AvaTrade Review
Pros
· It’s regulated by several financial authorities.
· There are comprehensive materials for learning through its academy – Sharp Trader, making it very beginner friendly.
· They also allow social trading though DupliTrade and other third-party platforms.
· Minimal deposit of $100 required. Very economical for those just starting out or testing the platform.
· Various types of accounts available including Islamic accounts.
· Trading of various instruments such as Forex, Commodities and Cryptocurrencies all in one safe place.
Cons
· Spreads are competitive but slightly higher on average than other brokers.
· There’s a $50 inactivity fee after 3 months of a dormant account. The amount doubles after 1 year of dormancy.
· Withdrawal is slow. With some methods taking up-to 10 business days for money to reflect in account.
· The watchlist feature is available to accounts over $500 only.
· Stringent requirements to access the Professional account. However, this is for the safety of all clients and the broker.
Overall Ranking
Overall
Investment Opportunity
Commissions & Fees
Safety
Research
Smartphone Usage
Customer Service
Education
Platforms & Tools
Overall
Investment Opportunity
Commissions & Fees
Safety
Research
Smartphone Usage
Customer Service
Education
Platforms & Tools
Extended AvaTrade Review and Information
How to Open your Account
Opening an account with AvaTrade is an easy and streamlined process if you have all the required documents.
Once you’ve filled in all the basic and extra information required, you’ll be requested to send the documents.
The documents requested may include a photo/scan of your national ID, Passport or driving license where all details such as name and location are clear. You must then also provide a proof of address. This can be a photo/scan of any recent utility bill, or a photo, scan or PDF of a recent bank statement.
It’s important to know that once you’ve selected your base currency, you can’t change it unless by creating another account.
Base currency here means the currency used in your account. Examples of this include USD, EUR, GBP, AUD etc.
By default, the base currency of UK residents is GBP and Australian clients is AUD.
Trading Instruments Available
Our AvaTrade review found that they provide over 1000 instruments for trading across all assets. Forex and CFDs of indices, stocks, commodities, and even Cryptocurrencies are available.
Forex alone has over 60 pairs available for trading.
Major Forex currency pairs have a maximum leverage of 1:30. Other currency pairs and indices is 1:20. Other non major indices have a leverage of 1:10 and Cryptocurrencies is 1:2. Most other CFDs have a maximum of 1:400.
Due to ESMA (European Securities and Markets Authority) regulations, Our AvaTrade review must note that they offer maximum leverage of 1:30 in most assets for European clients who are not considered professionals.
Deposits and Withdrawal Methods
Most of the mainstream modes of payments are available with AvaTrade. Our AvaTrade review found that credit/debit cards, Wire transfers, and online payments such as Skrill and Neteller are available.
The method used for deposits is the same used for withdrawal. Should you, at some point wish to change, there are some procedures to follow, and the best way of resolving this is to contact support. All withdrawals are processed within 24 hours, but sometimes due to the withdrawals being processed by a 3rd party, withdrawals with certain methods can take up to 10 days, but this is not the fault of AvaTrade.
For deposits, the money will most likely enter your account almost instantly. But withdrawals take some time. However, in some cases, clients have waited as long as 10 business days with methods such as wire transfer, but as discussed, this is due to the 3rd party handling the deposit, not AvaTrade themselves.
Interface
AvaTrade understands that what traders need is a platform that offers necessary features while still maintaining simplicity for easy navigation. The platforms on both mobile and the web are sleek and simple.
While other brokers offer a watch-list feature to all clients, AvaTrade only offers them to members who have over $500 of deposit in their accounts. This is quite a limiting factor to those who are new to trading and would like to simply stay in the loop with price changes in the market.
Education and Research
There is nothing that sets them apart when it comes to research, however, when it comes to education, AvaTrade can easily compete with the top brokers globally.
They’ve set up a full academy that offers free education through the Sharp Trader program. The materials available are beneficial to both beginners and seasoned traders.
They provide educational eBooks, videos and tutorials and multiple step-by-step guides. This is a great service to provide all for free, and not many other brokers will provide such a quality education system, especially not without a hefty price.
Commissions and Fees
There are several commissions and fees charged by this broker, and we did not like how the commissions and fees were not always clear and easily visible.
These fees can come in various forms such as overnight swaps, variable spreads and even a swift inactivity fee. Any active account that has been dormant in 3 months is charged an inactivity fee of $50. The amount doubles to $100 after 1 year of dormancy. Not only is this quite a large fee to charge for inactivity, it is a very small amount of time to start charging customers for inactivity. Many things can happen in life to prevent someone from trading for only 3 months, so this did not seem fair to us. Whilst these fees are not uncommon with brokers, AvaTrade begins their fees much more quickly than others.
The average spread is 1.3 pips in major currencies which we rate as considerably higher than the average broker.
Customer Support
AvaTrade’s customer support is slow as compared to other brokers. For instance, in live chat, whilst other brokers take as short as a minute to reply, AvaTrade may take as long as 10 minutes. However, this is still a swift response time compared to many other brokers, and their team are always professional, thorough and helpful in their assistance and so they are still rated highly by us.
Awards
The broker has global presence which has enabled them to be awarded various awards in recognition. These awards include being the Best Forex Broker 2019. Overall, we can definitely understand why it has these awards and certificates, especially in terms of the Best Educational Broker of 2018.
Regulations and Jurisdictions
While AvaTrade isn’t regulated by the FCA, it is still registered in other respectable authority hubs in the world.
It’s primarily regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. But it’s also monitored by the Financial Services Authority of Japan (FSA), Financial Sector Conduct Authority in South Africa (FSCA), Financial Services Commission of British Virgin Islands (FSC), the ASIC and even the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC).
This makes AvaTrade one of the most well respected and regulated brokers in the world, and clearly a safe platform for all to use.
Conclusion
Despite being a globally accredited broker, AvaTrade is still subject to questions.
One of the worrying aspects is perhaps the inactivity fee charged. It is simply such a short amount of time to be penalized for. There are various reasons a trader can be inactive for months – with or without choice. And being charged for that can push traders – especially beginner traders – away.
Despite that, it has great features which make it worth checking out, for traders of all levels, and we have rated AvaTrade as our second best educational broker of 2020. Click here to see who gained first place!
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading 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. This does not constitute as investment advice or personal recommendations as your specific financial circumstances have not been considered. No warranty is given in regards to the accuracy and completeness of information. Past performance is not an indicator of future results.