Are you searching for a forex broker you can join from South Africa?
In this post, we’ve reviewed and compared five of the best forex brokers regulated in South Africa at the moment.
We’ve assessed these brokers based on their spreads and fees, trustworthiness, customer service, and more, to see which are worth joining.
If you’re in a rush, make sure to check the description to quickly find the five brokers we’ve mentioned, and click the links to their websites to learn more about their services.
Exness
Exness is a large, extremely well-regulated broker, licensed by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority in South Africa, as well as the British, Cypriot, Kenyan, and a few other national market regulators.
They have tight spreads, low commissions, and 96 different currency pairs you can trade – more than most other South African forex brokers at the moment.
They offer leverage of up to 30 to 1, which is quite good for a regulated broker, and have a large number of different trading platforms to choose from, including MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, as well as their own proprietary software.
There’s just a 10 dollar minimum deposit to get started, and creating an account is generally a quick and easy process for South African traders.
Plus, Exness also has quite good customer service, with help available in English or Swahili, among other languages. They’re available 24/7, rather than only being open five days a week like most other brokers.
Overall, if you’re looking for a forex broker to join in South Africa, Exness is a great all-round option.
AvaTrade
The best thing about AvaTrade is how beginner-friendly they are. They have a huge amount of resources on their website, including videos, articles, and webinars, to help you learn the ropes more quickly as a new trader.
These tutorials help explain how to do things like monitor price action, place different types of orders, and manage stop losses, helping you get started more quickly as a beginner.
These resources are all integrated into the AvaTrade platform, showing you exactly what you need to do to begin trading smoothly. If you don’t want to use AvaTrade’s software, they also offer the ability to trade using MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5, which is quite helpful.
Most other brokers don’t allow you to use MT5 at the moment. However, it is worth noting that you can’t place orders with TradingView, as an AvaTrade investor, which is a bit of a downside.
On the plus side though, this broker offers tight spreads, and fast execution, which is helpful if you’re a scalper or day trader. The biggest downside to AvaTrade is they have a $100 minimum starting deposit at the moment, which can be quite a lot for some South African traders.
FP Markets
If it’s low fees you’re after, FP Markets is definitely worth looking at. They have very tight spreads, and low commissions across most major currency pairs.
Speaking of pairs, they have 63 available to trade, which is a bit above average across most forex brokers, and they also offer a number of CFDs to trade as well.
FP also have a huge range of account funding options – a lot more than most other brokers – including PayPal, credit and debit cards, Skrill, and bank transfer, among others.
The biggest strength of this broker though is the number of trading platforms they have available. As an FP Markets customer in South Africa, you can trade using MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView, and more, which is great.
However, there is a $100 minimum deposit required to get started with this broker. Click the links in the description to learn more about FP Markets, AvaTrade, and Exness, and see if they’re the right forex broker for your needs.
FXCM
FXCM is another large, well-regulated broker. They’re licensed in South Africa, as well as Australia, the UK, Cyprus, Canada, and other countries as well, meaning their operations have undergone quite a lot of scrutiny by the regulators.
Their minimum deposit is fairly low, at just $50, and they have a good range of funding options to choose from. Plus, their spreads are quite competitive across most major pairs.
The best thing about FXCM though is their customer service. Their support team is one of the best out there – they’re generally very responsive, and also quite knowledgeable if you ever raise any issues.
There are some downsides to FXCM though, which is why they’re only fourth on this list. The first is the lack of trading platforms they’re compatible with. You can trade with MT4 or TradingView as an FXCM customer, but you can’t use cTrader or MT5 at the moment.
Also, compared to some other brokers, FXCM doesn’t have a huge number of different currency pairs to trade – only 42 are available to choose from at the moment.
FXTM
Although the two companies have similar names, and are both regulated in South Africa, there are quite a few differences between FXCM and FXTM, also known as ForexTime.
This forex broker has a lot more currency pairs to choose from than FXCM, and also more funding methods for your account, although PayPal isn’t available at the moment.
FXTM’s customer service isn’t quite as good as FXCM’s, but they have a lower minimum deposit to get started, at just $10, which is good. The FXTM platform is fairly basic, but similar to AvaTrade, trader education is their biggest strength.
They have a huge range of guides and resources available, including an e-learning trading academy, which is very useful if you’re learning the ropes.
Conclusion
So, which broker should you choose as a South African forex trader? It depends on what you’re looking for in a broker.
In general, Exness is a great all-round option. They’re well-regulated, have great customer service, and a large number of currency pairs and trading platforms to choose from. AvaTrade and FXTM are worth looking at for new traders searching for help on their trading journey, and FP Markets has very low fees, as well as MT5 compatibility, which might be important for some traders.
Remember, click the links in the description to these five brokers to learn more about them, and open an account to see what they’re like to trade with. And if you have any questions about choosing a South African forex broker, drop us a comment, and we’ll get back to you ASAP.
Hi, I’m Mark! I’ve been trading forex for nearly 10 years now, and I started this site to help others navigate the sometimes confusing world of brokers, spreads, and trading platforms. I’ve spent countless hours testing different brokers, comparing fees, and figuring out which companies in this industry actually deliver on their promises.
When I’m not trading, I enjoy hiking, trying out new coffee spots, and tinkering with automated trading strategies (some successful, some… not so much). My goal is to make forex trading less overwhelming and help you find the right broker or platform to fit your trading style.