AvaTrade Broker Review

Avatrade’s Overall Rating

AvaTrade excels with its competitive trading conditions, including an average spread of 0.90 pips on EUR/USD and a minimum deposit requirement of 1900 ZAR/100 USD. AvaTrade’s commitment to safety is evident through its negative balance protection and strict regulation across multiple jurisdictions. However, South African traders are onboarded through the BVI entity which limits local dispute resolution. Despite this, with its award-winning AvaTradeGO app and extensive educational resources, AvaTrade is highly recommended. FXScouts gives AvaTrade a high rating of 4.59 out of 5

Is Avatrade Safe?

Avatrade is one of the best-regulated brokers. It holds no less than eight national regulatory licences. However, although it holds a licence from the South African FSCA, South African traders are onboarded through Avatrade’s British Virgin Islands (BVI) entity. This means that South Africans have little recourse in the case of a dispute with Avatrade.

No more FSCA protection: Until recently, Avatrade clients were still protected by FSCA regulation. But now Avatrade is on-boarding all new South African clients through its BVI-based entity. This means that South Africans will not benefit from local regulation and that their money will not be segregated at South African banks.  See below for Avatrade’s sign-up notice:

Safety Features: Although the lack of FSCA oversight may be off-putting for some South African traders, we still consider Avatrade a safe broker to trade with. Firstly, Avatrade holds licences from a large number of top-tier regulators from around the world ensuring that it treats its clients fairly. Secondly, it provides all clients with negative balance protection which means that traders cannot lose more than their initial deposit. Finally, it has received a wealth of industry recognition, further supporting its credentials as a safe broker. 

Company Details:

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Avatrade’s Trading Instruments

While Avatrade’s range of tradable assets is around the industry average, it also offers specialty instruments such as vanilla options that are rarely found at other brokers. 

Specialty Instruments: Avatrade offers a number of asset classes that aren’t found at other brokers. These include 55 vanilla options which are traded exclusively on Avatrade’s AvaOptions platform, two bonds, 59 ETFs, and 13 cryptocurrencies, providing traders with excellent asset diversification.

Full list of instruments:

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• Forex: Avatrade’s range of currency pairs is around the industry average and includes majors, minors, and exotics. 
• Share CFDs: Avatrade’s range of share CFDs is average compared to other large international brokers and includes popular US tech companies and multinational energy companies.
• Commodities: Avatrade’s range of commodities is excellent, as most brokers offer trading on between 5 – 10 commodities. 
• Indices: Avatrade offers trading on a large number of indices and unlike many other brokers, trading is available on the VIX index. 
• Cryptocurrencies: Avatrade’s range of cryptocurrencies is similar to other brokers, but its leverage is higher and it also offers 24/7 support for crypto trading. 
• Bonds: Avatrade offers trading on two bonds, namely the EURO-BUND, and the JAPAN GOVT BOND. This is around the industry average for bonds trading.
• ETFs: Exchange Traded Funds have rapidly gained in popularity in recent years, and Avatrade’s range of ETFs is wide compared to other similar brokers.
• Vanilla Options: Traders can trade on currency pairs, in addition to gold and silver on the AvaOptions platform. Vanilla options are seldom offered at other brokers, so Avatrade really shines on this front.  

Overall, Avatrade has a similar number of assets compared to other brokers, but it really stands out for its specialty instruments, including vanilla options, ETFs, bonds, and cryptocurrencies.

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Accounts and Trading Fees

Avatrade offers one commission-free trading account, with a low minimum deposit and lower trading costs than other similar brokers. 

Trading Fees: As of September 2022, Avatrade’s account requires a minimum deposit of R750  (from R1500 previously), making it accessible to most traders. No commissions are charged for Forex trading and traders will find spreads of 0.9 pips (EUR/USD), which is around the industry average.

Account Trading Costs:

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We opened and tested Avatrade’s Standard account:

Standard Account: In order to open an account, traders will have to make a minimum deposit of R750 (50 USD). The account is available on MT4, MT5, and Avatrade’s proprietary platform. We were pleased to see that spreads on the platform are 0.9 pips on the EUR/USD, as advertised on Avatrade’s website and there are no commissions for Forex trading:

AvaTrade’s South African clients also receive perks with higher deposit amounts.  For example, from 1,000 USD and upward, traders receive a 20% on-deposit bonus and one-on-one trading sessions with a personal account manager.  Clients who deposit 2,000 USD or more will gain free access to Duplitrade, a popular third-party copy trading platform. 

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Deposits and Withdrawals

Avatrade offers a decent range of funding methods and we were pleased that both deposits and withdrawals are free. But we found that withdrawal times are slow compared to other brokers.

A well-regulated broker, Avatrade ensures that all Anti-Money Laundering rules and regulations are followed, and as such, all non-profit withdrawals are returned to the deposit source. Traders can only withdraw up to 100% of the original deposit to a credit or debit card. After this, funds may be withdrawn by another method in the trader’s name.  

Accepted Deposit Currencies: When we opened our account, we noticed that the Avatrade client portal allows traders to choose between six base currencies, including USD, EUR, GBP, CHF, ZAR, and AUD. Because we were depositing ZAR from our South African bank account into our ZAR-based trading account, we weren’t charged any currency conversion fees.

Funding Methods: We were pleased to find that Avatrade offers a good range of payment methods and it does not charge fees for deposits or withdrawals.

See below for a complete list of payment options and withdrawal times:

Overall, while withdrawal and deposits are free, we were disappointed by Avatrade’s slow processing times on both its deposits and withdrawals. 

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Avatrade’s Mobile Trading Platforms

With support for four mobile trading apps, including its award-winning AvatradeGO, we found that Avatrade provides a superior mobile trading experience. 

AvatradeGO Trading App

We quickly realised that the AvatradeGO app is not a trading platform, but more of a portal that allows traders to manage their Metatrader 4 platform from a mobile device or tablet.  It’s available on both Android and iOS and integrates with Avatrade’s social trading application.

AvatradeGO Features: We enjoyed how easy it is to use the AvatradeGO app. It has a sophisticated dashboard and intuitive home screen that allows you to view educational videos, market analysis materials, and contact customer support from within the app.  It also has excellent search functionality and it’s simple to place orders, set price alerts, create watchlists, and view live prices and charts. 

Trading Tools: The mobile app also features AvaProtect, Avatrade’s risk management system. This unique trading tool allows ‎clients to purchase protection against losing trades for a specified time, and if a trade is closed during that period any losses will be fully refunded.  

Overall, the AvatradeGO mobile app provides a smooth trading experience with an intuitive dashboard. We also enjoyed the step-by-step tutorial on how to use the app.  

MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5

Avatrade offers MT4 and MT5 available for both Android and iOS. Although there is slightly limited functionality compared to the desktop versions of the platforms, with reduced timeframes and fewer charting options, traders will still have access to analytics with technical indicators, graphical objects, and a full set of trading orders. 

AvaOptions Mobile Application

Unlike most other brokers, Avatrade offers trading on vanilla options. It has also created its own options mobile trading platform. Traders can choose between more than 40 currency pairs, and gold and silver. The platform gives you total control over your portfolio, letting you balance risk and reward to match your market view. We were also pleased to find that Autochartist is integrated into the trading platform. Autochartist is one of the best analysis tools in the industry. 

Overall, Avatrade’s mobile trading support is excellent when compared to other brokers, with the MT4 and MT5 mobile versions available, in addition to the AvatradeGO and AvaOptions trading apps.  

Other Trading Platforms

Avatrade offers a wider range of trading platforms than other brokers, including MT4, MT5, and its own in-house platforms – Avatrade Webtrader and AvaOptions.  

For the purposes of this review, we tested Avatrade’s web trader platform.  When you log in to your account you are immediately redirected to the platform.

Avatrade Webtrader

The webtrader platform requires no downloads or installation and is available for all devices. We found that the web trader has a clean user interface and intuitive design, and is easy to navigate and search for various instruments, making it a great option for beginner traders. There are three chart types, including Line, Bar, and Candlestick charts and you can also access a wide selection of indicators in multiple timeframes. See below:

One drawback is that the platform is not customisable, and traders can’t change the size and position of the tabs.  The platform also does not allow traders to set price alerts and notifications. More advanced traders may prefer MT4 or MT5, both available at Avatrade, which allows traders to customise their indicators, has many more chart types, and algorithmic (or automated) trading.

We were pleased to note that Trading Central, one of the most popular third-party trading tools on the market, is fully integrated into the platform and provides technical insight and instant pattern recognition.

Metatrader 4 (MT4)

We found that like most brokers, the Avatrade MT4 platform is the standard version with 24 graphical objects and 30 built-in indicators. Unlike Avatrade’s proprietary web trader, algorithmic trading is available, and MT4 is fully customisable. 

As you can see below, only the basic orders are available, Market, Limit, Stop, and Trailing Stop:

Metatrader 5 (MT5)

MT5, the newer version of MT4, is also available at Avatrade. The difference between the two platforms is that MT4 is a Forex-only platform, while MT5 allows trading on all the assets available at Avatrade. We recommend using MT5 if you are looking for a more powerful and faster trading platform when it comes to back-testing functionality for automated trading algorithms.  Additionally, traders prefer MT5 for its depth of market display, additional technical indicators, and analytical tools. 

AvaOptions

AvaTrade allows trading on vanilla options. Options trading provides traders with opportunities to benefit from more than just the 2-dimensional nature of Forex trading. Vanilla options are available on more than 40 currency pairs, gold, and silver. Trading options can be a complex undertaking, but the AvaOptions platform simplifies the process. 

Platform Overview:

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Broker

Platform Choice

Copy Trading

Platforms

AvaTrade

4.5/ 5

Yes

MT4

MT5

Avatrade Social

AvaOptions

Pepperstone

5/ 5

Yes

MT4

MT5

cTrader

TradingView

markets.com

4.5/ 5

Yes

MT4

MT5

markets.com

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Opening an Account at AvaTrade

We found Avatrade’s account opening process to be fast and hassle-free compared to most other brokers. 

It took us about 5 minutes to open an account at AvaTrade and once our documentation had been submitted our accounts were ready for trading immediately. We were also pleasantly surprised to receive a phone call from customer service to assist with any troubleshooting issues.

As a South African trader, you are eligible to open an account at Avatrade as long as you meet the minimum deposit requirement of 1900 (100 USD). 

Creating an account is fast and fully digital, and accounts are usually ready for trading in a matter of minutes. 

How to open an account at Avatrade:

1. After clicking on the “Register now” button at the top of Avatrade’s main page we were given the choice to open either a Real or a Demo account. We selected the Real Account option.
   
   
2. We were then directed to Avatrade’s intake form which required us to fill in our name, email address and chose either an individual or joint account.  
   
   
3. Next, we were asked to complete a short form to help Avatrade assess the state of our finances and trading knowledge. Many brokers don’t include this step in the account-opening process, but it is a responsible move in an industry that is often accused of not protecting customers.
   
   
4. Lastly, Avatrade needed at least two documents to accept us as an individual client, these are:

• • Proof of Identification – current (not expired) coloured scanned copy (in PDF or JPG format) of a passport. If no valid passport is available, a similar identification document bearing a photo such as an ID card or driving licence will work.
  • Proof of Address – a Bank Statement or Utility Bill. Please ensure, however, that the documents provided are not older than 6 months and that the trading name and physical address are clearly displayed. Documents can be scanned or sent through as a high-quality digital camera picture.

Once all documents had been received, our account was ready for trading within a matter of minutes. 

Avatrade’s account opening process is fast, hassle-free, and fully digital compared to other similar brokers. 

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Avatrade’s Research and Trading Tools

Avatrade’s market research is average compared to other similar brokers and most of the research is curated by third-party providers. It also offers the services of Trading Central, a world leader in technical and fundamental analysis.  

Research is available through the webtrading platform, the MetaTrader platform, AvaOptions trading platform, and on Avatrade’s website:  

• Trading Central: Trading Central is a third-party company that provides Avatrade’s clients with market insight and trade analysis.  These products are available through Avatrade’s proprietary interfaces (WebTrader and AvaTradeGO) and via notifications (SMS/email/push). The market insight provided by Trading Central helps inform traders’ strategies and trading plans and is created by expert analysts.  The tool helps merge these experts’ views with automated algorithms and offers pattern recognition to trigger trading ideas. Trading Central also delivers a daily strategy newsletter, combining both technical and fundamental research, directly to your inbox. Trading Central also provides an updated news feed for each asset, which also comes with a sentiment score for that asset.  An additional feature of Trading Central is the Trend Analysis, which predicts whether assets will rise and fall and by what percentage.
  
  
• Capitalise.ai: Capitalise.ai provides AI-powered financial services for investors and traders. The platform uses machine learning algorithms to analyze financial data and provide insights for investment decision-making. Some of the services offered by Capitalise.ai include automated trading, portfolio management, and risk analysis.
• Blog: Avatrade also provides a blog covering daily market movements, including relevant news, in addition to a regular market commentary presented in video format.
  
  
• Economic Calendar: Avatrade’s Economic Calendar provides a good selection of fundamental data. It also offers a feature that allows traders to gauge historical volatility and trends, including an “impact” button to see how various prices were affected by certain news updates. Note that traders will have to sign up for an account to view this premium content. 
  
  
• Trading Calculator: Like many brokers, Avatrade offers a trading calculator to help traders calculate the potential profits, losses, and costs of trading.  The calculation outcome will help traders decide if or when to open a position, what margin is required, and what the cost of trading will be.
  
  
• AvaProtect:  This unique trading tool allows ‎clients to purchase protection against losing trades for a specified time, and if a trade is closed during that period, any losses will be fully refunded.  While the AvaProtect feature is active, traders will still be able to benefit from any gains on a position. The cost of AvaProtect changes according to the market and size of the trade.  AvaProtect is also available on the AvaTradeGO App.  Note that this feature is not available on limit orders, only on market orders.

Overall, while Avatrade’s in-house team does not provide as much market analysis as is available at other large international brokers, it provides a good set of third-party tools to help its clients make trading decisions. 

Trading Tools Comparison:

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Broker

Economic Calendar

Autochartist

Trading Central

Trading View

Free VPS

AvaTrade

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

Pepperstone

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

markets.com

No

No

No

No

No

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AvaTrade’s Educational Material

Avatrade provides an excellent selection of educational materials compared to other similar brokers.  The education section caters to both beginner and more experienced traders alike. 

We found that Avatrade’s library of educational materials is world-class and on par with some of the best brokers in the world.  Education comprises trading videos, a trading beginners section, correct trading rules, online trading strategy guides, order types, technical analysis indicators and strategies, economic indicators, market terms, and a free trading e-book.  These materials are in-depth and well-structured and cater to both beginner and experienced traders.  Avatrade also offers a demo account for traders to practice their trading:

• Trading for beginners – The Trading for beginners section gives you all the information you need to tackle Forex and CFD instruments with confidence. In this section, traders can learn about many trading topics, including ‘What is Forex’, ‘What is a pip’, ‘What is Metatrader?’, ‘MACD trading strategies’, ‘How to read a Forex chart’, ‘Technical analysis’, and more.
• Video Education – AvaTrade’s video section is strong and covers many topics, including Advanced Trading Tools, Beginner Lessons, Forex Trading Strategies, etc. The section also cater to both beginners and more experienced traders. 
• Correct Trading Rules: These guides educate traders on how to trade efficiently and master the basics, and progress to more advanced trading techniques and strategies.
• Online Trading Strategies: This section covers various online trading strategies, including day trading, swing trading, and financial instruments.
• Order types: This section covers different market orders, pending orders, and conditional orders used on the financial markets.
• Technical Analysis Indicators and Strategies: CFD and forex traders mainly utilise technical analysis methods in analysing the price changes of their preferred assets. These articles help traders understand price action methods (candlestick types and candlestick patterns, trends, volatility, market cycles, etc.
• Economic Indicators: These articles outline the types of economic indicators and their importance during trading.
• Market Terms for Pros: These guides help traders understand all the relevant key terms, gain further knowledge from more professional sites, and participate in interesting trader-centric forums.
• Ebook – AvaTrade’s Ebook gives traders a good overview of basic Forex terminology and the different groups of currency pairs available. The Ebook also explains how to read a Forex quote and the advantages of Forex trading.
• Demo Account: AvaTrade’s free demo account is a handy tool to practice your trading, test an expert advisor, or acquaint yourself with how Forex trading works. With 100,000 USD in virtual funds, the demo account accurately simulates AvaTrade’s real account but expires after 21 days.

Education Comparison:

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Broker

Beginner Course

Advanced Course

Well Structured Education

Education Quality

Webinars

AvaTrade

Yes

Yes

Yes

High

Yes

Pepperstone

Yes

Yes

Yes

Medium

Yes

markets.com

Yes

Yes

Yes

High

Yes

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Social Trading

We found that AvaTrade offers an excellent and varied social trading experience compared to other brokers. 

We were pleasantly surprised to find that Avatrade offers two copy trading platforms and their own social trading platform:

• Duplitrade, a third-party copy trading platform
• Zulutrade, also a third-party copy trading platform
• AvaSocial, Avatrade’s proprietary social trading platform

Duplitrade: Duplitrade is a popular copy trading platform that can link to the MT4 trading platform. DupliTrade allows traders to automatically duplicate the actions of expert traders (with proven histories) directly into their AvaTrade trading account. However, traders will have to deposit a minimum amount of 2,000 USD to access Duplitrade, way above the required minimum deposit.  We thought this offering was expensive compared to other similar brokers.

Zulutrade: Another firm favourite is Zulutrade, a popular auto trading platform. ZuluTrade converts experienced traders’ recommendations and automatically executes the trades in your AvaTrade account. We also like the fact that although Zulutrade offers automated trading, copy traders can monitor all open positions in real-time and have complete control over their funds. Moreover, copy traders can choose from many experienced and high-ranking traders with many followers.  To open a copy trading account, you should click on “New Account” and select Zulutrade as the trading platform.

AvaSocial: AvaTrade clients can also download the broker’s social and copy trading platform – AvaSocial. Available on iOS and Android devices, the mobile app allows clients to replicate the trades of successful investors. You can opt to manually trade on market signals or follow a fully automated service. In addition, users can interact with other traders via community channels and ask questions on specific strategies, find out more about crypto markets, or seek out a trading mentor, making it an excellent tool for beginner traders.

Overall, Avatrade offers a comprehensive social and copy trading experience compared to other brokers. 

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Avatrade’s Customer Service

We found that Avatrade’s customer service is excellent compared to other similar brokers.

Customer support is available 24/5 for CFD trading, and 24/7 for cryptocurrency trading. In addition, help is available in various languages via email, live chat, and via a local South African telephone number. 

For the purposes of the review, we tested the live chat service and email. Our email was answered within a couple of hours and the answer was relevant and to the point. We found the live chat agents were polite and responsive, and they were able to answer all our questions. After logging into the live chat we were connected to an agent who replied to our message within 30 seconds, as shown below:

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Safety and Industry Recognition

Regulation: Avatrade has a corporate structure composed of multiple regulated entities that operate in different regions across the world, including South Africa, Australia, Cyprus, Japan, Abu Dhabi, and the British Virgin Islands.  See below for more details: 

• Ava Capital Markets Australia Pty Ltd is regulated by the ASIC (No.406684).
• DT Direct Investment Hub Ltd. is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (No. 347/17).
• ATrade Ltd is regulated in Israel by the Israel Securities Authority (No. 514666577).
• Ava Trade Middle East Ltd is regulated by the Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM) Financial Regulatory Services Authority (FRSA) (No.190018).
• Ava Trade Japan K.K. is licensed and regulated in Japan by the Financial Services Agency (License No.: 1662), the Financial Futures Association of Japan (License No.: 1574).
• Ava Capital Markets Pty is authorised and regulated by the South African FSCA (licence number No.45984).
• Ava Trade Ltd is regulated by the British Virgin Islands FSC No. SIBA/L/13/1049.
• AVA Trade EU Ltd is compliant with MiFID and is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland, Reference No.C53877.

Industry Recognition: Besides being regulated by several national authorities, AvaTrade has received widespread industry recognition for its excellent trading conditions and innovations.  Recent awards include:

• Most Trusted Trading Platform Europe 2022 (International Business Magazine)
• Best Mobile Trading Platform 2022 (Investingoal)
• Best Overall Broker 2022 (Daytrading)
• Best Broker UK 2022 (World Economic Magazine)

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Evaluation Method

We value transparency and openness in the way we review the partners. To bring transparency to the forefront, we have published our review process. Central to that process is the evaluation of the broker’s reliability, the broker’s platform offering, and the trading conditions offered to clients, which are summarised in this review. Each one of these is graded on 200+ metrics across seven areas of interest, and an overall score is calculated and assigned to the broker according to the diagram below:

AvaTrade Risk Statement

Trading Forex is risky, and each broker is required to detail how risky the trading of Forex CFDs is to clients. AvaTrade would like you to know that: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Final Word

AvaTrade is one of the best, largest, and most reputable brokers in the world, and for good reason. It offers a wide range of trading platforms, including its award-winning mobile trading app, AvatradeGO. It also offers a world-class selection of trading tools, including Trading Central alongside excellent analytical and education sections. 

Although Avatrade’s trading costs are not the lowest in the industry, traders will find them acceptable. Spreads start at 0.9 pips on the EUR/USD in exchange for a minimum deposit of 1900 ZAR (100 USD).  One major drawback for South African traders considering Avatrade is that they are no longer onboarded through Avatrade’s FSCA-regulated entity, which means that they will not benefit from local protection. 

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FAQ

Is AvaTrade Safe?

Yes. AvaTrade is an internationally, and FSCA-regulated Forex CFD broker.

What is the AvaTrade minimum deposit?

Clients can open a live AvaTrade account with 1900 ZAR (100 USD).

How do I fund my Avatrade account?

Clients can fund accounts using Skrill, Webmoney, Neteller, ETF, and credit cards. Payments will reflect in your trading account between 1-5 days depending on the deposit method.

How can I withdraw money from Avatrade?

Clients can only make withdrawals via payment methods used to fund your account, with the only exception made for clients who are withdrawing earnings and have already made a withdrawal via the original funding method. Withdrawals are typically processed and sent within 1 to 2 business days.

Does AvaTrade have a demo account?

The free AvaTrade demo account has 100,000 USD virtual funds. The account will expire after 21 days, but can be reopened by the support team.

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Editorial Team

 

Chris Cammack
Head of Content

Chris joined the company in 2019 after ten years experience in research, editorial and design for political and financial publications. His background has given him a deep knowledge of international financial markets and the geopolitics that affects them. Chris has a keen eye for editing and a voracious appetite for financial and political current affairs. He ensures that our content across all sites meets the standards of quality and transparency that our readers expect.

 

Alison Heyerdahl
Senior Financial Writer

Alison joined the team as a writer in 2021. She is the Senior Editor for FXScouts.  She has a medical degree with a focus on physiotherapy and a bachelor’s in psychology. However, her interest in forex trading and her love for writing led her to switch careers. She has a passion for Forex trading and over a decade of editorial experience researching Forex and the financial services industry, producing high-quality content. She hosts a weekly podcast, “Let’s Talk Forex,” alongside her colleague, Chris, and has produced over 100 Forex educational videos for the FXScouts YouTube channel. She also writes weekly technical analyses and has tested and reviewed over 100 Forex brokers.

 

Ida Hermansen
Financial Writer

Ida joined our team as a financial writer in 2023. She has a degree in Digital Marketing and a background in content writing and SEO. In addition to her marketing and writing skills, Ida also has an interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks. Her interest in crypto trading led to a wider fascination with Forex technical analysis and price movement. She continues to develop her skills and knowledge in Forex trading and keeps a close eye on which Forex brokers offer the best trading environments for new traders.