OANDA Review

Trust

Regulatory requirements are subject to change. We gathered the data listed above in January 2025.

OANDA Regulators

In our reviews, we examine the regulatory status of each entity operated by a broker. This allows us to compare the different levels of client protection. We rank regulators using a three-tier system, where Tier-1 licensing reflects the highest level of regulation.

Here are my findings on OANDA’s various entities:

• OANDA Europe Limited is authorized and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), reference number 542574. We rate FCA as a Tier 1 regulator.
• OANDA Corporation is a registered Futures Commission Merchant and Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and a member of the National Futures Association (NFA) reference number 0325821. We rate CFTC and NFA as Tier 1 regulators.
• OANDA (Canada) Corporation ULC is regulated by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC). We rate IIROC as a Tier 1 regulator.
• OANDA Asia Pacific Pte Ltd (Co. Reg. No 200704926K) holds a Capital Markets Services Licence issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). We rate MAS as a Tier 2 regulator.
• OANDA Australia Pty Ltd is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) ABN 26 152 088 349, AFSL No. 412981. We rate ASIC as a Tier 1 regulator.
• OANDA Japan Co., Ltd. is registered with the Institute Financial Futures Association of Japan (FFAJ), subscriber number 1571. We rate FFAJ as a Tier 2 regulator.
• OANDA TMS Brokers S.A. is subject to the supervision of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (PFSA) on the basis of an authorization of April 26, 2004 (KPWiG-4021-54-1/2004). We rate PFSA as a Tier 2 regulator.
• OANDA Global Markets Ltd is authorized and regulated by the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (FSC), number: SIBA/L/20/1130. We rate FSC as a Tier 3 regulator.

Understanding the Regulatory Protections of Your Account

Brokers operate multiple entities to serve clients globally, yet regulatory protections vary by jurisdiction. Some regulators enforce strict financial standards, while others are more lenient. Traders should understand the protection offered by the entity where they intend to open an account.

• Segregation of client funds. Keeping client funds in segregated bank accounts from the ones used for the broker’s corporate capital negates the risk of accounting errors. All of OANDA’s entities segregate funds.
• Negative balance protection. This safety mechanism removes the risk of trading losses exceeding the account balance. In other words, the losses you incur from trading are capped at the amount you have put in your trading account. This is especially important in volatile markets. The UK and EU entities provide negative balance protection.
• Compensation scheme. A compensation scheme protects retail traders against the broker’s liabilities in the unlikely event that the company becomes insolvent. Clients of the OANDA Europe Ltd. (UK) entity are insured by FSCS for up to £85,000.
• Maximum leverage. Capping the maximum leverage restricts the extent of market exposure to retail traders. The higher the leverage, the higher the potential profits and potential losses. Standard Account holders with OANDA Europe Ltd. can access leverage up to 1:30. OANDA’s entity with the highest leverage, 1:200, is the offshore OANDA Global Markets Ltd.

Stability and Transparency

In our tests for the Trust category, we also cover factors relating to stability and transparency. Here, we focus on the broker’s operating history, size, and overall transparency.

OANDA was founded in 1996, making it one of the oldest retail forex brokers. According to its LinkedIn page, the company is headquartered in New York and has 201-500 employees. In 2018, the broker was acquired by CVC Capital Partners, a leading private equity firm managing over €191 billion in assets worldwide.

In my research, OANDA showed a decent level of transparency in its regulatory status, listing all regulators on the About Us page. Here, you can also find information about OANDA’s history and senior management.

Fees are clearly outlined on the Charges page. The Terms of Use document can be found in the website’s footer. Overall, I rated OANDA as having a high level of transparency, better than average for the industry.

Is OANDA Safe to Trade With?

To summarize, my findings indicate that OANDA can be regarded as having a high level of trust and stability due to the following qualities:

• Regulated by multiple top-tier regulators
• 29 years of operating history
• High level of transparency
• Owned by financial giant CVC Capital Partners

Fees

OANDA Trading Fees

OANDA Spreads

I tested the spreads at OANDA during the London open and just after the New York open on 15 January 2025. At these times, the market is typically highly liquid with the tightest spreads.

My tests showed tight spreads in EUR/USD and the DAX 40, keeping traders’ costs low in these markets. Other instruments, like WTI Oil and the Dow Jones 30, were closer to average. The spread in gold, averaging 54 cents in my assessment, was rather wide.

OANDA Swap Fees

In the table below, you can see the Swap Long (the cost/credit of holding a buy position overnight) and the Swap Short (the cost/credit of maintaining a sell position overnight) for one full-sized contract.

A full-sized contract is 100,000 units of the base currency (the first currency quoted in the pair). I recorded the data on 15 January 2025.

The values listed below are for one full contract (100,000 units) of the base currency.

Overnight swap fees were average in my tests.

OANDA Non-Trading Fees

OANDA Europe Limited charges an inactivity fee of £10 per month for accounts that have been dormant for 12 months. While credit card withdrawals are free, there is a £10 fee for withdrawals via bank wire.

Are OANDA Fees Competitive?

OANDA’s spreads range from average to competitive in certain cases, while its swap fees align with the industry standard. However, the broker charges account-related fees that many competitors do not. Overall, I would rate OANDA’s fees as mixed but slightly above average for the following reasons:

• Spreads as low as 0.7 pips in popular forex pairs
• Wide spreads in some instruments like gold
• Inactivity and bank wire withdrawal fees are applied
• Average swap fees

Platform and Tools

OANDA Trade Web Platform

The OANDA Trade web-based platform is well-designed and easy to navigate. It is also customizable, allowing you to change the layout to suit your preference. Multiple chart layouts are available, and traders can view up to 8 charts simultaneously.

Charts

Charting is provided by TradingView, offering 81 indicators, 50 drawing tools, 10 time frames, and 11 chart types. The platform also allows users to trade directly from the chart, enabling quick and efficient entry and exit from positions.

The range of order types on the OANDA platform is impressive and includes standard order types such as market, limit, and stop-loss. Guaranteed stop-loss orders are also available, protecting clients from slippage and price gaps. It is possible to set time-in-force conditions; you can set your limit of stop-loss orders to expire after a set time, for example, 2 days or 1 week.

There are no alerts and 1-click trading on the OANDA web platform, but they are available on the OANDA mobile app.

The Order Book tool consists of open orders and open position information, showing how OANDA traders are currently positioned within the market. It allows you to see how pending orders and open positions are distributed at different price levels, which has value in determining potential support and resistance levels.

The Heat Map tool highlights instruments with the largest daily percentage price changes, helping traders identify those with the highest volatility.

The Position Ratios tool shows the percentage of OANDA traders who are long or short for each instrument. This data gives you insight into the psychology or sentiment of a market. Traders can interpret the data in a variety of ways. Most commonly, it is understood that when an extreme percentage of traders are either long or short an instrument, a trend reversal may be coming.

Autochartist can be accessed within the OANDA Trade Web platform and provides trade ideas by identifying popular chart patterns like triangle breakouts, channels, and wedges.

OANDA Trade Web Platform: My Key Takeaways

I found the OANDA Trade Web platform to be robust and feature-rich but not entirely beginner-friendly. The look and feel seemed somewhat dated to me. I liked the unique tools like the order book and position ratios, drawing from OANDA’s large client base. The platform also offers first-class charting from TradingView and a robust range of order types that can accommodate experienced traders. However, one major drawback is that 1-click trading is not available.

OANDA Mobile App

OANDA’s mobile app is beautifully designed and has a smooth, user-friendly interface. It features the same range of standard and advanced order types as the web and desktop platforms. The layout is customizable, so you can see your favorite instruments and adjust the size of the charts to suit your preferences.

The charting within the app is solid and has the following features:

• 16 time frames, ranging from 5 seconds to one month.
• 9 chart types, including Japanese candlesticks, Heikin Ashi, and OHLC (open-high-low-close).
• 32 indicators, including MACD (moving average convergence/divergence) and RSI (relative strength index).
• 11 drawing tools, from pivot points to Fibonacci retracements.

The app also features one-tap trading and alerts. Real-time news from Dow Jones and an economic calendar are also built-in. Two-factor authentication (2FA) is available to add an extra level of security when you sign in to OANDA’s trading platforms from your computer or mobile device. If you need to top up your account on the go, you can add funds via mobile. The app is available in English, German, Japanese, and Chinese.

OANDA Mobile App: My Key Takeaways

This is one of the best-designed and most feature-rich broker apps I have used. It can satisfy the needs of beginners, casual traders, and experienced professionals on the move.

MetaTrader 4 Desktop

OANDA offers the MetaTrader 4 for desktops, which includes advanced functions such as automated trading.

MT4 is available in 39 languages, from Arabic to Vietnamese. The platform provides popular features, including the following:

• Alerts: This feature updates traders when an instrument reaches a specific price level.
• Watchlists: Traders can create a list of their favorite instruments and follow live quotes in a market watch panel.
• One-Click Trading: This feature allows traders to execute orders with a single click and no secondary confirmation. This feature enables traders to operate faster and is especially useful for short-term traders.
• Trading from the Chart: MT4 also allows users the convenience of trading directly from the chart.

MetaTrader also delivers when it comes to the range of available order types. The platform offers these order types:

• Market Order: Traders use market orders to buy or sell an instrument at the best current price.
• Limit Order: Traders use limit orders to buy or sell an instrument at a specified price or better.
• Stop Loss Order: Traders use stop-loss orders to buy or sell an instrument when its price reaches a specified level.
• Trailing Stop Order: Traders use trailing stop-loss orders as a stop-loss order at a defined percentage or dollar amount away from an instrument’s current market price. This order type allows traders to secure profits when they are in a winning trade while not having to exit the position.

MT4 charting features are robust and include:

• 30 Technical Indicators: These include classic trend indicators, volume indicators, and oscillators.
• 23 Analytical Objects: These include lines, channels, Gann, and Fibonacci tools.
• 9 Time Frames: Traders can choose from nine time frames, from one minute to one month.
• 3 Chart Types: Traders can use Bar Charts, Japanese Candlestick Charts, and Line Charts.

MetaTrader 4 is also popular due to its automated trading features, allowing users to develop, test, and apply Expert Advisors (EAs). EAs are programs that monitor and trade markets using algorithms. While being the most feature-rich and popular trading platform, MetaTrader 4 does not have a slick interface and requires some time and effort to learn.

MetaTrader 4 Trading App

OANDA offers the MetaTrader 4 app for mobile trading, which is available for Android and iOS. The app offers popular features such as alerts, 1-click trading, and trading from the chart.

The MT4 app also provides standard order types, including pending and stop orders. However, trailing stop-loss orders are only available from the desktop.

To change the language of the MT4 app, you must change the language for your entire phone.

As with the desktop and web platforms, the interface is not highly intuitive, but the MT4 app offers an above-average range of features.

MetaTrader 4: My Key Takeaways

As one of the most popular trading platforms in the world and the only one offered by many forex brokers, I have spent a lot of time testing MT4. The platform’s look and feel are a bit dated, and I feel there is room for improvement in design and usability.

Still, MT4 is a highly versatile platform that outperforms many competitors. It offers advanced charting, a comprehensive range of order types, and popular features such as one-click trading, trading directly from charts, and customizable alerts.

Its desktop platform stands out with advanced capabilities, including the ability to run and backtest automated strategies, making it a powerful tool for skilled traders. However, its steep learning curve means it is better suited for experienced traders rather than beginners.

TradingView

OANDA clients can also trade directly from the intuitive and feature-rich TradingView platform (either via the TradingView.com website or its desktop version).

Key features include cutting-edge, highly customizable charts with over 100 popular indicators and 50 drawing tools, as well as a community of millions of like-minded traders and investors.

The platform also features powerful tools like screeners for both shares and forex pairs, heatmaps, cloud-based trading alerts, and news feeds with stories from Reuters and Dow Jones.

OANDA Order Execution Model

OANDA acts as principal, not as agent, and is the sole venue for executing trades. This means that OANDA is the counterparty to all client trades. Clients trade directly with OANDA and not within the underlying market.

Tradable Instruments

OANDA offers an above-average range of CFDs on currency pairs, commodities, and indices. The offshore entity offers CFDs on shares and cryptocurrencies, but they are not currently available at the UK entity.

What are CFDs?

A Contract for Difference (CFD) is an agreement specifying that the buyer must pay the seller the difference between an asset’s current value and its value at the time the contract was initiated. Like futures and other derivative financial instruments, CFDs allow traders to speculate on price movements without owning the underlying asset.

What Can You Trade with OANDA?

To better illustrate the range of instruments available at OANDA, the following tables show samples from various asset classes:

OANDA Instruments: My Key Takeaways

OANDA offers an attractive variety of tradable instruments. The range of currency pairs, indices, commodities, and bonds is deep. I noted that gold and silver can be traded against various currencies, for example, Gold/CHF and Silver/JPY.

Customer Support

OANDA Customer Support Test

I tested OANDA customer service with dozens of queries, ranging from platforms to fees and account-related issues.

In the case of live chat and WhatsApp support, I had to navigate a chatbot and verify my email before reaching an agent. Once this was done, I received comprehensive answers to my inquiries. My emails to support (frontdesk@oanda.com) were addressed within one business day.

My experience via phone was also positive. After navigating a series of automated prompts, I was able to reach a helpful, well-informed operator within a couple of minutes.

Deposit and Withdrawal

OANDA Deposit Methods

Bank wire processing times at OANDA are average for the industry. Free deposits are standard at most brokers.

OANDA Withdrawal Methods

Processing times for withdrawals are also average. OANDA charges a fee for withdrawals via bank wire, while some other leading brokers do not.

Account Types and Terms

OANDA Account Opening Process

To open a CFD account with the UK entity of OANDA, prospective clients must provide the following information:

• Email address and password set up
• Personal details (name, date of birth, phone number)
• Nationality and national insurance number
• Home address
• Employment (job title, industry, annual income, savings and investments, source of funds)
• Trading experience (CFD, forex, or other leveraged derivatives trading)
• Customer knowledge test (9 questions relating to forex and CFD trading)

Demo Account

OANDA offers demo accounts for the OANDA Trade Web, MT4, and TradingView platforms. Demo accounts are especially important for beginners as they allow them to practice their strategies and get comfortable with the trading platform without risking real money.

The demo account features live quotes and simulates live market conditions in assets like forex and CFDs on commodities, indices, and stocks. Once users are up to speed on a demo, they can easily switch to a live account.

Spread Betting Account

UK residents can open a Spread Betting account free from stamp duty and capital gains tax.

Professional Account

Experienced traders can open a professional account, allowing access to greater leverage and trading in CFDs on cryptocurrencies. To qualify for a professional account, traders must meet at least two of the following criteria:

• Have placed at least 10 trades per quarter, over the previous four quarters, with a minimum notional value of £50,000 per trade, either with OANDA Europe Ltd or other providers.
• Hold an investment portfolio exceeding €500,000.
• Have at least one year of experience working in the financial sector in a professional position that requires knowledge of FX and CFD trading.

Islamic Account

OANDA does not offer swap-free Islamic accounts.

What is CFD Leverage?

One of the reasons that traders are attracted to the forex and CFD markets is the high degree of available leverage. Leverage is the use of borrowed funds to increase the size of your trading positions beyond what would be possible using only the cash in your account.

For the OANDA Europe Ltd. entity, the maximum leverage for a Standard Account is 1:30. This means that with an account of $1,000, you can control up to $30,000 worth of positions in the market. This is a relatively moderate level of leverage, but it still entails considerable risk.

Leverage is often described as a ‘double-edged sword’ as it can hurt you as much as it helps you. Traders should keep in mind that it can amplify both their profits and their losses.

Leverage varies by asset class, as illustrated in the following table:

OANDA Restricted Countries

OANDA accepts clients from most countries globally. However, residents of China, India, North Korea, and Iran are not accepted.

Research

OANDA has developed an insightful news and research portal, MarketPulse.com, which covers both fundamental and technical analysis across forex, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies.

The Week Ahead articles keep traders abreast of upcoming economic events, providing insights into their potential market impacts. Other articles and videos are more technical, and traders can get ideas from chart patterns and support and resistance levels.

The MarketPulse website has an in-depth global economic calendar detailing event volatility, the actual figure, analyst consensus, and the prior figure. You can customize the calendar to your preference based on countries, indicator categories, and volatility levels.

In the Market Insights podcast, senior market analysts provide in-depth insights into the major economic trends and events that impact the markets.

OANDA Research: My Key Takeaways

OANDA has gone above and beyond in the area of research, with a steady flow of high-quality reports and videos from seasoned analysts. I rate the research materials as among the best in the industry.

Education

The OANDA website education section is divided into sections that provide in-depth guides to the basics of CFD trading and market analysis.

• The ‘Introduction to Leveraged Trading’ section explains fundamental concepts such as trading with margin, order types, and essential terminology.
• The ‘Fundamental Analysis’ section highlights the importance and various types of fundamental analysis, provides guidance on trading using this approach, and explains key economic indicators.
• The ‘Technical Analysis’ section walks you through the basics of technical analysis, introduces essential tools, and explains how to identify entry and exit points.

These guides are well-crafted and help new traders build a solid foundation of market-related knowledge.

I liked that the education section introduces actionable ideas and strategies. Guides within the education section cover practical topics like identifying entry and exit points using technical indicators.

The OANDA Trade Web platform offers unique tools and features that may require some explanation. The broker’s YouTube channel features helpful platform tutorials covering topics like how to use the Order Book tool, and advanced charting options.

Live webinars are a highlight among educational resources. OANDA offers regular webinars hosted by seasoned analysts focused on recent price movements of the major currency pairs. These interactive events explain practical technical themes like how to draw trendlines and uncover areas of support and resistance.

The Bottom Line

OANDA boasts almost 30 years of experience and a strong global presence. Extensively regulated and highly transparent, the CFD industry giant earned a strong trust rating in my review.

OANDA offers a strong range of tradable instruments in major asset classes.

Spreads in CFDs on forex majors and indices are highly competitive, but most other instruments are closer to the industry average.

The broker’s variety of platforms and tools can cater to a wide range of market approaches, from casual trading to scalping and fully automated trading. The range includes the popular MetaTrader 4 and TradingView, as well as the flagship OANDA platform, available for web and mobile. I especially liked the broker’s unique tools like sentiment data.

OANDA could improve by offering tighter spreads across all asset classes and cutting account-related fees for its UK-based clients. While there is an abundance of research materials, the written educational resources are currently a bit thin.

Overall, I rate OANDA as a well-rounded broker with a unique offering. It can accommodate different experience levels and trading styles and is particularly algorithmic and short-term trading.

FAQ