South African residents want to work on a financial market and to deal with different Forex brokers, but they deserve the best. Trading in South Africa is very liberal, and the government cares about the well-being of traders. That is why the South African market operates regulated and efficient brokerage companies.
Although CFDs trading was not popular with South Africans until recently, global retail forex brokerages have begun operating in South Africa in the past few years. They meet the needs of local investors looking to trade in global markets. They also provide investors with the online trading experience of advanced platforms, leverage, and many other tools.
Traders in South Africa can choose any broker around the world, but there are approximately 70 firms only which have the FSCA license. FSCA is a South African financial body which provides protection to clients and keeps monitoring on forex trading firms.
Now, out of these 70, anybody with a trading license might be working on eating your money. And, those who are truly genuine and offer good services relatively charge high, except a few. Here, we’ll reveal that few brokers only, i.e. the brokers holding fair regulations, offering excellent services, in the most affordable manner possible.
Table of Contents
Top 7 Best South African Brokers for Forex Trading
InvestLite
InvestLite is a CFD broker, new for the investors, but already gained the trust of many. The company provides financial services such as CFD trading, Forex trading, commodity, stocks, indices, and cryptocurrencies. The company is regulated and allows traders to realize their ambitions worldwide.
The broker offers to trade by the means of a web browser, MetaTrader 4 terminal, and mobile application. InvestLite supplied each mode with advantageous features. WebTrader platform allows to operate on multiple timeframes, use a wide variety of orders, and one click switch of account. MT4 in InvestLite allows getting 60+ technical indicators, automated trading functions, and price move notifications. The Mobile version is free to install and allows you to perform all orders on your phone.
InvestLite made different account plans for customers: Silver, Gold, and Platinum. The accounts are equipped with hedging, leverage, base assets. However, the Platinum account contains additional features like account manager, customized trading news, swap discount. The platform has no fixed spreads.
InvestLife offers to make a deposit or withdraw the profit by PayPal, bank card, cryptocurrencies, Skrill, or Neteller.
InvestLite boasts responsible customer support service, that works 24/5 and easy to reach by phone, e-mail or live chat. The broker’s site contains a full information about contact with managers.
The company is regulated by Bayline Trading Ltd which and operates with the control of International Financial Services Commission (IFSC) of Belize. The company provides all necessary documents.
InvestLite is a fresh Forex broker, which gained confidence very fast. Broker offers to trade advanced assets including CFDs on stocks, commodity materials, indices and crypto. Additional educational articles, which accessible on the broker’s site help customers to become fully acquainted with Forex.
eToro
eToro has been in the trading industry for the last 13 years, delivering excellent services. The company is well-recognised in the forex market field, making them a name in every household. eToro offers CFD and non-CFD products to its users at excellent cost-effective prices. The organisation, founded in Tel Aviv, Israel, was established by Asia siblings along with a friend, David Ring.
The broker provides an investor program with four levels. It is from cadet to elite, where traders get the opportunity to receive different bonuses. This program is designed for copying the trading strategy of other traders.
eToro offers multiple cryptocurrency tools to gain efficient trading ideas from other traders, as well as groups of traders, and 94 supported cryptocurrency pairs. The broker has a handy mobile wallet app, using which customers get a real Forex trading platform in their pocket. The platform supports functions, that help to keep the funds: stop-loss, trailing stops, take-profit orders, and unique feature offline-trading.
The broker offers to improve the outcome of the work enjoying educational information on the platform. On the broker’s site traders can find useful blogs, trading school series, tutorial videos, that help you upgrade the knowledge.
eToro, which primarily was famous as RetailFX, offers online trading and social investing platform, and is a leader in same, with providing services friendly to the beginners. The firm is regulated and licensed with one of the top financial bodies of the world, including the UK’s FCA (Financial Conduct Authority), CyCES and Australia’s ASIC (Australian Securities and Exchange Commission).
eToro’s head office situated in Cyprus. The organisation offers its robust services in all over South Africa and the world, with offices operating globally. In total, the company claims to have around whopping 7,000,000 users.
Some disadvantages from their side are high minimum deposit than the industry average and mandatory withdrawal charge.
HotForex
HotForex is an STP trading website in South Africa, which started its operations in 2016. The forex broker holds numerous licenses of top financial bodies including UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, CySEC (Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission)of Cyprus, and South Africa’s FSCA (Financial Service Commission Authority).
HotForex traders get the opportunity to operate the MetaTrader 4 platform, which is iOS and Android friendly. It also goes on any other device. The broker offers MetaTrader 5, which is going on any device with iOS and Android systems too. The platform is fast working and supports many beneficial instruments, that is why HotForex is such popular.
HotForex has an FSP regulation for providing a full package of financial services for investors from South Africa.
The company is relatively young but contains only innovative tools for customers. HotForex offers exclusive features, that protect the broker’s customers. The broker provides VPS (Virtual Private Server) to uphold the automated strategies and cut trading lags. The platform contains trade execution and management tool, alarms, and messaging if traders are unable to constantly monitor the market. HotForex mobile application was upgraded and now traders can take more advantages of trading on this platform.
HotForex account variety impresses. The broker offers:
- Micro type of account – minimum deposit is equal to 5$, leverage 1000:1, spreads start from 1 pip.
- Premium account – contains start deposit sum 100$, max leverage 500:1, spreads from 1 pip.
- Zero Spread account – minimum deposit 200$, maximum leverage 500:1, spreads from 0 on the Forex market.
- Auto account type – min deposit amount on 200$, leverage 500:1, spreads start from 1 pip.
- HFcopy account – sum to start 500$ if the investor provides strategies, 200$ if the investor is a follower, maximum leverage is 400:1, spreads from 1 pip.
Note that the Zero account type offered by the broker provides spreads as low as 0 pips.
Some notable features of HotForex are free, fast deposit and fund withdrawal, impressive educational & research library, and no limit on demo account service. Trading platforms are simple and easy to use with specifications like live sentiments, auto charting, tick charts, indicators, tick charts, and many more.
AvaTrade
AvaTrade is considered one of the biggest brokers globally, with its user base expanding up to 2 lakh. The company is operating since 2006 only and holds licenses from top financial authorities like FSCA, FSA, ASIC, and more. The broker offers excellent customer service to all the clients with 24/5 support.
With four offices around the globe, namely, Australia, Japan, Ireland, and the British Virgin Island, the company is a significant partner for English Premier League Champions Manchester City.
AvaTrade offers to its customers advanced methods of trading online. On the broker’s site, you find the next platforms to carry out transactions: MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, AvaTradeAct platform. The platforms are accessible through web browsers, as well as mobile applications. AvaTrade platform fits Windows and Mac. The broker allows using of additional tools for increasing the productivity of the customers. AvaTrade maintains the function of such automated instruments as Duplitrade, Mirror Trader, RoboX, MQL5 Signal Service, API Trading.
The broker offers a demo and live account types. You can start trading on a live account with a $100 sum, replenishing your profile by debit or credit cards, but 500$ by wire transfer. As an international trading platform, AvaTrade made an Islamic account, that works according to the Islamic interests. The choice of instruments on this platform makes an impression, as you can create multiple trading groups, full equipped MetaTrader 4 platform, expert advisors here.
The special bonuses are obtainable for certain geographical locations.
The deposit process can be performed by credit cards (VISA, MasterCard, debit), wire transfers, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, and WebMoney. The initial deposit to start amounts to $100. Withdrawing operation occupies 5 business days.
AvaTrade is a licensed broker, who won many awards, including Best Forex Broker YEAR, Best Customer Support, Best Financial Derivative Trading Provider, Best Alert System. The company operates in many countries and was able to gain the trust of residents in South Africa.
XM
XM Trading is another good brokerage firm, which operates under the Financial Instruments Ltd. The company was founded in 2009, with regulations & licenses from CySEC, IFSC, FCA, DFSA, & ASIC. The high regulation makes sure the broker is safe to trade and doesn’t get involved in fraudulent activities.
The broker offers to start micro, standard, and ultra-low account types at your choice. All accounts include leverage, great selection of financial assets, Islamic account option, negative balance protection function, spreads, and hedging.
Apart from all this, the trading site has exceptionally overwhelmingly low spread, with EUR/USD starting from as low as 0.8 pips. The forex traders also have an edge with them, as there are more than 11 base currencies, including ZAR. Some other prominent options include negative balance protection, commission-free trading, no charge on deposits & withdrawals, astounding customer assistance, and straightforward, quick order execution system.
The trading platform, which XM provides are high powered with handy tools. Here you find Meta Trader 4, which is a well-known platform, where you can make orders to buy or sell currency pairs, indices, shares, crude goods, and digital currencies. XM gives an expert advisor option. XM provides a web version of the platform to trade without downloading anything. The platform is fully equipped with the same assets. On the XM site, you discover MT4 multiterminal version to operate with multiple MT4 accounts from the unified terminal. Besides, the broker allows trading on MetaTrader 5, which is an improved version of the trading terminal.
XM broker has a special bonus for its customers in the form of $5,000. For getting it, the investor must trade 500 lots within the first 30 days from the first deposit day. Another cool offering is XM Loyalty Program where traders can earn limitless rewards and credit bonuses. More details are presented on the broker’s site.
Note that the broker do not hold South African financial body FSCA’s license and reports “applied” on their site. The venture also does not have South African telephone support.
The tradable assets include stocks, crypto, CFD, currency pairs, indices, and more. The minimum deposit is only $5.
Tickmill
Tickmill is a Seychelles based trading broker which started operations in 2014, operating with several regulations in place including UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, CySEC (Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission), and South Africa’s FSCA.
The broker provides multiple opportunities for customers to trade different assets, getting first-class customer support service. The broker is regulated and has a right to provide an opportunity to trade 50+ assets on Forex, as well as a large choice of CFD instruments, commodities, and bonds. Tickmill does not have cryptocurrencies at its disposal, but you can choose any other instrument.
Regarding account types, Tickwell offers three plans: Classic, Pro, and Vip. All of them allow trading using leverage, spreads, any financial asset available on the platform. Although the minimum deposit to start trading is $100 for pro and classic, the VIP account requires a minimum of 50,000 USD as it caters professional requirements. Further, charges for trading are at par with standards, with spreads starting from 1.6 pips for classic type for EUR/USD currency pair. The same spread is 0.1 pips for a pro account for the same pair, but the user also has to pay $2 commission for trading a standard lot both sides. There’s no charge for adding or taking out funds.
To begin trading on Tickmill you need a replenish account by the mean of bank wires, Sticpay, credit/debit cards, QIWI, Skrill, Neteller, Fasapay, Unionpay, NganLuong, and WebMoney.
Tickmill provides a platform that is in great request – MetaTrader 4. It is a foremost trading terminal, which allows making more accurate analysis and contains additional tools. The broker makes the platform be available on the mobile device for the comfort of the clients. On Tickmill you get an exclusive chance to trade on MT4 with one-click. VPS hosting is obtainable on this platform too with a 20% discount.
Tickmill is a progressive trading platform, which is designed to fulfill the requirements of investors with any level of wallet and potential.
Oinvest
Oinvest is a Seychelles brokerage firm which marks its inception since 2019. The broker is a specialised CFD broker offering tradable products and services at low, narrow tight spreads. The available market places for trading involve stocks, foreign pairs, commodities, indices, metals, crypto and many more. All the assets are available on a no-commission basis as the trading website only earns through spreads.
Oinvest made several practical top-up means such as Visa/Mastercard/Maestro cards, Skrill, Neteller, Wire Transfer, and V Pay. The withdrawal procedure takes up to seven business days.
Oinvest platform offers several account types for fulfilling the capacity of different traders. Here you find Silver, Gold, and Platinum. A silver account would be perfect to start. Broker does not set up a minimum deposit. Account has spreads from 2.2 pips and a leverage of 200:1. Gold tier fits experienced customers and contains more trading tools. To start with Gold, you need to have 250$ on the account. Here spreads start from 1.3 pips and maximum leverage of 400:1. Additionally, Gold traders get an account manager and a 25% discount for a swap. A platinum account designed for masters. The level of instruments is corresponding.
Moreover, a trader can choose to invest via his mobile, web, and desktop, as convenient to him. It has become plausible with the help of the widely used trading platform, MT4, which is accessible by Oinvest too.
Note that the broker doesn’t accept any clients from the USA, Africa, or Europe.
Besides all this, some exceptional services by the firm are excellent customer support, no charge for demo service, high leverage, a wide range of research & educational tools, and much more.
Oinvest is an award-winning broker, it is more credible in the customers’ eyes. Broker gained: Best Multi-Asset Broker South Africa, Fastest Growing Forex Provider South Africa, Best Forex Broker Africa.
It is one of the most popular online trading platforms among South African residents. The broker hired a highly professional customer support service team to answer any question and help in any trouble. The platform is equipped fully for online CFD trading, Forex market, and other instruments.
PS: Oinvest is a trading name of Aronex Corporation Ltd, which is FSC regulated venture. The company is supervised by the Southern African Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) regulatory bodies.
Which broker is the best for me?
All brokerage companies have it advantages and disadvantages. Some platforms may be good one way, but miss other valuable qualities. Here is the real question that which broker from the above list is best. Although all the trading websites listed are trustworthy and provide genuine services, the need to consider some factors are still necessary.
- Regulations: A user must choose a broker who is licensed with a natural, top-notch financial body like CySEC, FCA, FSCA, or ASIC. The regulation verifies the authenticity of brokers and assures every user that if any harm is done, then these bodies will take care. Moreover, in cases like bankruptcy, these governing bodies work to protect the client funds and also provides insurances up to 20,000 euros.
- Fees: The next most significant thing after safety to all the traders is money. Spreads and other charges contribute an essential portion in every trader’s life. Usually, the fees vary according to account types, but the choice of the brokerage firm also matters. Also, note that the company with the most meagre spreads is not always the best. In contrast, genuine firms keep their rates at a standard level, refusing to go below a certain level.
- Deposit & Withdrawal: At last, a trader must check with the broker that if his desired payment methods are even available or not for adding or taking out funds. Many brokers have a minimal number of deposit & withdrawal options, making users compelled to pay higher charges. The investor or any user should keep in mind that the payment technique is available in his nation, with considering every charge and processing time.
- A good broker doesn’t have any fees on payments, and the reasonable processing time is 3-5 days for withdrawals and instant for deposits.
- Transparent work: the broker should not hide any information. If there are commissions, the company should note its presence and size. The company also should provide documents about its policy and activity.
- Selection of financial instruments: more tools, more opportunities to take advantage from online trading.
At last, keep in mind that no broker from the above list is worst or best. Everybody caters to a specific kind of investor. For instance, Investlite works to provide above-average trading services and products to its users at the best competitive prices.