OctaFX Review 2020
ECN account does not charge any commission and spread starting from 0.0 pips- Offers customer support via WhatsApp and Telegram, which is rare among Forex brokers
- Spread on Pro account is one of the lowest in the industry for non-ECN accounts
- Demo accounts have unlimited validity
Phone support is limited to a few countries- Lacks regulatory oversight from most reputed regulators in the industry such as the FCA and ASIC
- Company Info
- Swap Comparison
- Volume Comparison
| Headquarters | Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines |
| Type of Broker | STP & ECN/STP |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Regulated By | Regulated By None |
| Offices In | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Indonesia, United Kingdom, Spain |
| Supported Languages | English, Indonesian, Chinese, Malaysian, Portugeese, Spanish, Thai, German, Bengali, Hindi |
| ESMA Regulation ? | This broker is not regulated within the E.U and is not subject to ESMA's new Forex and CFD trading restrictions. To find out more about these restrictions, please see this article |
Typical Spread on Majors - Live
| EUR/USD | 1 |
| GBP/USD | 1.5 |
| USD/JPY | 1 |
Order Excution Tests Results - Live
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OctaFX Server Location: Singapore, Singapore |
|
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Our Client Terminal Location: St. Louis, United States |
|
Average Time (ms) |
|
Server Response |
|
Order Excution (Normal Hours) |
312.6 |
Order Excution (During News) |
297 |
Review Sections
OctaFX is a foreign exchange broker registered in the St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a tiny nation in the Caribbean. It started offering direct market access-based brokerage services to clients in 2011.
OctaFX has a registered subsidiary in Cyprus called Octa Markets Cyprus Ltd and it serves mainly clients from the European Economic Area. The head office of the company is located at Suite 305, Griffith Corporate Centre, Beachmont, Kingstown, St. Vincent, and the Grenadines.
Over the last decade, the company has expanded its operations worldwide and currently serves 1.5 million clients from over 100 countries. However, due to regulatory restrictions, OctaFX does not accept clients from the United States and a few other countries under international sanctions such as Sudan, Iran, and North Korea.
OctaFX has been offering true ECN and straight-through-processing based services to clients for almost a decade now and earned the reputation of being one of the most trusted brokers in the industry. With numerous awards from leading industry publications, they have positioned to be a leading broker in the Forex market.
OctaFX’s parent company is regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. While the FSA regulates the broker in financial matters, it does not actually regulate the key products of the company, which is Forex and cryptocurrencies. However, its European subsidiary, Octa Markets Cyprus Ltd, is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and the CySEC oversees the full range services offered by Forex brokers.
Regardless of which entity you open with an account with, OctaFX ensures that all client funds are deposited in a separate bank account so that its own operating funds and clients’ funds are never mixed.
By operating segregated bank accounts for client deposits, OctaFX ensures the safety of client funds. In the event that the company runs into financial trouble, clients can always claim their funds from the deposit institution and will not have to worry about the solvency of OctaFX. While OctaFX claim that it uses tier-1 banks for client deposits, we could not find the actual names of the banks on any of its publications.
OctaFX offers three different trading accounts to clients in order to meet the demands of different trading styles and requirements from traders. All of these three accounts have virtually no minimum deposit requirements. But, based on which account you open, OctaFX recommends different amounts that you keep in your account.
For example, the Micro account's recommended deposit is $100, but it increases to $500 for the Pro account. On the other hand, the cTrader based ECN account's recommended minimum deposit is much lower, at $100.
One of the unique features of OctaFX is that all three accounts, including the ECN account, charge no commissions to traders and fees include only spreads.
The Micro account comes with the MetaTrader 4 platform and floating spreads start from 0.4 pips. If you want to open a fixed spread account, OctaFX will accommodate you as well, but the fixed spreads will start with a minimum of 2 pips. By contrast, the Pro account only offers variable spreads that start from 0.2 pips. The Pro account is definitely recommended for traders who conduct a large number of trades per day. The ECN account surprisingly has variable spreads that start from 0.0 pips on certain currency pairs.
For all accounts, the minimum trade size is set on 0.01 lots or 1 micro lot (1,000 units).
We found that the Micro and ECN accounts offer up to 500:1 leverage for currencies, while the Pro account caps leverage of 200:1. For Metals and other assets, the leverage is capped at 200:1 for the Micro and ECN accounts. The Pro account only offers up to 100:1 leverage for metals.
When it comes to offered assets for trading, OctaFX has one of the lowest numbers of assets for trading. All accounts offer only 28 currency pairs and depending on which account you have opened, you might get access to only 4 metals, 2 energies, 10 indices, and 3 cryptocurrencies to trade.
OctaFX also offers free demo accounts and we are happy to report that these demo accounts have no set expiry date. However, if you leave the demo account inactive for 60 days, OctaFX will deactivate it.
A quick comparison of different accounts offered by OctaFX
In the beginning, OctaFX started its service by offering the MetaTrader 4 platform and till today, the Micro account comes equipped with this popular trading software. However, OctaFX has acquired a license from MetaQuote to offer the latest version of the software, MetaTrader 5 for its Pro accounts. For a true ECN experience, however, the company has acquired a license for cTrader from Cyprus based Spotware.
While both MetaTrader and cTrader offers extensive technical analysis capabilities, being longer in the market means MetaTrader has a lot more custom-built technical indicators in the market than cTrader.
However, both of the platforms come with MQL and cAlgo programming languages respectively. For seasoned programmers, cTrader would be the preferred platform as its language is closely based on C#. Nonetheless, if you have already invested in developing your technical indicators or automated trading strategy using MetaTrader, you can probably find a freelance programmer to convert your algorithm to fit the cTrader platform as well.
Both MetaTrader 4 & 5 as well as the cTrader platform from OctaFX come with web trading versions that allow traders to log in to their account using a simple web browser. We found the cTrader web trader to be superior compared to the MetaTrader web trader. In fact, compared to cTrader, the web trader of MetaTrader is rather basic.
Also, if you want to access your trading account with OctaFX on the go, you can always download Android or iOS apps and login to your account from anywhere. While the technical analysis capabilities of these apps are limited, it can be a lifesaver to be able to open and close orders during emergencies and you should use these apps for such occasions only.
OctaFX hosts its MetaTrader servers throughout Europe and Asia. On the other hand, its cTrader server is a hosted solution from Spotware. Regardless of which platform and account you are using, OctaFX claims that its order executions occur within 0.1 seconds. During our latency tests, we found the claims to come reasonably close to reality.
In today’s world, most people use chats and various voice calling apps like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp to communicate with friends and family. OctaFX understands this trend and besides offering traditional phone support in its key geographic markets like the United Kingdom (+44 20 3322 1059), Hong Kong (+852 5808 8865), and Indonesia (+62 21 3110 6972), it also supports chat function with WhatsApp and Telegram.
Moreover, OctaFX offers live chat support on its website from Monday to Friday during active trading hours. We found that the best way to get a fast response from OctaFX is by contacting them on the online chat as the company promises high priority immediate response through this channel.
The website of OctaFX supports 12 languages and the phone support staff speaks several languages depending on where you are calling from. We were pleased to see that OctaFX’s staff were well versed in dealing with trading related issues and had extensive knowledge about the software platforms the company offers to retail and institutional investors.
Based on our criteria, we gave the following ratings to their customer service:
OctaFX is one of the very few Forex brokers that offer local deposit options in countries like Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Vietnam, and Nigeria. Traders in these countries can simply go to a local bank and make a deposit to their Forex accounts with OctaFX.
Besides local bank accounts, OctaFX also supports all the major credit and debit cards and they do not charge any additional fees for using cards. OctaFX also supports major e-payment providers such as Skrill, Neteller, and FasaPay. If you make deposits using these e-payment providers, the amount is credited to your account in real-time.
We found that the OctaFX withdrawal request typically takes 1 to 3 hours to get approved and it takes another 30 minutes for them to make the actual transaction. However, withdrawal to bank accounts requires several days.
OctaFX is currently running a 50% deposit bonus for all old and new customers. However, to become eligible for the 50% deposit bonus, OctaFX requires clients to trade half the number of lots for each dollar of the bonus. Hence, if you deposit $400 in your account, you need to trade 100 lots to get the $200 or 50% bonus.
We found the trading requirement to be too high, but if you are a frequent trader, you can become eligible for the 50% bonus on your deposits in a reasonable time.
OctaFX has a very unique value proposition for Forex traders. It offers true ECN accounts via cTrader, which requires brokers to connect at least one major and reputable liquidity provider to the platform. So, we can be sure that the ECN account is really a direct market access account.
Nonetheless, OctaFX does not charge any commissions on top of the low spreads on the ECN account so, if you are looking to trade a real ECN account with zero commissions, OctaFX is one of the few reputable brokers that offer such a service.
OctaFX might not offer a lot of exotic currency pairs and you might find it relatively difficult to look for a lot of opportunities with only 28 currency pairs. However, with high spreads and extreme volatility, most of the hundreds of currency pairs offered by other brokers are often not practical to trade anyway. We found the approach of OctaFX to be more practical as it offers low spreads on popular currency pairs instead of offering hundreds of assets with high spreads and fees.
While the regulatory situation of OctaFX is adequate, it is not among the best-regulated brokers in the world. Without the oversight of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom or the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), a lot of serious Forex traders will find regulatory conditions at OctaFX to have major deficiencies. At the end of the day, if regulatory oversight is important to you, we recommend that you open an account with its European subsidiary as it is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.
Despite this lack of regulatory oversight, OctaFX still does not offer trading services to U.S clients.
OctaFX Reviews
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| Currencies Swap | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Short | Long |
Type
| |
| Swap Chart for EURUSD for different FX Brokers |
|---|
| Change Currency | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volume | ||||
| AUDCAD | 45 | |||
| AUDCHF | 82 | |||
| AUDJPY | 127 | |||
| AUDNZD | 59 | |||
| AUDUSD | 26 | |||
| CADCHF | 50 | |||
| CADJPY | 41 | |||
| CHFJPY | 76 | |||
| EURAUD | 107 | |||
| EURCAD | 58 | |||
| EURCHF | 14 | |||
| EURGBP | 25 | |||
| EURJPY | 110 | |||
| EURNZD | 32 | |||
| EURUSD | 16 | |||
| GBPAUD | 67 | |||
| GBPCAD | 13 | |||
| GBPCHF | 50 | |||
| GBPJPY | 147 | |||
| GBPNZD | 21 | |||
| GBPUSD | 50 | |||
| NZDCAD | 34 | |||
| NZDCHF | 28 | |||
| NZDJPY | 22 | |||
| NZDUSD | 7 | |||
| USDCAD | 42 | |||
| USDCHF | 57 | |||
| USDJPY | 58 | |||
| XAUUSD | 9 | |||
| XAGUSD | 4 | |||
| BTCUSD | 89 | |||
| ETHUSD | 435 | |||
| LTCUSD | 53 | |||
| Volume Chart |
|---|
- Company Info
- Swap Comparison
- Volume Comparison
| Headquarters | Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines |
| Type of Broker | STP & ECN/STP |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Regulated By | Regulated By None |
| Offices In | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Indonesia, United Kingdom, Spain |
| Supported Languages | English, Indonesian, Chinese, Malaysian, Portugeese, Spanish, Thai, German, Bengali, Hindi |
| ESMA Regulation ? | This broker is not regulated within the E.U and is not subject to ESMA's new Forex and CFD trading restrictions. To find out more about these restrictions, please see this article |
| Currencies Swap | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Short | Long |
Type
| |
| Swap Chart for EURUSD for different FX Brokers |
|---|
| Change Currency | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volume | ||||
| AUDCAD | 45 | |||
| AUDCHF | 82 | |||
| AUDJPY | 127 | |||
| AUDNZD | 59 | |||
| AUDUSD | 26 | |||
| CADCHF | 50 | |||
| CADJPY | 41 | |||
| CHFJPY | 76 | |||
| EURAUD | 107 | |||
| EURCAD | 58 | |||
| EURCHF | 14 | |||
| EURGBP | 25 | |||
| EURJPY | 110 | |||
| EURNZD | 32 | |||
| EURUSD | 16 | |||
| GBPAUD | 67 | |||
| GBPCAD | 13 | |||
| GBPCHF | 50 | |||
| GBPJPY | 147 | |||
| GBPNZD | 21 | |||
| GBPUSD | 50 | |||
| NZDCAD | 34 | |||
| NZDCHF | 28 | |||
| NZDJPY | 22 | |||
| NZDUSD | 7 | |||
| USDCAD | 42 | |||
| USDCHF | 57 | |||
| USDJPY | 58 | |||
| XAUUSD | 9 | |||
| XAGUSD | 4 | |||
| BTCUSD | 89 | |||
| ETHUSD | 435 | |||
| LTCUSD | 53 | |||
| Volume Chart |
|---|
- Account Details
| Account Currencies | USD, EUR |
| Minimum Deposit | $5 |
| Traders from USA Allowed | No |
| Clients Funds Segregated | Yes |
| Interest on Margin | No |
| Islamic Accounts | Yes |
| Islamic Account Restrictions | 0 |
| ECN / STP Accounts Offered | Yes |
| Commission on STP or ECN | $6/Lot (cTrader ECN accounts) |
| VIP Accounts Offered | No |
| Mini Accounts Offered | Yes |
| PAMM / MAM Solutions | No |
| API Solutions | No |
| Mobile Trading | Yes |
| Web Based Trading | Yes |
| Funding Methods | Credit/Debit Cards, Wire Transfer, Skrill, Neteller, China UnionPay, Boleto bancario, FasaPay, Rapipago |
| Withdrawal Methods | Wire Transfer, Skrill, Neteller, China UnionPay, FasaPay |
- Platform Details
| Platforms Offered | MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 4 Mobile, MetaTrader 4 iOS, MetaTrader 4 Android, MetaTrader 5, MetaTrader 5 iOS, MetaTrader 5 Android, cTrader |
| NO of Pairs | 43 |
| Pricing Digits | 5 |
| Trade off Charts | Yes |
| One-click Execution | Yes |
| Email Alerts | Yes |
| Mobile Alerts | No |
| MetaTrader Server Time | GMT + 2 |
| Demo Account Expiry | Non-Expiring |
| VPS Offered | No |
- Trading Details
| Dealing Desk | No |
| Maximum Leverage | 500:1 |
| Minimum Contract Size | 0.01 |
| Execution | Market Execution |
| Hedging | Yes |
| Scalping | Yes |
| Scalping Restrictions | No |
| Negative Balance Protection | Yes |
- Additonal Instruments
| CFD's | Yes |
| Metals | Yes |
| Oil | Yes |
| Indices | Yes |
- Currencies Swap
| Short | Long | Type  |
|
| AUDCAD | -1.72 | 0.30 | 0 |
| AUDCHF | -8.90 | 2.80 | 0 |
| AUDJPY | -3.73 | 0.98 | 0 |
| AUDNZD | -4.30 | -3.90 | 0 |
| AUDUSD | -1.90 | 0.58 | 0 |
| CADCHF | -4.60 | -0.10 | 0 |
| CADJPY | -3.90 | -0.40 | 0 |
| CHFJPY | -0.50 | -1.60 | 0 |
| EURAUD | 3.35 | -11.25 | 0 |
| EURCAD | -0.20 | -5.50 | 0 |
| EURCHF | -2.60 | -0.70 | 0 |
| EURGBP | -1.00 | -2.60 | 0 |
| EURJPY | -1.90 | -1.30 | 0 |
| EURNZD | 1.20 | -1.90 | 0 |
| EURUSD | -1.90 | -2.10 | 0 |
| GBPAUD | 2.85 | -12.30 | 0 |
| GBPCAD | -2.40 | -5.40 | 0 |
| GBPCHF | -4.60 | -0.10 | 0 |
| GBPJPY | -4.30 | -0.10 | 0 |
| GBPNZD | 2.80 | -18.90 | 0 |
| GBPUSD | -4.80 | -2.80 | 0 |
| NZDCAD | -7.90 | -0.10 | 0 |
| NZDCHF | -8.80 | 2.50 | 0 |
| NZDJPY | -7.40 | 1.70 | 0 |
| NZDUSD | -9.20 | 1.90 | 0 |
| USDCAD | -0.10 | -4.20 | 0 |
| USDCHF | -2.10 | -0.10 | 0 |
| USDJPY | -3.70 | -1.10 | 0 |
| XAUUSD | -2.65 | -5.83 | 0 |
| XAGUSD | -0.03 | -0.13 | 0 |
| BTCUSD | -200.00 | -200.00 | 0 |
| ETHUSD | -20.00 | -20.00 | 0 |
| LTCUSD | -2.00 | -2.00 | 0 | Compare Swap rates from other Brokers |
