Compare Pepperstone vs OANDA

Pepperstone vs. OANDA: Forex Trading Platform Options

Our team of industry experts filtered all the main trading features and tools that must come with an online broker platform to establish which Forex broker has the best trading platform. When comparing Pepperstone vs Oanda trading platforms we took into account multiple factors such as:

• Variety of order types
• Order execution speed
• Advanced charting capabilities
• Enable layout customization
• Easy-to-use interface
• Technical analysis tools
• API tools

After meticulously examining the entire above trading platform features, we concluded that the winner in this category is forex broker Pepperstone. The most powerful technological feature of a forex broker is its trading platform, so before choosing the right FX broker, you need to make sure it includes all the trading tools to suit your trading style.

Pepperstone took a bigger score than Oanda in terms of the selection of trading platforms. Pepperstone offers the most popular trading platform, the MetaTrader 4 along with the upgraded MetaTrader 5 and the multi-asset trading platform cTrader. In contrast, Oanda traders only have available forex trading through the MT4 platform and the proprietary trading platform fxTrade.

The trading software solution offered by Pepperstone and Oanda is available through:

• Desktop (PC and Mac)
• Web-based platform (WebTrader)
• Mobile Trading (iOS and Android)

Pepperstone vs Oanda: Order Execution Speed

Pepperstone is a true ECN + STP forex broker that offers Direct Market Access (DMA) via multiple liquidity providers. In comparison, Oanda is a market maker that executes client orders through their own dealing desk. Without any question, Pepperstone has proven its superiority over Oanda’s market maker model.

Pepperstone’s ECN trading style can provide forex traders with:

• Lightning speed order execution
• No-requotes
• No delays
• Competitive spreads

Pepperstone clients can have their order execute in less than 30 milliseconds with one of the 22 banks and liquidity providers available through Pepperstone. On the other hand, Oanda advertises itself of filling your order in 0.012 seconds, but its in-house trading platform took a lower score because of:

• Slippage (there is a danger to encounter severe slippage)
• Bigger spreads (especially during news events)
• Order rejection

Pepperstone vs Oanda: Technical Analysis Tools

Pepperstone is a respected forex trading broker that provides its clients with powerful technical analysis tools to assist forex traders with all their trading needs. Oanda fxTrader only comes with some basic technical tools and indicators. In this category, Pepperstone’s trading platforms took again the highest score as it’s more sophisticated and includes the following main technical tools:

• Smart Trader Tools (13 Expert Advisors and 15 unique indicators)
• Autochartist
• cTrader Automate
• API trading

Oanda fxTrader lacks technical analysis tools and only offers a limited range of technical features. This limitation can hinder forex traders’ ability to properly execute their trading strategies. However, both Pepperstone and Oanda MetaTrader 4 platforms offer access to Autochartist advanced tools.

The only tool that makes Oanda stand out is the CFTC’s Commitments of Traders (COT) graph tool, which is more suitable for sentiment-based traders.

Pepperstone took extra points due to its cTrader platform easy-to-use interface, which has the following advantages over the Oanda’s fxTrader platform:

• Interactive customizable charts
• Depth of Market
• Custom indicators
• Special back-testing solution
• Advanced order types

Forex Trading Platform Options: The  Overall Winner

Our review process discovered that the Pepperstone range of trading platforms is superior to Oanda’s technological solution. Overall, after evaluating Pepperstone vs Oanda trading platforms, including the available technical tools, the quality of order executions, security and functionality, our team of industry experts awarded Pepperstone with the big prize.

View Pepperstone Review >>Visit Pepperstone >>

Pepperstone vs. Oanda: EUR/USD Spreads And Fees

The second most important quality you should look for when choosing a forex broker is the transaction costs. In this section, we’re going to examine which forex broker between Pepperstone and Oanda can help you minimize the cost of doing business in the forex exchange market.

When assessing which forex broker has the lowest spreads and fees between Pepperstone and Oanda, we took into consideration the different account types that both forex brokers offer. For our Pepperstone vs Oanda transaction costs review, we evaluated the following:

• Spreads
• Commissions
• Swaps

Pepperstone vs Oanda: Spread Comparison

Pepperstone has been recognized as offering market-leading spreads and fees. The Australian forex broker offers the most affordable and cheapest transaction costs when compared to Oanda’s pricing model. The table below highlights the Pepperstone and Oanda head to head spreads for the EUR/USD and other major currency pairs.

*Note: for this spread comparison, we used Pepperstone Razor account spreads and Oanda’s Core pricing + commission spreads. View the Standard vs Razor account guide if your unsure what account is right for you.

Pepperstone and Oanda both offer two types of pricing models:

• Commission-based model (includes low spreads)
• Spread-based model

For an accurate review process, our team of industry experts compared head to head the Pepperstone and Oanda spreads for each individual pricing model.

Commission-based model

Pepperstone is able to keep the spreads low due to its ECN trading environment, which allows the Australian-based forex broker to offer the best possible spreads. On the other hand, Oanda’s dealing desk solution comes with higher spreads. Pepperstone’s Razor account (commission-based model) can give forex traders access to competitive spreads that can go as low as 0 pips on the EUR/USD (during liquid hours). The average EUR/USD spread is 0.13 pips.

In comparison, Oanda doesn’t offer information on its average spread for its core pricing + commission model. Oanda’s live spread revealed the EUR/USD spread of 1.2 pips, but they advertise spreads going as low as 0.1 pips.

Spread-based model

Our review process revealed that Pepperstone’s spread pricing model is slightly better than Oanda has to offer.  Pepperstone average EUR/USD spread is 1.13 pips, while the minimum spread is 1 pip on the EUR/USD. In comparison, since Oanda has variable spreads during periods of illiquidity and high volatility spreads can widen as much as 10 to 20 pips.

Oanda advertises itself as having the spread going to as low as 0.9 pips on the EUR/USD for its spread-only pricing model. However, Oanda’s average spreads are higher compared to the industry standards of what is considered low spread.

Pepperstone vs Oanda: Commission Comparison

Below is a summary of Pepperstone commissions across different trading platforms per 100,000 units traded (1 standard lot) per side:

• MT5 Razor account: $3.50 per side
• MT4 Razor account: $3.76 per side
• cTrader Razor account: 0.0035% of the base currency of the forex pair being traded

In contrast, Oanda charges a $5 commission per 100,000 unit traded (1 standard lot) per side.

EUR/USD Spreads And Fees: The Overall Winner

Overall, Pepperstone comes ahead of Oanda with its low transaction costs. Clients with Pepperstone can benefit from lower trading costs, which is great for scalping. Pepperstone offers competitive average spreads and commissions with its transparent pricing model. If you want to take advantage of the ultra-tight spreads, make sure you open Pepperstone demo account first, to test it with your own hands. To learn more about Peppersone spreads and fees view the full fee article.

View Pepperstone Review >>Visit Pepperstone >>

Pepperstone vs. Oanda: CFD Range Of Markets

When choosing your forex broker you also need to consider the range of markets offered by your favorite forex broker. The variety of financial instruments offered by Pepperstone and Oanda are rich in CFDs offerings, which means they can accommodate all types of traders.

The table below shows head to head the range of CFDs offered by Pepperstone and Oanda.

Pepperstone range of markets can give forex traders access to a multitude of asset classes including:

• Forex currency pairs including some exotic pairs
• Index CFDs
• Share CFDs
• Commodities
• Cryptocurrency including Bitcoin
• Currency Index CFDs

By comparison, after we carried out our research, we found out that Oanda is offering a limited number of instruments available for trading. If you want to start trading with Oanda, be aware that you will NOT be able to trade:

• Share CFDs
• Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
• Currency index CFDs

CFD Range Of Markets: The Overall Winner

In terms of the range of available assets to trade, Oanda has a bit of advantage over Pepperstone by offering Bonds CFDs trading, which can’t be found over on the Australian-based forex broker. Overall, Pepperstone is the winner in this category because it’s offering a larger number of CFD trading instruments. More than 150 instruments are powered by Pepperstone’s low spreads trading conditions.

Pepperstone vs. Oanda: Account Types

Another measure we took into consideration in our review process is the different types of trading accounts.  Both forex brokers Pepperstone and Oanda offer their clients the option to choose between two main types of trading accounts. Which type of forex account is the best fit for your trading needs depends on factors such as:

• The size of your capital (minimum balance)
• Tolerance for risk
• Maximum leverage
• Minimum and Maximum position size
• Base currencies available
• Range of markets
• Trading Fees

Our team of industry experts will give you a brief overview of the options available to FX traders through Pepperstone and Oanda. Pepperstone offers two types of trading accounts that caters for scalpers and algorithmic traders and the second one is designed for beginner traders:

• Pepperstone Razor Account
• Pepperstone Standard Account

Both trading accounts require a minimum deposit of $200. Oanda trading account types are very similar to the ones offered by Pepperstone but there is no minimum account balance to open a Standard account. However, forex traders who want to have access to Oanda’s premium account features, you need to be ready to invest a whopping $20,000.

Our Pepperstone review process discovered that the Australian-based forex broker also offers PAMM and MAM trading solution for professional money managers. By comparison, Oanda doesn’t offer managed accounts. Pepperstone scores extra points again and comes ahead of Oanda, by offering accounts packages for professional fund managers.

Note* Unfortunately, only Pepperstone offers tailored services for Muslim traders by offering an Islamic trading account. Pepperstone offers the Swap-free account to their clients in specific regions by default and at their discretion.

For an in-depth comparison of the Pepperstone Razor vs. Standard account make sure you read our full Pepperstone Trading Accounts Review, which will outline the key point of difference between the two types of trading accounts

Pepperstone vs. Oanda: Customer Service

The head to head customer service comparison once again revealed that Pepperstone’s customer support experience is far superior to what Oanda has to offer. Pepperstone has a multi award-winning customer service that has gained industry recognition. Pepperstone won numerous industry awards for its excellent 24-hour customer service.

Here are our findings in terms of the similarities that can be found on both forex brokers:

• Several channels for support (live chat, email, phone)
• Multilingual support service
• FAQ Section
• Webinars

Oanda clients can contact the support team in several languages, including English, Spanish, German, Mandarin, and Russian. Compared with Pepperstone, Oanda falls behind, as again the Australian-based forex broker supports 12 different languages offering a much better experience to traders from around the world.

The only feature that Oanda managed to gain some extra points was with its 24/6 customer support compared to Pepperstone’s 24/5 customer service.

Oanda’s customer support service stands out in the forex industry only when compared to forex brokers like FXCM, Forex.com or AvaTrade, as Oanda can be proud to offer far better customer service. However, Oanda has been recognized in the United States by winning the Highest Overall Client Satisfaction offered by Investment Trends – US Foreign Exchange Report.

Customer-Service: The Overall Winner

Overall, both Oanda and Pepperstone reviews of customer service were positive, as our review process found the Australian forex broker offered the best enhancing customer support experience. Get your free demo account with up to $100,000 in virtual money and test the forex exchange market.

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Pepperstone vs Oanda: Deposit And Withdrawals

Forex traders can fund Pepperstone and Oanda trading account using a variety of deposit methods including:

• Debit and credit cards
• Bank wire transfers
• Electronic Wallets

The head to head comparison revealed that Pepperstone offers 9 funding and withdrawal methods including: Visa, Mastercard, POLi, Bank transfer, BPay, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, and Union Pay. On the other hand, Oanda has a much more limited range of deposit methods and only offers:

• Credit and debit Card
• PayPal
• Bank wire
• Electronic bank transfer

Deposits and Withdrawal Fees

With Oanda, you can only withdraw funds via the same method used for depositing the funds. Secondly, to deposit funds via credit and debit card there is a maximum deposit limitation. With Oanda, you can only deposit $10,000 or equivalent in local currency per calendar month. On the other hand, Oanda PayPal deposit has no limits, but it only supports GBP, USD and EUR transfers.

Oanda doesn’t charge any deposit fees, but Oanda charges a withdrawal fee for credit card and bank transfer.  While the first withdrawal processed within a calendar month is free, any subsequent withdrawals are subject to withdrawal fees.

Below you have an overview of the types of withdrawal fees traders can expect from Oanda.

On the other hand, Pepperstone offers convenient and fast withdrawal methods, providing you with first-class trading services. Unlike Oanda, Pepperstone doesn’t charge deposit and withdrawal fees. In our Pepperstone review process, the Australian forex trading broker took an extra point in this category and won our recognition.

Deposit Currency Supported

Both Pepperstone and Oanda offer multi-currency deposit solutions:

• Pepperstone supports 10 trading account currencies
• Oanda supports 9 trading account currencies

Oanda supports the following 9 currencies: CAD, AUD, EUR, CHF, GBP, HKD, JPY, SGD, and USD. On the other hand, Pepperstone offers 10 different base currencies for their two trading account types. With Pepperstone, you can make a deposit in your local currency using your preferred deposit method with zero transaction fees.

Deposit And Withdrawals: The Overall Winner

Our team of industry experts, views Pepperstone as the overall winner in this section. But, Oanda also came closer to the high standards  imposed by the Australia based FX broker by supporting almost the same range of currencies. Before making a deposit you can open a demo account with virtual money in your local currency.