Oanda is an American broker funded in 1996. It is considered one of the most secure brokers in the world due to its vast history and strict regulation by several financial institutions. This company operates over 8 financial worldwide centers.

In May 2018, CVC Capital Partners (CVC) ASIA Fund IV, a private investing and advisory firm with over $70 billion, stated that they were to acquire all of OANDA’s outstanding capital subject to regulatory approval.

This broker is regulated by top-tier authorities, such as the US Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer (RFED) and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Regulations

Oanda is considered a highly safe and average-risk broker. Oanda keeps its trader’s information private.

Oanda is regulated in six tier-1 jurisdictions, which makes Oanda a quite safe broker. It is regulated by several regulatory institutions, such as the Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC), the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), the Japanese Financial Services Authority (JFSA), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Leverage Options

Leverage is regulated in the United States of America by the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission). For retail traders, leverage goes from 50:1, for the major pairs, and to 20:1, for the rest of the currency pairs. And what is more, in Asian countries, OANDA offers maximum leverage up to 50:1 in forex and limits the leverage offered to CFDs.

Trading Commissions and Fees

Regarding the commissions, OANDA’s pricing is fairly better than most other forex brokers.

OANDA’s bid/ask spreads, which are fees paid in order to trade, are directly comparable with FOREX.com and FxPro’s; however, the minimum spread cost available may be fairly higher than the one of its competitors. OANDA’s average non-core pricing was 1.2 pips for the EUR/USD pair during the first trimester of 2019.

Micro lots: in the majority of cases, the smallest contract size required to trade in forex is one micro lot. Nonetheless, OANDA is the only broker that reduces this minimum trade size down by three orders of magnitude to 1 unit or 0.001 micro lot.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that OANDA is a market maker, which means it may profit directly from client losses in many cases.

Deposit Conditions

It accepts a widely known number of options: Bank Wire, VISA, MasterCard, ACH Payments (echeck), BPAY, CHAPS, Check, DBS Bill Payment, Local Bank Deposits, Local Bank Transfers, Payment Asia, PayNow, PayPal, SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT), SWIFT.

Another positive and remarkable aspect is that you can create a new account with just 1 USD, but all the details are given by the broker once you have opened your account.

Account Types

In the standard account, most of the traders manage their funds. Minimum deposits are not required to open this account, and the maximum leverage depends on the operating subsidiary’s regulator. OANDA Australia Pty LTD grants considerate leverage, but each one of the entities lists the exact margin requirements on their website. UK traders are granted access to a tax-free spread betting sub-account.

Premium accounts require a minimum deposit of $20,000 (or its currency equivalent). This account offers a dedicated account manager and unlimited free wire transfers. However, the premium account does not have any significant advantages over the standard account.

OANDA does not offer a swap-free Islamic account.

Customer Support

OANDA offers highly competitive customer support. Yet, it only operates 24/5 and some support tickets may take a long time until they are answered. However, it is such a well-managed platform that users hardly require any technical assistance.

Tools for Trading

OANDA’s trading platform suite, fxTrade, is ideal for charting and displaying the news, but it has some shortcomings. Despite the multiple platform options that are available in the market, OANDA’s native platform is good enough, but not excellent. Nevertheless, it offers a series of options to further enhance the trader’s experience.

fxTrade platform: OANDA’s signature platform is available for web, desktop, and mobile devices. It is developed by TradingView. Charting offers over 80 indicators and extra features, such as overlaying multiple currency pairs within a single chart for comparison. Additionally, the web version is pretty similar to its mobile counterpart, which makes it easier to use.

Algorithm Trading: The are additional platforms available from external developers within the OANDA Marketplace, including the Seer Trading Platform, which supports the development of algorithmic trading systems, such as back-testing and forward-testing. OANDA also supports trading connectivity to multiple charting platforms such as NinjaTrader, MultiCharts, and MotiveWave. Finally, OANDA’s Algo Labs page uses Quant Connect to allow users to build their applications in several supported programming languages, including Python and C#.

Account management: OANDA combines various services into its online account management portal which makes it easier to transfer money between accounts and to access your account statements. Performance analysis, from the analytics provider Chasing Returns, is one of many account features. Specially designed for wealth managers.

MetaTrader: OANDA offers its users MetaTrader4 as a trading platform.

Education and Informational Resources

MarketPulse is a blog operated by this forex broker. It is a well-designed financial portal and it is one of the best and most useful assets of OANDA. The macroeconomic section is subdivided into MarketPulse, economic exposure, Central Bank Watch, and OANDA Video. It provides forex traders with a comprehensive summary of fundamental developments that could affect their trading strategies.

The technical analysis section of OANDA displays comments on Forex, commodities, and indices. This section consists of video and written analytics. Whether traders are looking for new trading ideas, confirmation of trading signals, or simply want to take a break from trading, MarketPulse is a valuable asset. Forex News offers weekly updates and is available on a subscription basis. This blog can easily compete with the top market brokers in terms of financial news coverage.

Pro’s

– Commissions are low for most accounts.

– Its web and mobile platforms are quite intuitive and easy to use.

– It is one of the most secure brokers in the world.

-Opening a new account is extremely easy.

Con’s

-Forex and CFD trading are the only available options.

-High bank commissions.