Compare Forex Brokers side by side

How do AvaTrade and Oanda stack up against each other?

The Radar Chart below highlights how the brokers stack up against each other across various metrics. The highest score a broker can receive in each area is 5.

At FX Scouts Kenya, we help traders find the broker that suits their trading needs. In many cases, the best way to achieve this is to compare brokers side-by-side.

To compare AvaTrade and Oanda, we used the same factors we use when reviewing brokers: The trust and regulation of the broker, the trading platform, the costs and trading conditions, and the level of education and market analysis available at the broker.

Does AvaTrade or Oanda have a better trust and regulation rating?

Trust and regulation are some of the most important factors to consider when choosing a Forex broker. Trust in the Forex trading business is almost entirely founded upon regulation. We spend many hours evaluating the safety of each broker by delving into their fine print and confirming each one of their regulatory licences on the online registers. The more top-tier authorities a broker is regulated by, the higher its trust rating.

In our comparison, we found that Oanda holds four Tier 1 and no Tier 2 licences, and AvaTrade holds three Tier 1 and two Tier 2 licences.

 

Is Oanda financially regulated?

Yes Oanda was founded in 1996 and is regulated by ASIC, B.V.I FSC, FCA, IIROC, MAS and FSA-Seychelles.

 

Is AvaTrade financially regulated?

Yes AvaTrade was founded in 2006 and is regulated by ASIC, CBI, CySEC, FRSA, FSA-Japan, FSCA and ISA.

 

Based on these findings, Oanda earned a higher trust rating than AvaTrade.

Does AvaTrade or Oanda have lower costs?

Another important aspect we consider when comparing brokers is the cost of trading. When evaluating trading costs, we always consider the minimum deposit required to open an account and the ongoing trading costs, including the spreads and commissions. When calculating trading costs, we measure the cost to trade one lot of EUR/USD using the broker’s account with the lowest minimum deposit. The cost includes both the spread and any commission charged. 

Not all brokers publish their trading costs, so we often open accounts and trade on their platforms to verify the spreads and commissions. Based on our reviews, we found that AvaTrade has overall lower trading costs than Oanda. 

 

Does AvaTrade or Oanda offer a better choice of trading platforms?

Traders want Forex brokers to offer them a choice of trading platforms, so we give brokers who offer multiple platforms higher ratings. Trading platforms we consider include MetaTrader4, MetaTrader5, cTrader and proprietary mobile and web-based platforms. 

In this case, AvaTrade offers support for AvaOptions, Avatrade Social, MT4 and MT5 and Oanda offers support for MT4 and MT5. 

Do the brokers offer copy trading?

Copy trading is a great option for beginner traders who can’t trade full-time or lack experience with Forex trading. In this case both AvaTrade and Oanda offer copy trading.

 

Which broker offers a better choice of trading instruments?

A variety of CFD instruments – and a large range of CFDs for each instrument category allow traders more opportunities for profitable trading. The best brokers will have thousands of CFDs to trade, covering all these instrument categories. We found that AvaTrade offers a greater range and depth of instruments to trade than Oanda. AvaTrade offers 63 Forex pairs to trade and Oanda offers 45 Forex pairs to trade.

And what about Cryptocurrencies?

In this case, AvaTrade offers 30 cryptocurrencies while Oanda offers 4 cryptocurrencies. So if you want to trade cryptocurrencies, we advise trading with AvaTrade.

Which broker offers better deposit and withdrawal processes?

Although brokers may have reasonable trading fees, many traders are caught out by the high non-trading fees charged by some brokers, including deposits and withdrawals. Traders want to be able to deposit and withdraw funds quickly and cheaply. Most brokers have multiple funding methods with zero fees for making deposits, but some brokers make it more expensive and take longer to process withdrawals. 

We rate brokers more highly that process withdrawals within 24 hours by multiple withdrawal methods and without charging processing fees. We found that Oanda charges a withdrawal fee and AvaTrade does not. Overall, Oanda has better deposit and withdrawal processes than AvaTrade. 

Which broker offers better educational support?

We often find that brokers offer very little in the way of educational materials, forcing traders to use other third-party sites or self-educate elsewhere. Beginner traders need well-structured, well-presented materials in multiple formats to get a good start at trading. More experienced traders also benefit from webinars led by experts in the field and advanced trading strategy sections with new trading ideas. 

AvaTrade has better educational support than Oanda. Both AvaTrade and Oanda offer educational support for more experienced traders.

 

Which broker offers better market analysis materials?

To successfully predict the price movements of an instrument, traders will need access to frequent market research and analysis. We find that research and market analysis are always better when they are produced in-house and updated frequently. Third-party resources don’t show the same expertise in trading ideas, so we place a strong emphasis on frequent in-house updates. Some brokers also often offer interactive webinars where traders can learn from experts in the field. 

We found that AvaTrade offers better research analysis than Oanda and that both AvaTrade and Oanda offer frequent webinars.

 

Our overall Verdict on AvaTrade

AvaTrade is an internationally and FSCA regulated CFD broker offering trading on Forex, cryptocurrencies, commodities, indices, stocks, bonds and EFTs. AvaTrade has one of the best mobile trading applications in the industry and, unlike many global brokers, offers a local South African customer support team. 

AvaTrade has over 200,000 active traders on the MT4, MT5, and AvaGo platforms and provides free access to trading tools like Autochartist, Duplitrade and AvaProtect, its own innovative risk management system.

While AvaTrade is a dependable broker for beginners, professional traders looking for advanced educational material and industry-leading market research will be underwhelmed.

Our overall Verdict on Oanda

A popular broker in Kenya, OANDA has a comprehensive education suite, no minimum deposit requirements, low trading fees, and a great mobile trading app. However, Kenyan traders may be concerned that OANDA’s global entity has very little regulatory oversight and that they are not offered negative balance protection. 

Traders may also be disappointed by the relative lack of financial instruments and high withdrawal fees, but OANDA offers support for both the MT4 and MT5 platforms in addition to a great range of trading tools and detailed market analysis. 

Despite the poor regulatory oversight and small range of trading instruments, OANDA is a good all-round broker. The low fees will attract many traders, and with the introduction of MT5 support, we expect that the number of trading instruments will increase in the near future. 

Which broker has the highest overall rating?

AvaTrade has an overall rating of 4.59 and Oanda has an overall rating of 4.25. For more detail please read our reviews of AvaTrade and Oanda.