AvaTrade is an online broker offering trading services in forex and CFDs all over the world. With low-cost trading solutions and a diverse collection of financial instruments, AvaTrade is the market leader for retail forex trading. The company meets the highest industry standards for having excellent educational resources and trading platforms. In this review, I highlight various pros and cons of the broker, so let’s get started.
Overview
Founded in 2006, AvaTrade is a well-known brokerage that offers margin-based trading with great trading conditions. Based in Dublin, Ireland, the company operates through its regional offices in 11 jurisdictions of the world. With an estimated traded volume of over 1.45 trillion US Dollars to date, the broker serves nearly 200,000 active customers around the globe.
AvaTrade holds multiple licenses all over the world from top regulators, including;
- South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority
- Financial Services Agency – Japan
- Financial Future Association – Japan
- British Virgin Island Financial Services Commission
- Australian Securities and Investment Commission
- Polish Financial Supervision Authority
- Central Bank of Ireland
| Pros | Cons |
| Rich products portfolio Excellent educational tools Hassle free account opening process Wide range of payment options Multiple Regulations | High CFD fees No funds protection for Non-EU clients Contradictions in fee disclosure Slow customer support |
Who AvaTrade Is for?
AvaTrade is a one-stop-shop that offers multiple trading solutions to its clients. Competitive spreads with high leverage make a perfect combination for seasoned traders to maximize their trading potential. In addition to demo accounts, the broker also offers a first-time deposit bonus to help novice traders getting started confidently. AvaTrade is particularly famous for its lightning-fast trade execution that might be super beneficial for scalpers as well as high-volume traders. The company offers round the clock customer support with multiple deposit and withdrawal options, making the signing up process convenient for everyone.
Rating: 4/5
Sign up bonus: The broker offers a signup bonus of up to $200 on deposits of minimum $1000.
Is AvaTrade Safe?
One of the main concerns of forex traders is the safety of their funds. AvaTrade takes multiple safety measures for the protection of clients’ money. Holding funds in segregated bank accounts, the broker also ensures to have enough capital funding to remain a going concern. The company holds registration with ICCL – a popular deposit compensation scheme. Under this scheme, clients can claim compensation for their financial losses incurred due to negligence of the company.
To protect clients’ confidential data over the internet, AvaTrade hosts 256-bit SSL encryption protocols. True-site identity assurance seal also helps the broker to prevent any unauthorized intrusion. Being a web trust compliant by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), AvaTrade is reasonably secure for online payments.
Rating: 4/5
| Year founded: | 2006 |
| Publicly traded: | No |
| Licenses: | ASIC, CBI, MiFID, PFSA, BVIFSC, FSA, FFAJ, FSCA, ADGM |
| Backlist: | Nil |
Offering of Investments
AvaTrade offers a wide range of tradable products, including forex, CFDs, options, and spread betting. However, the availability of offerings depends upon your home country and selected account types. The product portfolio may also differ owing to various jurisdictional regulatory requirements. For example, spread betting is available for European citizens only. Similarly, clients residing in the British Virgin Island, South Africa, Japan, and Australia cannot open retail and professional accounts. Likewise, the broker does not offer the standard account type in the Abu Dhabi region. Therefore, it is always better to confirm the availability of a specific product or account type from the broker before opening an account at AvaTrade.
Rating: 4/5
| Forex: Spot Trading | Yes |
| Currency Pairs (Total Forex pairs) | 50+ |
| Social Trading / Copy-Trading | Yes |
| CFDs instruments | Forex, Metals, Stocks, Energies, Indices, Commodities (720+) |
Commissions & Fees
AvaTrade’s trading cost is highly competitive as compared to the industry standards. The broker charges an average spread of 0.9 pips on EUR/USD in retail accounts. However, for professional account holders, the average spread rate drops to 0.6 pips. The broker, however, has not specified actual spread charges for the Islamic account. Also, the broker’s overnight fee is subject to change.
Although the spread cost on EURUSD seems to be reasonably low, still the lack of information on all-in cost might create confusion among traders. Also, the company charges a commission for some account types, as mentioned in section 16.4 of the company’s legal document. AvaTrade also imposes a deposit fee on wire transfers. However, according to the information available on the company’s website, wire transfer deposits are free.
Clients can sign up for a minimum of $100 with AvaTrade through debit/credit card deposits. Wire transfer deposits need to be $500 at least. I believe the company could have provided traders with one-on-one account comparison with more details on the fee structure.
AvaTrade applies an inactivity fee of $50 on dormant accounts, exceeding the three-month limit. The broker may also charge $100 as an administration fee on accounts that remain inactive for more than a year. Clients requesting withdrawals via wire transfers could face delayed processing of up to 10 working days, according to various reviews shared by AvaTrade existing clients on various discussion forums.
Rating: 3.5/5
| Minimum Initial Deposit | £100 |
| Average Spread EUR/USD – Standard | 0.91 Pips |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD – Active | 0.61 Pips |
| Minimum withdrawal | Not Specified |
Platforms & Tools
AvaTrade offers multiple trading platforms, including proprietary (AvaWebtrader & AvaOptions) and a full suite of MetaTrader. The company also supports social trading via two renowned copy trading platforms ZuluTrade and DupliTrade.
The web trader comes with over 90 technical indicators along with a full suite of directly integrated third-party trading tools. While the web trader is simple in design and easy to navigate, it is not purely customizable. The web trader also lacks the feature of price alert notifications. Users of the web trading platform can only place basic order types, including limit, market, and stop orders. However, access to trading history and fee reports is available under the history section on the web terminal.
On the other hand, the MetaTrader offers great customizability options and relatively more features as compared to the web trader. However, you might struggle a bit to search for your preferred asset on the MT4. Adding your desired tradable instrument to the watchlist might also take a while.
AvaTrade social trading platforms go in line with the modern trading requirements. The company is still in the process of launching its newly inducted AvaSocial trading platform all over the world. The AvaSocial is currently available in the UK only.
Avaoptions need traders to deposit at least $1000 to start binary options trading. The platform supports both desktop and mobile devices. However, it might not work on desktop PCs with operating systems other than windows.
Rating: 4/5
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes |
| Proprietary Platform | Yes |
| Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes |
| Web Platform | Yes |
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | Yes |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | Yes |
| Charting – Indicators / Studies (Total) | 50+ |
| Charting – Drawing Tools (Total) | 30+ |
| Charting – Trade From Chart | Yes |
| Order Type – Trailing Stop | Yes |
Research
With little to offer, the AvaTrade research facility should be updated to meet the industry standards. At present, the broker offers only a handful of resources including, market analysis, a trading calculator, and economic calendar.
Apart from social trading platforms, the research center features third-party content such as trading ideas, views from analysts, and market buzz. Clients can access the research content directly from the AvaWebtrading platform.
The economic calendar helps clients to stay ahead of the market news and events that could have a significant impact on the financial markets. The technical and fundamental analysis helps clients to ascertain the market trend of underlying assets and trade accordingly.
Rating: 2.5/5
Education
As opposed to the research facility, the education section of AvaTrade seems to have more resources available. Along with trading guides for both beginners and advanced level traders, the broker offers nearly 53 video tutorials to help clients learn and grow. The company has divided the content into seven different subheads, namely trading for beginners, professional trading, economic indicators, eBook, blog, video section, and order types.
Let’s have a quick look at each of the heads. The trading for beginners and professional trading subheads includes a range of comprehensive written articles. These articles cover detailed information on almost every aspect of forex trading. The economic indicators sub head contains information on the usability of economic indicators in forex trading and how to filter a country-specific important economic indicator.
Featuring the eBook and video section, the broker seems keen to educate traders on every bit of forex trading. Clients can access more than 50 video tutorials on different topics relevant to forex trading. Finally, the broker discusses various order types to help clients understand how and when to execute them.
Rating: 4/5
Mobile Trading
AvaTrade has a rich selection of mobile-based trading platforms. In addition to offering the company’s proprietary trading platforms (Avaoptions and AvaTradeGo), the full suite of MetaTrader platforms is also available for mobile trading. The trading platforms mentioned above are compatible with android and iOS based mobile phones and tablets.
In addition to the auto-synchronization of market watchlists, AvaTradeGo also features AvaProtect. Using the AvaPotect feature, clients can seek protection against market volatility. Even though the market volatility isn’t diversifiable at all, the AvaProtect feature reduces the risk exposure to a reasonable level. With this protection feature, traders usually hedge their in-progress positions with other forex options. An added cost might also be applicable for the new hedge positions.
On the other hand, the AvaOption has a user-friendly design with an options chain readability feature. Clients can choose between 14 different trading strategies available. Clients can change the strike price in the options contract using the sliding bar.
Rating: 4/5
| Mobile devices | Android & Apple |
| Features | Watchlist, charting tools, negative balance protection |
Final Thoughts
Keeping various factors in view, I can safely name AvaTrade to be one of the best options available for retail forex trading. User-friendly trading platforms with the availability of copy trading services make the broker a hot-cake for novice traders. Competitive spreads, round-the-clock customer support, and multiple deposit and withdrawal methods make AvaTrade an ideal one-stop solution for all types of traders. However, the broker needs to update its research section with more content
Overall rating: 4.3/5