Are you planning to start your trading journey and is looking for the best forex trading broker to begin with? Let me share with you which platform helped me gain success in earning profit through trading and why it is worth the try.
What to consider in choosing a forex trading broker?
The forex market is the best market to invest on for traders who are looking for better benefits and a very liquid market. More so, it is open 24 hours, 5 days in a week. But in order to access the market and place bets on the world’s currencies through forex, a beginner trader needs to open a brokerage account.
A forex broker “is a financial services company that provides traders access to a platform for buying and selling foreign currencies” (investopedia.com). They are often considered as “middlemen” because they hold your investment in an account and they are the ones who buys and sells currencies on your behalf.
So, what are the factors to consider in choosing the right forex broker? Since trading is all about taking risks, one should also be careful as not all brokers out there are trustworthy and they also differ in terms of services which may or may not suit your investment goals. The most important thing to consider in choosing a forex broker is its reliability and security features. Choosing regulated brokers helps you avoid scams and allows you to have the assurance that your money is protected. Meanwhile, other factors to consider include transaction fees, trading platform software, charting tools, customer support, education, currency and quality market research.
OANDA – the best forex trading broker for beginners
In my previous article, I mentioned how it took me a while to realize how choosing the right application and tools can actually help me be more successful when I was still starting my trading journey. What I did is to make sure that the platform I am using best serves my interest and is reliable and trustworthy. So far, OANDA never failed me and has even exceeded my expectations. Wherever I am now, this is because I have the best forex trading app and broker at my disposal. Yes, you read it right. It is all-in-one.
So, what is OANDA? OANDA is an award-winning trading platform and globally-recognized broker which provides both beginner and professional clients fast and easy access to global markets to trade more than 120 instruments, including currency pairs, precious metals, and CFDs for global markets, indices, commodities, and bonds, as available in the client’s region.
It is definitely beginner-friendly because it uses simple and intuitive functionality to place trades directly from the chart with fast, reliable, and exceptional trade execution while managing a client’s risk exposure with take profits, stop losses, and trailing stops. Meanwhile, it helps professional traders avoid missing a trading opportunity through its market events calendar and stay on top of the market movements and volatility through access to global market news feed from leading providers Dow Jones, 4CAST and OANDA MarketPulse.
Features of the OANDA fxTrade platform
- Fast, exceptional trading execution – With OANDA, you can (1) access live, real-time prices to trade major, minor, and exotic instruments on the world’s top financial markets; (2) trade flexible lot sizes with minimal spreads and no additional commissions, minimum deposit, or minimum trade size; (3) avoid dealing desk intervention or algorithmic software designed to push trades to the broker’s favor; and (4) have access to multi-lingual 24/5 customer support during market hours.
- Mobile chart trading – This forex app allows you to (1) trade faster, easier, and more efficiently from a single view placing orders directly on the chart; (2) manage trading opportunities and your risk exposure on the go by buying, selling, and editing orders through simple taps; and (3) have access to more than 50 technical tools, including 32 overlay indicators, 11 drawing tools, and 9 charts to easily edit your take profit, stop loss, and trailing stop orders.
- Trade, monitor, and take control on the go – With OANDA, you can (1) manage positions, control risk, and monitor account profitability in one touch to react to market activity in real-time wherever you are; (2) access automated custom notifications on price alerts, order expiry, upcoming economic calendar events, and global market news from leading providers; (3) customize chart sizes tailored to your trading style to set up the number of preferred units traded, risk and profitability levels; and (4) add funds directly to your trading account from your mobile phone.
Why OANDA may or may not be for you? (pros and cons)
Based on the 2021 Over-all Ranking of Online Brokers, OANDA got an over-all trust score of 89 out of 99 making it low-risk and safe for forex traders. If you are now considering to start with or switch to OANDA, you may want to consider if it is indeed for or not for you.
PROS:
- Great trading platforms
- Trade directly from the charting interface
- Offers trading for more than 70 forex pairs
- Leverage up to 50:1
- Two pricing options available
- No minimum deposit required
- Very advanced mobile charting tools
- Outstanding Research Tools
- Fast and user-friendly account opening
CONS:
- Limited product portfolio (with only FX and CFD available)
- No stock exchange listing and banking background
- Customer support is not 24/7
- Few education features on the mobile app
- Mobile interface is crowded
Other Highlights: (data from brokerchooser.com)
- Countries of regulation include USA, UK, Australia, Singapore, Canada, Japan
- Low trading fees class
- Charges inactivity fee
- Withdrawal fee amount of $0
- Minimum deposit of $0
- Takes 1-3 days to open an account
- Available option to deposit with bank card
- Available option to deposit with electronic wallet
- 9 base currencies supported
- Demo account is available and provided
- Offers Forex and CFD products
Disclaimer:
- CFDs or Precious Metals are NOT available to residents of the United States
- Funding options may vary by region
- Leverage trading is high risk and not suitable for all.
How to open a trading account through OANDA?
- Apply for a live trading account. Applicant must be 18 years old and above. The client’s application will be reviewed for approval by OANDA’s onboarding team.
- Fund your account. Once approved, you can now log in to your OANDA account and deposit, withdraw and transfer funds via different methods, including debit and credit cards, wallets and bank wire transfer. There is no minimum deposit amount and you can deposit up to US$9,000 (or currency equivalent) using your OANDA account.
- Start trading.
Start trading with the best!
The OANDA platform has helped me grow and gain success all throughout my trading journey. It is not only user-friendly, and safe, but it is also almost all-in-one, offering clients various tools and features to help them succeed. Yes, it may not be perfect, but perhaps what makes it the best for me and I hope for you as well, is how it makes trading easier anywhere and anytime via mobile with the assurance of safety because of their reliability.
If you think that it is also perfect for you, then go and give it a try! Start your trading journey with the best forex trading broker – OANDA.
Let me know about your thoughts and questions by sharing them on the comment section below or by sending me a private message. If you need help with starting out on your trading journey, let me help you with my services so I can share with you my personal tactics that led me to success.
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