OANDA is a well-established and trusted global brand in the forex trading industry. Founded in 1996, OANDA has built a strong reputation for its market research, regulatory track record, and third-party feature support. Overall, we like the broker because it remains a good choice for forex trading for beginners.
Disclaimers:
OANDA CORPORATION IS A MEMBER OF NFA AND IS SUBJECT TO NFA’S REGULATORY OVERSIGHT AND EXAMINATIONS. HOWEVER, YOU SHOULD BE AWARE THAT NFA DOES NOT HAVE REGULATORY OVERSIGHT AUTHORITY OVER UNDERLYING OR SPOT VIRTUAL CURRENCY PRODUCTS OR TRANSACTIONS OR VIRTUAL CURRENCY EXCHANGES, CUSTODIANS OR MARKETS
Leveraged trading in foreign currency contracts or other off-exchange products on margin carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for everyone.
The CFTC/NFA regulates OANDA Corporation. OANDA is a member Firm of the NFA (Member ID: 0325821). CFDs are not available to residents in the United States.
Pros & Cons of OANDA
Pros
- Founded in 1996 and regulated in six tier-1 jurisdictions.
- The Market Pulse hub features high-quality research articles and daily analysis updates.
- OANDA produces its podcast series called “Market Insight.”
- The fxTrade mobile app has a great balance of features and ranks highly for ease of use.
- OANDA’s offering of research tools, news, and market analysis is excellent
- Offers spot crypto trading through a partnership with Paxos.
Cons
- Offers fewer video market updates than its peers
- Though the educational material is good, OANDAs video content is not comprehensive and mostly takes the form of platform tutorials.
Regulatory Overview and Safety
We appreciate that OANDA is regulated in six tier-1 jurisdictions. These jurisdictions include Australia (ASIC), Canada (IIROC), Japan (FFAJ), Singapore (MAS), the United Kingdom (FCA), and the United States (CFTC and NFA).
Account Types
OANDA offered us a single standard account type. However, upgrading to the “Elite Trader Program” is an option if one meets the platform’s requirements of crossing a minimum trade volume of $10 million each calendar month.
The Elite program requires a minimum deposit of $50,000 but offers users access to numerous benefits based on tiers, as shown in the image below.
On the other hand, the standard account has no minimum deposit requirement, making it accessible to traders of all levels.
Trading Instruments
The asset selection at OANDA is primarily focused on forex, with a choice of currency pairs totaling 68.
In addition, OANDA has expanded into cryptocurrencies through its crypto service partner, Paxos. The featured digital assets include Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum (ETH), and others.
The comprehensive list of instruments was sufficient for us to learn how to trade and diversify our portfolios.
OANDA Fees and Spreads
The broker offered us competitive fees and spreads. Our team liked that there was no minimum deposit requirement or trade size and no added commissions, with costs based only on the spread. Standard account spreads start at 1.2 pips. If upgrading to the Elite Trader Program, we would enjoy spreads as low as 1.2 pips and ECN spreads starting from 0 pips, with a commission of $3.50 per side after rebates.
We found it essential to consider overnight fees for positions held longer than a day. These fees are defined by the instrument traded and are visible upon opening a trade.
OANDA’s fees are slightly better than the industry standard as they charge low amounts for CFDs and currencies. Non-trading fees are also low, including CFDs, which are lower than most competitors.
Also, Their non-trading fees are average. There is no charge for depositing or withdrawing money from debit/credit cards.
If you don’t trade and your account remains inactive for 1 year, OANDA charges $10 monthly.
OANDA’s bid/ask spreads (fees clients pay to trade) compare well with the competition. The minimum spread price charged by OANDA is slightly higher. The OANDA spread is determined through a platform connected to international banks that obtain the best CFD and currency exchange rates.
OANDA’s prices are transparent and always publish a trailing average of their average spread in almost all time periods.
Trading Platforms
We were provided full access to the fully customizable MT4 and an award-winning OANDA Trading mobile app for beginners. OANDA’s technology and software offerings include tighter spreads, custom platforms across premium offerings, and automation of trading strategies.
Web Trading
OANDA uses a proprietary platform, Oanda Trade, which was easy for our team to navigate; it has won many awards and accolades. OANDA’s forex trading platform supports web trading, desktop trading, and mobile trading apps, with web trading allowing us easy access via any browser.
Mobile Trading
The OANDA Trade mobile app is an award-winning platform offering us a great balance of features and ease of use. The app is available for iOS and Android devices; it provides access to advanced charting tools, news updates, and trading functionality.
Research and Education
We found a comprehensive range of research tools and resources.
OANDA’s MarketPulse site featured high-quality articles for us to read, organized by category, with multiple updates published daily.
MarketPulse provides articles and a Dow Jones feed, Newswires provides information and news. There you will also find technical and fundamental analysis. OANDA Labs offers tools in multiple languages, with its charting tools being responsive, easily editable, and featuring over 70 technical indicators.
OANDA has great API options; you can use your own APIs in a user-friendly environment. OANDA’s MetaTrader4 (MT4) platform feed offers news from Reuters, MarketPulse, MarketWatch, Mainichi, and CNBC.
Autochartist integration within the forex broker’s web platform and mobile app offered us trading signals and automated technical analysis. Furthermore, OANDA produces a Market Insights series with daily analysis updates.
On the education front, OANDA presented us with a decent selection of educational materials, including webinars and written content. Please note that the educational content for beginners is below average and lacks depth.
The broker hosts live webinars but trails competitors regarding overall educational value.
Customer Support
When we contacted customer support through their help portal, they offered answers to common questions and multilingual support via live chat, e-mail, and international phone lines available in numerous countries.
The only drawback is that customer support is available 24/5 rather than 24/7.
Final Thoughts
OANDA is a highly-regarded as a best broker for forex trading in addition being a regulated brokerwith a strong regulatory track record and a wide range of research tools, news, and market analysis.
Its easy-to-use mobile app, with a focus on forex and cryptocurrency trading, made it an attractive choice for our users. While OANDAs educational content for beginners may be below average compared to discount leaders, its overall offering is excellent.
We were looking for a forex trading platform or app for beginners with a strong reputation and comprehensive market research, and we found it with OANDA.
