Low FX fees

All fees are built into the spread, so there is no separate commission charged. For example, the EUR/USD spread is 1.0.

Broker	EURUSD Spread GBPUSD Spread AUDUSD Spread JPYUSD Spread USDCAD Spread	FX Commision Per Lot GBPUSD Spread AUDUSD Spread JPYUSD Spread USDCAD Spread
Oanda	1.0	No commission is charged
Pepperstone	0.1	$3.50 commission per lot
FXCM	0.7	No commission is charged

Low index CFD fees

All index CFD fees are built into the spread. The spread for S&P 500 index CFDs is 0.3.

Broker	EURUSD Spread GBPUSD Spread AUDUSD Spread JPYUSD Spread USDCAD Spread
Oanda	1.0
Pepperstone	0.1
FXCM	0.1

Low Stock CFD fees

The commission for stock CFD trading is the following: 0.06% commission.

Broker	Apple CFD Vodafone CFD Apple CFD Spread Vodafone CFD Spread
Oanda	1.0
Pepperstone	0.1
FXCM	0.1

Low inactivity fee, no withdrawal fee

There is no account or deposit fee. Oanda charges a reasonable $14 (£10) monthly inactivity fee if you don't use your account for trading for more than one year.

Broker	Inactivity Fee Custody Fee Conversion Fee Account Fee Deposit Fee	Inactivity Fee Withdrawal Fee Custody Fee Account Fee Deposit Fee
Oanda		$0
Pepperstone		$0
FXCM		$0

The first debit/credit card withdrawal in each calendar month is free, but there's a charge for subsequent withdrawals. The withdrawal fee is rather high for bank transfers and PayPal (GBP, EUR, USD only).

• how you are protected if something goes wrong
• the background of the broker.

How you are protected

Oanda has several legal entities, each serving clients from different parts of the world. This is important because the investor protection amount and the regulator differ from entity to entity.

Client Country	Investor Protection Amount	Regulator	Legal Entity
UK	£85,000	Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)	OANDA Europe Ltd
EU	£20,000	Malta Financial Services Authority	OANDA Europe Markets Ltd
US	No Protection	Commodity Trading Futures, Commission, National Futures Association	OANDA Corporation
Canada	CAD 1,000,000	Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO)	OANDA (Canada) Corporation
Australia	No protection	Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC)	OANDA Europe Ltd
Singapore	No protection	Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)	OANDA Asia Pacific Pte Ltd
Japan	No protection	Financial Futures Association of Japan (FFAJ)	OANDA Europe Ltd
Other countries	No protection	British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission	OANDA Europe Ltd

Oanda provides negative balance protection for forex spot and CFD trading, but only for retail clients from the European Union. Professional and non-EU clients are not covered by any negative balance protection.

Background

Oanda is based in the USA and was founded in 1996. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully weathered previous financial crises. Oanda publishes its annual financial statements and is regulated by a top-tier regulator. All of these are great markers of Oanda's safety.

Finde your safe broker

Oanda base currencies
EUR	USD	GBP
AUD	CAD	CHF
HKD	JPY	SGD

This selection is average compared to competing brokers.

Broker	Number of base currencies
Oanda	9
Pepperstone	10
FXCM	4

Why does this matter? For two reasons. If you fund your trading account in the same currency as your bank account or you trade assets in the same currency as your trading account base currency, you won't have to pay a conversion fee. A convenient way to save on currency

conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. These usually offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates, as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.

Deposit fees and options

Oanda charges no deposit fees.

Broker	Bank Transfer Credit/Debit Cards Electronic Wallets
Oanda
Pepperstone
FXCM

A bank transfer can take several business days, while payment with a credit/debit card is instant. You can only deposit money from accounts that are in your name.

There are a lot of deposit options at Oanda, including electronic wallets such as PayPal, Skrill, Neteller.

Deposit options varydepending on your residency and your account currency. Make sure to check the Oanda website to see the exact details that apply to you.

Broker	Number of base currencies
Oanda	9
Pepperstone	10
FXCM	4

Why does this matter? For two reasons. If you fund your trading account in the same currency as your bank account or you trade assets in the same currency as your trading account base currency, you won't have to pay a conversion fee.

A convenient way to save on currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. These usually offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates, as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.

Oanda withdrawal fees and options

Withdrawal options and fees vary depending on your residency and your account base currency. The main withdrawal options are the same as those for deposits.

As for fees, withdrawal to credit/debit cards is typically free, as is withdrawal to PayPal or other electronic wallets.

However, withdrawal via bank transfer is quite expensive in most cases.

For example, withdrawals from USD or EUR accounts cost $/€20; while in many regions, subsequent withdrawals in the same calendar month cost even more, typically $/€35.

Broker	Bank Transfer Credit/Debit Card Electronic Wallets
Oanda
Pepperstone
FXCM

You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.

How long does it take to withdraw money from Oanda? Oanda says it can take anywhere between one and six business days, depending on the withdrawal method and your residency.

In our tests, it took one business day using a debit card.

Oanda in USA and Canada

Oanda is deeply rooted in the North American continent. The broker was founded in Canada and has its headquarters in New York.

Both US and Canadian citizens can open an account at Oanda, in additon to many countries globally.

What is the minimum deposit at Oanda?

The required Oanda minimum deposit is $0.

Account types

There is only one type of trading account at Oanda (in addition to a demo and a corporate account). However, you can open up to 19 sub-accounts.

These are great if you want to have different base currencies under one account. E.g. you can have a USD account with EUR and GBP subaccounts.

Oanda also provides API possibility for exchanges - it might come in handy if you'd like to develop your own platform.

How to open your account

How long does Oanda account approval take?

From start to finish, you can open an account in less than 10 minutes. Account approval, though, can take multiple days, as we were asked to send some of our verification documents in email; but it's still quick if you respond to their emails in time.

You can open an account at Oanda in 8 steps:

Account Details: set your username and password.
Personal Details: enter basic personal information like your name, address and birth data.
Nationality: fill in your nationality
Home address: enter your home address
Employment: fill in information about your employment status, income and wealth
Trading experience: answer questions about your trading experience
Customer knowledge: fill out a short quiz to test your knowledge (e.g. Does changing leverage from 50:1 to 100:1 increase or decrease your potential profit/loss?)
Verify your identity: upload a copy of your ID/passport to verify your identity, and a bank statement or utility bill to verify your residency

Oanda demo account

Oanda offers a demo account. It can be opened in minutes and you'll be able to try out and learn Oanda's desktop platform without risking your money.

How to delete an Oanda account?

To delete your account, you have to “cancel your subscription” on Oanda. You need to submit a separate form to request the removal of your account.

Oanda available languages on mobile platform
Arabic	Chinese	Deutsch
English	Japanese	Russian

Look and feel

The Oanda mobile trading platform is user-friendly. The chart tab is great, you can customize it well. This is not something you usually find at other brokers.

Login and security

Oanda provides a safer, two-step login for its mobile platform.

You can't log in using biometric authentication. Providing this feature would be more convenient.

Search functions

The search functions are good.

Placing orders

You can use the following order types on the mobile trading platform:

• Market
• Stop loss
• Trailing stop
• Upper bound

There is a single order time limit you can use: Good 'til Date (GTD).

Alerts and notifications

How long does Oanda account approval take?

You can set alerts and notifications on the Oanda mobile platform.

You can open an account at Oanda in 8 steps:

Visit Broker

Oanda's desktop platform is similar to the web trading platform in terms of customizability, login, order types and portfolio reports. While the design is generally fine, it could use some brush-up.

Like its browser counterpart, the desktop platform doesn't allow you to set price alerts.

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Disclaimer: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 78.3% 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.

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) banned the sale of crypto-derivatives to UK retail consumers as of January 2024.

We really liked the fact that you can set the leverage manually. At many other brokers, including some of Oanda's closest competitors, this feature is not supported.

To set the leverage, go to the 'Manage Funds' tab.

Changing the leverage is a very useful feature when you want to lower the risk of your trade. Always be careful with forex and CFD trading, as preset leverage levels may be too high.

Real stocks and ETFs

For EU clients, Oanda also provides trading in real stocks. Trading in US stocks is commission-free on EUR accounts.

Broker	# Stock marteter # ETFS
Oanda	5
Pepperstone	-
FXCM	-

Currency cheat sheet

Oanda used to have a so-called “Currency cheat sheet”. It is a pocket-sized piece of paper, detailing the exchange rates between two currencies on a day for fast calculations.

Oanda Currency Converter

A better alternative to a paper-based currency cheat sheet is Oanda's online currency converter. It has a clean, responsive design with plenty of pairs to compare.

It uses its own data sources like Oanda Rates and touchstone FX.

Apart from prices, it shows the average and min-max spreads between currencies.

Historical exchange rates

Another feature at Oanda is a historical exchange rate calculator. It has plenty of settings such as range selection and data source selection (Oanda Exchange Rates, central banks).

Most of the features, however, are tied to the Pro Account, which has a monthly fee of $75, or an annual fee of $750.

Live forex rates

There's a separate page on Oanda for live spreads and forex rates for most pairs, indices, commodities, and metals. If you don't see a pair on the list, you can also check their own pages, for example, see here the live exchange rate of XAU/USD.

Check out the current account balance requirements at Oanda in our What is the minimum account balance at Oanda article.

How to withdraw money from Oanda?

We tested it and collected the options and costs in How to withdraw money on Oanda.

How to start your Oanda account?

Look no further than our evaluation of Oanda account opening.

How good is Oanda's trading app?

Here's our expert view after checking the Oanda trading app.

Can I trade options and silver on Oanda?

We explored the topic in Can you trade options on Oanda and buying silver on Oanda guide.

Who are Oanda's competitors and alternatives?

We have created an overview of Oanda competitors here including a comparsion with FXCM, IG, Forex.com, Hugo's Way .