Oanda is an online forex and CFDs 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, and fast executions make it a reliable broker. The broker offers its own proprietary trading platforms and third-party MetaTrader platforms with social trading and copy trading. OANDA focuses on providing its customers with the best educational and research resources.
The broker offers lucrative trading platforms with flexible interfaces and industry-leading educational resources and research tools. OANDA doesn’t charge any deposit or withdrawal fee and the account opening process is comparatively easy and super fast. Fundamental news calendars and regular press releases also boost the broker’s trust level. The broker discloses its financial statements. On the other hand, the broker offers only forex and CFDs of other assets to trade. There are no cryptocurrencies offered by OANDA but their CFDs. 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 two major asset classes of forex and CFDs of stocks, commodities, bonds, indices, and cryptocurrencies. The clients of Oanda cannot trade individual stocks, ETFs, options, and futures. That is the only lagging factor. 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 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. The broker is very conscious of updating its pricing regularly on its website and transparent about it.
| 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.
Oanda offers a variety of trading platforms to its clients. Oanda provides its proprietary trading platform and the most popular trading platform, 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 several 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. Oanda offers MT4 as a desktop program as well as mobile applications. Here are some cool 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 the salient features 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.
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.
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.
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.
Webinars
Oanda schedules educational webinars regularly. Clients of this broker can easily get registered for the upcoming webinar or listen to the past recorded webinar in 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. 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. But Oanda forex and CFDs broker 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.
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.
Oanda is a fantastic forex trading platform. It provides easy-to-use trading systems that you’ll be able to master soon. It also offers robust research tools, particularly trading APIs. Oanda’s product offering, on the other hand, is confined to FX and CFDs. It has no banking history and is not listed on any stock market, both of which are standard features that increase openness and regulatory scrutiny. Customer service is also not available 24/7.
