Is OANDA a Brokerage We Can Truly Trust?
OANDA, a multinational company headquartered in the United States, is a gateway to an expansive selection of trading assets.
Read this broker analysis to learn about OANDA’s unique services, features, and offers, as well as the advantages of trading with a global broker.
As a preview, let us quickly peruse the advantages and limitations that will help set our expectations of the brokerage.
Advantages:
- Cutting-edge trading software offerings
- Comprehensive selection of tools
- Smooth and cheap account creation
Disadvantages:
- Limited financial instruments
- Lacking in bank affiliation
- Costly transfers and withdrawals
Hold your verdicts as the entirety of the literature might change your impression of Oanda later on. For the first agendum, let us delve the financial company’s background and regulatory credential.
OANDA: A Look Into the Firm’s Profile & Regulation
Probably among the brokerages that have a long sector tenure, OANDA was established in America back in 1996 as an IT company. The company innovated a great deal of the system as it provides information on the free exchange rate in cyberspace. It was even published in Time Magazine as a testament to the revolutionary step that Oanda had made to set its mark in the industry.
Later in the early 2000’s, Oanda had become to be known for its internet-based currency trading. This resulted into the approval of up to only $1 in the United States.
Building momentum from its innovative solutions, OANDA caught the attention of the online trading community. The brokerage received several accolades including, “Best Retail FX Platform”, “No. 1 Forex Broker in Singapore,” and “Highest Overall Client Satisfaction” through some award-giving entities.
Looking at the broker’s regulatory credential, OANDA is supervised by five major regulatory bodies worldwide which includes the ASIC, the FC, and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada.
OANDA’s Offerings and Fee Infrastructure
Asset Coverage
The broker’s weakest link seems to be the coverage of asset markets that traders would be able to derive transactions from. As of writing, the company only hosts a hundred tradable assets that include Forex, Bonds, Commodities, and the like.
Account Types
With only the existing two live account offerings, OANDA is yet again limited in options, appearing to affect the type of trading conditions traders and investors would be allowed to experience.
The Standard Account
This type of account allows access to a total of 70 currency pairs, fast trading execution, and zero account minimum requirement. The other features this account type are:
- a 24/5 customer service
- a selection of Contract sizes
- trading performance monitoring dashboard
- MT5 monitor
The Premium Account i
This account type needs only a minimum of $20,000 to open. It bears access to liquidity markets, has speedy trading executions and is provided with a personal account manager. Also thrown in are the following:
- free wire transfers
- lack of requotes
- trade execution automation
- 24-hour support
- selection of contract sizes
- OANDA monitoring function
- An always updated MT5 stream
In addition to these two basic accounts, Joint and Corporate accounts are also allowed to be created for the more institutional traders. This makes the brokerage a little less limited.
Funding Methods
OANDA provides a wide array of funding methods. Traders may pay through VISA, Maestro, Mastercard, wire, Skrill, and Neteller.
Trading Software and Other Trading Aids Available
OANDA’s own trading software may be availed through various versions. Each iteration features multilingual client support and other trading tools. However, OANDA’s proprietary platform lacks the necessary function of alerts. Both the application for web and mobile mirror each other.
The MT4 software is also being offered to the more seasoned traders in OANDA. Meanwhile, the MT5 offering is equipped with latency reduction software application, the VPS Provider. Additionally, the MT4 Plug-In is also provided for the more advanced trading settings.
OANDA also has under its range of offerings for education, Algo lab, technical analysis and market news just to mention a few.
Bottom Line
On the plus side, OANDA is an established brand in the industry, as it is an international firm and undergoes the sanction of highly-noted financial authorities. Meticulous traders can also take the opportune chance using the brokerage’s comprehensive education tools.
On the downside, OANDA has limited asset market offerings. This can be resolved by adding more financial instruments into its basketful of assets. High withdrawal fees should also be compensated through the offering of more tight spreads and the provision of rewards to encourage traders to push their trading game into a more lucrative direction.
