We found Forex Broker OctaFX most interesting feature to be that they have no swaps. Other features include MT4 and MT5 trading platforms and commission-free spreads from 0.8 pips. See our review on the OctaFX.
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We think OctaFX is a very mediocre option for currency and CFD trading due to the lack of account options, expensive trading spreads, and rather average customer support. The main appeal of this broker is that you can use it if you want unlimited swap-free trading. This feature is a unique offering given that most brokers limit the swap-free period, replace the swap fee with an administration fee, or require you to prove your Islamic faith. Aside from no swaps, there isn’t that much distinctive about OctaFX.
OctaFX (Octa Markets Inc.) is an FX and CFD broker with its headquarters in Saint Lucia, a small island nation in the Caribbean. The company was founded in 2011 with its headquarters initially in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, but moved to Saint Lucia in 2022 or 20203. In addition to Saint Luc3ia, OctaFX has offices in Cyprus (where CySEC regulates them) Spain, and Malaysia.
The broker uses a no-dealing desk trading model, which means they send your trades directly to the liquidity providers, who will be the counterparts of your order. This trading model is called straight-through-processing (STP) or electronic communication networks (ECN) and is used by many brokers that don’t use a market maker execution model. An STP or ECN execution model is thought to offer the lowest spreads on the market (depending on the liquidity providers being used) since the broker earns more through higher trading volumes than the spread cost. You will also find this model has the advantage of no requests and very few rejections since market rather than instant execution is being used.
We asked OctaFX who their liquidity providers are and while we don’t have a complete list they advised LMAX Global, Swissquote, Saxobank, and Euronext FX are some of them.
OctaFX claims to have 21 million clients across 180 countries signed up since its foundation.
Our in-house spread scanning software gave us an idea of how OctaFX spreads compare to other brokers. To do this, we take the average spreads brokers publish on their website and compare them with the spreads OctaFX public on their website. We update this each month.
As seen in the module below, we found OctaFX spreads to be largely average for major FX pairs, and disappointing for cross-pairs. With this in mind, we think it is safe to say OctaFX does not live up to its claim of having the lowest spreads in the market.
For both account types offered by OctaFX, spreads are floating and start from a minimum of 0.8 pips and have an average of 0.9 pips for the EUR/USD currency pair. This means the trading spreads will get either tighter or wider, depending on market volatility, time of day, and other factors.
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Standard Account Spreads
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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0.90 | 1.20 | 2.10 | 1.00 | 1.10 |
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0.62 | 0.77 | 1.27 | 0.83 | 0.74 |
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1.10 | 1.20 | 1.30 | 1.30 | 1.30 |
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0.90 | 1.10 | 1.50 | 1.50 | 1.00 |
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1.20 | 0.90 | 1.50 | 1.80 | 1.80 |
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1.20 | 1.40 | 1.50 | 1.60 | 1.50 |
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1.10 | 1.20 | 1.40 | 1.50 | 1.20 |
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1.20 | 1.30 | 1.20 | 1.30 | 1.10 |
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1.70 | 1.60 | 1.70 | 2.00 | 1.60 |
Avg. spreads are taken from each broker's website and updated monthly. Last update on 04/01/2024
OctaFX only has a spread-only account, meaning no commissions are charged in addition to the spread.
While the above module takes the spreads from the broker’s website, we at CompareForexBrokers have done our own testing using 20 MT4 brokers to find out their average spreads. You can read about our findings in our Standard Spreads test results.
Account Types
OctaFX offers two types of trading accounts with both being the same except one is with the MetaTrader 4 (MT4) trading platform and the other is with the MetaTrader 5 trading platform (MT5). Apart from each platform having different features, the main difference to note is that MT4 account is not available if you are in mainland Europe (since the MT4 trading platform isn’t offered in the EU) while the MT5 accounts come with the additional benefit of being able to trade individual stock CFDs.
Both accounts offer most features found in a standard account with similar types of brokers. This means no commission costs in addition to the spread with these spreads starting from 0.8 pips for the EUR/USD currency pair.
You will also find trading available with micro lots, mini lots, and standard lots with the spread variable or floating. We should also mention you shouldn’t get requotes or rejections since market execution rather than instant execution is used.
Regarding account currency, if you join the OctaFX European subsidiary, you will use Euros. All other clients will be using USD as the account currency, so if you are in the UK and prefer GBP as your account currency, you cannot choose it.
Swap-Free Account
There is one very interesting feature with both these accounts and it’s not something we have exactly seen before. OctaFX has no swaps – yes you read that right, none, zip, zero, zilch. This means you can hold your position overnight (after New York markets close) for as long as you wish without needing to concern yourself with any rolling feels.
What does this mean for you?
If you are of the Islamic faith meaning you comply with Sharia law then this account is one of the best options on the market. Many brokers offer a swap-free account and while we are not experts in sharia law, we suspect they may not be truly sharia compliant. This is because the swap has been replaced with a periodic administration fee meaning you receive a charge every certain number of days you hold your position open. We suspect this administration fee could still be a type of riba.
Another thing we should note is that in the case of OctaFX, we assume the spreads haven’t been widened. If they have, then this would be akin to an administration fee however it is difficult to prove if OctaFX is doing this. We can only trust they are not since spreads are generally decent.
If you are not of Islamic faith, having no swaps can work for or even against you. Remember that swaps can either be a source of income or an expense, depending on how markets open. Profiting off swaps is a legit trading strategy but this won’t be possible with OctaFX. If this doesn’t concern you and you assume swaps costs will be unfavourable, then this account will encourage you to trade mid-term and long-term.
Since the broker has no swaps for all trading accounts as a default, there is no need to have a special Islamic swap-free trading account.
Demo Account
OctaFX demo accounts are available with MT4 and MT5 and have no time restriction on the trial period. With this in mind, the demo accounts are effectively a practice account. You can use all features including all the trading products available for trade and Expert Advisors for automation.
To make the demo account interesting, OctaFX has a demo contest for which you win prizes. Each month, up to $1000 in real prize money is available with $500 for the winner, $300 for the runner-up, and $100 for third place. You can use any trading strategy and even EAs if you wish.
Verdict
A wider spread means paying more every time you open a trade. Our spread module indicates that with OctaFX, you are paying more than your competitors, so it may be better to consider trading with other brokers.
Getting straight to the point, OctaFX isn’t strong in the safety department. It only scored 22 out of 100. When you give your funds to a brokerage, you put a lot of trust into that company for several factors: regulation, reputation, and reviews.
Regulation
The broker is regulated by Cyprus’ CySEC (Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission), which means it can offer trading services to all clients in the EU. CySEC must comply with the same requirement set by ESMA (the financial body for the EU) that all financial regulators within the EU borders must follow. The standards set by ESMA are quite high, not dissimilar to those set by the FCA in the UK and ASIC in Australia.
| OctaFX Safety | Regulator |
|---|---|
| Tier-1 | CySEC |
| Tier-2 | |
| Tier-3 |
Reputation
OctaFX is also registered as a company in Saint Lucia, and its trading name is OctaMarkets. All clients outside the EU will join OctaMarkets.
Saint Lucia allows companies to self-regulate as long as they comply with the country’s laws. This means clients with OctaMarkets don’t have any form of regulatory protection so you can only trust OctaFX operations meet the standards you would hope. As this subsidiary is not regulated, OctaMarkets can be called an offshore broker.
We can tell you that OctaFX has segregated accounts, which is the minimum you would expect to see from a broker as you don’t want them to be able to access your funds. They also claim to have highly skilled security engineers and technical specialists to ensure your data is safe.
Another side note is that OctaFX was located in St Vincent and the Grenadines. In late 2022 or early 2023, they moved to Saint Lucia – this was around the same time, Saint Vincent announced a tightening of their supervision of foreign companies. While we have no idea the reason OctaFX moved to Saint Lucia, we thought the timing of moving to a country with more relaxed supervisory practices was interesting.
Reviews
OctaFX has a fair TrusPilot score of 4.5 out of 5 from 6,511 reviews as of this writing.
Verdict
So, OctaFX only has one watchdog, and that’s CySec. On the plus side, the company has been around since 2011 and seems to have plenty of positive reviews across the internet. Trustpilot gives them a rating of 4.5 out of 5.
But, it must be said that depositing funds and holding your capital with OctaFX is definitely a higher risk than trading with other, more regulated brokers.
There are 35 currency pairs to trade for most traders across the globe, but only 28 pairs are available if you live in the European Union. While 35 pairs mean OctaFX offers all the popular pairs to trade with, less popular pairs can be more volatile which means more opportunity to profit from this volatility. We think a good broker should have at least 60 currency pairs to trade with and you will find this with brokers such as Pepperstone (62 pairs), IC Markets (63 pairs), OANDA (70 pairs), and IG (100 pairs).
If you’d like to trade stock market indices, pick from one of ten major global indices. These include the SP500, Nasdaq, French CAC40, and Australian SPI 200.
If you’d like to trade individual stocks, you can trade 150 different stock CFDs, as long as you use MT5. These individual stock CFDs are of major global companies like Amazon, Meta, and Coca-Cola.
You can also trade 2 metals – gold and silver– probably sufficient for most newbie traders.
OctaFX also offers the chance to trade energy products like Texas Crude, Brent Crude, and Natural Gas.
Lastly, you can trade 30 different cryptocurrency CFDs on the OctaFX platform. These include all the most common cryptocurrencies, but looking at the live quotes, they were wide, we’re not sure we’d ever want to trade crypto on this platform.
Verdict
With OctaFX, you have access to most of the major trading instruments. It’s not the worst offering, but it’s surely not extensive.
OctaFX allows you to trade on one of three different trading platforms. MetaTrader 4 (MT4), MetaTrader 5 (MT5), and OctaTrader, an in-house white-label program.
Each platform runs on Windows, iOS, and Android, so no matter which device you trade from, you’re free to use the platform you like the best.
MetaTrader 4
The most popular of the three platforms is MT4, the industry-standard workhorse that more or less every retail broker offers.
The MT4 platform has ultra-intuitive charting options and all the most common technical indicators. It’s very simple to enter buy and sell orders, as well as set stop-losses, you can even use Expert Advisors (EAs) for automated trading.
MetaTrader 5
Stepping up to MT5, the updated version of MT4, but not as popular as its predecessor.
The big changes in MT5 are increased charting options, such as timeframes and lesser-known technical indicators.
MT5 also allows you to trade individual stock CFDs, so if you want exposure to individual stocks, you’ll probably choose to use the MT5 platform.
OctaFX Platform
The OctaFX platform is essentially a white-label licensed version of MT5. That is, it’s MT5 with the OctaFX logo on it. If branding consistency is important to you, feel free to use it. The main advantage of this platform is easier sign up and less hassle when making deposits and withdrawals.
Copy Trading With OctaFX
There was one slightly different trading platform, which is the Octa CopyTrading software. This allows CFD and Forex traders to either copy other traders’ trading signals or let you broadcast your own trading signals to other traders on the social trading platform.
Copy trading is a cool concept, but we urge you to be very cautious about who you copy and do your due diligence into the skills and trading strategy of anyone you want to follow.
Verdict
We found the trading platforms offered by OctaFX to be sufficient. As long as a broker has MT4 and MT5 it should be more than enough for most retail traders.
If you’re a more advanced trader, and you want more sophisticated tools, you may consider Pepperstone, Vantage, or IC Markets with a broader range of platforms.
OctaFX is extremely limited regarding payment method options for funding a trading account. We were quite disappointed, to say the least.
The minimum deposit amount required by OctaFX is $25. However, OctaFX suggests a minimum deposit of $100 for optimal trading experience.
Further researching the deposit options, we concluded that bank transfers and credit cards were entirely off the table for Australian traders trying to get funds into their accounts. And more than likely, it’s a no-go for wherever you may be located.
It is a similar story for credit card deposits, which seemed only to be available for certain countries, VISA for example appears only available for clients in the EU – very odd.
Apart from that, OctaFX offers you the ability to deposit and withdraw using e-wallet services such as Neteller and Skrill. As the customer service operator pushed me towards it, transferring to some cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or USDT is always possible.
It is also worth pointing out that while there is no cost to make a withdrawal (or deposit), there is usually a minimum amount you need to deposit. The minimum deposit if using NETELLER, Skill, Visa, or MasterCard is 50 Euros, while 0.00037000 BTC if using Bitcoin.
We tried to go through the process of opening and funding an account as an Australian resident (where we are located).
When determining if we could add funds to our account via a simple bank transfer, the customer support person in the live chat couldn’t verify that a bank transfer was an option.
When questioned further, the same customer support person couldn’t verify if we could deposit via a credit card and advised us that we could probably use cryptocurrency to deposit. Definitely odd so understandably we were less than impressed.
Our Verdict On Funding With OctaFX
All in all, OctaFX does have a good range of funding options but it does seem they are lacking in funding options you would expect to see such as BankTransfer and VISA.
For OctaFX, it is just the live chat 24/7, where initially you’ll chat with a chatbot and often be directed to a customer service operator. Nothing unusual there as many brokers are doing this now still if you have a big trade position, and some error happens with the platform, you may have to wait on live chat while the markets rapidly moving against you and you’re losing money fast. This is extra frustrating because they don’t have a call number or even email to contact,
But, even for simple questions, we didn’t find the customer service options impressive.
Multiple times, we asked questions regarding things such as deposit options and broker regulations, and we were met with a long pause, followed by less than sufficient answers.
The customer service reps seemed not to be trained to handle very basic questions, so we imagine if you have a complex inquiry, you will be pulling your hair out.
Their live chat team is mostly based in St Lucia or Cyprus and is 24/7.
Verdict
We think it is odd that OctaFX does not have an email or phone contact and we thought their live chat could be more knowledgeable. This wasn’t good, and we’d like to see OctaFX improve greatly in this department.
OctaFX has quite an extensive research and education section on the company’s website. There’s an economic calendar and regular news updates, which could be useful if you must keep up to date with the latest fundamentals.
Regarding education, there are platform tutorial videos and a basic forex trading course, which would probably be okay for absolute newbie traders.
Uniquely, the company hosts regular webinars, with topics such as Fibonacci analysis, trading psychology, and broadcasts where you can watch one of the company’s traders for an entire trading session.
Verdict
Some of these educational webinars could be useful, but they are only really suitable for absolute newbies.If you want advanced trading education, look elsewhere.
The broker only offers a spread-only account with spreads from 0.6 pips, if you are hoping for RAW spreads then you will need to look at other brokers. To trade you can choose between MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 trading platforms, both platforms are excellent options but many brokers in the market offer these options.
We always recommend you trade with an appropriately regulated broker, with this in mind OctaFX is an option if you are based in the European Union where CySEC regulates them. If you are outside this region, we can’t fully recommend OctaFX as you will be trading with their subsidiary based in Saint Lucia where they only need to register as a company.
Overall, we thought OctaFX lacked in many areas.
The main feature that OctaFX offers is the absence of swaps. For this reason, OctaFX is one of the better choices if you require a Sharia-compliant Islamic trading account.
OctaFX offers anywhere from 10:1 leverage, all the way up to an eyewatering 500:1.
The difference in leverage depends on the product trading, and where you’re located on the globe, due to which regulatory guidelines apply to your account.
The minimum deposit required to start trading with OctaFX is $25. However, OctaFX recommends depositing at least $100 to have a better trading experience.
OctaFX provides demo accounts that are accessible with both MT4 and MT5. The trial period for these accounts has no time restrictions, making them a perfect platform for practicing and testing trading strategies. You can utilise all of the features available for trading, including expert advisors for automation. Additionally, you can trade with all the trading products available on the platform.
Yes, as since 2011, the company has received many positive reviews online despite their sole regulation.
OctaFX does not charge internal withdrawal fees, but traders may incur third-party payment processor costs, blockchain fees, and currency conversion charges.
