Oanda Review

OANDA

OANDA

www.oanda.com

  • Leverage: 50:1

  • Regulation: CFTC, NFA, FCA, MAS, ASIC, IIROC, FFAJ

  • Min. Deposit: no minimum deposit

  • HQ: USA

  • Platforms: Oanda trade, MT4, MT5

  • Found in: 1996

OANDA Licenses

Top 3 Forex Brokers

  1. What is OANDA?
  2. OANDA Pros and Cons
  3. Awards
  4. Is OANDA Safe or a Scam?
  5. Leverage
  6. Accounts
  7. Fees
  8. Spreads
  9. Trading Instruments
  10. Deposits and Withdrawals
  11. Trading Platform
  12. Customer Support
  13. Education
  14. Conclusion

Our Review Method

  • 55Brokers Financial Experts with over 10 years of experience in Forex Trading check all trading offerings, fees, and platforms, verified regulations, contacted customer service, and placed traders to see trading conditions and give expert opinions about OANDA.

What is OANDA?

OANDA is a technology-driven financial services corporation and a Forex and CFD Broker founded back in 1996 in the United States, with a belief that the internet would open the markets with fair access to everyone for data and trading. OANDA stood as the first company with comprehensive currency exchange information presented online and the one that supported the development of currency trading in 2001.

The broker has grown into a global corporation with offices in 8 financial centers (USA, Canada, UK, Japan, Singapore, and Australia), that serves clients from about 200 countries, maintained support in 9 languages, and follows strict regulations of 6 major authorities.

What Type of Broker is OANDA?

We found that OANDA is a market maker and highly regulated broker providing access to more than 50 technical tools, including 32 overlay indicators, 11 drawing tools, and 9 chart types. The broker offers a wide range of global CFD instruments, including indices, Forex, cryptocurrencies, shares, commodities, and metals.

OANDA Pros and Cons

OANDA is a reliable broker with among history of operation and strong establishment, an excellent reputation, and numerous regulations. There is no minimum deposit requirement and professional education section, making OANDA great for beginning traders. There is a range of trading tools, proprietary software, and industry-leading tools provided with low costs and spreads. Also, OANDA is one of the largest and heavily regulated broker with high trust and great trading offering overall, so Broker might be suitable for various traders including US Traders.

For the Cons, OANDA conditions are different depending on the entity and regulation rules and some withdrawals add on fees.

AdvantagesDisadvantages
Heavily regulated broker with a strong establishmentConditions and offering vary depending on the entity and regulations
Wide range of trading platforms and competitive trading conditionsNo 24/7 support
Great trading tools and trading technology Some withdrawals add on fees
Good quality educational materials, and excellent research
Quality customer support with live chat and fast response
Global expands across Europe, Asia, and America

OANDA Official Website

OANDA Review Summary in 10 Points
🏢 HeadquartersUSA with official entities in Canada, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia
🗺️ RegulationCFTC, NFA, FCA, MAS, ASIC, IIROC, FFAJ
📉 InstrumentsForex and CFD trading, over 100 instruments, including currency pairs, indices, commodities, bonds and metals, futures trading, commodities futures
🖥 PlatformsOanda trade, MT4, MT5
🎮 Demo AccountIncluded
💰 Base currenciesEUR, USD, GBP, AUD, CAD, CHF, HKD, JPY, SGD
💳 Minimum depositNo minimum requirement
💰 EUR/USD Spread1.2 pips
📚 EducationEducation materials designed by the level
☎ Customer Support24/5

Overall OANDA Ranking

Based on our findings, OANDA’s reliability and trust are confirmed also by the leading global brands who choose OANDA as their partner, including the biggest world organizations Google, KPMG, TESLA, Airbnb, FedEx, IATA, PWC, Twitter, Expedia, and more.

As a financial corporation with an exchange and currency background, OANDA performs additional apart from trading solutions, that diversify the broker’s businesses and include OANDA Money Transfer and OANDA’s Forex solutions for business.

  • OANDA Overall Ranking is 8.9 out of 10 based on our testing and compared to over 500 brokers, see Our Ranking below compared to other industry Leading Brokers.
RankingOANDAPepperstoneXM
Our Ranking⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
AdvantagesTrading ConditionsPlatformsLow Deposit

OANDA Alternative Brokers

We learned that OANDA offers a range of trading instruments, good trading conditions, and also low trading spreads and fees. However, there are a number of other brokers that offer similar services. Here are some of the best alternatives to OANDA:

  • FXTM – Wide Range of Trading Instruments
  • FxPro – Competitive Trading Conditions
  • IG – Good for CFD Trading

Awards

OANDA’s commitment to democratizing the global financial markets has been recognized throughout industry publications and organizations by its multiple awards within the industry. Oanda clients also have voted the company as number one in customer service, value for money, and overall client satisfaction on a yearly basis.

OANDA Review Awards

Is OANDA Safe or Scam?

No, OANDA is not a scam. OANDA as a heavily regulated company is potentially safe to trade with, as its every step and action is strictly overseen and complied with the operational guidelines. OANDA holds licenses from world-recognized top-tier authorities and is established according to the United States CFTC and NFA regulations with additional regulation from FCA, ASIC, and more.

Is OANDA Legit?

OANDA Corporation is actually heavily regulated and authorized by various government agencies due to its global presence and coverage of various jurisdictions.

  • Regulatory regimes and requirements in each jurisdiction are slightly different but all in all, adhere to the same purpose of customer protection and transparency within the market offering.

See our conclusion on OANDA Reliability:

  • Our Ranked OANDA Trust Score is 8.9 out of 10 for good reputation and service over the years, also reliable top-tier licenses, and serving regulated entities in each region it operates. The only point is that regulatory standards and protection vary based on the entity.
OANDA Strong PointsOANDA Weak Points
Regulated by several reputable authoritiesRegulatory regime is different in each jurisdiction thus the offering
Long history of operation and high rankings
Established according to the United States CFTC and NFA regulation
Additional regulation from FCA, ASIC, IIROC, MAS, and FFAJ
Negative balance protection

How Are You Protected?

We learned that all customer funds, according to the regulations are kept in top-tier bank accounts and are fully segregated, as well as protected by negative balance protection. Within the trading process, Oanda manages currency exposure and risk while using risk management technology, which net aggregate client positions automatically and anonymously, aggregates positions above predefined which are immediately hedged.

OANDA Review License

Leverage

OANDA fxTrade platform supports margin trading, which means you can trade positions larger than your account balance. The advantage of margin-based trading is that you can leverage the funds in your account and potentially generate large profits relative to the amount invested, however, the downside is that you have an equal opportunity to incur losses in your account. Meaning leverage involves high risks.

So you should apply in good practice to utilize stop loss orders and limit leverage on particular potential losses. However, in Oanda policy Stop Loss orders are not guaranteed.

The maximum Oanda leverage allowed is determined by the regulators in each geographic region. You may always choose to be conservative and limit leverage utilized to lower levels than allowed by the regulators:

  • US regulator requires 50:1 leverage on Forex instruments,
  • European ESMA regulation demands a maximum of 30:1
  • Australian clients may still apply to a leverage 30:1
  • International and professional traders can access high leverage

Account Types

At OANDA there is no difference between clients, that’s why the broker does not differ in the types of account and features only one standard type of trading account. However, the client turns to the Premium client at a $50K minimum deposit and gets tailoring requirements, custom pricing, and tighter spreads.

ProsCons
Fast digital account openingAccount types and proposal may vary according to jurisdiction
Single Account feature
No Minimum deposit
Free deposits
9 base currencies EUR, USD, GBP, AUD, CAD, CHF, HKD, JPY, SGD
Active Trader account for high-volume trading

How to Open OANDA Live Account?

Opening an account with OANDA is quite easy and fast. Traders need to cover several steps for that.

  • Apply for a live trading account (provide relevant information)
  • Fund the account

After completing these steps, traders will be able to start trading with the broker.

OANDA Review Open an Account

Trading Instruments

Based on our findings, OANDA offers an advanced range of trading instruments including Forex and CFD trading, over 100 instruments, including currency pairs, indices, commodities, bonds and metals, futures trading, and commodities futures. The broker also offers corporate FX payments and exchange rate services for a wide range of organizations and investors.

  • OANDA Markets Range Score is 9.2 out of 10 for wide trading instrument selection among Forex, Indices, Cryptos, Shares, and more.

OANDA Review Trading Instruments

OANDA Fees

We found that OANDA trading proposals lead to the trade of over 100 instruments with no minimum deposit requirement or trade size, no added commissions, with the costs based only on the spread, which is in fact quite competitive.

The overnight fee which you are going to pay in case the order is held longer than a day is defined by the instrument you trade and is visible upon opening of trade.

  • OANDA Fees are ranked low with an overall rating of 8.9 out of 10 based on our testing and compared to over 500 other brokers. Fees might be different based on entity offering, see our findings of fees and pricing in the table below, however, OANDA overall fees are considered good.

FeesOanda FeesPepperstone FeesXM Fees
Deposit feeNoNoNo
Withdrawal feeNoNoNo
Inactivity feeYesNoYes
Fee rankingLowLowAverage

Spreads

OANDA spread is calculated through an OANDA platform which is electronically connected to numerous global banks that access the most accurate foreign exchange and CFD rates in case you trade Forex or CFD instruments. As we found, the Standard account spreads starting from 1.3 pips, VIP already lowers it to 1.3 pips and ECN spreads starting from 0 pips while charges are combined into the commission of 3.5$ per side.

Apart from live quotes you may find information about the historical spread on a particular asset or instrument, which can be very useful for you to understand the price policy of the Oanda and get knowledge on how the spread is influenced by the volatile market conditions.

  • OANDA Spreads are ranked low with an overall rating of 8.8 out of 10 based on our testing comparison to other brokers. We found Forex spread much lower than the industry average, and spreads for other instruments are very attractive too.
Asset/ PairOANDA SpreadPepperstone SpreadXM Spread
EUR USD Spread1.2 pips0.77 pips1.6 pips
Crude Oil WTI Spread4 pips2.3 pips5 pips
Gold Spread25.30.1335
BTC USD Spread51.731.3960

OANDA Review Spread

Deposits and Withdrawals

We found that it is simple to deposit and withdraw funds to and from the account. You can deposit, withdraw and transfer funds between your OANDA accounts from the “Transfers” section of your portal.

However, various jurisdictions due to tax and laws allow some of the payment methods, while others may be prohibited to use.

  • OANDA Funding Methods we ranked good with an overall rating of 8.5 out of 10. The minimum deposit is among average in the industry, yet fees are either none or very small also allowing to benefit from various account-based currencies, yet deposit options vary on each entity.

Here are some good and negative points for OANDA funding methods found:

OANDA AdvantageOANDA Disadvantage
Wide range of deposit options including Credit/Debit Cards, Skrill, Neteller, and moreWithdrawal fee for bank transfers
No minimum depositConditions vary depending on the entity
No internal fees for deposits and withdrawals
Multiple Account Base Currencies
Withdrawal requests confirmed within 1-2 business days

Deposit Options

In terms of funding methods, OANDA offers numerous payment methods which are a very good plus, yet check according to its regulation whether the method is available or not.

  • Credit/Debit cards
  • Bank Wire
  • Skrill
  • Neteller
  • PayPal

OANDA Minimum Deposit

The Oanda applied no minimum deposit requirement rule, yet you should calculate the needed amount to deposit in order to cover trading fees and margins, where each is defined by the instrument you trade.

OANDA minimum deposit vs other brokers

OANDA Most Other Brokers
Minimum Deposit $0 $500

OANDA Review Funding

OANDA Withdrawals

We found that withdrawal options vary based on the company division. Most often transactions are performed via Bank Wire Transfer, or Credit card with a $0 withdrawal fee for the first request within a month. Yet, if you wish to withdraw more funds, it may incur additionally applicable to various jurisdictions’ fees.

How Withdraw Money from OANDA Step by Step:

  1. Login to your account
  2. Select Withdraw Funds’ in the menu tab
  3. Enter the withdrawn amount
  4. Choose the withdrawal method
  5. Complete the electronic request with necessary requirements
  6. Confirm withdrawal information and Submit
  7. Check the current status of withdrawal through your Dashboard

Withdrawal Fees Conditions

OANDA Review Withdrawal

Trading Platforms

Based on our research, OANDA provides access to the fully customizable MT4 and MT5 platforms, and also an award-winning fxTrade mobile app. OANDA’s technology and software offering tighter spreads and custom platforms across premium offerings and automation of trading strategies.

OANDA accounts have also access to the NinjaTrader 8 trading platform trading platform known for Futures trading, which is also an advantage for the broker.

  • OANDA Platform is ranked Excellent with an overall rating of 8.9 out of 10 compared to over 500 other brokers. We mark it as excellent being one of the best proposals we saw in the industry, and a great range including MT4, and MT5 suitable for professional trading. Also, all are provided with good research and excellent tools.
Trading Platform Comparison to Other Brokers:
PlatformsOANDA PlatformsPepperstone PlatformsXM Platforms
MT4YesYesYes
MT5YesYesYes
cTraderNoYesNo
Own PlatformYesYesYes
Mobile AppsYesYesYes

Web Trading Platform

We learned that OANDA uses a proprietary platform Oanda Trade, which can be classified as “easy to use trading functionality” and has won many awards along with numerous highest traders’ regards.

OANDA’s platform supports Web Trading, Desktop Trading, and Mobile Trading Apps, while Web Trading allows easy access via any browser.

Desktop Platform

Full suit and powerful capabilities are available via the desktop platform where  Oanda Trade Web provides access across trading functionality, including advanced charting tools, chart pattern recognition, institutional quality backtesting, and a stream of financial news from leading providers.

Overall, the platform indeed can be classified as best in its class and definitely will be enjoyed by various level traders.

However, if you prefer MetaTrader4 it is still an option with OANDA too, furthermore platform includes all favors of exceptional execution, competitive spreads, full support of EAs including hedging scopes, and the possibility to install pattern MT4 plugin for technical analysis.

OANDA Review Trading Platforms

Customer Support

Another good point to admit is the customer service and support OANDA provides, through OANDA’s help portal you will find not only relative answers to common questions but is multilingual supported by Live chat, email, and international lines available almost in every country worldwide.

The only gap could be the availability of customer support 24/5, yet you can leave your concern and the support team will contact you once available.

  • Customer Support in OANDA is ranked good with an overall rating of 8.5 out of 10 based on our testing. We got fast and knowledgeable responses, also quite easy to reach during the working days.

See our find and ranking on Customer Service Quality:

ProsCons
Quick responsesNo 24/7 customer support
Relevant answers
Live Chat and phone lines
Support of international languages

OANDA Education

Based on our research, we found that the broker has quite an impressive educational section, which will enable newbie traders to gain knowledge and find their way in the market easily. OANDA education materials and webinars are divided into levels and are designed both for beginners and professional traders.

There is a full range of trading tools including analysis reports and advanced charts powered by Trading View. You can also count on the economic overlay and other essential research tools that are useful to your successful trading experience.

  • OANDA Education ranked with an overall rating of 9.5 out of 10 based on our research. The broker provides very good quality educational materials, and excellent research also cooperates with market-leading providers of data.

Oanda Review Education

OANDA Review Conclusion

Concluding the OANDA review, we admit a safe broker to trade with reliable trading solutions. OANDA has very attractive features such as no minimum deposit, pricing transparency, great technical optimization, and a variety of tools. It is becoming clear why the broker gained high trust and popularity among the traders’ community.

The fact that the company stands and operates on a strong background of reliable and successful operation and suitable offerign for various traders including professional and regular size traders, so it all definitely adds another advantage to OANDA.

Based on Our findings and Financial Expert Opinions OANDA is Good for:

  • Beginners
  • Advanced traders
  • Professional Trading
  • Traders who prefer MT4 and MT5
  • NinjaTrader for Futures Trading
  • Currency and CFD trading
  • Variety of trading strategies
  • Algorithmic or API traders
  • Low fees and competitive spreads
  • Good customer support
  • Excellent educational materials
  • Quality Research
Jamie Ferguson From United States | | Friday, October 8, 2021

This company is terrible. They will not return your deposits. I have filed a complaint with the NFA and the CFTC. It may takes months to get the deposit back. STAY AWAY FROM THE THIEVES!!!

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12 responses to “OANDA”

  1. Am from Nigeria and I tried to create an account I was told that my region can’t create, why are we restricted? Are we not part of the world?… Please enable us partake what others are benefiting from oanda trading system, am pleading

  2. Hi l would like to open an account with you guys but lm Wondering if you accept iti number so l can create an account

  3. Hola buen día, tengo dos preguntas, la primera ¿puedo abrir una cuenta desde Ecuador? Y la segunda Oanda dispone de cuenta demo?

    • Dear David,

      Yes, you can open OANDA account from Kenya. You just need to go to its website and click “open a trading account”, choose your country and proceed with the application.

  4. Hi.. Im from Philippines.. Can i join or make a live account for forex trading? I want more information about withdrawals from trade account. By how long or extent is the transaction period time of withdrawals to be done in order to be reached to my local bank which i linked to my trade account or live account? May you explain also the negative balanced how it is happened?

    Thank you very much!

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