Oanda is an online CFD broker and social trading platform owned by OANDA Corporation. The broker was founded in 1996 in the USA and now has offices in Canada, the UK, Japan, Singapore, and Australia. The broker is authorized under strict regulation of the top-tier regulatory authorities like ASIC, CFTC, NFA, IIROC, FCA, MAS, JFSA, MFSA, and BVI Financial Services Commission. OANDA offers a variety of trading instruments across popular asset classes such as forex, CFDs, cryptocurrencies, indices, commodities, and treasuries. In terms of trading fees, OANDA offers trading at low spreads and commissions, with fast execution speed that contribute towards making it a reliable broker. The broker offers its own proprietary trading platforms and third-party MetaTrader platforms with social trading and copy trading for those of you who want to take a hands-off approach. OANDA focuses on providing its customers with the best educational and research resources, so there is plenty for improving your education and analysing the markets so that you can take informed decisions.
The broker offers powerful and intuitive trading platforms with flexible interfaces, industry leading educational resources and advanced research tools. OANDA doesn’t charge any deposit or withdrawal fee and the account opening process is comparatively straightforward. Fundamental news calendars and regular press releases also boost the broker’s efficiency. The broker also discloses its financial statements.
On the other hand, the broker offers only forex and CFDs of other assets to trade. The broker does not hold a banking license and is not traded on any stock exchange as a private company still owns it.
Oanda offers a variety of trading instruments across major asset classes including CFDs on forex, stocks, commodities, bonds, indices, and cryptocurrencies. With Oanda, you cannot trade individual ETFs, options, and futures. That is the only lagging factor in terms of instruments from my perspective but you can get additional instruments via IG. Spread betting is only offered to EU clients under the jurisdiction of FCA. CFDs, MT4 hedging capabilities on leverage exceeding 50:1 is not offered to US clients.
Oanda Instruments Summary
| Instruments | Oanda |
|---|---|
| Forex | ✓ |
| Stocks | ✓ |
| Indices | ✓ |
| Commodities | ✓ |
| Cryptos | x |
| Options | x |
| Bonds | x |
| ETFs | x |
| CFDs | ✓ |
Commission and Spread Fees
Oanda is much better than some of its competitors in terms of commissions and spreads. The broker charges low forex fees and average CFDs fees. The variable spreads at Oanda start from 1.0 pip, and it does not offer fixed spreads on any account. Oanda offers two types of accounts. You can choose to pay in terms of spreads as the trading cost on standard and swap-free accounts or pay a fixed commission with core spreads on a core account. The broker charges 0.1 spreads and a fixed $40 commission per one million dollars traded, which translates to $4 per standard lot. The broker is very conscious of updating its pricing regularly on its website and transparent about it. Generally, I found the fees to be very good overall and think they are worth it when you consider all of the other perks that come with using an industry leading broker like Oanda.
| Fee | Standard Account | Core Account | Swap-Free |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commission | $0 | $40 per million traded | $0 |
| Spreads from | 1.0 | 0.2 | 1.6 |
Deposit and Withdrawal Fees
Oanda charges no deposit or withdrawal fees for any payment methods, except bank wire transfers. It charges a $20 withdrawal fee on wire transfers per transaction.
Inactivity Fees
Oanda charges a $13 or £10 inactivity fee if a customer remains inactive for more than 12 months. If you would rather not pay any inactivity fees than you might want to consider another broker from our broker ratings.
Oanda offers a variety of trading platforms to its clients. The broker provides its proprietary trading platform and some of the most popular trading platforms in MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, across desktop, web, and mobile applications.
Oanda Trading Platform
This is Oanda’s own “next generation” award-winning platform. It comes with a collection of tools for market research, sophisticated charting, and trade management. For traders of all skill levels, the platform provides a versatile and simple trading environment. It’s available across the web, desktop, and mobile. The web version runs directly in the browser and is thus compatible with most recent web browsers and all OS systems. Installable on Windows, the desktop version has a completely customisable user interface. The Android/iOS mobile version is ideal for people who need to access their accounts and trade while on the road. Here are the key features of Oanda’s proprietary trading platform:
- 10 chart layouts, sophisticated technical analysis
- 50 drawing tools
- Technical indicators
- News with a search capability
- Algo Labs provides access to algorithmic trading
- Stop loss order type available
- Tool for analysing trade performance
- Layouts and user interface may be customised
- Trading View provides powerful charting
- Market news and analysis
- Economic calendar
MetaTrader 4 (MT4)
This platform is one of the most widely used in the forex trading industry, with hundreds of brokers and millions of traders using it. The MT4 platform is simple to use, flexible, fully customisable, and loaded with a variety of valuable trading tools for conducting detailed market analysis. Oanda offers MT4 as a desktop program as well as mobile trading apps which are great for keeping track of your positions and the latest market news from within the palm of your hands. Here are some of the key features of MT4 offered by Oanda:
- Market watch, real-time price quotes
- 3 chart types (candlestick, bar, and line)
- 9 time frames
- Over 20 drawing tools
- 30 built-in technical indicators.
- Expert Advisors (EAs) support for automated trading
- Strategy tester for testing expert advisors
- Custom indicators, EAs, and scripts can all be programmed using the MQL editor
- Trade directly from charts
- One-click trading
- Various order types
- Order management tools
- Risk management, stop loss, and take profit
- Notifications by platform, email, and SMS
- MetaQuotes market place to buy and sell indicators and expert advisors
MetaTrader 5 (MT5) Platform
MetaTrader 5 (MT5) platform provides several enhanced capabilities in addition to the fundamental features and functionalities of the MT4 platform. Traders will be able to make use of features including built-in market depth, an integrated economic calendar, one-click trading, enhanced trading tools, and increased charting capabilities. On active and demo accounts, MT5 is accessible for web, desktop, and mobile. MT5 is a more efficient and speedier platform that will enhance your trading experience. Clients may automate trading strategies, buy and sell currency pairs with a single click, and access more market analysis tools with only one click. Clients may also use MQL5 to automate their trading methods by creating expert advisors.
Mobile Trading
Mobile trading is available for both the Oanda and MetaTrader platforms via iOS and Android apps. They work in tandem with desktop apps and have comparable features and capabilities. Here are some of the salient features that you can enjoy while using Oanda’s mobile trading apps:
- Real-time price quotes
- 3 chart types
- 9 time frames
- Technical analysis by charts, indicators, and drawing tools
- User-friendly interface
- On the move, live trades, and headlines
- Opens, modifies and closes trading positions
- Analysis and history of trade performance
- Notifications
VPS
Traders at Oanda can enjoy a virtual private service for automated trading. As a VPS allows continuous 24/7 operations of trading platforms. Trades can embed expert advisors to their favourite trading instrument on the MetaTrader trading platform and keep it running with no interruption whatsoever. You can get a free VPS from some other brokers including IC Markets.
Trading View and Social Trading
Trading view is a charting software provided by Oanda and is widely used by traders worldwide. Traders can access market charts of their favourite markets on the go and execute, manage or close their positions from the charts. Also, numerous technical indicators and charting tools allow traders in-depth technical analysis. Clients of Oanda can also connect with millions of other traders worldwide with the help of the social trading feature of Trading View and can share trading ideas with others. I think TradingView is one of the best charting tools and would choose Oanda for access to it alone. There are a select few other brokers who have intergrated with TradingView, Forex.com being another option.
Oanda Platforms Summary
| Platform | Oanda |
|---|---|
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | ✓ |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | ✓ |
| cTrader | x |
| Proprietary | ✓ |
| Desktop | ✓ |
| Web | ✓ |
| Mobile | ✓ |
| Social Trading | ✓ |
| Other | x |
News, technical analysis, and an API are Oanda’s research tools that its clients enjoy for free. Various training videos cover trading platform tutorials, fundamental analysis, technical indicators, forex/CFD trading, and other trading subjects. Beginners, intermediates, and expert traders can benefit from these free videos. Different methods of trading are covered in trading guides. In addition, there are articles outlining basic ideas that newbies who are just starting started with online trading may find informative.
Market News
For forex traders, Oanda provides a wide selection of research. On Oanda’s MetaTrader4 (MT4) platform, news headlines are sourced from Reuters, MarketPulse, MarketWatch, Mainichi, and CNBC, among other sources.
MarketPulse
Much of the information on Oanda’s MarketPulse is powered by the broker’s research team, and it focuses on news, research, and analysis. fxTrade, Oanda’s mobile app, feeds Dow Jones news as well as the broker’s blog.
Capital Management
Oanda offers education regarding capital management to its clients. Because losses might surpass the initial investment, leveraged trading carries a significant level of risk. Traders of all levels of expertise need a capital management plan to succeed and survive. Traders need this tool to safeguard their investment and reduce their risk exposure by learning risk management techniques. Traders can learn how leveraged trading may result in higher gains or losses and how having many open trades can put traders in danger of an immediate margin call.
Technical Analysis (AutoChartist)
Each month, AutoChartist’s revolutionary pattern recognition program searches the markets to highlight millions of trade ideas, saving you time when analysing your favourite trading instruments. Receive notifications when the scanner detects developing or finished patterns on your favourite instruments and pattern types, allowing you to trade in real-time. Autochartist provides 1000+ trading possibilities every month in financial markets such as Forex, Indices, Commodities, Stocks, CFDs, and Futures. While markets are open, chart patterns, Fibonacci patterns, and Key Levels are discovered in real-time. Autochartist saves traders a lot of time by continually scanning the market for new, high-quality trading opportunities. Visual Quality indicators help new traders grasp patterns more easily, while complex search tools are available to more experienced traders. I think this is an excellent tool that is another great reason to give serious consideration to choosing Oanda as your broker. Other Autochartist brokers include GO Markets.
Here are some fantastic features traders can enjoy while using AutoChartist:
- Popular chart patterns
- Key support & resistance levels
- Fibonacci patterns
- Volatility analysis
- Alert notifications
- Fully customisable
Economic Calendar
Oanda provides a free economic calendar to its customers, covering all low to high-priority economic events worldwide. This is a great way to keep informed about what is happening around the global markets.
Webinars
Oanda schedules educational webinars regularly. You can easily get registered for an upcoming webinar or listen to the previously recorded webinars in your own time via the video library.
Oanda Research and Education Summary
| Resources | Oanda |
|---|---|
| Market Analysis | ✓ |
| Guides | ✓ |
| Videos | ✓ |
| Webinars | ✓ |
| Autochartist | ✓ |
| Trading Central | x |
| Economic Calendar | ✓ |
| Other | ✓ |
Oanda offers a wide range of payment methods for its clients to deposit or withdraw funds from their accounts. These payment methods include bank wire transfer, Debit/Credit Cards, and electronic wallets. The broker does not offer cryptocurrency wallets or cryptocurrencies as a mode of payment for deposit or withdrawal. If that is something that you are looking for then FXChoice may be an option to consider. Moreover, there is a withdrawal fee on wire transfers.
Oanda Funding Summary
| Payment Method | Deposit | Withdrawal |
|---|---|---|
| Wire Transfer | ✓ | ✓ |
| Credit/debit Card | ✓ | ✓ |
| Electronic Wallets | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cryptos | x | x |
Oanda is authorized and well regulated under some top-tier regulators all around the world. Oanda Corporation owns the broker.
- Oanda Corporation is regulated by Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and is a member of the National Futures Association NFA.
- Oanda (Canada) Corporation ULC is regulated in Canada by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC).
- Oanda Europe Limited is regulated by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
- Oanda Asia Pacific Pte Ltd is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
- Oanda Australia Pty Ltd is regulated in Australia by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
- Oanda Japan Co., Ltd. is regulated by the Japanese Financial Services Agency (JFSA).
- Oanda Europe Markets Limited is regulated by Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA).
- Oanda Global Markets Ltd is regulated by BVI Financial Services Commission.
Oanda Regulation Summary
| Regulator | Oanda |
|---|---|
| ASIC (Australia) | ✓ |
| IIROC (Canada) | ✓ |
| CySEC (Cyprus) | x |
| SFC (Hong Kong) | x |
| JFSA (Japan) | ✓ |
| MAS (Singapore) | ✓ |
| FINMA (Switzerland) | x |
| FCA (UK) | ✓ |
| CFTC (USA) | ✓ |
| Other | ✓ |
Oanda Safety
Oanda is authorized and strictly regulated by various well-reputed financial regulatory authorities. Its parent company, despite being a private company, discloses its financial statements regularly. However, Oanda is not listed on any stock exchange and does not hold a banking license. But over 25 years of market experience and strict jurisdictions make Oanda a lot safer than some of its competitors. They are one of the most well-regulated brokers that you will find, along with the likes of City Index.
Traders can contact customer support via phone, email, and live chat 24/5. However, if the broker offered 24/7 customer support, it would be great. You can get weekend support from brokers such as Plus500.
Oanda is a fantastic choice of broker for anyone looking to trade or invest in a wide range of financial instruments with a broker that is regulated and has years of experience in the industry. Oanda provides user-friendly trading systems that give everyone convenient access to the global markets across all of their devices. The broker offers robust research tools to help you analyse the markets efficiently and spot trading opportunities. Professional and institutional traders are looked after with a host of powerful trading APIs. They have very competitive trading conditions in terms of low and transparent fees with reliable execution speeds. Oanda’s product offering, on the other hand, is confined to FX and CFDs. I also think they could benefit from adding crypto payments and extending support to weekends. However, these are minor discrepancies from my point of view and I would not hesitate to use Oanda for my day trading activities.
