The Complete 2020 Oanda Review

Financial markets are full of profitable opportunities for those who are well-versed in trading. It is an overwhelming situation for investors to have so many financial instruments to invest in and earn money from them. However, to make the most out of trading in financial markets, one needs to understand its behavior in the first place. Seeking broker services can do the magic.

Earlier, due to limited resources, it was almost impossible for investors to navigate the markets for the perfect deal and dedicate more time to such endeavors. But with the arrival of automated trading systems, there is very little left to worry about if you will succeed or not. In this article, we will talk about the expert online brokers Oanda review and see if it checks the boxes of a reliable and consistent trading platform.

What Is Oanda?

What Is Oanda?

Oanda is a regulated online forex broker based in the US, having its branches across the globe. Initially established as a forex and CFDs (CFDS are complex instruments) trading platform, Oanda is now the specialist in offering a variety of asset classes, including stock indices, bonds, commodities, and precious metals. When it comes to creating profitable opportunities, Oanda has more to offer in the form of its award-winning proprietary platforms and precise technical indicators.

Investors find it easy and safe to trade with Oanda because of its advanced trading tools and regulation by international authorities. And that is why forex trading, once a distant dream for investors, has now taken the shape of reality. So, we thought that it would be great to review Oanda to help new traders with the knowledge they need about an automated broker.

Who Can Use Oanda?

From accessing the platforms to leveraging them for generating money, Oanda has made trading more convenient for investors, no matter how much experience they have. Oanda offers a user-friendly website that provides investors with multiple trading options. It has helpful information that can assist traders in getting ahead.

Novice traders can take advantage of Oanda’s research and educational resources to empower themselves with the required trading knowledge. Furthermore, its wide range of base currency pairs, market sentiment indicators, and accurate charting tools can help professional traders or brokers earn money on any given day. Oanda promises to deliver a faster, transparent, and seamless trading experience to all its traders across all devices.

Is Oanda Regulated?

It is always a good idea to do a background check before you start. While evaluating Oanda, we spent a lot of time investigating its authenticity. We found that Oanda is licensed and complies with the regulatory financial standards and norms. It is well-regulated by six top-tier regulatory authorities, including the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the US National Futures Association (NFA), the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).

Moreover, regulatory bodies ensure complete protection of customers’ funds with reimbursement schemes in the event of financial crises. Thus, investors can trust Oanda for its safe (no lose money) and transparent trading environment.

Trading Features of Oanda

Trading Features of Oanda

Oanda boasts an extensive range of features that are useful for all types of traders and brokers. They are easily accessible and enable traders to trade the way they want to. Here, you will get a glimpse of how they function.

1. Analysis Tools

Winning trade demands a solid trading strategy. With its advanced analysis tools, specifically designed for seasoned traders, you can develop an effective strategy and master your trading skills. The analysis tools include coding languages, news analysis, and visual market data analysis.

2. Trading Platforms

Based on one’s requirements, Oanda offers a diverse selection of trading platforms. Most importantly, these platforms work well on the web, computers, and smartphones.

3. Algorithmic Trading

Oanda impressed us with its fully automated trading capabilities. The broker utilizes a highly intelligent algorithm that helps you find the most profitable opportunity and execute it with great precision.

4. Wide Range of Assets

There is no shortage of tradable assets at Oanda as it supports over 60 currency pairs as well as 30 CFDs. Also, it allows you to trade in nine different base currencies, including USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, CAD, HKD, JPY, CHF, and SGD, which means you can save on currency conversion fees.

Which Instruments Can Be Traded with Oanda?

Oanda allows you to trade with more than 100 instruments, which include stock indices, bonds, commodities, futures, forex and CFDs precious metals. Apart from that, it offers a comprehensive selection of currency pairs. The availability of the assets is subject to jurisdiction.

The whole notion of offering these assets is to allow traders and brokers to benefit from liquidity. However, no support for cryptocurrencies is one area that might disappoint traders, especially at a time when they are rising in value. Keep in mind that cfds are complex instruments that might result in a high risk of losses, we would suggest taking extreme precautions when trading with CFDs.

Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Easy to navigate website	Does not support cryptocurrencies
Simple and fully digital account setup	No negative balance protection for US traders
Minimum deposit $1	No guaranteed stop losses for US and UK traders
Regulated by top-tier regulatory authorities	Less competitive spreads
Multiple trading platforms	Inadequate research tools
Access to over 60 currency pairs	Slow customer service
A wide range of tradable instruments
Useful research and education resources
Negative balance protection
Lower forex fees

How to Open an Account with Oanda?

How to Open an Account with Oanda?

Opening an account with Oanda is quick and involves three simple steps, including filling in the registration form, submitting identity and residency proofs, and making a deposit. All that begins with accessing its website and clicking on the ‘Start Trading’ button. It will lead you to the registration page, where you need to set your username and password. The subsequent steps ask for your financial status, a competence test, and proofs of identity.

Oanda account verification usually takes up to 3 days, depending on how quickly you submit the required documents. Remember, you are not charged any fees for joining the desktop platform.

Account Types

Account Types

There are two types of accounts that you can choose to open with Oanda – standard account and premium account.

As the name suggests, the standard account is for traders with different experience levels to consider whether trading with forex and CFDs. Having a premium account, on the other hand, requires meeting certain conditions. As a premium account holder, you are privileged to get custom pricing, tight spreads, free wire transfers, and a relationship manager.

In addition to these accounts, Oanda permits new traders to create a demo account using virtual money (don’t lose money with a demo account). We would advise beginners to use a demo account. Practice with it until you know the platform and develop your forex and CFD trading skills. It will save you from the high risk of losses in funds.

Order Types

Oanda allows you to execute three types of orders, including:

Market Order to execute a trade at the prevailing market price.
Limit Order to limit the price for an instrument.
Stop Loss Order to cancel the unfavorable trade.

Spreads and Commission Fees

Oanda offers a transparent, competitive, and industry-standard pricing structure consisting of spreads, core pricing, commission fees, and swaps (overnight fees). Of these, spreads and commission fees are the source of revenue generation for Oanda.

Due to the liquidity and the volatile nature of financial markets, spreads are highly variable at Oanda. However, it still manages to charge low fees on trading forex and CFDs, as well as no fees on deposits or withdrawals plus no inactivity fees.

Spreads: The difference between the bid and ask prices of an instrument is called a spread. Factors that can influence a spread include the base currency chosen to trade with and the market behavior. You can get to know about changes in the spread using a percentage calculator located on its website, which makes it the preferred option for new traders.
Core Pricing: Under the core pricing structure, Oanda charges a commission of $5 per 100k traded. It is the tighter spreads that make it the ideal choice for professional traders.
Commission Fees: Oanda charges a commission fee on placing or canceling or modifying an order. This fee varies with the order types, instruments, and accounts.

Trading Platforms

Oanda offers user-friendly trading platforms compatible with desktop and mobile. They have unique and advanced analytics and tools.

1. Web Trading Platform

You can access Oanda’s fast and intuitive web trading platform for forex and CFDs right from your web browser. While using this platform, we noticed features like:

The advanced charting tools to analyze market trends using over 100 charts, overlays, technical indicators, and drawing tools.
The advanced technical analysis tools to identify trading opportunities with the help of chart pattern recognition, position ratios, and the back-testing feature.
Access to the latest market news and insights from leading news providers such as Dow Jones International.
Live Account feature to manage your Oanda account.
Industry-standard order execution speed amid higher market volatility.

2. Desktop Trading Platform (fxTrade)

Oanda’s award-winning desktop platform fxTrade is easy to use and provides access to many essential features such as:

Access to various instruments, order types, and analytics.
Offers highly competitive spreads and faster order execution.
The advanced charting tools to analyze market trends using charts, technical indicators, and drawing tools.
Allows placing, monitoring, and closing trades, including limit and stop orders.
Customize the platform as per your preferences and strategies.
View snapshots of pending orders and current positions.
Access to news feeds and market analysis from leading news providers such as Dow Jones International.

3. MetaTrader 4

For those who do not wish to use Oanda’s proprietary platforms, there is the MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform. MT4 comes with fantastic features, which make it the traders’ premier choice for trading such as:

Trading algorithms and the back-testing feature.
Full support for expert advisors and traders with hedging capabilities.
Trade directly from charts using over 50 technical indicators, including MT4 Order Book Indicator.
MT4 Plug-In incorporates tools like intraday market scanning, automatic chart pattern recognition, and trade automation.
Regular market reports provided by Autochartist.

4. Mobile Trading

Oanda’s official mobile trading app provides access to your investment portfolio. The app includes excellent features that help you stay on top of trading opportunities such as:

Access to complex order types, account analytics, and competitive spreads.
The mobile chart to place orders and set profitability levels for pending orders.
Notifications on market sentiment and new price signals.
Technical analysis tools to define your strategy using charts, overlays, technical indicators, and drawing tools.
Customizable trade settings for an instrument.
Trade directly from charts and adjust stop-loss and limit orders.

Advantages of Using Oanda

Forex and CFD trading is made simple with Oanda’s fair trading environment. Access to its award-winning platforms, exceptional order execution, and transparent pricing brings many advantages to traders.

1. Online Account Management

Be it tracking your funds or making fund transfers, Oanda’s online account management feature lets you do that.

2. Direct Trading from Charts

Oanda Europe limited enables traders to scan the trading platform opportunities and trade directly from charts using technical indicators across all its platforms.

3. Lowest Minimum Deposit

You can start with Oanda by paying a minimum of $1, making it more convenient for new traders to trade without worrying much about losing money without any third party.

4. Demo Account

A demo account takes away your fear of failing at trading by giving you the chance to hone your skills. To say, it is a demo, but everything you experience here is real except for virtual deposits.

How to Make a Deposit?

Increasing competition, vary depending on online trading has forced forex brokers to bring their minimum deposit requirements down. Going with the trend, Oanda applies a minimum deposit of $1 on a standard account. It is the best option for new traders who cannot afford to lose money.

However, premium account holders need to deposit $20,000. You can make deposits via credit or debit card, wire transfer, or PayPal vary depending on your requirements. Oanda Europe limited charges no fees on making deposits via credit or debit card or wire transfer, but there is a fee on depositing via PayPal.

Processing time varies with the method of deposit. Payment via wire transfer or PayPal can take 1-3 business days, consider whether payment with a third party credit or debit card.

How to Make Withdrawals?

Oanda offers a straightforward and instant withdrawal system. To be able to withdraw your earnings, you need to submit a withdrawal request. The broker facilitates withdrawals by various means, including a credit or debit card, or wire transfer, or PayPal. Oanda charges no processing fees for the first withdrawal request each month.

Withdrawals can take 1-5 business days to reflect into your bank account, depending on your preferred payment method and your country. As Oanda operates in multiple jurisdictions, we suggest you to carefully understand the terms and conditions of withdrawals to avoid any hassle.

Unique Features of Oanda

1. Leverage

Leverage is one of the crucial elements of trading in financial markets, for it minimizes the high risk of losses. As far as the leverage limit on instruments is concerned, it is entirely upon the discretion of the regulators in different jurisdictions, for example, a US regulator requires 50:1 leverage.

Significantly, Oanda allows margin trading that increases your chances of earning more money against the invested capital. Since margin trading can incur heavy losses as well, we think that you must reduce the leverage limit and use the stop-loss order feature to protect yourself.

2. Research

Nothing could be better than trading with brokers that guides you on every step with useful information. Oanda won our hearts with its impressive selection of research materials that are curated, keeping in mind the amateur and high-volume traders alike. These materials range from written to digital collections, covering news, reports, and more.

MarketPulse is a website that keeps you up to date with the latest market trends through a wide range of expert analysis reports, articles, podcasts, and visual materials like charts and videos. You can also use its economic calendar to navigate the markets.
Charting Tools allow you to make trades directly from the charts using technical indicators.
The News Feeds section features the economics news from leading news providers such as Reuters, Dow Jones, and CNBC.
Technical Analysis Tools help in creating strategies based on technical analysis.
Advanced-Data Analytics is suited for experienced traders to test and manage their strategies.
Algo Lab allows automated trading using API.

3. Education

Oanda features high-quality educational resources for novice and seasoned traders. The collection is so diverse that you can select the material of your choice based on your experience level. All this comes at no cost, so dedicate some time to know how trading works.

A series of informative articles, charts, and videos that guide you through the platforms and the basics of trading.
A series of webinars on subjects like live market analysis and risk management.

Is Oanda Safe?

The worst nightmare traders or brokers can have is losing all their funds overnight. Thankfully, Oanda’s advanced encryption technology keeps cybercriminals at bay. Its global presence and compliance with international regulatory standards make it a safe broker to trade.

Being a reputed online broker for more than two decades, Oanda takes all the necessary measures to protect traders’ data and assets. As part of its efforts, Oanda puts all the deposits into segregated tier 1 bank accounts. Furthermore, it provides negative balance protection for European Union traders.

Why Trade with Oanda?

From our Oanda review, we have compiled a list of reasons to use the broker for online trading.

User-Friendly Features: No matter if you are a beginner or experienced trader, its user-friendly platforms and essential trading tools are helpful for everyone.
Transparent Pricing: Oanda offers a transparent pricing model and highly competitive spreads.

Mobile Trading: The easy to use mobile app allows you to trade from anywhere, anytime.
Research and Educational Resources: There is a plethora of articles and videos available on its website that you can take use to advance your trading knowledge.
International Regulation: Oanda is regulated by six major global regulatory authorities that safeguard your funds during insolvency.
Risk Management: Its superior risk management technology provides traders with extra protection against any frauds or scams.

Customer Service

Customer Service

Oanda is backed by its dedicated customer support in providing high-quality service round the clock. The multilingual customer service is available 24/5 to answer your questions via live chat or chatbot or email and over the phone. Here is a quick review of its customer service:

Live Chat is available from Sunday to Friday and is a more convenient way to reach them. In our review of the service, we found it doing well at resolving our queries. The response time was a bit delayed.
Chatbot, a virtual assistant, is still in its early days and needs improvements to prove essential.
Email customer support is available 24/7 and has an excellent and relevant response rate.
Phone customer support has the best reaction time. Its well-behaved and skilled customer care professionals provide you with to the point solutions to your problems.

Apart from these, you can explore its FAQ section to find answers to the most common issues related to trading and the platform.

Conclusion

Oanda uses innovative digital and financial technology to provide transparent and reliable access to the financial markets. The broker has a strong organizational commitment to satisfy its traders, and that reflects in its market offerings as well. For our Oanda review, we checked the trading platform on various metrics. What impressed us the most was its incredible trade execution speed and transparent trading conditions.

The multi-award-winning broker has won several awards in the industry for its sophisticated trading tools and world-class service. Be it creating the account, leveraging competitive spreads, or automating trading strategies, Oanda has left no stone unturned to entice all types of active day traders with profitable opportunities. Not to mention its strong regulatory history has helped it earn the trust of traders all over the world. Findings from our review suggest that Oanda is a trustworthy forex trading platform, and you should give it a try to make a fortune.

FAQs

1. Is Oanda regulated?

Yes. Oanda is considered a safe broker as it is regulated by FCA and ASIC.

2. How does Oanda make money?

Oanda generates revenue from spreads, core pricing, commission fees, and swaps (overnight fees) against all instruments.

3. How to make deposits at Oanda?

Various depositing methods are available such as credit or debit cards, wire transfer, or PayPal.

4. What is the minimum deposit for Oanda?

Oanda requires a minimum deposit of $1 to begin trade, which is unbelievably lowest compared to other forex brokers.

5. How can I withdraw money from Oanda?

Withdrawals can be made using a credit or debit card, wire transfer, or PayPal, but only upon submitting a withdrawal request.

6. Is Oanda safe?

Yes. Oanda keeps your deposits in segregated tier 1 bank accounts to prevent misallocation of funds.

7. Where is Oanda Europe?

Oanda Europe is based in London, United Kingdom.

8. Where is the Oanda corporation based?

The main headquarters of Oanda Corporation are in New York.