Oanda prides itself in over 25 years of offering its clients access to the global financial markets. Its product catalog includes CFDs and forex to increase opportunities available for its clients in the financial markets. Although it has its headquarters in the US, Oanda reaches over 196 countries, with licenses and regulations from top-tier regulators in different regions like the UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and Japan.
Pros
- Innovative and user-friendly trading platforms
- Superior research tools
- Registered and regulated by top-tier institutions
- Accepts clients in the US
Cons
- Financial products are CFDs and forex only
- Negative balance protection is unavailable for US Clients
- Charges many fees
Dr. Stumm & Dr. Olsen actualized their Oanda idea in 1996, describing it as a platform that does “all things currency.” Over the years, Oanda grew from offering currency conversion services to what it is now – a global CFD and FX brokerage. The main headquarters are in the US, from where it spreads into different regions.
Regulations and account protection offerings are administered in different degrees. For example, clients in the US have no negative balance protection while those in the European region enjoy ESMA-mandated negative balance protection. Multiple regulatory bodies from the different areas where Oanda offers its services regulate the broker to be safe for all its clients.
This award-winning broker allows clients to trade CFDs of all financial instruments as well as FX. As a result, clients worldwide can trade a robust market product selection, except US clients limited to trading FX.
Regulation
Oanda supports oversight from regulatory bodies, and it’s compliant with all the protection guidelines that the institutions provide. Customer funds are separated from company funds and put away in top-tier bank accounts for their protection.
The broker is regulated in different regions by different oversight bodies as follows.
- In the United States, Oanda is registered by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer (RFED). It’s also part of the National Futures Association (NFA) as a Forex Dealer Member (FDM) under registration No. NFA 0325821.
- In Europe, the Financial Conduct Authority authorizes and regulates the Oanda Europe Limited under license No. 542574.
- In Canada, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization (IIROC) oversees Oanda (Canada) Corporation ULC.
- In Australia, Oanda Australia Pty Ltd is supervised by the top-tier Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) under license AFSL No. 412981 and ABN 26 152 088 349.
- In Asia-Pacific, Oanda Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd gets it’s licensing from Singapore by the Monetary Authority of Singapore under license No. CMS100122-4. The International Enterprise Singapore also licenses it to trade commodity CFD under license No. OAP/CBL/2012.
Account Types
Oanda allows its clients to access the markets in three different account types. These are standard, core, and swap-free. Each of these accounts has other spreads and commissions charged.
| Standard account | Core account | Swap-free account |
| Trading tools available — 60 Spread — 1 pip The commission per lot — $0 Leverage — 200:1 Base currencies — USD, HKD, EUR, & SGD Minimum order size — 0.01 lots Acceptance criteria — Anyone can open an account Best for all traders | Trading tools available — 38 Spread — 0.2 Commission per lot — $40 Leverage — 200:1 Base currencies — USD, HKD, EUR, & SGD Minimum order size — 0.01 lots Acceptance criteria — $5000 minimum account balance Best for expert advisors and scalpers | Trading tools available — 26 Spread — 1.6 The commission per lot — $0 Leverage — 200:1 Base currencies — USD Minimum order size — 0.01 lots Acceptance criteria — Account available upon request to Oanda Best for traders who do not wish to pay or receive any interest on their account |
How to open an Oanda account?
Creating an Oanda account takes less than 10 minutes. The only downside is that they take a long time before approving it. You can open your account in four simple steps.
Step 1. Choose a unique username and a strong password.
Step 2. Fill in your basic information on the provided application form.
Step 3. Provide answers to the appropriateness test given. Try to answer to the best of your knowledge.
Step 4. Upload the required documents for verification and for the account to be approved.
At this point, you’ll be opening a standard account. If you wish, you can upgrade your account once you meet the requirements. Also, you may not be needed to verify your account right away as long as your cumulative deposit is below $9000.
Fees and Commissions
Oanda keeps all its fees transparent so that clients know how much they are expected to pay while trading with the broker.
Like other brokerages at its level, Oanda generates its revenue from trading and non-trading fees. The trading fees are mostly spread. Oanda monitors global prices using an automated machine for best and competitive prices and generates spreads that resonate with the market’s volatility and liquidity.
The pricing model at Oanda offers clients two options in their different account types. These pricing models are:
- Spread only
The commission is integrated with the spread such that the only fee you pay is the spread.
- Core pricing + commission
The spread is far reduced, and then a fixed commission is applied. The core pricing spreads start at 0.0 pips, and the commission payable is $50 per 1M.
In general, Oanda’s forex fees are low, and the CFD fees are average in comparison to other brokers like FXCM. Non-trading fees are also moderate.
Other fees include:
- Inactivity fees
A fee of $10/month applies for all inactive accounts after 12 months for US clients and 24 months for other clients.
- Deposit fees
Oanda charges no deposit fees for all deposit methods.
- Withdrawal fees
Wire transfer withdrawals attract a $20 fee on all transactions. Other withdrawal methods are free.
- Overnight charges
Positions held past 5 pm (ET) incur an overnight financing charge.
Payment options
Oanda’s deposit and withdrawal processes are uncomplicated. You can deposit, withdraw, and transfer funds to your other Oanda accounts by visiting the transfers section on your account.
Deposit
Oanda accepts deposits from these methods:
- Debit/credit cards
- Wire transfer
- Bank transfer
- E-wallets (Skrill and Neteller)
Withdrawals
Oanda is keen on hierarchy rules when withdrawing funds. You should withdraw funds to the same method you used to deposit. If you use multiple methods, the hierarchy rules apply.
For example, suppose you made the first deposit through a bank transfer. In that case, a second deposit using a debit card, and then the third deposit using Skrill, your withdrawal process will start by withdrawing the amount deposited by bank transfer to the bank, then the amount deposited by card to the card, and then the amount deposited by Skrill to Skrill.
You can withdraw your funds using any of these methods:
- Debit/debit card
- Bank wire transfer
- E-wallets (Skrill and Neteller)
Available Markets
Oanda’s markets have over 100 trading instruments, including FX currency pairs, indices, commodities, Bitcoin, and precious metals. It doesn’t have individual offerings on stocks, EFTs, or cryptocurrencies, limiting the opportunities investors have to trade on the market.
- Forex
You can trade 38 currency pairs, which include all the major and minor pairs. Forex-based CFDs have spreads starting from 1 pip on major pairs like USD/JPY and EUR/USD.
- Indices
Clients on Oanda have access to significant indices globally, such as Germany 30, UK 100, and France 40. The Indices CFDs have competitive spreads starting from 1.1 pips on Germany 30 and 1 pip on the UK 100.
- Commodities
Trade on the commodity CFDs with tight spreads. For example, Brent crude oil is tradable with spreads starting from 3.3 pips. The popular commodities include corn, wheat, sugar, natural gas, soybeans, and West Texas oil.
- Precious metals
Popular metals on Oanda are gold, silver, and copper. Spreads for gold start from 25 cents, while those for silver start from 150 cents. Copper prices are used to indicate industrial activity as it is a base metal for most industrial uses.
- Bitcoin
Trade Bitcoin CFDs on Oanda with spreads starting from $100 and a margin rate of 10%. Other cryptocurrencies are yet to be introduced on the broker.
Trading Platforms
Oanda offers its clients services through its platform known as fxTrade. It’s available in about ten languages, including Russian, Chinese, Portuguese, Japanese, Italian, German, Spanish, French, and English.
The platform has an innovative design, highly customizable to suit your style. Oanda beefs up the platform’s security through a 2-step login so that the account is not accessible with a password only. Clients have access to professional functionality while trading Forex and CFDs on Oanda’s award-winning platform.
The fxTrade platform is also available in desktop and mobile versions.
Oanda’s clients also have access to the powerful Meta Trader platforms – MetaTrader 4 & MetaTrader 5. These two platforms are highly customizable to meet the client’s trading needs. The MT5 is an improved version of the MT4, so most features are similar, with only slight improvements.
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | MetaTrader 5 (MT5) |
| The MT4 platform is available in the web, mobile, and desktop versions for easy accessibility. It has a highly customizable interface to view up to 4 charts on the mobile app. The desktop platform has many plug-ins for easy layout customization. Other features include: 9 timeframes 30 inbuilt technical indicators 24 analytical tools 4 pending order types One-click trading Premium MT4 tools | The MT5 platform allows clients to experience next-generation trading because of its advanced tools and top-notch trading capabilities. Other features include: Inbuilt depth of market Autochartist Automated trading strategies 21 timeframes 6 pending order types 38 inbuilt indicators 44 analytical tools |
These platforms are all accessible on the web, desktop, and mobile platforms. Each of these platforms allows traders to experience the market through their available features.
Desktop platform
- Over 10 chart types, including advanced types like Kagi and Renki
- Over 50 drawing tools
- 10 chart layout types
- Up-to-date market news
- Customizable charts
Web platform
- 65+ technical indicators
- 100+ drawing tools like Pitchforks and Elliot Waves
- Risk management tools like stop-loss orders
- 100+ leading edge chart types
- Up-to-the-minute leading market news
Mobile platform
- Market sentiments mobile alerts
- Customizable interface
- 50+ chart styles
- Economic Calendar for market events and updates
Features
The different features on Oanda are essential for a great trading experience. These features include:
- Charts
There are over 70 indicators on Oanda that are crucial for editing and customizing charts
- News
You can find news on “Economic Analysis,” “Market Pulse,” and “News” pages on the trading platforms
- Algolab
This feature allows you to design, code, and implement trading strategies on the Web platform
- Forex order book tool
It’s a tool that summarizes all open orders and trade positions by a client
- Currency heat map
It shows the changes on a FX pair. These changes are shown in percentages
Education
Oanda has great educational tools like a demo account, webinars, videos, tutorials, and articles. The webinars and videos are high quality, covering the most fundamental topics to give new traders a good start. All the webinars are available to Oanda customers.
Oanda also has the MarketPulse, which contains the latest articles, videos, and podcasts on the market news and global news likely to affect the markets. According to the Economic Calendar, these materials contain information about the markets, forex news, upcoming events according to this calendar, and technical analysis insights.
On the downside, the materials are not organized on the site to follow them easily. You’ll find most materials in different places on the platform.
Customer Support
Oanda’s customer service is available to help customers 24/5, from Sunday 1 pm EST to Friday 6 pm EST. You can reach them via phone, email, and a live chat with an agent or a bot.
The live chat gets a response within a minute or two, and you’ll get relevant answers to your queries. If you choose to chat with a bot, you may not get answers to all your questions.
The response time for a phone call is about three minutes, and the agent answers all your questions relevantly. Emails take about 2 hours before you get a response.
Review Summary
Oanda is a well-established FX broker, suitable for both amateur and experienced traders. The powerful MT4 and MT5 platforms will give you a rich trading experience. You can use the demo account to familiarize yourself with the platform so that you can trade confidently.
On the flip side, Oanda’s product range limits you to trading forex pairs and CFDs on other instruments only. Even though Oanda offers negative balance protection, it’s only available for clients in the European Union.
