rating of 4.0 out of 5 on Trustpilot. These high ratings indicate customer satisfaction and trust. After carefully examining the reviews, we found that most of them are genuine, provided by real users sharing their real-life trading experiences.
Oanda Ratings and Reviews from Forex Peace Army:
Oanda has achieved an average rating of 2.71 out of 5 on Forex Peace Army (FPA). We’ve observed numerous brokers on FPA, and most brokers tend to have lower ratings. Several reasons might contribute to this. There is a complaint that FPA does not approve all positive reviews and only approves negative ones for the sake of their business. To understand the real reviews, traders should focus on the content of the reviews. Typically, fake, paid, or competitor reviews are generic. While you should consider these reviews as part of your research process, you shouldn’t make decisions based solely on them. For instance, if you encounter any user complaints, you might discuss them with the broker to verify if such issues exist. Additionally, you should review the broker’s policy and terms of service.
Final Verdict:
Oanda is a regulated forex and CFD broker that offers its trading services to traders and investors worldwide. It provides a wide range of trading instruments, including shares, indices, forex, commodities, and metals. The broker’s spreads start from as low as 0.2 pips, and it offers high leverage (up to 1:50) and a low minimum deposit (as low as $0). With top-tier regulations, a variety of trading instruments, high leverage, low minimum deposit, fast execution, and flexible account types, Oanda can be a good choice for many traders.
However, the broker does not offer CFDs for US traders due to regulatory restrictions. It also does not have any investor protection scheme for non-US/UK/EU traders.
If you are a forex and CFD trader looking for a trusted broker, Oanda can be an ideal choice for your trading journey. However, We always encourage traders to test brokers with a demo account or with a small deposit. Once you are satisfied with the trading conditions of the broker, you may proceed with real trading.