Not sure whether to begin trading with forex.com or Oanda?
In this post, we’ve compared these two forex brokers, based on their spreads, trustworthiness, customer service, and more, to see which is best.
By the end of this short read, you’ll have a better idea of whether forex.com or Oanda is the right choice for you to begin trading with.
But before we begin, make sure to click the links in the description to these two brokers, to create an account and test them out, and learn more about each of their services.
Stats
So let’s begin by looking at some basic stats for Oanda and forex.com.
As you can see, Oanda offers slightly more value at a surface level than forex.com. They have more currency pairs available and offer a higher maximum leverage on certain pairs. They also have no minimum deposit and offer a lot more flexibility when it comes to funding your account. You can even use PayPal to get started, unlike with forex.com, although this is only available in certain countries at the moment.
The one big downside to Oanda here is you can’t fund your account with a credit card. You’ll have to use your Mastercard or Visa debit card instead.
It’s also worth mentioning, while both brokers support CFDs, forex.com has a much larger range to choose from, including cryptocurrency and share CFDs, which Oanda doesn’t offer at the moment.
Trustworthiness
Oanda and forex.com are both large, well-regulated brokers that have been around for a long time and are both quite trustworthy in our opinion. Both forex brokers are regulated by the CFTC in America, meaning you can join as a resident of the United States, which is quite good. Many other smaller online brokers aren’t available in America at the moment, as getting CFTC regulated is quite rare.
Apart from that though, Oanda has more tier-1 and tier-2 regulatory approvals, and they’re available in a larger number of countries, including Australia, the Cayman Islands, and Singapore. Although, forex.com does have subsidiaries in other countries, such as City Index in Australia, making it more widely available than you might think.
Make sure to click the links in the description to Oanda and forex.com to see which of these brokers you can join, depending on where you live.
Spreads
From our testing, forex.com has slightly higher spreads than Oanda across most currency pairs at the moment, although it is very hard to separate the two companies. Oanda is particularly price-competitive during periods of high market volatility and during peak trading times. This means they’re often a better choice for high-frequency traders or scalpers, making a lot of trades over the course of the day.
It’s also important to note, forex.com offers the option of commission or no-commission accounts, depending on which is best for your needs. On the other hand, Oanda is purely a market maker, with a spread-only pricing model. Again, as a scalper, you might like the look of forex.com’s no-commission account option to minimize your spread with them.
However, in general, Oanda offers tighter spreads and lower slippage – although it’s a good idea to test both brokers on the currency pairs you like to trade, to assess their real-world performance as you compare them.
Trading platforms
Another strength of Oanda is their proprietary trading platform and other software options. In our opinion, their desktop trading platform and Android and iOS apps are more intuitive to use than the ones forex.com offers. They’re better designed and allowed us to watch price action and make trades more easily.
Fortunately though, both of these forex brokers have a good range of options available if you want to use another platform to make trades. Both Oanda and forex.com support Metatrader 4 and TradingView, two of the most popular platforms on the market right now. However, only forex.com supports Metatrader 5, also known as MT5, while the same can’t be said of Oanda at the moment. It’s also worth mentioning, neither of these brokers support cTrader right now.
Remember, click the link in the description to open an account with Oanda and forex.com, to test out their different trading platforms, apps, and integrations with third-party execution and charting solutions like TradingView.
Customer service
In our opinion, Oanda is slightly ahead of forex.com when it comes to customer service, although it’s a close race. Oanda is slightly more responsive, and we think their live chat is a bit more helpful. Their team seems a bit more knowledgeable and able to assist with a wider range of issues.
However, forex.com is still quite a good choice if you’re concerned about customer service. Their live chat and phone teams are easy to reach and have been quite helpful when we’ve ever raised any issues with them. Forex.com are also quick to assign you an account manager if you reach a certain account size.
Essentially, if customer service is a top priority for you, Oanda is a slightly better option – but it’s quite a close call.
Conclusion
For most people, Oanda is a better choice than forex.com. They offer better customer service, more payment methods, more currency pairs, and a much lower minimum starting deposit. Oanda also offers tighter spreads, on average, and has more approvals from tier-1 regulators, such as ASIC.
However, forex.com is still a trustworthy, established forex broker with a lot to offer new and experienced traders alike. They still have good customer service, and offer certain things Oanda doesn’t, like commission-based trading accounts, and a much wider selection of CFDs to trade with.
Remember, click the links in the description to Oanda and forex.com, to open an account with either broker and see what they’re like to use. The good thing is, both are quite easy to get started with, if you just want to begin trading.
Thanks for reading this post. If you have any questions about choosing the right forex broker for your needs, leave us a comment below, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
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.