OANDA Review

OANDA Products

OANDA’s coverage of the financial markets is fairly extensive. Currently, they offer trading services for the spot forex market and CFDs market. Available for trading are 71 currency pairs, 23 precious metal assets, 6 types of bonds, 8 types of commodities and 16 market indices,

OANDA Trading Conditions

One of OANDA’s key strengths is its proprietary trading platform. The platform was specifically designed to allow spot forex and CFDs traders to execute their trades at the lowest possible cost and at speed. 98% of the trades that are executed on OANDA’s trading platforms are carried within 0.077 seconds.

However, OANDA also imposes restrictions on some of the trading conditions on its platforms. For example, CFDs and precious metals are not offered to traders in the U.S. For Canadian traders, they are unable to trade in Palladium. As for the leverage offered by OANDA, it is limited to 1:50 for forex and 1:20 on CFDs.

OANDA Account Types

There are only 2 types of accounts available at OANDA, a standard trading account and a demo account. The standard account does not have any minimum deposit requirement. As for the demo account, it comes preloaded with $100,000 virtual cash and has no time limit.

OANDA Commissions & Fees

There are no commission charges on any of the trades that are executed on OANDA’s trading platforms. Instead of commissions, you have to pay a small spread on top of the market quotes. The quantum of the spread depends on the conditions in the markets as well as the type of asset traded.

Nevertheless in keeping in line with their founding principles, OANDA has sought to keep its spreads as low as possible. For example with the benchmark EUR/USD, the typical spread is only 1.1pips. With commodities, the spread can even go as low as 1 pip. However the most competitive spread is from the indices market where the minimum reaches as low as 0.5 pips.

OANDA Platform and Tools

There are 2 main types of trading platforms available at OANDA, the proprietary FXTrade platform and the MetaTrader 4 platform. The FXTrade platform is available as a desktop client and as a WebTrader. Its key features include the following:

• Buy and Sell request
• Comprehensive charts
• One click trading
• Real time account balance
• Review past and present trades
• Support for multiple order types such as limit order, stop loss, and take profit

In addition to the FXTrade, OANDA has also provided its clients with the popular MetaTrader 4 platform. The MT4 platform has always been a favourite among brokers and traders alike. The platform has been proven to be extremely reliable and efficient. It also comes with numerous integrated trading tools such as advanced charts, library of technical indicators, support for automated trading, one click trading and built-in programming language.

At present, OANDA’s platforms are capable of supporting several languages. The FXTrade platform supports Chinese, English, French, German, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. The MT4 on the other hand is able to support up to 17 different languages.

Is OANDA Mobile Friendly

Apart from the web based and desktop platforms, OANDA has also provided its clients mobile versions of the FXTrade trading platform. The app can be downloaded free of charge from either Google Playstore or Apple App Store.

OANDA Promotions

At present, OANDA do not offer any kind of bonuses or trading promotions.

OANDA Deposits & Withdrawals

The available methods for depositing or withdrawal of funds depend on the country where you are trading from. For traders in the US, the following methods are supported by OANDA:

• ACH
• Bank Wire Transfer
• Checks
• Debit Cards

For Canada, the following methods can be used:

• Bank Wire transfer
• Paypal
• Credit Cards

Traders in Europe have the following options:

• BACS
• Bank Wire Transfer
• Credit Card
• Debit Card
• Internet Banking (Via Faster Payments)
• SEPA

Traders in the Asia Pacific region and Australia have the following options:

• Bank Wire Transfer
• BPay
• China UnionPay
• Credit Cards
• DBS Pay Bills
• Debit Cards
• Paypal

Withdrawals at OANDA are processed through the same methods used in the initial deposit of funds. The typical processing time for a withdrawal is 1 to 2 business days for domestic withdrawals and up to 5 business days for an international withdrawal. The withdrawal fee depends on the method and the country where the withdrawal is being processed. On average, the fee imposed by OANDA can be $15, 20 euros, 10 pounds or 2000 yen.

OANDA Customer Support

The support service at OANDA is provided on a 24/5 basis. It is available through email, fax, liver chat or telephone. Depending on your location, your request for support will channelled to one of the following offices:

• San Francisco, California
• Toronto, Canada
• New York
• London
• Tokyo
• Singapore
• Sydney, Australia

OANDA Research and Education

The trader’s education resources at OANDA are categorized in 4 categories:

• Basic Trading Education for beginner traders
• Trading Analysis Introduction
• Capital Management
• Webinars and live Classrooms

In addition to all the above educational resources, OANDA has also provided its traders with numerous trading tools to enhance their trading abilities. They include:

• Access to Market Pulse
• OANDA Labs
• Free Market Analysis
• Calculators
• Economic Calendar

Noteworthy Points to mention for OANDA

Apart from trading services, OANDA has offer a currency convertor tool, exchange rates API feeds and forex payments for corporate clients.

Conclusion for OANDA

If you are looking for a reliable and trustworthy broker to trade the markets with, then we highly recommend that you give OANDA a try. Not only is the broker regulated, it has won dozens of awards bearing testimonials to the quality of its services. In addition, the broker offers competitive spreads and reliable and fast trading platforms. Together with the comprehensive educational resources and trading tools, you are assured of a fulfilling trading experience at OANDA.