Oanda Review
Oanda is a very well respected forex broker among large and small account holders. Oanda is known for being an innovative company that offers traders some unique features such as hourly swap payments and single unit positions sizing - your positions can be as small as 1 unit, which greatly improves traders' ability to apply sound money management rules correctly without having to round down your position sizes. Oanda also offers a great deal of transparency. You can view a lot of different information about the business, about what other traders are doing (open interest, or "level 2" - though it is not provided in real time), and a lot of other useful tidbits such as an active community forum. Oanda also offers a Java platform which can be run from any browser, and is Mac compatible. Some traders complain about the maximum leverage being 50:1, but realistically, a responsible trader should never come even close to being that highly leveraged anyway, so this is not usually a problem.The only real negative about Oanda is that the trading platform is unstable at times and lacks some features: there are no advanced order types, and the charting is poor. Still though, overall Oanda offers a very competitive product, particularly when you factor in their low spreads. Highly recommended for small to medium size accounts, and particularly those who trade longer than intraday timeframes.
Oanda also does not charge clients for deposits or withdrawals (although your bank may), allows pre-market trading, and offers exotic currencies such as for example USD/CNY (US Dollar vs. Chinese Yuan), USD/INR (US Dollar vs. Indian Rupee) and USD/TWD (US Dollar vs. Taiwan Dollar), as well as spot Gold and Silver. Another unique feature is that Oanda does not have a fixed timezone, so users are free to choose the timezone that best suits them.
Subjective Ratings
| Charting: |  |
 This is our subjective view on how good the package is in this broker platform. For brokers offering multiple trading platforms, we rate the best one. |
| Execution: |  |
From our experience trading a real account, this is how we rate this broker's order execution. Brokers with guaranteed fills get a boost in rating. |
| Transaction costs (spreads): | |
Since different brokers offer different currency pairs with different spreads, variable or fixed, commission or commission-free trading etc., the idea of judging transactions costs overall becomes somewhat subjective. This is where we try to capture the broker's overall willingness to keep your trading costs low. |
| User-friendliness: |  |
How user-friendly is the trading platform? For brokers offering multiple trading platforms, we rate best one. |
| Platform Functionality: | |
Different platforms have very different levels of complexity. In general, more complex trading platforms give the user more flexibility in their trading, but involve a longer learning curve for new users to get accustomed to their idiosyncrasies. This rating measures the ability of the trading platform to complete complex tasks, most importantly in order management and reporting. For brokers offering multiple platforms, we rate the best one. |
| Platform Reliability: |  |
One of the most annoying (and costly) complaints traders have about their brokers is that the trading platform crashes at the most crucial times. This rating attempts to get a handle on how the trading platform performs in terms of stability and reliability. Is the platform always available? Does it crash or freeze? How often? For brokers offering multiple platforms, we rate the best one. |
| Customer support: | |
How good a company's client support manage questions and problems is a very important aspect of their overall performance as a business. For this rating we consider the hours of operation, the different modes of contact (such as call back service, live chat, toll-free numbers etc.) as well as the staff's patience, eagerness to help, and most importantly, knowledge. |
| Rollover interest rates: |  |
Again, since each broker has their own way to calculate overnight interest rate, or swap for each currency, it is not feasible to have an objective, quantitative way to judge their swap rates. The issue is further complicated because some brokers decide to offer swap-free accounts, some with extra fees added, some not, some for Islamic traders only, and some for the general public. This rating attempts to roll all of that into one. |
| Withdrawal processing: |  |
One of the often-overlooked aspects of a brokers business is how quickly, efficiently, and inexpensively they process your withdrawals. For this rating we take into account the time it took us to get our withdrawals processed, the fees that were charged for those withdrawals (if any), any problems we encountered during the process, as well as the number of withdrawal methods available (such as PayPal, Moneybookers, etc.) |
| Average rating: | |
The arithmetic mean of all the above ratings, rounded to the nearest half-star. |
Business Details
| Registered Business Name: | Oanda Corporation | The name of the parent company of the broker, if any. |
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| Broker Headquarters: | Toronto, Canada | The geographical location of the broker's headquarters. |
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| Also has offices in: | Virtual offices in New York and Hong Kong | A list of other places, besides the headquarters, where the broker has offices. |
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| Regulated By: | NFA (0325821) FCM registered with CFTC |
Which regulating body, if any, is responsible for regulating this broker? |
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| In business since year: | 2002 | When was the business established? This is a measure of trustworthiness. If a business has been around for a long time, it is less likely to scam you or disappear overnight. |
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| Broker Capital as of 11-2008 | $170,799,434 | The amount of capital the company has on hand. CFTC registered companies are required to report this, but many other brokers do not. |
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| Client Account Segregation: | No | Some brokers choose on their own and others are required by regulators to keep client funds separate from the company's operating capital. This gives clients an extra layer of security in case the broker becomes insolvent and needs to go into bankruptcy. It should be noted that segregation does NOT constitute absolute safety of client funds in case of bankruptcy, but is a significant step nonetheless. |
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| Collect Taxes on Earnings: | No | Does this broker report client earnings to any tax authorities? If so, which ones? |
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| Deposit/Withdrawal methods: | What methods are available to deposit and withdraw money to and from your trading account? |
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| Main liquidity providers: | P Morgan Chase, Citibank, UBS, Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Canada | Most brokers are somewhat secretive about this aspect of their business, but those who aren't certainly provide their clients with a valuable piece of information. The more liquidity that is available, the better order execution clients can expect. Knowing the institutions which provide this liquidity can also offer a glimpse into which currency pairs have sufficiently deep liquidity for your needs. |
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Trading Details
* The high degree of leverage available in foreign exchange trading can work against you as well as for you. Investors should ensure they are fully aware of the benefits and risks before putting any money on the line.
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