Oanda Review

Oanda Ratings at a Glance

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Disclosure: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

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Why OANDA Over Others?

Why should you use OANDA for your forex trading? Let’s take a look at a few of our favorite features OANDA offers forex traders.

• Easy-to-use platform. OANDA’s trading platform offers 10 chart types, a variety of indicators and 32 overlays. This makes it an excellent choice for both beginner and experienced traders.
• Full-service mobile app. OANDA’s mobile app doesn’t cut any charting or trading functionality from its desktop version. There’s even a special app for tablet users.
• Educational materials are available in multiple languages. If your native language is German or Mandarin, you’ll love the fact that OANDA’s webinars and instructional videos are available in both those options in addition to American English.

OANDA Quick Summary

As a forex broker, OANDA makes its money from variable dealing spreads instead of charging a flat-rate commission. When you view exchange rates for a particular currency pair via OANDA’s platforms, you’ll generally see 2 rates listed — a “buy” rate and a “sell” rate. These levels correspond to other forex brokers’ “bid” and “ask” exchange rates, respectively. 

The “buy” rate is the highest possible exchange rate OANDA is currently willing to pay you for that currency pair, while the “sell” price is the lowest exchange rate OANDA is willing to sell that currency pair for. The difference between the buy and sell prices is called the “dealing spread”, which at least partially compensates OANDA for executing your trade. Dealing spreads may vary depending on current market conditions and the specific currency pairs you’re trading.

Like most other brokers that offer forex trading, OANDA’s dealing spreads can change over time. However, the broker does an excellent job of keeping traders up to date on current spreads and how they’re changing. OANDA shows you clearly how much of a dealing spread you’ll pay away for each trade before you execute it. 

The broker also includes a Percentage Change feature that tells you whether the exchange rate of displayed currency pairs is rising or falling — a feature that can be helpful to spot opportunities if you trade more than 1 currency pair on a regular basis.

OANDA’s display shows you the dealing spread and the percentage change on the day for a range of currency pairs.

OANDA also offers a leverage ratio of up to 50:1 for U.S.-based accounts. Margin trading deposit requirements vary depending on the currency pair, but they generally range between 2% and 10%. 

You may incur a fee when you wire money from your OANDA account to your bank account, depending on your base currency and the number of times you initiate a withdrawal. These fees are waived for those who qualify for the Advanced Trader program. 

OANDA also charges a monthly inactivity fee of 10 units of your base currency per month after you go 12 months without a trade. For example, if you incur a fee and your base currency is the USD, you’ll pay $10 a month for every month you don’t execute a trade after 12 months.

These inactivity fees end after 1 of 3 things happens:

1. You make a trade. 
2. You close your account.
3. Your pre-funded account balance reaches 0. 

OANDA will not continue to charge inactivity fees to your bank account if your forex trading balance reaches 0. This inactivity fee is stricter than at competing brokers. For example, IG only begins charging inactivity fees after 24 months.

There’s no minimum deposit required to begin trading with a standard account from OANDA. You’ll need to deposit $10,000 to join OANDA’s Advanced Trader program. 

Advanced Traders receive priority service, a dedicated relationship manager to handle any errors or questions, unlimited free wire transfers and improved tools, like the MT4 open order indicator. 

There’s no minimum deposit required to begin trading with a standard account from OANDA. You’ll need to deposit $20,000 to open a premium commercial account. Premium account holders receive access to a wider range of trading tools, as well as a personal account assistant to handle any errors or questions. 

OANDA’s desktop platform is comprehensive and accommodating, even for beginner forex traders. Let’s take a look at 3 features that make OANDA a comprehensive and inviting platform.

• Simple onboarding and navigation: Signing up for an OANDA account is easy and intuitive. The site guides you through the process of providing identity documentation and linking your bank details. Most traders will be able to open their accounts in less than 10 minutes.
• Native trading: With OANDA, you won’t need to flip back and forth between multiple charts and order screens when you trade. View exchange rates, chart your currency pairs of choice and trade all of them from the same screens.

New traders who are just gaining their footing in the forex market will appreciate the platform’s simple layout and intuitive candlestick and line charting features. More experienced traders will appreciate the platform’s advanced charting options, including Renki and Kagi charts.

With a variety of different charting options, there’s a suitable choice for just about every forex trading style out there. 

With different charting options ranging from simple line graphs to advanced Kagi charting, OANDA offers something for every currency trader. 

• Personalized layouts. In addition to a wide range of charting tools, OANDA also offers traders a high level of personalization that’s especially useful for more advanced traders who already have a preferred way of viewing the forex market.
  
  Open multiple windows to follow currency pairs, create varying workspaces and add or remove tools to match your level of skill with just a few clicks. You can even drag and drop windows into other windows to directly compare multiple currency pair charts within a single screen.
  
  OANDA’s Trade Performance analytics tool can help you create an ideal workspace by analyzing and remembering your trading patterns and preferences.

We’d appreciate seeing more alert features from OANDA, although the broker’s platform is comprehensive, easily customizable, and perfectly usable even for a novice forex trader.  

OANDA offers a few unique education and trading tools you can use to both learn more about the platform’s many features, as well as the forex market as a whole. Let’s take a look at a few of OANDA’s education materials for new traders.

• MarketPulse: MarketPulse is OANDA’s 1-stop shop for currency market news and happenings. MarketPulse offers a wide range of articles and news written by an in-house team of experts. You can find information on everything from current political and economic events to patterns in price movements and more.
  
  MarketPulse also features a variety of articles on technical and fundamental analysis strategies, though these articles are aimed at an audience with a firmer grasp of forex jargon. More advanced traders will find these stimulating.
  
  Prefer to do your learning on the go? MarketPulse even offers its Business Breakfast podcast that’s updated on a near-daily basis. MarketPulse could do more to appeal to beginners and organize its content, but there are plenty of gems to be found here when learning about the forex market.
• OANDA Classroom: The OANDA Classroom is packed with information for new forex traders. Informative articles cover the basics of how forex trading works, how to interpret different types of candlesticks, the many types of orders you can place on OANDA’s platform, and much more.
  
  Educational articles are a bit basic and aimed at beginners, but new forex traders will appreciate the clear guides, conversational tone and helpful visual guides and charts.
• Live webinars and video lessons: If you prefer to do your learning within a classroom experience, OANDA has you covered with live webinars and video lessons.
  
  Live video webinars are available covering market trading sessions as they’re occurring, the principles of risk management, and some of OANDA’s most useful technical indicators and charting tools. Video lessons are available in English, German and even Mandarin.

All trading educational tools are free, but you’ll need to be signed in to your OANDA account to view webinars and select premium video lessons. 

OANDA offers 3 methods you can use to get in touch with its customer service team.

• Phone: Toll-free customer service is available via phone at (877) 626-3239 from Sunday at 1 p.m. to Friday at 6 p.m. ET.
• Email: To contact OANDA’s customer service team by email, send a message to frontdesk@oanda.com. Email support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Live chat. You can contact a member of OANDA’s customer service team through the broker’s native live chat feature by clicking and filling out a form about your specific problem. Live chat is available from Sunday at 1 p.m. to Friday at 6 p.m. ET.

OANDA doesn’t currently offer any specific customer service line for people with hearing limitations. 

OANDA offers traders a comprehensive, easily accessible way to enter the forex market. OANDA currently supports 70 unique currency pairs with tight spreads and 10 unique chart types. 

OANDA’s desktop trading platform is powerful and welcoming for beginners, with over 50 indicators available. U.S.-based traders can use up to 50:1 leverage depending on the currency pair. Social trading is also supported as a result of OANDA’s partnership with TradingView.

OANDA currently doesn’t offer any access to the stock, option, futures or cryptocurrency markets, so if you’re looking for a 1-stop shop for all of your trading and investing needs, you won’t be satisfied with OANDA. However, if you’re looking for an entry into the forex market, you’re likely to be impressed with OANDA’s suite of tools. 

OANDA’s mobile offering is an extension of its intuitive desktop platform. The OANDA mobile app has the same full trading capabilities as its desktop platform. Let’s take a look at a few of our favorite features of the mobile app.

• Full charting capabilities. OANDA doesn’t cut charting capabilities from its mobile offering — it mirrors the full services of the desktop platform. Choose from 9 chart types, access more than 50 technical indicators and charting tools, easily edit multiple orders and use over 32 overlays to enhance your trading.
• Track performance analytics. OANDA’s performance analytics allow you to track your forex trading progress, gains and losses over time. See a breakdown of trading performance by instrument, overall and average per-trade profits and losses, and more statistics to enhance and tweak your strategy over time.
• Instant market news updates. OANDA’s market news feed offers a timely information source about current events, as well as expert market analyst commentary. Refresh your news feed and see how many minutes ago each article was published. An economic calendar with upcoming market events is also available on the mobile app.

OANDA’s mobile app is available as a free download for Android and Apple smartphones and tablets. 

OANDA is a popular and well-established online forex broker with a powerful trading platform for beginners and expert forex traders alike. A wide range of charting tools and indicators are available on the desktop platform, and no functionality is cut from OANDA’s mobile platform.

Leverage ratios are standard for U.S.-based brokers, and you’ll have over 70 forex pairs to trade. Also, beginners can access social trading support via TradingView and a comprehensive set of educational resources to learn from. Experts will love the hidden gems in the desktop and mobile apps, including advanced charting tools and free overlays.

OANDA doesn’t attempt to be everything for all of your trading and investing needs. If you’re an investor looking to save for retirement, you should look elsewhere. However, if you’ve ever been interested in forex trading and the forex market, OANDA’s easy-to-use platform is a great place to get started and dip your toes into currency trading. 

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