Trade.com Broker Review

Trading Fees

Trade.com’s trading fees are higher than other similar brokers.

Like most other brokers, Trade.com offers a range of accounts with higher minimum deposits linked to tighter spreads and increasing account benefits.  All accounts are commission-free, which means trading costs are built into the variable spreads and trading is offered on MT4, MT5, and Webtrader (click here for more on Trade.com’s trading platforms).

Trade.com’s accounts were assessed to compare the costs to those of other brokers. The costs were evaluated based on the trading fees on one lot (100 000 USD) on the EUR/USD, including the spread and commission. 

When making this calculation, we use one lot of EUR/USD as a benchmark as it is the most commonly traded currency pair and it usually has the tightest spread. Unfortunately, Trade.com does not publish the average spreads associated with each account, so our calculations were based on its minimum spreads.  

Trading Cost Formula: Spread x Trade Size + Commission = Cost in Secondary Currency (USD):

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As you can see from the table above, trading costs are included in the variable spreads on each account.  Spreads are variable at Trade.com, meaning that they will get wider or tighter depending on trade volume and market volatility.

The average cost of trading one lot of EUR/USD at similar Forex brokers tends to be 9 USD or lower. Compared to other brokers, Trade.com’s trading fees are significantly higher than average except for its Exclusive Account, where the costs are slightly lower than average – though this account does require a 100,000 USD minimum deposit.

Swap Fees

The other main trading cost to consider is the overnight swap fee. Swap fees are charged on trades held open overnight and is derived from the difference between the interest rates of the two currencies being traded.

The swap charge is calculated as follows: 

a. On the WebTrader platform: Volume * Instrument’s Closing Price * Instrument’s Overnight Swap Charge * Days Held 

b. On the MT4 platform: Volume * Contract Size * Instrument’s Overnight Swap Charge * Tick Size * Days Held  

Unfortunately, Trade.com does not publish the average swap fees on its site.  These can be found within the trading terminal.

Non-trading Fees

Trade.com’s non-trading fees are higher than other similar brokers.

Some of the most overlooked trading costs are the non-trading fees that are charged by brokers.  These fees can significantly affect your profitability and so should be carefully scrutinised. 

While Trade.com does not charge a fee for deposits, it charges high inactivity fees and fees for withdrawals under certain circumstances.  For example, a minimum withdrawal amount of 20 USD applies to all payment methods, excluding bank transfer, where the minimum withdrawal amount is 100 USD.  Withdrawal requests below this amount will incur a charge of 10 USD, excluding bank transfer, where 50 USD will be charged for the wire transfer.

Trade.com charges a monthly fee, of 25 USD if no trading activity has occurred for 90 days or more.  Additionally, if accounts remain inactive for a period exceeding 12 months, an annual inactivity fee of 100 USD (or equivalent) per quarter shall apply, minus any monthly inactivity fees that have already been charged.  

Overall, these fees are significantly higher than those charged by other similar brokers.  

Opening an Account at Trade.com

Trade.com’s account opening process is fully digital and fast.

Traders from South Africa are eligible to open a Trade.com account but will be assessed to ensure they have sufficient trading knowledge and/or experience to understand the risks associated with trading leveraged products. This is a responsible move on the part of the broker to ensure customer protection.  

The account-opening process is as follows:

1. Traders can sign up for an account by clicking on the “Open Account” button.  

2. Clients will be directed to register an account with a password and username.  Traders will also have to select their preferred base currency (click here for more on Trade.com’s base currencies).

3. Trade.com’s intake form requires clients to fill in their email address, name, telephone number, country of residence, and date of birth.  

4. Trade.com then requires prospective traders to answer questions regarding their financial knowledge and level of trading experience, and are required to complete a compliance quiz.

5. In order to verify their identity, individuals are required to submit a copy of their National ID or Passport with the signature page, and a copy of a recent utility bill or bank statement displaying the client’s name and address that is not older than three months.  In order to upload these documents, navigate to the My account section at the top right corner. Go to Upload documents and select the document from your computer. 
6. Once the documents have been uploaded, traders can deposit funds and begin trading.  

We suggest you read Trade.com’s risk disclosure, customer agreement, and terms of business before you start trading. 

Overall, Trade.com’s account-opening process is quick, efficient, and accounts are generally ready for trading within a matter of hours.

Trade.com’s Accounts 

While Trade.com offers more account types than most brokers, most accounts have both higher minimum deposits and higher trading costs than other similar brokers.   

A market maker with 4 instant execution accounts, Trade.com offers trading on multiple assets, including Forex, indices, cryptocurrencies, commodities, bonds, ETFs, and stocks.  

Trading conditions at Trade.com are generally poor, with higher minimum deposit requirements and higher trading costs than other brokers. Spreads average 2.0 pips (EUR/USD) on its entry-level account, which requires a minimum deposit of 100 USD. Most brokers will offer an average spread of 1 pip (EUR/USD) on their entry-level accounts. However, because of the low minimum deposit on this account, it caters to beginner traders.

Beginner traders are inexperienced traders who have never traded before, or who have been trading for less than a year.  Beginner traders often do not want to risk trading large sums of money and generally will not be able to trade full-time during the workweek. Accounts with lower minimum deposits and which allow trading in micro-lots are generally more suited to beginner traders. 

Experienced traders tend to prefer accounts with higher minimum deposits and tighter spreads.  Trade.com’s Exclusive Account appeals to more experienced traders, with a spread of 0.8 pips (EUR/USD), but a minimum deposit of 100,000 USD.  However, these trading costs are still higher than those of other similar brokers. 

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As mentioned above, the entry-level account has higher ongoing costs than similar accounts at other brokers, and Trade.com’s other accounts request very high minimum deposits and don’t deliver the lower ongoing trading costs that more experienced traders would be looking for.

With higher minimum deposits, traders also receive more account benefits. These benefits include a dedicated account manager, premium daily analysis, premium customer support, and access to Trading Central – a third-party analytics service.   Full support is offered for the MT4 and MT5 platforms and Trade.com allows hedging, scalping, and copy trading, but does not offer Islamic swap-free accounts. 

Accounts Types

Four account options are available in addition to the free demo account. Each account tier has an increased minimum deposit and comes with additional features or analysis – as a market maker, no commissions are charged on any account.

• Silver Account – The Silver Account requires a minimum deposit of 100 USD and spreads are reduced to a minimum of 1.9 pips on the EUR/USD. In addition, clients with this account will have access to daily analysis and a dedicated account manager.
• Gold Account – The Gold Account requires a minimum deposit of 10,000 USD but comes with premium daily analysis and access to Trading Central. Spreads on EUR/USD are down to 1.4 pips.
• Platinum Account – The Platinum Account has the same features as the Gold Account, but with premium customer support, spreads of 1.0 pips on the EUR/USD, and a higher minimum deposit of 50,000 USD.
• Exclusive Account – This has all the same features as the Platinum Account but spreads are down to 0.8 pips on the EUR/USD – though the minimum deposit is 100,000 USD, making it inaccessible to most traders.

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Broker

Trading Conditions

Base Currencies

EURUSD (Standard)

Trading Cost (Standard)

EURUSD (Best)

GBPUSD (Best)

USDJPY (Best)

Commission

Trade.com

3.5/ 5

CHF, CZK, EUR, GBP, ZAR, USD, PLN

1.90 pips

USD 19

3.00 pips

3.00 pips

3.00 pips

USD 0

AvaTrade

4.5/ 5

USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, ZAR, CHF

0.90 pips

USD 9

0.90 pips

1.60 pips

1.10 pips

USD 0

Demo Account

Like most brokers, Trade.com offers a free demo account so new traders can get a feel for the trading platforms and an understanding of the assets to trade. Unfortunately, unlike most other brokers, opening a demo account at Trade.com does require registering for a live account first. Once signed up, you’ll receive your login credentials the same day.

Deposits and Withdrawals

Trade.com offers a wide selection of funding and withdrawal methods, but withdrawal fees apply in some circumstances.  

In line with Anti-Money Laundering rules, Trade.com does not process payments to third-party accounts. All withdrawal requests from a trading account will be funded to a bank account or source in the trader’s name.

Trade.com offers a range of account funding and deposit methods, including bank transfer, debit cards/credit cards, and various eWallets (Skrill and Neteller).  Deposits are free on all funding methods and are processed immediately, or within 12 hours.

The minimum withdrawal amount for all methods (excluding the wire transfer) is 20 USD. The minimum withdrawal amount request for wire transfer is 100 USD. Any withdrawal request for an amount below the two mentioned above, will incur handling and processing charges as follows: minimum 10 USD for all methods (excluding wire transfer) and minimum 50 USD for the wire transfer.

Apart from the above restrictions, you will not be charged any deposit/withdrawal fees, as they are all covered by Trade.com.

While the withdrawal fee is clear, this information is found hidden in the terms and conditions. In order to act in the best interest of the client, this information should be more prominently placed and with more emphasis on exact timelines for processing payments.

How to deposit and withdraw funds:

Navigate to My account section at the top right corner. Select Deposit if you want to deposit funds and Withdraw if you want to cash out. Your account must be fully verified before submitting a withdrawal request.

Overall, Trade.com provides a wide selection of deposit and withdrawal methods, but is not transparent about the fees associated with withdrawals or its processing times.  

Base Currencies (Trading Account Currencies)

Trade.com offers a wider range of base currencies than other similar brokers.  

At Trade.com, traders can choose from seven base currencies: USD, GBP, EUR, CHF, CZK, PLN, and ZAR.  This is a broader range than other international brokers.  

While most South African residents will want to have their trading accounts denominated in ZAR, some traders may want to have multiple accounts with different base currencies to avoid paying conversion fees when trading.  Conversion fees can make trading expensive, and are usually not presented on the fee report, but affect profitability.  

For traders that trade in large volumes (more than 10 lots a month), it is better to open an account denominated in USD at a digital currency bank, especially for trading on assets such as the EUR/USD. This is because when trading a USD quoted currency pair with a ZAR account, there will be a small conversion fee for every trade made.

Overall, Trade.com offers more trading account currencies than most other large international brokers, and it offers accounts denominated in ZAR. 

Trading Platforms

Trade.com’s trading platform support is better than other similar brokers, with MT4, MT5, and its proprietary WebTrader platform available.

Trade.com presents traders the choice between the industry-standard MT4 and MT5 products, in addition to its own proprietary WebTrader platform.  

All platform choices are free to use, all can be downloaded to your PC and all have web versions of the platform. All platforms are also available on mobile Android and iOS devices (for more on Trade.com’s mobile platforms, click here).

Metatrader 4

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is still undoubtedly the world’s most popular trading platform for forex traders due to its ease of use, feature-rich environment, and automated trading ability.   Features of Trade.com’s MT4 platform include:

• 30  technical indicators

• 31 graphing objects

• Three chart types

• Nine timeframes

• One-click trading.  

• Traders can also add custom EAs and indicators.

While MT4 has great customizability, the platform feels outdated, and some of the features may be hard to find.  In addition, only the basic orders are available, including Market, Limit, Stop, and Trailing Stop.

MetaTrader 5

The newer version of the MetaTrader platform suite, MT5 is being adopted by more traders all the time.  MT5 incorporates all of the key features of MT4 and an optimised environment for EA trading. 

Features of Trade.com’s MT5 include:

• 38+ preinstalled technical indicators

• 44 analytical charting tools

• 6 pending order types

• 4 order execution types

• Three chart types

• 21 timeframes

• Detachable charts

• Depth of Market

• An integrated Economic Calendar.

The benefit of Trade.com offering third-party platforms such as MT4 and MT5 is that traders can take their own customised version of the platform with them should they choose to migrate to another broker.  Additionally, there are thousands of plugins and tools available for the MetaTrader platforms. 

Trade.com WebTrader

Trade.com offers its own proprietary WebTrader that allows traders to trade on all the financial instruments available at the broker and includes various charting tools and technical indicators. It has an intuitive interface and is easy to use and set up.  One drawback is that automated trading solutions remain unavailable, which is why the broker offers both MT4 and MT5.  Features of Trade.com’s Webtrader include:

•  Access to over 2,100 assets, including forex pairs, cryptocurrencies, global exchanges, and commodities
•  Multi-chart display windows with independent chart functions
•  Web-based with mobile compatibility.
•  Trending tools, Trading Central, Events & Trade.
•  Secure management tools for trading, accounts, and risk management.
•  Style and chart settings including colour, timing, and price action display
• Access to online assistance 24/5

Overall, Trade.com’s platform support is better than other similar brokerages, and it offers its own proprietary trading platform which is easier to use and set up than MT4 and MT5. 

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Broker

Platform Choice

Copy Trading

Platforms

Trade.com

4/ 5

Yes

MT4

MT5

Sirix

AvaTrade

4.5/ 5

Yes

MT4

MT5

Avatrade Social

AvaOptions

Trade.com’s Mobile Trading 

Trade.com‘s mobile trading support is excellent compared to other similar brokers.

The MT4, MT5, and WebTrader applications offer full Trade.com account functionality to offer a seamless transition from the desktop application. These are available on both Android and iOS.  However, traders should be aware that these apps may vary in the number of technical indicators and instruments available to trade, and have different chart types and market analysis tools compared to the desktop versions. 

Trading Tools

Trade.com’s trading tools are limited compared to other similar brokers.

Trade.com’s only trading tool is Trading Central.  This is limited compared to other brokers who offer technical tools such as Autochartist, VPS services, and various copy trading platforms.  

Trading Central

Trading Central is only available on the Gold, Platinum, and Exclusive Accounts.  A third-party tool, Trading Central’s professional analysts use the most advanced technical analysis tools in the industry to curate relevant information. This tool essentially supports traders without the technical know-how in making trading decisions.  Trading Central is one of the most popular trading tools available and provides excellent market analysis.

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Broker

Economic Calendar

Autochartist

Trading Central

Trading View

Free VPS

Trade.com

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

AvaTrade

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

Overall, the number of trading tools available at Trade.com is underwhelming compared to what is offered at other brokers.

Trade.com’s Trading Instruments

Trade.com offers a broader range of tradable assets compared to its competitors.

Trade.com offers trading on Forex, indices, shares, commodities, cryptocurrencies, bonds, and ETFs.

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• Forex pairs: Trade.com offers 55 Forex pairs to trade, including majors, minors, and exotics such as USD/ZAR and ZAR/JPY. This is around the average offered by its closest competitors. Maximum leverage is 1:30 and trading is available on MT4, MT5, and WebTrader.

• Commodities: Trade.com offers trading on 16 commodities, including metals, energies, and softs, which is around the average offered by most other brokers. Maximum leverage on commodities is up to 1:20 and trading is available on all Trade.com’s platforms. 

• Stock CFDs: Trade.com’s stock CFD offering is broader than most of its competitors, with 2000 stock CFDs available to trade, including popular US tech companies, ASX stocks, those listed on the NASDAQ and NYSE, and more. Traders should note that stock CFD trading is available on all platforms.  Leverage is up to 1:5 on stock CFDs.

• Indices: Trade.com offers cash and futures contracts on over 26 international indices, including the NASDAQ, S&P500, FTSE100, and the Nikkei. This is an average range of indices compared to other brokers. Maximum leverage is 1:20 on major indices and 1:10 on minors.  

• Bonds: Trade.com offers trading on 6 bonds, which is an average range compared to most other brokers.  The maximum leverage on bonds is 1:5.  

• ETFs: Trade.com offers trading on over 100 ETFs, a much broader range than most other brokers. Popular ETFs include financial market ETFs, commodity ETFs (for example – gold), sector/industry ETFs and more. Maximum leverage is up to 1:5 on ETFs.   

• Cryptocurrencies: Trade.com offers a reasonably wide range of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Dash Coin, Ripple & Litecoin.  Leverage is limited to 1:2 for cryptocurrencies which is standard for these products, as volatility can be extreme. Spreads on these currencies are variable and are significantly higher than Fiat currencies but in line with other brokers.  Trading is only offered on the Webtrader platform.  

Overall, Trade.com  provides a broader range of tradable assets than most other brokers. 

Educational Material

Trade.com’s educational materials are virtually non-existent, making it a poor choice for beginner traders.  

Additionally, only with a minimum deposit of 10,000 USD can traders access the services of Trading Central.  It is clear that Trade.com does not cater to beginner traders or those who want to test its services with a low initial deposit.  

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Broker

Beginner Course

Advanced Course

Well Structured Education

Education Quality

Webinars

Trade.com

No

No

No

Low

No

AvaTrade

Yes

Yes

Yes

High

Yes

Analysis material

Trade.com’s analysis materials are severely limited compared to other similar brokers.  

Trading Central is available for Gold, Platinum, and Exclusive Account levels, along with the premium market analysis. Lower deposit accounts will need to survive with a daily market analysis email and a news feed that is aggregated from other news sources.

Customer support

Support is available via live chat and email from Sunday 22:00 GMT till Friday 22:00 GMT – 24/5. A dealing desk phone number is available for making traders when away from the computer, but this number does not offer any technical support.

For the purposes of this review, we found the customer support generally unresponsive.