Forex traders require a good international or South African forex broker that has a range of currency pairs, low CFDs costs, and the best forex trading platform. Three of the most popular forex platforms are MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader.
Updated: 22/02/2021
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We list the best FSCA regulated SA forex brokers for a range of forex platforms:
Markets.com is a multi-regulated broker that is licensed and regulated by South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). The broker provides South African traders excellent trading conditions with a great range of trading platforms, tools and CFDs.
As a market maker broker, Markets.com offers commission-free spreads where compensation for the broker is included in the spread. Minimum forex spreads are low, starting from 0.6 pips for the EURUSD currency pair.
In addition to forex trading, you can trade CFDs derived from various asset classes:
You can choose between four popular trading platforms when signing up to Markets.com – MetaTrader 4 (MT4), MetaTrader 5 (MT5), Marketsx and Marketsi.
If you want access to a wide range of sentiment and analysis tools, Marketsx is the best platform, while Marketsi is a great choice if you are looking to focus on share CFD trading. Alternatively, if you are looking to focus on automated trading with Expert Advisors, MT4 and MT5 are great options.
The broker’s proprietary trading platform is a user-friendly web or mobile trading platform that provides access to Markets.com full product range of over 2,200 CFD financial instruments. Compared to other mainstream trading platforms, Marketsx offers a unique set of sentiment, technical and fundamental analysis tools:
As well as Marketsx, the broker offers a second proprietary trading platform with a focus on stock trading. To help you develop diversified share trading strategies that match your trading needs and risk profile, the platform provides an Investment Strategy Builder with two key features:
MT4 and MT5 are ideal if you want to automate trading using trading robots, known as Expert Advisors (EAs) within the MetaTrader community.
Algorithmic trading strategies are becoming increasingly popular, as you can save a lot of time and effort once EAs are developed. To write your own EAs, the MQL4 and MQL5 programming languages are used. Backtesting features are available on both MT4 (single currency) and MT5 (multi-currency).
If you are new to trading and do not feel comfortable writing your own EAs, you can download thousands of different systems from the MetaTrader Marketplace.
As a market maker broker, Markets.com sets their own bid-ask prices and fill orders using internal liquidity sources. As well as the same spreads, each trading platform offered by Markets.com provides fast execution speeds with minimal slippage. On average, orders are executed within 0.1ms, resulting in 86% of Markets.com clients experience positive or no slippage when trading forex and CFDs.
Markets.com is an ideal broker for any level of experience or trading style. Whether you want to automate trading, create diversified stock portfolios or access advanced sentiment tools, the broker offers a suitable trading platform.
If you want to explore Markets.com trading platforms prior to risking real money, the broker offers MT4, MT5, Marketsi and Marketsx demo accounts.
View Markets.com Review >>Visit Markets.com
The overall rating is based on review by our experts
Our team of experts at Compare Forex Brokers is devoted to providing South African residents with:
Our Forex Brokers Review Process discovered that Pepperstone is the best forex broker with:
Headquartered in Australia and ASIC approved forex and CFD FX broker, Pepperstone has a solidified presence among retail and professional SA traders. The forex broker is also regulated by the FCA (UK), CySEC (Europe), BaFin (Germany), CMA (Kenya) and DFSA (Dubai).
Pepperstone MetaTrader trading platforms are designed to give South African traders a competitive edge that can’t be found with other MetaTrader forex trading brokers. If you are a beginner trader, the fx broker offers a great range of educational materials such as trading platform tutorials and webinars. Unlike other brokers that only offer access to educational resources to VIP clients, Pepperstone provides unrestricted free access.
Our review team investigated meticulously all MetaTrader South African forex brokers and the trading technology provided by Pepperstone offers 3 advantages. Find below the 3 main advantages and benefits that come with Pepperstone MetaTrader trading platforms.
Pepperstone Autochartist alerts can be used directly from the MetaTrader trading platform, and this powerful market-scanning tool includes the following features:
A unique feature offered by Pepperstone is the ability to run two instances of the MT4 platform at the same time and on the same device. By default, most forex brokers only allow you to run one instance of the MT4 terminal.
Pepperstone offers a high-tech online trading solution that can provide ultra-fast and reliable order execution. Besides having lightning speed, Pepperstone’s market execution model has no-requotes or delays.
You can also start trading on the foreign exchange market benefiting from competitive spreads and maximum leverage of 500:1.
MetaTrader 5 is the advanced version of MetaTrader 4, which offers an impressive array of new trading features, including:
Pepperstone clients can have a smooth transition between the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms. There is a combination of factors that makes MetaTrader 4 forex brokers to be still preferred among South African forex traders. These MetaTrader4 advantages include:
The huge advantage of using MetaTrader4 is that its programming language has been adopted by many forex traders. You can read the full Pepperstone MT4 vs MT5 Comparison and Review for a detailed view of the most popular forex trading platforms.
View Pepperstone Review >>Visit Pepperstone >>
If you’re looking for the world’s leading forex and CFD provider offering cTrader platform, our team of experts handpicked IC Markets as the best cTrader broker for SA traders. You can start trading forex on the cTrader platform and benefit from premium trading features and unique design, opting for an IC Markets trading account.
The IC Markets cTrader trading platform has earned the top spot of the best forex trading platform South Africa for the following reasons:
Forex trading with a true ECN forex broker like IC Markets has the advantage of cutting the extra trading costs (spreads, commissions, slippage, etc.) that comes with Dealing Desk DD forex brokers. IC Markets offer SA traders three different account types, but only the cTrader Raw Spread Account comes with the cTrader platform.
Designed for experienced traders, IC Markets cTrader platform offers the following advantages:
IC Markets offer access to a vast range of financial instruments and no matter of your favourite currency pairs or CFDs instruments, the cTrader platform can accommodate all your trading needs. IC Markets clients can have access to the following array of asset classes:
What’s unique about IC Markets is that besides trading CFDs and all the major currency pairs and minor pairs including the ZAR crosses, South African traders also have the opportunity to trade Future CFDs.
The ability to access the cTrader platform from the convenience of your web browser without the need for any downloads or installations. The cTrader web-based version is built on HTML5 and offers the same enhanced trading experience as the cTrader desktop version. The one primary advantage of the web trader version is the ability to trade from anywhere in the world.
IC Markets cTrader servers are hosted or collocated in the same data centre (LD5 IBX Equinix Data Centre in London) with the tier one liquidity providers, major aggregators, global banks and other financial institutions to ensure low latency and ultra-fast order execution. The advantage of having direct market access is that you:
The online brokers promoted by Compare Forex Brokers are top forex brokers, regulated by major regulatory bodies; they are in good standing and have industry recognition among their peers. IC Markets cTrader forex platform complies with our high-standards and quality process of reviewing the best brokers. Our IC Markets rigorous review process can be studied in full depth here: IC Markets Strengths + Weaknesses.
Get free access to your IC Markets demo account and test your trading strategy with no risk and no obligations. Click the button below to enjoy the full benefits of the IC Markets trading accounts.
FxPro Financial Services Limited is a regulated broker by top agencies from around the world, including:
The South Africa Financial Sector Conduct Authority FSCA formerly known as the FSB (Financial Services Board) is the regulatory body in South Africa. One of the most critical factors when choosing between various forex brokers if they are authorised by a recognised regulatory body.
Our team of industry experts recommends not only trading through a regulated broker but also choosing a forex broker that offers FREE demo accounts. Forex demo accounts are a great way to try forex trading without actually risking your hard-earned money.
FxPro offers the best demo account package because of the following features:
The FxPro demo account mimics the live trading conditions so you can get a first-hand feel of the overall trading environment before investing your money.
Please note that you can open the best forex demo accounts for South African traders on a wide range of trading platforms (desktop and mobile App versions) including:
When you open a forex demo account with FxPro you should consider the following three factors:
For our best forex trading demo account broker review, we assessed and ranked all South African forex brokers and concluded that FxPro is the best option for SA traders. Compared to other South African forex brokers, FxPro offers ZAR trading accounts with a required minimum deposit of ZAR 7,000.
View the complete list of the best FSCA regulated Forex Brokers with ZAR Accounts.
View FxPro Review >>Visit FxPro >>
Pluss500 is UK-based online trading on forex and stocks provider listed on the London Stock Exchange LSE offering their own proprietary Forex trading platform. The Plus500 proprietary trading platform was built by traders to meet the challenging needs of active traders.
Our leading industry experts with a combined 50 years of real-world trading experience believe South African traders can be better prepared to win in the forex market by using proprietary platforms. Plus500 proprietary trading platform offers the following advantages:
It’s fairly easy to gain access to the Pluss500 trading platform due to low minimum deposit requirements. Usually, proprietary platforms come with an extra cost in the form of a monthly fee however, the Plus500 trading platform is free to use.
South African residents can fund their retail investor accounts using the South African Rand using a wide range of deposit methods including:
The minimum deposit for the SA retail investor accounts is $100 equivalent in South African Rand. Overall, the Plus500 trading account is a good opportunity to start trading very small.
The financial services offered by Plus500 LTD include over 2,000 Forex and CFDs instruments. The flexibility to trade across a wide range of markets and assets can provide SA traders with more trading opportunities to make money. South African residents can open a retail trading account with Plus500 to enjoy trading the world’s most popular CFDs such as:
Very few online CFD brokers can be proud to offer ETF instruments. Plus500 offers more than 90 ETF instruments, and the trading conditions for CFDs on ETFs are extremely favourable as Plus500 cut their trading commissions to zero. For more details on the Plus500 commissions and fees, please read the Key Elements of Plus500 Fees.
Using proprietary trading software without proper regulation can be dangerous. Our team of industry experts conducted our review process only on regulated forex brokers. Plus500 is not only regulated by the FSCA but it’s conducting its business operations under the umbrella of top-tier regulators like:
In the Forex industry, regulation is synonymous with three keywords:
Intuitive and built for both beginner traders and more experienced traders, Plus500 trading platform has been the backbone of Plus500 LTD. Unlike its competitors, Plus500 doesn’t offer the popular MetaTrader 4 platform but, instead focuses to offer SA traders an in-house built proprietary platform.
Additionally, CFD trading can also be conducted through one of the highest-rated CFDs trading Apps. Overall, the Plus500 proprietary platform has an elegant and modern look user interface. To take full advantage of Plus500 platform capabilities, South African traders can open a demo account by clicking through the button below.
View Plus500 Review >>Visit Plus500 >>
*Your capital is at risk ‘76.4% of retail CFD accounts lose money’
AvaTrade offers a dedicated and specialised automated trading platform that allows SA traders to implement sophisticated trading strategies and mirror trading. AvaTrade is an award-winning forex broker with a global presence and a local office in Johannesburg. AvaTrade is a regulated FX broker across 5 continents (ASIC, BVI, FSC, FSA) including South Africa (FSCA regulation).
We value robustness, transparency, functionality when evaluating the reliability of a trading platform. AvaTrade automated trading platform checks all the above boxes, which is why SA traders can find the perfect environment to turn their trading strategies into the perfect algorithms.
Three key features make AvaTrade automated trading software stand out.
AvaTrade is equipped to supply the trading needs of all types of traders by offering 8 different trading platforms that cater to automated trading as well as manual trading:
South African traders also have the option to develop automated trading strategies on MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 through the use of Expert Advisors (EAs). The AvaTrade MetaTrader 5 platform is more powerful and has advanced features that make it more compatible with auto trading systems.
AvaTrade auto-trading software is comprised of two platforms that are designed for mirror trading or copy trading:
DupliTrade is a unique piece of software that runs on the MT4 platform and allows SA traders to automatically copy trade signals and follow in real-time systems developed by pro traders. DupliTrade allows FX traders to build portfolios with your favourite trading signals and trading strategies. The minimum deposit to take advantage of the DupliTrade account is $2,000 equivalent in ZAR.
ZuluTrade is the world’s biggest copy trading network that is now available through one of the 4 AvaTrade account types. This innovative auto trading platform is compatible with the MT4 platform. The minimum deposit of $500 to start trading with ZuluTrade is much lower compared to DupliTrade copy trading account.
We scrutinised closely AvaTrade and found a safe FX broker to trade with. Automated trading is a high-risk endeavour associated with potential system failures and anomalies that can result in losing money. Due to the high risk involved, our team of experts determined that it’s important for AvaTrade to be regulated by appropriate financial regulatory authorities.
Regulated and trusted across 5 continents, AvaTrade customers are protected by major financial entities like:
As you would expect from an international forex broker, AvaTrade strives to provide a competitive trading environment that complies with all the standards imposed by tier-one regulatory bodies. You can start trading and testing their automated forex platforms by opening first a demo account.
Visit AvaTrade >>
Markets.com regulated by Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) under the license no. 46860 offers the best mobile trading App. Markets.com offers a free mobile app trading platform so you can trade on the go. The mobile App is dedicated to traders who want mobility and need a robust mobile trading platform.
The award-winning Markets.com mobile trading platform comes with the following advantages:
Markets.com trading accounts don’t come with the popular MT4 mobile App but instead it comes with an innovative in-house developed trading App MarketsX. For a more powerful trading experience, the mobile App will also give you access to free Thomson Reuters Analyst Research that usually comes at an extra cost.
The MarketsX user-friendly interface offers plenty of power for your trading needs, including:
You can have access to all the core trading features of this mobile trading App with an initial deposit of $250 equivalent amount in South African Rand. SA Traders can deposit funds in the following currencies: ZAR/USD/EUR/GBP. Once your ZARs land into your trading account, you can take advantage of all the benefits that come with MarketsX mobile App.
eToro the world’s biggest social trading platform among other advantages has the following key features:
A wide variety of coin pairs including the most established cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin or Ripple can be found on the eToro trading platform as well as some of the top-performing altcoins (Stellar, Tron, ZCash, Binance coin, etc.).
Forex trading comes with a whopping 400:1 leverage for professional clients and comes with the negative balance protection policy. Unfortunately, compared to other Forex and CFD providers, eToro only offers a 2:1 leverage on cryptocurrency trading. As a relatively new market, cryptocurrencies possess a high risk and are extremely volatile, so trading crypto with high leverage may not be suitable for all types of investors.
South African traders can sell cryptocurrencies via the eToro cryptocurrency platform. According to eToro Terms & Conditions these types of positions are treated as CFD positions which, means you can benefit from the same level of protection that comes with CFD trading. Only when you open a non-leveraged crypto trade, you won the coin rather than the CFD contract.
South African traders can open a position to sell one of the following coins:
eToro non-leveraged cryptocurrency trading allows you to skip the exchange fees and trade with zero commissions. But, on the other hand, all leveraged crypto CFD trades incur the standard overnight and over-the-weekend fees that come with CFD trading.
“eToro does not charge any deposit or trading fees other than spreads.”
Below you can review a snippet of the expected eToro overnight fees on crypto CFD trading. Please note that for non-leveraged positions, there are no fees charged.
eToro crypto CopyPortfolio gives South African residents the option to get diversified exposure to the top-performing crypto coin portfolios. To gain access to this rewarding opportunity, you need to invest a minimum deposit of $5,000 equivalent amount in South African Rand. The CopyPortfolio is designed to offer SA traders with sustained low-risk returns. However, if you want to get exposure to potentially bigger returns, you can opt for the eToro Top Trader Portfolio, which features the most successful and profitable traders on the eToro social trading network.
Overall, eToro offers the most competitive environment for social trading and a large selection of cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency trading on the eToro platform can be extremely rewarding, as you can benefit from ultra-fast order execution measured in milliseconds, which can rarely be found on the top crypto exchanges. For a complete review of the world’s biggest social trading network, please read eToro’s Top 3 Strengths and Weaknesses.
Our team of experts at Compare Forex Brokers found that ForexTime offers the best CFD trading platform among South African forex brokers. As an FSCA regulated broker with FSP No. 46614, FXTM offers its customers to choose from +250 CFD instruments that can be traded across the most popular forex trading platforms:
You can trade at your convenience directly from your:
The latest technology of the MetaTrader blends perfectly with the FXTM exceptional trading conditions, tight spreads, fast order execution, and high-tech forex trading tools. SA traders can speculate not only on the price movement of major and minor foreign exchange currency pairs, but also on their favourite stocks.
In addition to the best choice of the best CFD trading platform, ForexTime FXTM also offers SA traders the opportunity to start trading CFDs instruments across shares, commodities, and indices.
South African residents can trade share CFDs with ForexTime, which offers its customers access to over 160 US company stocks, including high market cap stocks like Apple, Bank of America, and Facebook. FXTM offers its clients with real-time price quotes directly from the world’s biggest stock exchanges – NYSE and NASDAQ.
Our FXTM review process conducted by our industry’s leading experts found 3 key features that make stocks CFDs trading on FXTM a good experience:
The second CFD products offered by FXTM are trading CFDs on commodities. ForexTime allows you to trade on the price movements of commodities from the energy sector. With ForexTime, SA traders can speculate on the most popular commodity markets:
These innovative investment tools are a great way to diversify your investment portfolio. Commodity CFDs trading can be conducted through both FXTM’s MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 trading platforms.
The third category of CFD products offered by FXTM is CFDs on stock indices. ForexTime gives South African traders real-time access to major indices that are traded worldwide. FXTM offers an encompassing selection of the world’s most traded stock indices. With FXTM, CFD traders can trade the world’s most popular indices:
Based on key factors such as:
Our industry experts recommend trading CFDs on the most popular asset classes with ForexTime (FXTM) CFDs trading platforms.
View FXTM Review >>Visit FXTM>>
Our team of experts at Compare Forex Brokers understands that trading leveraged products such as Forex currencies and CFDs margin trading carries a high risk of losing. The high degree of leverage associated with complex instruments is not suitable for all investors, as the risk of losing money increases exponentially when leverage is involved.
Currency traders need to inform themselves of how CFDs work and how to implement proper risk management strategies. This will keep investors away from the potential and unnecessary risks associated with trading complex instruments. Choosing a broker for your investing needs starts with knowing your priorities and then using a broker comparison service just like the one our team of industry experts provides here at Compare Forex Brokers.
Our team of industry experts at Compare Forex Brokers has compiled for SA traders a list of top forex brokers that operate and offer their services to South African residents here: South Africa Forex Trading Brokers. You can also view South African CFD brokers and other comparison tables on this site.
It’s essential for retail Forex traders to sharpen their trading skills. By opening a demo account with your preferred forex broker, you can practise with virtual money without risking any of your hard-earned money. Please make sure you use our links to sign up for a Forex account with your preferred FX broker. If you open a Forex account by using our links, you can have access to exclusive offers, such as commission-free trading, monetary joining bonuses, and many other advantages.
Justin Grossbard has been investing for the past 20 years and writing for the past 10. He co-founded Compare Forex Brokers in 2014 after working with the foreign exchange trading industry for several years. He also founded a number of FinTech and digital startups including Innovate Online and SMS Comparison. Justin holds a Masters Degree and an Honours in Commerce from Monash University. He and his wife Paula live in Melbourne, Australia with his son and Siberian cat. In his spare time, he watches Australian Rules Football and invests on global markets.
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