OANDA Review

Strengths

1) OANDA Customer Service

In 2018, OANDA won the customer service from Investment Trends in the USA. This is an award voted by active traders in America based on several categories. While they won customer service in the USA, in Australia they have not won since 2016.

OANDA offers customer support 24 hours, five days a week with e-mail, live chat and phone support for Australian forex traders. They also offer Australian forex traders with the opportunity to read the resident blog with Forex Lab Notes on next- generation trading technology, product design and innovation in the forex trading Australia market.

2) Execution Speed Of Orders

OANDA offers a 100% fully automatic platform with no dealer desk intervention maximising the execution speed of trades.

Australian forex traders are offered tools to protect themselves from slippage with the option to set upper and lower bounds to manage fluctuation, set take-profit orders and stop-loss orders to manage downwards risk. Their servers are some of the fastest in the world, with 98% of trades executed in less than 0.012 seconds, according to the data collected by March 2020. They ensure there are no re-quotes with all orders executed at market prices and no automated rejections occur, unlike some other brokers.

Typically, OANDA uses price improvement technology to give forex traders an advantage in the market. It sources the best prices from within the liquidity pool to ensure that clients get the best execution prices on every trade. The systems also have the capacity to review voluminous trade data every second. In this manner, OANDA guarantees ultra-fast and intelligent routing of forex trades. The technology will also provide optimal prices in the fast and highly volatile foreign exchange market.

3) Low Spreads & Fees

A key strength found in this OANDA review was their low fees based on their two main accounts:

Spread Only Pricing

This is the default when a forex trader opens a live account on either the OANDA or MT4 forex trading platform. There are no commissions added to these spreads helping calculate brokerage. It’s ideal for those new to forex trading.

Below you can observe Oanda’s real-time spreads. Additionally, this online broker also gives you access to 7-day historical spreads (accessed directly on Oanda.com), for a better assessment of their spread offering.

Core Pricing

This is the preferred choice for experienced forex traders. It attracts a commission of $5.0 ($10.0 round-turn) for 100k traded, but on the plus side, there are tighter market-based spreads. This account must be requested after opening a live account.

1) Trial Plan

This plan gives clients a free 30- day trial. New clients are encouraged to use this plan to access OANDA’s API to request a maximum of 1000 exchange rates for up to 190 currencies.

2) Premium Plan

The Premium Plan costs $400 a month. On this plan clients get 100 000 monthly daily ask rates, mid and average bids and rates for over 190 precious metals and currencies, among others.

The average spreads on EUR/USD over a 7-day period is around 1.2 pips, but in the figure below we can observe how during news events the EUR/USD spread can go as high as 10 pips or even more.

3) Advanced Plan

This plan costs $750 for which clients receive unlimited monthly quotes, period low, high and average rates, phone support and access to the sales engineer for additional integration assistance, among other unique benefits.

On all plans, there is immediate rate settlement, so there is no delay in accessing your funds.

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OANDA Weakness – Leverage

Oanda offers different levels of leverage, which are based on local regulatory norms. For example:

• Oanda Europe offers maximum leverage of 30:1
• Oanda Australia offers maximum leverage of 100:1
• Oanda Singapore offers maximum leverage of 20:1
• Oanda Canada offers maximum leverage of 20:1

The biggest issue that advanced Australian forex traders have with OANDA is the maximum leverage offered, which is 100:1. Some currency pairings have even lower leverage, including 50:1 and down to 20:1 for some exotics.

While not all traders need such high leverage for trading, many traders do like to trade with higher leverage as it can greatly increase your profits. Forex pairs only change by a small amount most of the time, so without leverage, it can be hard to achieve significant profits. Trading with high leverage can help make forex more profitable.

While trading with high leverage can increase profits, it does come with risks. Leverage instruments can lead to significant loses if movements are price unfavourable, so it is important to ensure you understand the risks with trading with leveraged instruments.

What Else Should I Know About OANDA?

a) The Trading Platform

OANDA uses MetaTrader 4, the most popular platform in the world. It also has its own OANDA trading platform that in 2018 won the FX awards for the best platform.

At Oanda, forex traders can choose to trade on the proprietary trading platform fxTrade using 3 versions:

• Desktop platform
• Web-based trading platform
• Mobile Apps

For forex traders that are looking for an opportunity to develop their own trading app/software, a Representational State Transfer (REST) application programming interface. OANDA provides this API free of charge to developers and clients who need to build trading strategies and apps on top of OANDA’s award-winning trading platform.

Traders can also use the API to trade through their fxTrade accounts. If you need the API for purposes other than trading, or if you wish to partner with OANDA, you only need to send an email to the support team.

b) The Mobile Trading Options

OANDA has created fxTrade Mobile 3.2 to help traders work from their mobile devices. This is the latest version of OANDA developed native apps for Android, iPad, and iPhone devices. It also comes with new technical overlays and indicators, vertical pinch- to- zoom functionality and additional chart types.

Apart from helping traders draw trend lines, the app can be used to identify resistance and support levels and other common chart patterns. The features have also been designed to allow traders to analyse technical data on currencies, financial instruments, and other variables anywhere they roam.

The release of this mobile platform speaks to OANDA’s focus on continuous development and improvement. The company has maintained its lead in mobile forex trading capabilities and taken these capabilities to higher steps. Essentially, the mobile apps are at par with the desktop version of the trading platform. Oanda trading Apps support the same advanced charting capabilities as the desktop platform.

From the feedback OANDA reviews from clients (and their mobile trading behaviour), the company knows that most traders are looking for a robust platform they can access instantly. With fxTrade platform Mobile 3.2, you will be able to do so much more than take peeks at the latest currency pair spread or checking on your position. Instead, you will receive the full desktop trading experience on your current mobile device.

c) Technical Analysis Tools

OANDA uses a cutting- edge trading app with a sleek user interface, enhanced charting functionality, and full visibility in pricing to allow for more customisable options to suit your individual needs. The app also allows for easy mobile navigation from a single screen.

New features in the app include:

– New Charts: Close, Bid, Average, Ask, HLC Bars and Heikin- Ashi candlesticks

– New Indicators: William %R, Standard Deviation, StochRSI, Relative Strength Index, Moving Average Convergence/ Divergence, Commodity Channel Index and Average Directional Index

– The Ichimoku Overlay: The sliders accuracy has been improved for use with overlays and indicators.

OANDA has also added the ability to hide empty candles from the “settings menu” and to change the colours of the candlesticks. Further, cross-hairs are now linked to the main graph chart.

d) International regulations

Oanda is an internationally regulated broker. Below are the subsidiaries the Oanda parent company operates and their regulators.

• OANDA Corporation (USA) – U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and  National Futures Association (NFA # 0325821).
• OANDA Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd (Singapore) – Monetary Authority of Singapore (CMS Licence No: CMS100122-4)
• OANDA (Canada) Corporation ULC (Canada) – Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC).
• OANDA Europe Limited (UK) –  Financial Conduct Authority No: 542574
• OANDA Japan Inc (Japan) – Japanese Financial Services Agency (JSA) #2137
• OANDA Australia Pty Ltd (Australia) –  Australian Securities and Investments Commission AFSL No. 412981

Our OANDA review shows the forex trading Australia division is a trusted source and market maker for currency data. Additionally, we found out in our Pepperstone vs OANDA review that OANDA provides Australians with access to one of the largest historical, filtered currency and high-frequency databases in the world today.

When you trade on this platform, therefore, you can be sure that you will be protected by local Australian financial laws, rules and regulations.

e) Minimum Deposit Requirements

When you open an account, OANDA does not have a minimum deposit requirement to open or maintain an OANDA account. If you wish to trade, you will need to make sure you have enough balance to cover margin requirements for your trades.

f) Trading Instruments

Oanda offers a range of CFD Trading tools in addition to Forex. These include Bonds, Commodities and Precious Metals. CFDs are complex instruments and require different skills to forex trading, as always there is a high risk of losing investments. Below you can review the extended list of financial instruments that you can trade on Oanda platform.

It is well worthwhile signing up for a demo account to learn about trading CFDs. This will give you 100,000 units for virtual money when trading CFDs and practice will help develop your CFD trading skills to reduce your risk of losing money. While Oanda customers can enjoy access to the Forex market, cryptocurrencies are not among their offering. Clients from the United States or Europe can’t trade Bitcoin with Oanda, only Australian residents have the luxury to take advantage of the Bitcoin rise in price.

Note: Cryptocurrency (Bitcoin) trading is not available with OANDA Europe Limited, which uses FCA regulation. The FCA does not allow trading with cryptos.

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About Oanda – Brief History

Founded in 1996, Oanda has been in the Forex industry for almost 25 years and it’s considered to be a pioneer of online brokers. The same way Steve Jobs was a pioneer of the personal computer revolution, Oanda brand has revolutionized online forex trading.

Oanda is a global provider of financial services having its headquarters in New York, United States, the heart of the most financially powerful city, and the biggest International Financial Center (“IFC”) in the world. Oanda offices spread across 6 different countries (total of 7 offices) and 4 different continents.

Oanda Corp headquarters is located at the following address: North American Sales 135, West 41st Street, New York, NY, 10036, USA.

In 2011, Oanda experienced a notable global expansion after opening is London office. Later on, Oanda UK has become the headquarters for the European traders under the brand name Oanda Europe Limited.

Regulation and Licenses

Oanda is heavily regulated by the most powerful regulatory bodies in the world. Our industry-leading experts discovered that Oanda is also an advocate of regulatory oversight. Additionally, forex customers can benefit from extra protection due to Oanda’s superior risk management technology.

Oanda is required to comply with the standards and financial norms imposed by the world’s leading regulatory agencies from 5 countries:

• Registered Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer (RFED) with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
• Forex Dealer Member (FDM) of the National Futures Association (NFA license #0325821)
• OANDA (Canada) Corporation ULC regulated by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC)
• OANDA Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore MAS (CMS License No: CMS100122-4)
• OANDA Europe Limited regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority FCA in the UK, No: 542574
• OANDA Australia Pty Ltd. regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) AFSL No. 412981

Oanda Funding Methods

Clients of Oanda Europe Limited can fund their live accounts through several deposit methods. Below, we have listed the most popular funding methods offered by Oanda:

• Debit card and credit card
• Bank transfers
• Electronic Wallets (PayPal)

To deposit funds in your fxTrade account, Oanda clients have the option to make a bank transfer directly from your bank account using Faster Payment, Bacs, CHAPS and SEPA payments. Another advantage is that Oanda doesn’t enforce a minimum deposit policy.

Note* when funding your Oanda trading account, you can only deposit $10,000 per calendar month. Additionally, on Oanda.com forex traders can expect:

• $10 per month inactivity fee enforced after two years of zero trading activity
• $20 bank withdrawal fee (applied only for the first withdrawal within a calendar month)

Deposit Currency Supported

Oanda offers its traders a multi-currency deposit solution that supports 9 different base currencies (CAD, AUD, EUR, CHF, GBP, HKD, JPY, SGD, and USD). When compared to Pepperstone, Oanda falls behind on this metric. You can review to complete Oanda vs. Pepperstone comparison HERE.