Oanda - 2024 Review

Broker Oanda: Quick Review

Founded in 1996, Oanda has grown into one of the world's leading online currency trading platforms with a long lasting reputation. Headquartered in London with regional offices worldwide, Oanda is regulated across 7 tier-1 jurisdictions, offering traders access to over 71 currency pairs and 1744 symbols, including metals, indices, and commodities, through CFDs and spread betting.

Oanda is renowned for its state-of-the-art trading platforms focused on transparency and customization, advanced charting capabilities, competitive spreads starting at 1 pip, and strong customer service that has won numerous industry awards. Though the asset classes may be narrower than some competitors, Oanda focuses on currency trading, which accounts for the largest financial market.

Trading Assets Available on Oanda

With multiple asset classes, Oanda Broker ensures all their customers find something that matches their interests and trading style. Here are the trading assets available on the Oanda trading platform:

• Forex Trading: Oanda's core offering is online forex trading, with access to over 71 major, minor, and exotic currency pairs. This includes all the most popular pairs like EUR/USD, GBP/USD, and USD/JPY, as well as emerging market currencies. Forex trading is available via both spot trading and CFDs.
• CFDs: In regions outside the United States, Oanda offers CFD trading on commodities, global stock indices, shares, ETFs, and cryptocurrency pairs. These allow traders to speculate on price movements without owning the underlying asset. Popular CFDs include gold, oil, the FTSE 100, and major crypto coins.
• Cryptocurrencies: As well as crypto CFDs, Oanda also enables buying, selling, and holding actual cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin via a partnership with the Paxos Cryptocurrency Trading platform. This gives traders crypto exposure plus the ability to make transfers and payments.

Though the asset breadth on Oanda is quite extensive, especially for forex, the broker does not currently offer CFD trading on individual stocks, ETFs, or allow spot trading of equities. So traders looking to directly invest in global stocks need to look for another broker.

Some of the Assets Available

While not limited to these, here are a few tradable assets on the platform across the asset classes Oanda offers:

Customer Support at Oanda

Oanda provides customer support through a mix of phone, email, and live chat options. The support team is available by phone and chat from Monday to Friday between 8:00 to 20:00 Central European Time. Outside of these hours, customers can submit inquiries by email to [email protected].

A key strength of Oanda's customer service is its quick response times once a ticket is opened or a call is placed within working hours. As an established broker serving millions of traders for over 25 years, Oanda has invested heavily in its support infrastructure and staff training programs. This facilitates informed responses and reduces wait times. Support specialists can assist traders in English, Spanish, French, and German, depending on staff availability.

However, unlike some competitors, Oanda does not currently offer 24/7 around-the-clock phone or chat support or services on weekends. So traders should be aware that they cannot access live agents outside of European working hours. Urgent issues will have to wait until the next business day.

But overall, Oanda still delivers an above-average service experience, catering well to active traders during peak trading times. Customers emphasize the support team at Oanda's courteous, patient, and knowledgeable assistance.

Oanda Features for Traders

There are many features a trader must look out for when choosing a broker to invest and trade with. The Oanda trading platform offer he following features for traders:

• Account Opening: Opening an Oanda account is fast and fully digital. No minimum deposit is required to get started. Approval time is quick for individual accounts.
• Deposits and withdrawals: Oanda offers multiple deposit and withdrawal options, including debit and credit cards, bank transfers, and third-party systems like PayPal. Withdrawals to debit or credit cards are free for one transaction per month, but bank wire transfers have expensive fees.
• Platforms: Oanda provides the popular MetaTrader 4 platform alongside its own proprietary Trade platform available for desktop, web, and mobile. The Trade platform stands out for its sophisticated charting using TradingView, extensive market research, and user-friendly interface. More features are native on mobile than on the web.
• Fees: Oanda offers two straightforward pricing options: default spreads or discounted spreads + $5 commission per $100k traded. Though spreads are competitive, active traders may benefit more from commission-based pricing. Inactivity and withdrawal fees apply in certain cases.
• Markets and Products: The broker's focus is forex, offering over 70 currency pairs. Other tradable assets include commodities, indices, and bonds via CFDs. Cryptocurrency exposure is also available. But overall assets are limited relative to competitors.
• Research and Tools: Extensive research resources are provided, including AutoChartist, news feeds, an economic calendar, and an API for strategy development. But navigation needs improvement as resources are scattered across web, desktop, and mobile platforms.
• Customer Service: Customer service options include email, live chat, and phone support. Response times are generally quick when accessed. But Oanda does not offer 24/7 support or weekend availability.
• Education: Articles, videos, webinars, and an online training course are available. But educational materials focus more on platform mechanics than comprehensive trading skills. The content also lacks clear categorization by experience level.

What You Should Know About Oanda

Founded in 1996, Oanda stood as an early pioneer in online forex trading for retail investors. Over the past 25+ years, they have executed over $10 trillion in currency trades for thousands of clients worldwide. While relatively small-scale compared to mammoth brokers, Oanda focuses on transparency, execution quality, and providing a suite of powerful yet easy-to-use platforms.

Before opening an account, here are some essential things traders should understand about Oanda:

Strict Global Regulation

With offices across North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region, Oanda maintains extensive regulation by agencies like the CFTC, NFA, FCA, ASIC, and MAS. This oversight ensures quality control in areas like client fund segregation, reporting standards, and audit processes. Though protection schemes vary across regulators, working with a compliant broker still minimizes risks.

Award-Winning Platforms

Oanda is renowned for its state-of-the-art proprietary trading platforms optimized for currency trading. Their web, desktop, and mobile apps offer an intuitive interface packed with tools - from advanced charting to indicators, trading signals, price alerts, and abundant market research. Traders can efficiently analyze trades, develop strategies, and manage risk across Oanda's platforms.

Transparency and Fairness

As one of the first brokers to publish its live average spreads, Oanda places strong emphasis on transparency in its dealings. Pricing models, commission structures, funding rates, and order execution are fully disclosed without hidden charges. This prevents ugly surprises, letting traders estimate real trading costs accurately.

Wide Range of Markets

Though Oanda's sweet spot is forex trading, offering over 71 currency pairs, they also provide access to global indices, treasuries, commodities, and cryptocurrencies via CFD trading. This allows for building diversified portfolios to suit different strategies. Margin requirements are also tied to asset volatility to prevent sudden margin calls.

Focus on Active Traders

Unlike brokers catering mainly to casual investors, Oanda targets active, high-volume traders through competitive pricing and advanced features. For instance, commission-based pricing of just $2 per $100,000 traded provides huge savings for frequent traders through tight spreads and low financing rates. Access to tick data histories and an API also aid strategy development.

Education for All

Robust educational resources provide training for traders of all competencies - from total beginners to experts. Options include videos, online courses, recorded webinars, an extensive glossary, and daily written commentary. Though materials may benefit from better structure, Oanda content scales to different knowledge levels.

With strong technical capabilities, pricing aimed at active trading, and support for algorithmic strategies, Oanda stands out from minimalist forex brokers focused only on ease of access. Though the asset portfolio remains narrow, currency traders get an institutional-grade experience through cutting-edge yet user-friendly platforms.

Comparison of Oanda with other Brokers

Oanda stands out among other online brokers for its exceptional asset selection, user-friendly platforms, competitive spreads, and top-notch customer service. They have a clear commitment to transparency, a strong emphasis on trader education, and a strict adherence to regulations, which sets them apart from the competition. Oanda suits both new and experienced traders who are seeking a reliable global online broker.

Final Note

With over 25 years of experience providing currency traders access to institutional-grade capabilities, Oanda stands as a trusted pioneer in online forex trading. Their focus on transparency, cutting-edge trading platforms, and competitive pricing makes Oanda a top choice for active traders seeking an all-in-one solution for forex, indices, commodities, and crypto.

Comparison of Oanda with other Brokers

	Oanda	VideForex	IQCent	Binary Cent	RaceOption	BinBot Pro	Deriv	Binarium	IQ Option	Intrade Bar	XM
Trading platform	Proprietary	Proprietary	Proprietary	White-label	RaceOption, Mobile	-	Properietary	Properietary	Proprietary	Proprietary	Proprietary
Min deposit	1	20$	20$	250$	250$	250$	100$	250$	10$	10	5
Payout	80%	85%	95%	85%	85%	%	85%	80%	80%	80%	95%
Copytrading	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
TradingView	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
Assets	FX, Indices, Bullion, Commodities, Crypto	CFDs, Binary Options, Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies	CFDs, Binary Options, Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies	Forex, CFD, Stocks, Crypto, Options	Binary Options, CFDs		Binary Options on Forex and Cryptos	Binary Options on Forex and Cryptos	Binary Options on Forex and Cryptos	Binary Options on Forex and Cryptos	1
Expiry Times		5 seconds - 30 days	5 seconds - 30 days	5 seconds - 30 days	5 seconds - 30 days		1 minute - 48 hours	1 minute - 48 hours	1 minute - 48 hours	1 minute - 48 hours	1
Execution of orders		Instant Execution	Instant Execution	Market Execution, Instant Exec	Market Execution, Instant Exec		Market Execution	Market Execution	Market Execution	Market Execution	1
Deposit bonus	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Cent accounts	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No