While the global headquarters of AvaTrade is in the republic of Ireland, the broker also has a number of other entities that make up its corporate structure. These entities are spread across the globe and correspond to the broker’s normal geographical bases of operations.
As such Avatrade is regulated in Europe, Australia, Japan, British Virgin Islands, UAE and South Africa. Plus, AvaTrade is the very first forex broker to receive a 3A license in Abu Dhabi which allows them to offer both retail and professional trading services.
Prospective AvaTrade clients will also be impressed by the range of assets available. There are no less than 1,250 individual assets available, which includes more than 50 different forex pairs, 17 CFDs on commodities, equity indices, bonds, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, and over 500 individual share CFDs. And unlike nearly all its peers in the online forex and CFD space AvaTrade also offers trading in options on forex pairs.
Below we go into further detail on all that AvaTrade has to offer so you can make your own decision as to whether or not you want to trade through AvaTrade.
Regulation and Security
AvaTrade enjoys some of the strongest regulatory oversight you’ll find in the online forex and CFD universe. Its various corporate entities are regulated across six different jurisdictions as you can see below:
- AvaTrade EU Limited is an Irish private limited company based in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, which controls AvaTrade’s operations within the European Union. It is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland (No. C53877).
- Ava Capital Markets Australia Pty Limited is an Australian private limited company based in Sydney, Australia, which controls AvaTrade’s operations within Australia. It is regulated by the ASIC (No. 406684).
- AvaTrade Japan K.K. is a Japanese company based in Japan which controls AvaTrade’s operations within Japan. It is licensed and regulated in Japan by the Financial Services Agency (License No. 1662), and the Financial Futures Association (License No. 1574).
- Ava Capital Markets Pty Limited is a South African company based in South Africa which controls AvaTrade’s operations within South Africa. It is regulated by the South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA 45984).
- AvaTrade Middle East Limited is an Abu Dhabi company based in AbuDhabi which controls AvaTrade’s operations in the Middle Eastern countries. It is regulated by the Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM) Financial Regulatory Services Authority (FRSA) (No. 190018).
- Finally, AvaTrade’s operations outside these jurisdictions are controlled by Ava Trade Ltd, a British Virgin Islands (B.V.I.) company. It is regulated by the B.V.I Financial Service Commission.
While it is unusual for a forex or CFD broker to be headquartered in the Republic of Ireland, we believe this is actually far superior to most of the other locations you’ll find for these types of operations. Ireland not only provides access to all of the European Union, it also has a very high degree of regulation and infrastructure for financial services companies. Australia is also very well regulated with a strong financial services infrastructure.
Fees
If regulation and security is an important consideration when choosing an online forex and CFD broker, then fees are probably just as important for most traders. High fees can really eat into profits, while low fees help the trader maintain a positive account balance.
The top area to consider when looking at fees will be the trading fees, and for AvaTrade this specifically means the spreads offered by the broker. AvaTrade does not charge any commissions on their trades, so spreads are the top consideration when opening or closing a trade at AvaTrade.
We found that the average round trip spread when trading the EUR/USD is 0.9 pips. Of course these spreads are based on normal market conditions. Spreads can widen significantly at any broker during periods of extreme market volatility, and the same is true at AvaTrade.
While the spreads on forex pairs is competitive when compared with other brokers, we wondered if the same was true for commodities, cryptocurrencies, and individual stocks.
We were impressed to find that the spread on oil is 0.03 and the spread on gold is 0.34. Both are in-line with the spreads offered at other brokers. Furthermore, the spread on individual stocks is just 0.13% of the nominal trade value.
Assets Available to Trade
Now that we’ve considered the most important aspects of regulation, safety, and fees we’ll move on to the assets offered by AvaTrade. This is another important consideration, particularly for those who are looking for specific assets to trade.
A new trader might be most interested in the individual forex or stock offerings because this is what they know best and feel most comfortable trading. By contrast a more experienced trader might be most interested in a broker who offers a very broad selection of assets across all the classes. This gives them opportunities no matter which market might be trending most strongly.
At AvaTrade clients get access to all the following assets:
- Forex – Over 55 forex pairs, including major and minor pairs, as well as exotic crosses.
- Commodities – A selection of 17 commodities, including 5 metals, energies, and a selection of soft commodities.
- Indices – A selection of 20 global indices, including several Chinese indices, a green energy index, and a global cannabis index.
- Stocks – More than 500 major individual stocks from the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, and Italy.
- Options – 42 currency pairs plus options on gold and silver.
- Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) – 5 major ETFs are available for all clients, while those using the MT5 platform get access to 59 different ETFs.
- Bonds – 2 very major government bonds offered (Euro Bunds and Japanese Government Bonds).
- Cryptocurrencies –16 major cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency pairs are offered, including Bitcoin versus several currencies, Ethereum, and a Crypto 10 index. (Note residents of the U.K. and Ireland cannot trade on cryptocurrencies)
Overall Avatrade advertises over 1,250 assets available to trade and our investigations shows that the broker does offer all the major assets that most traders will be interested in trading. There could be a larger selection of cryptocurrencies, but the current selection is adequate, particularly with the large leverage available (1:25 for BTC/USD, 1:20 for Ethereum, and 1:10 or 1:5 for most other cryptocurrencies).
Account Types
Unlike some of the new brokers that offer seven different account tiers, AvaTrade has a limited selection of account types, which will depend upon which branch of the broker you open your account with. Currently accounts are split into two types.
One type is for those residing within the European Union, and the other type is for those residing outside the European Union. This keeps things pretty simple. Also keeping things simple is that all the accounts have a market maker / dealing desk execution.
European Union Accounts
Those residing within the European Union can choose from a Retail Account, a Professional Account, or a Spread Betting Account (only for residents of Ireland and the U.K.).
Retail accounts are of course available for every trader, while the Professional Account has several ESMA regulation requirements to be met is a trader wants to take advantage of the benefits offered to Professional Account holders. In order to qualify for a professional account a trader must meet two of the following three requirements:
- Sufficient trading activity in the last 12 months;
- Relevant experience in the financial services sector;
- Financial instrument portfolio of over €500,000 (including cash saving and financial instruments).
The primary benefit of having a Professional Account is access to much greater leverage. ESMA regulations limit retail traders to 1:30 leverage, but Professional Accounts can take advantage of leverage as great as 1:400. In addition, Professional Accounts can take advantage of tighter spreads when compared with the retail accounts.
When comparing the Retail Account with the Spread Betting Account the primary difference is the way that position sizes are measured. Otherwise the costs are the same. Spread Betting Accounts provide significant tax benefits for residents of the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom since any profits are exempt from Stamp Duties, Capital Gains Tax, and Income Tax.
Non-European Union Accounts
Anyone residing outside the European Union is able to open a Standard Account, or a VIP account if they deposit more than €10,000. The VIP account offers tighter spreads than the Standard Account, but both account types offer leverage as great as 1:400.
More specifically, for residents outside the European Union, AvaTrade offers a maximum leverage of 1:400 on Forex and indices, 1:200 on commodities, 1:20 for individual stocks and shares and ETFs, and 1:20 on cryptocurrencies.
Common Account Features
There are some features that are common to all account types, whether in the European Union or anywhere else in the world. One of these is access to a demo account, which can be used for 21 days to test AvaTrade’s trading conditions, or to test new trading strategies to see if they are profitable. Traders can also speak to their account representative to have the 21 days extended.
Trading Platforms
At AvaTrade the platforms used by nearly all traders are one of the two MetaTrader platforms. Yes, AvaTrade offers both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 for trading all assets, except options. Any client with an Options Account needs to use the proprietary AvaOptions trading platform.
Considering how popular both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 are these platforms are going to be perfect for nearly every trader. I’m just goinf to describe each briefly because I’m very aware that nearly every trader out there knows MT4 and MT5. Plus, there is a wealth of information already available about these trading platforms. There’s not much I can add to that.
AvaTrade Education
Education is undoubtedly one of the strong areas of AvaTrade, particularly when compared with the often sub-par offerings found at other online brokers. The trading education you’ll find at AvaTrade is far more than simply filler, it is useful and can be put to use in your own trading.
On the education page at AvaTrade you can find all of the following educational sections:
- Trading for beginners
- Trading videos
- Correct trading rules
- Technical analysis indicators & strategies
- Economic indicators
- Market terms for pros
- Online trading strategies
- Order types
- Trading eBook
Taken all together these sections provide a full trader’s education through the use of videos, articles, blog posts, and a full-length eBook.
In addition to this freely available material there’s also a trading academy that was created by AvaTrade called Sharp Trader. This is an educational portal that’s available by registration only. It is currently in beta and remains free, but in the future it seems AvaTrade will restrict access to depositing clients.
Research at AvaTrade
Of course research is not neglected, and AvaTrade offers up quite a bit of content that looks at current market conditions.
First off, traders get daily updates via the AvaTrade morning news brief and the daily strategy newsletter. These let the trader know the sentiment in markets as they are ready to begin their trading day. A combination of technical and fundamental analysis, they give a trader give directional views and are strong starting points to conduct further research and identify strong opportunities.
Customer Support
Typically customer support is something you don’t think of until it becomes necessary. Most clients won’t ever need to contact customer service, but if it does become necessary you will want to know that there’s a responsive team waiting to field your questions or solve your problems quickly and efficiently.
Fortunately the customer support team at AvaTrade has a very good reputation in the forex and CFD trading communities. They understand that keeping clients happy is a large part of running a successful brokerage. A part of that is that support is offered in 15 languages, which makes sense considering the global reach of AvaTrade.
Bonuses and Promotions
Deposit bonuses and promotions used to be typical throughout the online broker industry, but these days regulation in the European Union forbids bonuses and promotions. This means traders in the EU won’t be offered any type of bonus or promotion.
AvaTrade often offers promotions and bonuses for new sign-ups from users outside the EU, often with deals such as a free $40 upon sign up and deposit or 20% bonus on deposits, it is worth keeping an eye out for their frequent promotional periods. The 20% bonus appears to be capped at $10,000, so deposits over $50,000 can only receive the maximum $10,000 bonus.
Bottom Line
AvaTrade offers pretty much everything you want in an online forex or CFD broker. Fees are competitive for the industry. Trading conditions are good and spreads are also competitive. The range of assets offered is quite diverse, including ETFs and options on currencies and precious metals. The broker has a long history, and has a good reputation in the online broker industry.
Added to this are the multiple regulatory licenses enjoyed by AvaTrade. In many cases online brokers are completely unregulated, or regulated by a minor organization whose regulation is not highly regarded. AvaTrade goes in the completely opposite direction, with regulation from seven major regulatory bodies.
