CFD Brokers In South Africa 2022

ThinkMarkets – Best Broker For ETFs  and other CFDs

ThinkMarkets is opening the door to new CFD trading instruments and in particular to a wide range of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). Founded in 2010, ThinkMarkets provide access to a variety of markets, including Forex and CFDs on shares, cryptocurrencies, commodities, indices, ETFs, futures, etc. New financial instruments are added on a consistent basis. ThinkMarkets is a regulated broker across three major continents:

• TF Global Markets (UK) Limited is authorised and regulated by the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• TF Global Markets (Aust) Limited is authorised and regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
• TF Global Markets (South Africa) Pty Ltd is a Financial Service Provider authorised and regulated by South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA).

South African retail investors, interested in trading Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) via high-risk instruments (CFDs), may find ThinkMarkets’ offering as appealing. The broker provides access to a total of 49 US ETFs on its MetaTrader 5 platform. Detailed specifications of some of them are presented below.

In addition, ThinkMarkets offers South African shares with a minimum commission of R75. In total, ThinkMarkets CFD shares trading list includes over 1,200 global stocks from across 4 continents (Europe, America, Africa and Australia). The typical CFD commissions charged by ThinkMarkets can be studied in the table below.

CFD Trading Instruments

The broker’s CFD product offering list also includes the following underlying assets:

• Indices – 13 major stock indices
• Metals – clients can trade Gold and Silver plus Copper
• Energies – clients can trade US Crude Oil, Brent Oil, and Natural Gas
• Commodity Futures – a range of soft commodities such as Coffee Robusta, Wheat, Corn, Soybeans, Cotton and Cocoa
• CFDs on cryptocurrencies – 5 digital currencies

Final Words – South Africa Best CFD Broker

Compared to other CFD brokers in South Africa, ThinkMarkets offers exclusive ETF instruments along with low CFD commissions that start from 0.08%, proprietary trading platform ThinkTrader and market insights from ThinkMarkets experts.

View ThinkMarkets Review >>Visit ThinkMarkets >>

*Your capital is at risk ‘71.89% of retail CFD accounts lose money’

FxPro – Best Forex Broker For cTrader Trading Platform

Based on our broker comparison model, FxPro is the best regulated CFD broker offering South African traders the option to trade with cTrader platform. Established in 2006 and headquartered in the United Kingdom, FxPro offers CFDs on Forex, Equities, Spot Indices, Commodity Futures, Spot Metals and Spot Energies on three powerful trading platforms:

• MetaTrader 4 (MT4)
• MetaTrader 5 (MT 5)
• cTrader powered by Spotware Systems Ltd.

FxPro Group Limited is the holding company of:

• FxPro UK Limited, regulated by the FCA
• FxPro Financial Services Limited, regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC)
• FxPro Global Markets Limited, regulated by the Securities Commission of The Bahamas,
• FxPro Financial Services Limited, licensed and regulated by South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA)

After a careful review of FxPro live account specifications, our team at Compare Forex Brokers concluded that the company offered the most competitive cTrader software solution for South African clients.

cTrader advantages

FxPro’s cTrader platform grants clients access to full market depth, allowing them to receive the best available bid and ask prices.

FxPro’s award-winning cTrader platform is available as a downloadable application for Windows, MAC, iOS and Android. South Africa-based clients are also able to access their cTrader account from their browser with the cTrader Web Platform.

FxPro’s cTrader ensures the following trading conditions:

• Guaranteed order execution with no requotes
• Spreads as low as 0.0 pips
• Average order execution speed of 37 ms
• No restrictions on limit orders – clients are able to set their Take Profit and Stop Loss orders as close as possible to the current market price, allowing them to implement their trading strategies in a precise manner
• Smart Order Routing – clients always receive the best available price quote and their orders will be filled automatically in 99.9% of the times
• No maximum limit on the size of orders

cTrader disadvantages

The biggest disadvantage of FxPro’s cTrader is the limited number of markets, which clients can access. The platform offers a total of only 104 financial instruments in 4 asset classes – Forex, Metals, Energies and Stock Indices. Clients willing to trade CFDs on Equities and Commodity Futures may check FxPro’s MT4 platform out.

Final Words – Best South African cTrader Broker

Overall, FXPro took the most points in our CFD brokers review system for its advanced pricing technology powered through the cTrader platform. The second-place winner is Pepperstone followed by FXTM. SA active traders can benefit the most by opting for FXPro cTrader offerings.

View FxPro Review >>Visit FxPro >>

*Your capital is at risk ‘84.67% of retail CFD accounts lose money’

FXTM (ForexTime) – Best Broker for MetaTrader 5 Trading Platform

Compare Forex Brokers’ top pick for the best CFD broker that features the MetaTrader 5 (MT5) platform is ForexTime Limited. CFD traders can enjoy trading through a true ECN broker regulated by major financial institutions around the globe, including:

• CySEC – Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission with CIF license number 185/12
• FSCA – Financial Sector Conduct Authority with FSP No. 46614
• FCA –Financial Conduct Authority of the United Kingdom with license number 777911
• FSA – Financial Services Commission of the Republic of Mauritius with license C113012295

FXTM offers 3 ECN trading account types through the MetaTrader 5 platform along with tight spreads of 0.4 pips on EUR/USD and fast order execution speed. Our team of FX experts evaluated the MetaTrader 5 features that come with an FXTM live trading account.

FXTM MetaTrader 5 Range of Trading Platforms

The MetaTrader 5 trading platform can be accessed from a wide range of electronic devices including your personal PC, Mac, web trader, mobile Apps and tablet. FXTM MT5 is a market-leading platform that makes CFD trading accessible from anywhere in the world.

Trading CFDs via FXTM MT5 gives South African traders a broad range of advantages including:

• Access to the forex market and +250 financial CFDs (spot metals, shares, commodities, indices)
• Built-in copy trading feature
• The integrated economic calendar for fundamental traders
• An advanced programming language for automated trading – MetaQuotes Language 5 (MLQ5)
• MetaTrader 5 for iOS has 38 technical indicators and 44 analytical tools
• MT5 web trader supported on 6 different browsers (Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft Edge 12, Mozilla Firefox 34, Google Chrome 43, Safari 8 and Opera 32)
• Fast order execution speed of 89 milliseconds (according to data from Nov 2020, verified by PWC)

Final Words – Best Forex Brokers for MetaTrader 5

FXTM allows South African residents to trade online with the MetaTrader 5 trading platform and maximum FX leverage of 1000:1. MetaTrader 5 is suitable for both live and demo accounts. SA traders can implement sophisticated trading strategies through MT5.

View FXTM Review >>Visit FXTM>>

Plus500 – Our Best CFD Provider For CFD Cryptocurrency

Our best CFD cryptocurrency provider for South African traders offering the most popular coins under favourable trading conditions is Plus500. Plus500 is the trading name of Plus500 Ltd, a leading CFD provider founded in 2008. The broker is authorised by a number of reputable regulatory bodies, including:

• CySEC (Europe)
• FCA (United Kingdom)
• ASIC (Australia)
• FMA (New Zealand)
• FSCA (South Africa)
• FSA (Seychelles)

Among the best-regulated CFD providers in South Africa we reviewed, Plus500 offers the largest range of Cryptocurrencies. Retail clients are able to trade CFDs on up to 12 digital currencies with leverage of 1:2 and no fees.

Note* Additionally, Plus500 offers a weighted cryptocurrency index that allows South African traders to get exposure to the entire blockchain technology through a single financial instrument. Plus500 Crypto 10 Index measures the performance of a basket of top 10 cryptocurrencies.

Plus500 offers to buy and sell cryptocurrency CFDs on the following digital pairs: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, NEO, Ripple, IOTA, Stellar, EOS, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, Tron and Monero.

Final Words – Trusted Forex Brokers for Cryptocurrency Trading

Cryptocurrency CFD trading through Plus500 allows you to speculate on the rising and falling prices of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with the need of a crypto exchange and a wallet. Start trading cryptocurrencies today 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

View Plus500 Review >>Visit Plus500 >>

*Your capital is at risk ‘72% of retail CFD accounts lose money’

eToro – Best Broker In South Africa For Social Trading

As a Forex and CFD broker, eToro is recognised worldwide for its copy trading feature, which South Africa-based clients with the insufficient trading experience to generate a profit may find attractive. Beginners, as well as individuals having no time to keep track of market movement, are able to start earning a passive income with this feature.

eToro is authorised and regulated by:

• CySEC (Europe)
• FCA (UK)
• ASIC (Australia)

Important Note* We should note that the broker is not regulated by South Africa’s FSCA.

eToro CopyTrader feature

eToro’s CopyTrader technology allows retail clients to automatically replicate the activity of top-performing traders. They can do so without the need to pay management fees or other hidden costs. Traders who get copied receive direct payment as participants of eToro’s Popular Investor Program.

The CopyTrader feature also allows retail investors to connect with distinct traders, discuss trading strategies with them and view their portfolios, stats and risk scores.

To copy a trader, South African retail clients need to ensure a minimum deposit of $200. Additionally, every copied position has a minimum amount of $1.

eToro Popular Investor Program

Experienced traders with proven trading strategies are able to earn additional income by being followed and copied by other users. When copied, traders will receive a fixed payment equal to 2% of their annual assets under management. The latter represents the total amount that has been allocated by other clients to copy a particular trader.

The 2% payment is credited to the eToro account of the trader being copied every month, while those funds can be withdrawn immediately.

eToro’s Popular Investor Program includes four different levels that have their own specifications – Cadet, Rising Star, Champion and Elite. The larger a trader’s assets under management become, the more she will earn as an additional income. The four levels of the program are presented in detail in the following table:

Final Words – eToro Best Social Trading  Broker

Our independent review revealed that eToro provides the best social trading platform for SA traders. eToro’s copy trading technology allows residents in South Africa to potentially earn around 29.1% in yearly profits (according to data compiled from eToro’s top 50 traders in2019).

*Your capital is at risk ‘68% of retail CFD accounts lose money’

AvaTrade – Best Broker For Fixed Spread

In our fixed spread forex brokers list, AvaTrade offers the most competitive fixed spreads on trading forex currency pairs and other CFD instruments. AvaTrade is a leading Forex and CFD broker regulated on five continents and has offices in 9 countries. AvaTrade is authorised and regulated by:

• The Central Bank of Ireland
• British Virgin Islands’ Financial Services Commission
• Australia’s ASIC
• South Africa’s FSCA
• Japan’s FSA and FFAJ
• The Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM) Financial Regulatory Services Authority (FRSA)

Our review of the top regulated brokers in South Africa has concluded that when it comes to trading CFDs with the lowest possible fixed spreads, AvaTrade clearly stands out.

AvaTrade’s Forex and CFD product offering

The broker provides access to the Forex market through a range of trading platforms, including the renowned MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 software solutions. South Africa-based traders are able to choose from 55 major, minor and exotic currency pairs with fixed spreads starting from 0.9 pips on EUR/USD. The spreads offered on other popular pairs are as follows:

• GBP/USD – 1.6 pips
• AUD/USD – 1.1 pips
• USD/ZAR – 85 pips
• EUR/ZAR – 90 pips

As for AvaTrade’s CFD products, they can be presented as follows:

• Shares – more than 600 stocks with fixed spreads of as low as 0.13% on tech giants such as Apple, Google or Intel,
• Commodities – 17 Soft Commodities and Metals with fixed spreads of $0.34 on Gold and $0.03 on US Crude Oil.
• Indices – 20 major Indices with fixed spreads of 0.25 points on S&P 500 and 0.10 points on MSCI,
• Forex Options – 44 options contracts with fixed spreads starting from 0.9 pips on EUR/USD,
• ETFs – 5 ETFs with fixed spreads of as low as 0.13%,
• Bonds – 2 contracts with fixed spreads of as low as 0.03 points,
• Cryptocurrencies – 12 digital currencies with fixed spreads of 0.35% over-market on Bitcoin (BTC/USD) and 0.60% over-market on Ethereum.

Final Words – Best Fixed Spread CFD Broker

The most trusted fixed spread broker offering its financial services to South African traders is AvaTrade. With AvaTrade, CFD traders can also proprietary trading platforms along with award-winning customer support.

Visit AvaTrade >>

HotForex – Best Broker In For Funding with South African Rand (ZAR)

HotForex ranks as the best forex broker with ZAR account based on factors such as:

• A minimum deposit of $50 equivalent in South African Rand
• $0 fees on deposits
• 6 powerful trading platforms (HF Markets MT4 terminal)

HF Markets is a multi-regulated, award-winning online broker, which provides Forex trading and CFD trading services to retail and institutional customers in a number of countries worldwide.

HotForex and HF Markets are trading names of the HF Markets Group, which includes:

• HF Markets (Europe) Ltd, licensed and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC),
• HF Markets (DIFC) Ltd, licensed and regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA),
• HF Markets (UK) Ltd, licensed and regulated by the UK’s FCA,
• HF Markets Ltd, regulated by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of the Republic of Mauritius,
• HF Markets (Seychelles) Ltd, regulated by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA),
• HF Markets SA (PTY) Ltd, authorised and regulated by South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA).

Deposits and Withdrawals for South African clients

Beside base account currencies such as EUR or USD, the broker allows deposits made in other currencies, depending on the clients’ location. For example, South Africa-based CFD traders are able to fund their HF Markets live accounts by using South African Rand (ZAR) as their base currency.

HF Markets allows account funding with no fees by using the following methods:

• Bank wire transfer – the minimum deposit is $250 and there is no limit for the maximum deposit amount,
• Credit Cards by Visa or Mastercard – the minimum deposit is $50, while the maximum deposit is $15,000,
• Online Payment Options such as Skrill, Neteller and TrustPay – the minimum deposit is $50, while the maximum deposit (with the exception of TrustPay) is $10,000.

HF Markets allows fund withdrawals without charging any fees, while the payment methods are similar:

• Bank wire transfer – the minimum withdrawal amount is $150,
• Credit Cards by Visa or Mastercard – the minimum amount to withdraw is $5,
• Online Payment Options such as Skrill and Neteller – the minimum withdrawal amount is again $5, while withdrawals are instant.

We should note that one client is allowed to have a maximum of 5 live accounts and 3 demo accounts. Clients are able to use their demo accounts and test trading strategies for as long as they wish while utilizing a virtual balance of $100,000.

Negative Balance Protection

Under HF Markets’ negative balance protection policy, retail investor accounts cannot lose greater amounts than initially deposited. It is an essential feature, especially in times of high market volatility, when margin calls and stop-outs may not function properly.

Final Words –Broker with ZAR Trading Accounts

Overall, HF Markets offer the best conditions for the retail CFD accounts that support ZAR as the account base currency. As a multi-awarded broker, HF Markets provides South African residents with a large range of CFD instruments to speculate on.

Markets.com – Overall Best Broker for South African Traders

Markets.com is a market maker broker that is regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) in South Africa. As market makers use a dealing desk, all spreads offered by the broker are tight and commission-free. Compared to other top brokers in South Africa, Markets.com provides the best trading conditions thanks to the following features:

• Low no-commission spreads, starting from 0.6 pips for major currency pairs like the EUR/USD.
• Fast order execution speeds across all the trading platforms offered by the broker.
• Minimal slippage with the majority of orders experiencing zero or positive slippage (meaning most orders are filled at the exact price or a better price than what the trader selected).

Trading Platforms

When trading forex and CFDs with Markets.com, you can choose between three trading platforms that offer different market access and trading tools:

• Marketsx – The broker’s proprietary CFD and forex trading platform, popular for its sentiment, technical and fundamental analysis tools
• MetaTrader 4 (MT4) – A CFD and forex trading platform with automated trading features
• MetaTrader 5 (MT5) – A multi-asset trading platform with advanced trading tools

Marketsx

To gain access to the broker’s full CFD product range of over 2,200 financial instruments, Marketsx is the best trading platform to use. Eight different asset classes can be traded, ranging from major, minor and exotic forex pairs, to major indices and cryptocurrencies:

• 67 currency pairs
• 28 commodities
• 41  indices
• 60 ETFs
• 2031 shares
• 4 bonds
• 23 blends
• 7 cryptocurrencies

As well as excellent market access, Marketsx provides a wide range of trading tools to help you develop forex and CFD trading strategies. There are three types of tools available on the platform – sentiment, technical and fundamental analysis tools.

Technical analysis tools allow you to use different indicators to study and predict price movements. Instead of analysing market prices, fundamental analysis tools provide information about significant economic, social and political events that affect the price of a financial instrument. When conducting fundamental analysis, you utilise resources such as economic calendars and newsfeeds. Lastly, sentiment tools help you understand sentiment and confidence surrounding specific assets, giving you an indication of future price movements.

Markets.com Trading Tools

Trading CFD instruments such as forex do contain an element of risk, so it important you do your research before making investment decisions. Using the right trading tools and sourcing the right research are essential to helping you make the right decisions and therefore improve your chances of a good return on investment. Markets.com contain some of the most impressive range of trading tools the Compare Forex Broking team has seen on offer from the brokers we have reviewed. These tools will help avoid trading mistakes and give you a better chance of success.

Marketsx Trading Tools:

A major benefit you gain as a Marketsx trader is the unique selection of sentiment, fundamental and technical analysis tools. While most trading platforms offer features such as charting tools and economic calendars, Marketsx extensive library of sentiment tools is not available on mainstream platforms such as MT4 and MT5.

• Technical Analysis: A pre-installed package of charting tools with advanced technical indicators to analyse price movements, as well as a Related Instruments tool that computes the correlation between different financial markets.
• Fundamental Analysis: Stock reports from Thomas Reuters and real-time news from Dow Jones, as well as advanced alerts and financial commentary from a team of forex experts.
• Sentiment Data: 8 different sentiment tools ranging from Real-Time Signals to News Trading Sentiment and Analyst Recommendations. Each sentiment tool provides unique data showing the general attitude towards a specific financial instrument and whether traders’ are buying and selling.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) Trading Platforms

If you want to automate trading using trading robots, you can choose either MT4 or MT5. Within the MetaTrader community, trading robots are known as Expert Advisors (EAs) and are one of the key reasons MT4 and MT5 are the most popular trading platforms worldwide.

MT4 and MT5 offer many similar features, including:

• Advanced charting tools. Technical analysis can be conducted using different charts, technical indicators, graphical objects, and timeframes.
• Algorithmic trading strategies using Expert Advisors. EAs can be written using the MQL4 and MQL5 programming languages, or downloaded from the MetaTrader Marketplace online.
• Backtesting features. EAs can be backtested on both platforms. You can test and optimise one currency pair at a time on MT4 while MT5 offers multi-currency backtesting.

Trust, Safety and Regulation

As CFD and forex trading is considered a high-risk activity, it is important to sign up to a broker that is regulated by a top-tier financial authority. South African traders can register with the brokers FSCA regulated subsidiary. If you reside outside of South Africa, you can register with one of the following Markets.com branches:

• CySEC – The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, caters to European traders.
• FCA – The Financial Conduct Authority, caters to traders based in the United Kingdom.
• ASIC – The Australian Securities and Investments Commission, caters to Australian traders.
• FSC – The British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission, caters to international traders.

As well as oversight from tier-1 regulators, Markets.com offers another level of transparency as its parent company (Playtech PLC) is listed on the London Stock Exchange and part of the FTSE 250 index.

Markets.com – Overall

With ultra-tight commission-free spreads, access to over 2,200 financial markets and a great range of trading platforms and tools, Markets.com offers everything you need to become a successful trader. As well as providing an excellent trading environment, the broker is regulated by tier-1 financial authorities in South Africa (FSCA) and abroad (ASIC, CySEC, FSC and the FCA) and listed on the London Stock Exchange.

View Markets.com Review >>Visit Markets.com >>

*Your capital is at risk ‘70% of retail CFD accounts lose money’