Is AvaTrade available in South Africa?

We receive several inquiries about whether AvaTrade (the FX and CFDs Online Broker) is available to clients residing in the country. The answer is Yes; AvaTrade is regulated by ZA's FSCA (Financial Sector Conduct Authority) and hence, available to clients residing in South Africa. If you haven't heard of this platform yet, don't worry, our experts tell you all the details you need.

What is AvaTrade (In short)?

AvaTrade is a leading Forex and CFD Online Broker. Since being founded in Ireland in 2006, AvaTrade has seen exponential growth: As of 2020, the company has over 200,000 client accounts operating over 2 million monthly transactions. AvaTrade offers over 1,250 CFDs on Forex, Indices, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies, Stocks, and Bonds.

Financial Assets Available with AvaTrade

• Forex: +50 currency instruments – Major, minor, and exotic pairs.

• Stocks: +600 CFDs on Stocks from major Stock Exchanges.

• ETFs: 60+ CFDs on ETFs from iShares, Global X, ProShares, Direxion, SPDR, Aberdeen, among other asset managers.

• Commodities: 29 CFDs on commodities.

• Indices: 22 major stock exchange indices.

• Cryptocurrencies: CFDs on 13 cryptocurrencies.

• Options: 44 Options on FX Pairs.

• Social Trading: As mentioned before, AvaTrade offers the possibility of acquiring portfolios developed by other traders using several platforms.

• Bonds: CFDs on Euro-Bund and Japanese Government bonds.

What is Autotrading?

Autotrading and copy trading can be an excellent way to enter a new market without developing a deep understanding of the factors that move the underlying market. With autotrading you may implement a profitable trading strategy quickly and easily. You probably already understand all too well how difficult it can be to create a trading strategy from scratch. The process of testing and refining any trading strategy is very long and must be constantly implemented to ensure the trading strategy is robust and remains relevant to changing market conditions.

If you know someone willing to do all this work to create a successful trading strategy and then allow you to copy it, why wouldn’t you do so? Autotrading enables you to do just this. You choose the successful traders you’d like to follow, and the system places trades based on their plans and strategies.

Autotrading removes much of the stress associated with trading. It also helps you avoid the need to sit and watch markets for hours to find trading opportunities. Autotrading systems are handy for beginning traders. AvaTrade ZA makes automated trading easier by connecting three of the top copy trading and signal services available. We provide you with all the information you need regarding each signal provider to help you select the proper strategy and trader to follow.

AvaTrade's Regulation: Can we trust this Broker with our money?

One way to understand whether a Broker is trustworthy is through the State Regulations and the Security measures to which the company that owns the platform is subject. If a broker is supervised by a government entity considered Top Tier, this indicates if it is safe to deposit funds and operate with the platform.

AvaTrade is one of the most heavily regulated brokers globally, being subject to the opinions of the financial authorities of Ireland, Australia, Japan, South Africa, the UAE, and the British Virgin Islands.

When opening an account, you must choose the jurisdiction you wish your account to be. It is an important aspect that must be considered thoroughly since leverage, banking options, and the availability of Investor Compensation schemes will depend on it. For example, suppose you wish to be regulated under AvaTrade's EU entity. In that case, your account will fall under the Central Bank of Ireland's rulebook, implying that you will be subject to the Investor Compensation Scheme. However, the leverage level will be lower than the one AvaTrade's BVI entity offers.

Trading Platforms available with AvaTrade

Metatrader 4

MT4 is a Forex Trading Platform that has been around since 2002 and is the industry benchmark in FX online trading. MT4 is easily customisable, user-friendly for novices, and comprehensive for Pros. MetaTrader 4 features the highest security and technology standards. It supports the native MQL4 (MetaQuotes Language 4) programming language, enabling the development of various customised trading tools to be used directly on it. MQL4 is based on the programming language C++, and its flexibility can help create the following:

• Expert Advisors (EAs): EAs are programs that make it possible to apply automated strategies in the forex markets.

• Custom Indicators: Besides the built-in technical indicators, traders can develop their custom mathematical tools and indicators to perform any analytical operation based on the trader's previously set conditions.

• Scripts - A script is an app that is programmed to perform any function on the Trading platform. For example, you might apply a script to close all pending orders or delete all the indicators placed on a chart once an asset reaches a predetermined price.

Long story short, MT4 allows Traders a variety of functionalities to customise their trading experience.

Metatrader 5

MT5 is a state-of-the-art, multi-functional platform that boasts advanced auto-trading systems, technical tools, and copytrading (A feature that allows investors to "follow", copy, and invest in other trader's strategies). MetaTrader 5 accommodates advanced trading needs across a more comprehensive asset class selection (CFDs on stocks, crypto, among others) than its predecessor, MT4.

AvaOptions

As its name indicates, AvaOptions is a platform specialised in Options Trading (Spot, Call, Put, and Combined) on 40 FX pairs. Being specialised, it allows many variants of Trading that other platforms don't.

AvaTradeGo

Voted Best Forex Trading App 2020, AvaTradeGo offers a smooth trading experience with a sophisticated dashboard, complete with a set of intuitive management tools, clear charts, zoom for details, and many more helpful features. A display of this platform's view, in the picture below.