Broker comparison – who is the best? In this article, we are introducing OctaFX.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
OctaFX – background info
This article focuses on the STP forex broker called OctaFX. The brand was established in 2011 as part of Octa Markets Incorporated, whose main office is situated in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. These days, the online broker is offering its services in over 100 countries around the world.
OctaFX states its mission as follows:
„We exist to provide outstanding services for accessing the forex market.“
„We help forex traders make the most profitable and efficient trading decisions.“
According to the online broker, OctaFX now counts around 6.6 million opened trading accounts that have been used for more than 500 million trades already. On top of which the provider also claims on its website to have paid out $ 6,194,729 in bonus funds to its clients.
Is this a regulated online broker?
If you are looking for a suitable online broker, the regulation aspect always has a major role to play. But while most major providers are regulated by the corresponding financial supervisory authorities, the situation looks rather different with OctaFX. This because the online broker is not subject to any EU-regulation. Although the company’s servers are located in London, there is no regulation by the British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The fact that OctaFX is not subject to any European regulatory authority meanwhile looks like a clear disadvantage to many traders. But it should also be noted here that it need not necessarily be a deal breaker.
How reputable is OctaFX?
The lacking regulation naturally raises the question if OctaFX is trustworthy. But many Traders‘ past experiences have shown the online broker to be a safe provider nonetheless, and that fraud can be excluded. According to the broker, its clients are meant to benefit from the saved licensing costs in the form of lower trading fees.
In addition to which OctaFX has been able to win a great number of awards in recent years, which also appears to indicate that this is a reputable broker.
How safe is OctaFX?
OctaFX accords the highest priority to the safety of its customers‘ deposits. A variety of measures are in place to provide investors and traders using this online broker with a correspondingly high level of security.
This for example includes the keeping of separate accounts. The online broker keeps client deposits in segregated accounts and thus separately from the company’s own capital, so that it is unable to make use of them.
Over and beyond this, the provider also uses modern security software to protect personal data as well as financial transactions. The SSL-protected personal area ensures that important data are protected from external access. In addition, OctaFX also cooperates with 3D Secure, a company whose technology enables payment orders to be carried out transparently and safely.
Which awards can the online broker show for itself?
As already briefly mentioned above, OctaFX has been able to collect a number of awards since its inception. A complete list of all the honours can be found directly on the OctaFX website. Just a few of the latest shall be mentioned here for reasons of space.
- CFI.co – Capital Finance International: Best CFD Broker Asia Pacific 2020
- Fxexplained.co.uk: Best Cryptocurrency Broker 2020
- World Finance Magazine: Best ECN Broker 2020
Which tradable assets are available to OctaFX clients?
Having provided some information on the online broker’s regulation and safety above, here now a brief look at the trades available at OctaFX. The online broker can be principally used to trade the following assets:
- Currency pairs
- CFDs
- Cryptocurrencies
- Commodities
- Shares
Currency pairs
A major part of the services provided by OctaFX revolve around Forex trading. With a daily volume of over US$ 6.6 trillion, currency trading is the most liquid market of all. The online broker’s clients can choose from 28 different currency pairs for this.
Not being subject to the statutory requirements of ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority) meanwhile enables OctaFX to offer trades with leverages of up to 1:500.
Indices and shares
The product range available at OctaFX also includes trades based on contracts for difference (CFDs). In this respect, its clients can also trade CFDs of the ten most popular indices –including the Dow Jones, NASDAQ, Nikkei, and Eurostoxx 50, amongst others. All CFDs can additionally be traded with leverages of up to 1:50. The various indices can be traded both long and short.
Cryptocurrencies
More and more investors and traders are nowadays interested in trading the highly volatile digital currencies commonly referred to as cryptocurrencies, or cryptos for short. In 2017 alone, bitcoin was able to register a growth of over 1,600 %. OctaFX can now also be used to trade the three best-known cryptos bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin as currency pairs with US$.
Digital currencies can be traded from amounts as small as US$ 100, with a maximum leverage of 1:2.
Commodities
For investors interested in diversifying their portfolio even further, there is also the option of trading commodity CFDs. Besides popular commodities such as gold, silver and crude oil, the broker will also let you trade many other assets. Commodity trades can be leveraged up to a maximum of 1:100.
Which account types does OctaFX provide?
Once you have finally opted for the online broker OctaFX, the next step is to open an account there. The provider gives you three different account types to choose from for this, which shall be briefly compared below.
- Micro – for inexperienced traders
- Pro – for experienced traders
- ECN – for advanced traders
Please see the table below for a direct comparison of the respective account types‘ features.
| MICRO | PRO | ECN | |
| Platform | MetaTrader 4 | MetaTrader 5 | cTrader |
| Spreads | Sliding spreads: from 0.4 pips Fixed spreads: from 2 pips | Sliding spreads: from 0.2 pips | Sliding spreads: from 0.4 pips |
| Recommended deposit | US$ 100.00 | US$ 500.00 | US$ 100.00 |
| Assets | 28 currency pairs + gold and silver + 3 cryptos + indices | 28 currency pairs + gold and silver + 2 energy commodities + 10 indices + 3 cryptos | 28 currency pairs + gold and silver |
| Leverages | Up to 1:500 for currencies, 1:200 for metals, 1:50 for indices,1:2 for cryptos | Up to 1:200 for currencies, 1:100 for energy commodities and metals, 1:50 for indices, 1:2 for cryptos | Up to 1:500 for currencies, 1:200 for metals |
| Min. position size | 0.01 lots | 0.01 lots | 0.01 lots |
| Margin call / stop-out level | 25% / 15% | 45% / 30% | 25% / 15% |
| Swaps | Optional | No swaps | No swaps |
| CFD trading | Yes | Yes | No |
| Crypto trading | Yes | Yes | No |
Trading platforms available for use at OctaFX
As you can see above, the respective trading platform also depends on the selected account type.
MICRO: MetaTrader 4
PRO: MetaTrader 5
ECN: cTrader
Each platform is meanwhile adapted to the functions and requirements of the corresponding account type. See below for a brief introduction of the programs‘ features and advantages in bullet points.
MetaTrader 4
MetaTrader 4 is one of the world’s most popular trading platforms, and not without reason. MT4 is an ideal choice for both Novices to trading and professional traders.
- Easily manageable, intuitive user interface
- Integrated market for trading robots and indicators
- Interactive, customizable charts
- VPS services
- Lets you trade CFDs
- Cryptocurrency trading
MetaTrader 5
The MetaTrader 5 trading platform is a newer version of MetaTrader 4 and offers more options and software functions as such. The earlier version’s user interface has been augmented with modern tools enabling both fundamental and Technical analysis.
- Integrated Economic calendar
- One-click trading tools
- Customizable user interface
- Expert advisors
- CFD trading possible
- Stop limit orders
- Cryptocurrency trading possible
cTrader
Holders of the ECN account use the cTrader platform for trading at OctaFX. This trading software offers investors an intuitive trading environment and a broad range of functions enabling a greater flexibility in placing their trades.
- Level-II data
- Trailing stop per server
- Cloud services consolidating all accounts and templates in a single place
- One-click trading and advanced chart trading
- FIX API
What are the fees at OctaFX?
Now we are turning to an aspect that often has the greatest role to play for choosing a suitable online broker: the fees. Please see below for details of the trading conditions available at OctaFX.
As we have seen, the spreads first of all depend on the selected account type. The minimum spreads for the EUR/USD currency pair start from as little as ab 0.4 pips, for example, but will usually range around 1.1. pips. Where the spreads are concerned, the online broker can thus offer fair conditions to its clients.
The OctaFX website additionally lists all the assets‘ real-time prices for the respective account models.
Another advantage are the live quotes that the provider makes available to all interested traders and investors directly on its website.
One thing you will not need to pay at OctaFX are commission fees.
While trading with the MICRO account will cost you Swap fees, these will not be charged with the other two account models.
As an additional boon for its clients, the online broker will not charge any deposit fees either.
Deposits and withdrawals at OctaFX
Once you have decided in favour of OctaFX and opened a live account there, the next step consists of capitalizing it accordingly, for which the online broker provides its clients with various options:
| Payment method | Minimum amount | Commission | Execution time |
| Perfect Money | US$ 5.00 | None | Immediately |
| bitcoin | 0.00096000 BTC | None | 3 – 30 minutes |
| Mastercard | € 50.00 | None | Immediately |
Withdrawals will usually rely on the same payment method as the deposits, and the minimum amounts are also identical with those for deposits. The execution time, however, will usually amount to 1-3 hours for approving the withdrawal, and then another 30 minutes for transferring the funds.
The OctaFX trading app
For all traders who prefer to trade on the go and generally prize their ability to trade flexibly there is also a trading app. The OctaFX trading app was developed by the online broker to provide its traders with a helpful 24/7 trading tool. Besides the trading, you can naturally also use it to make deposits and withdrawals. The app’s design convinces with an intuitive and simple user interface that even first-timers will find easy to operate.
Using the mobile app will always keep traders abreast of all developments irrespective of their location, ensuring that they will never miss out on any important activities in the various markets.
In the process, the trading app allows for a great number of administrative choices, for example including the following points:
- Creation of forex trading accounts
- Leverage setting
- Selection of swap-free options
- Changing and/or resetting passwords
- Charging the Demo account
- Making deposits and withdrawals
The mobile app is only available for download from Google Play so far, with no application available for iOS devices at the time of this review, unfortunately.
Once you have successfully downloaded the app, you can continue by selecting the trading platform you prefer (MT4, MT5, cTrader).
The 50% deposit bonus at OctaFX
One unique feature at OctaFX is their deposit bonus of 50 %. This means that you can claim a 50% bonus for deposits made by way of the trading app or website. This will increase your free margin, thus enabling you to open larger positions.
If you deposit € 200.00, for example, you can therefore claim an additional bonus of € 100.00, which will be added to the margin and thus boost your profit potentials. These bonuses can enable you to open positions that are up to 750 times greater than your initial investment.
Does OctaFX offer a demo account?
Yes, OctaFX does give its traders an opportunity to try out the MT4 and MT5 platforms free of charge first in their demo account without entering into any commitments. This enables them to trial their trading strategies with a virtual credit initially, without running any financial risk so soon. The demo version provides its users with all the tools and functions required for this, including graphic objects, price markings, Fibonacci retracements and more.
This demo account is free of charge and will run for an unlimited time.
What are the training and education options at OctaFX?
In their search for a suitable online broker, many traders and investors also attach some importance to the training and upskilling services available there.
OctaFX has quite a lot to offer in this respect. Besides many analytical tools like a profit calculator, trading calculator and economic calendar, the online broker also offers a relatively broad range of education services, for example including articles on the subject of forex trading and the like, but also a number of video tutorials with plenty of helpful know-how for trading novices as well as more advanced traders.
These video tutorials explain the basic operation of the trading platforms, and how the Copytrading works – a special client service at OctaFX.
OctaFX video tutorials
The customer service at OctaFX
The online broker’s customer service is available to deal with its clients questions and requests by live chat 24/7. But the OctaFX support can naturally also be contacted on the telephone. A British telephone number is provided for this on the website.
Online ratings of OctaFX so far
Last but not least, let us take a brief look at how OctaFX is rated so far on the internet. Despite the lacking regulation by European financial supervisory authorities, the provider promises to enable above-board and fair trading for its clients. And given the many awards it has won in recent years, one can also quite safely exclude the possibility of fraud as well.
The broad range of trading platforms and favourable conditions can meanwhile be definitely highlighted as positive aspects. And the education services and deposit bonus also prove popular amongst many clients. One can thus say that OctaFX is indeed a reputable Forex and CFD broker, providing interested traders with a real alternative in any case.
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