CFD Brokers In South Africa 2021

Pepperstone – Best Broker for MetaTrader 4 and ECN pricing

If you prefer to trade forex and CFDs via MetaTrader 4 (MT4), Pepperstone is a great choice for SA traders. The broker was originally founded in Melbourne, Australia, in 2010 and has grown into a popular, multi-regulated broker overseen by:

• The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) with AFSL number 414530
• Pepperstone Limited regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with registration number 684312.
• As well as being regulated by CySEC (Europe), BaFin (Germany), CMA (Kenya), SCB (the Bahamas) and the DFSA (Dubai).

Our team of industry experts recommends Pepperstone to South African traders, who prefer the MetaTrader 4 trading platform, for several reasons:

ECN-Style Tight Spreads Offered on Pepperstone’s Razor Account

Pepperstone offers two trading account types:

• Standard account with a raw spread pricing
• Razor account with ECN pricing

On its Razor online trading account, the broker offers spreads as low as 0.0 pips on major currency pairs such as EUR/USD, GBP/USD, AUD/USD or USD/JPY, which enables it to compete with true ECN forex brokers.  The average spreads on major, minor and exotic pairs on Pepperstone’s Razor account, are also among the most competitive on the market.

For major forex pairs, South African traders can enjoy the following CFD spreads:

• Index CFDs (1 point spread on AUS200 and 0.40 points on US500)
• Commodity CFDs (2.80 points average spread on Coffee and 13.00 points average spread on Cotton)
• Metals CFD (1.13 average spread on Gold and 0.82 average spread on Silver)
• Energy CFD (WTI oil with spread starting from 0,50)
• Cryptocurrency CFD ($10 Bitcoin spread)

Retail investors in South Africa can start trading forex on the ZAR crosses with average ECN spreads as follows:

• USD/ZAR average spread of 24.11 pips (and a minimum spread of 10 pips)
• EUR/ZAR average spread of 38.46 pips (and a minimum spread of 2 pips)
• ZAR/JPY average spread of 1.05 pips (and a minimum spread of 1 pip)

Note* The spreads are calculated using historical price quotes from July – January 2019.

Use our comparison tables to compare the spreads among the best CFD brokers in South Africa:

Pepperstone Commission Based Spread Comparison	AUD/USDEUR/JPYUSD/JPYUSD/CADEUR/USD	AUD/USDEUR/JPYUSD/JPYUSD/CADEUR/USD	AUD/USDEUR/JPYUSD/JPYUSD/CADEUR/USD	AUD/USDEUR/JPYUSD/JPYUSD/CADEUR/USD	AUD/USDEUR/JPYUSD/JPYUSD/CADEUR/USD
	0.27	0.34	0.16	0.28	0.16
	0.20	0.30	0.20	0.50	0.10
	0.20	0.30	0.10	0.30	0.10
	0.20	n/a	0.20	0.30	0.20
	0.42	0.30	0.20	0.83	0.44
	0.30	0.68	0.24	N/A	0.17
	0.40	0.70	0.30	0.70	0.20
	0.50	0.80	0.30	1.10	0.10
	0.50	0.50	0.30	0.60	0.30
	1.03	0.75	0.32	1.16	0.40

Data taken from broker website. Accurate as at 05/01/2021

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Forex Commissions and Rebates

Trading on a Razor account comes with certain commissions, which are charged based on the base account currency, trade volume and trading platform used. For MetaTrader 4, commissions charged are as follows:

Similar to other Forex and CFD brokers, Pepperstone does not offer South African Rand (ZAR) as an account currency option.

On the other hand, Pepperstone’s Active Trader program allows clients to benefit from commission discounts or rebates. The latter depends on standard lots traded per month – the more Pepperstone clients’ trade, the higher their commission discount.

Start Trading with Exceptional Order Execution Speed

Since Pepperstone’s price quotes are aggregated from 22 tier-one liquidity providers, the broker ensures exceptional order execution, with the majority of trade orders being filled in less than 30ms.

To achieve ultra-fast order execution speeds, Pepperstone partnered with the Equinix data centre. With Equinix’s servers located near major liquidity pools in New York and London, Pepperstone is able to offer traders ECN-style spreads and minimal lag. When compared to other brokers, Pepperstone offers the second-fastest market order execution speed and the quickest limit order execution speed.

Fee-free Deposits and Withdrawals

With Pepperstone, trading account funding and fund withdrawals incur no fees for clients in most countries. To start trading, South African retail investors can choose from a range of methods to fund their trading account:

• Debit or Credit Cards by Visa or Mastercard
• Bank wire transfer
• POLi
• BPay
• PayPal
• Neteller
• Skrill
• Union Pay

We should also note that, for all of its account types, Pepperstone requires one of the lowest minimum deposits on the market – AUD$200.

Trade CFDs on a Wide Range on Instruments

With Pepperstone, South Africa-based clients can take advantage of over 150 trading instruments in 5 asset classes on the broker’s MT4 platform:

• Foreign Exchange – 61 currency pairs with a maximum leverage of 500:1
• And complex instruments such as Contracts for Difference (CFDs), with their underlying assets being:

1. Indices – 14 major stock indices with no hidden markups, no re-quotes and maximum leverage of 200:1,
2. Commodities (Metals, Soft Commodities, Energy) – 12 different commodities with a maximum leverage of 500:1 and no commissions,
3. Shares – more than 60 stocks with a maximum leverage of 20:1 and commissions from $0.02 per share,
4. Cryptocurrencies – 5 digital currencies (Bitcoin, BitcoinCash, Ethereum, Dash and Litecoin) with a maximum leverage of 5:1 and no commissions.

Final Words – Why Pepperstone is a Good MetaTrader 4 CFD Broker

With Pepperstone, CFD traders can enjoy a wide range of financial instruments, competitive spreads as low as 0.0 points, fast order execution speeds and access to the most popular trading platforms (MT4). One FREE demo account can get you into everything and much more. Click the button below.

View Pepperstone Review >>Visit Pepperstone >>

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 with a maximum leverage of 200:1
• Metals – clients can trade Gold and Silver with a maximum leverage of 400:1 and Copper with a maximum leverage of 200:1
• Energies – clients can trade US Crude Oil and Brent Oil with a maximum leverage of 200:1 and Natural Gas with leverage of up to 25:1
• Commodity Futures – a range of soft commodities such as Coffee Robusta, Wheat, Corn, Soybeans, Cotton and Cocoa
• CFDs on cryptocurrencies – 5 digital currencies with a maximum leverage of 5:1.

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 >>

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 >>

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 February 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 an 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 ‘76.4% 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).

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 enjoy up to 20:1 leverage, 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-wining 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.