We researched 10+ forex brokers that offer ZAR Trading accounts, and have listed the best in terms of fees & features.
ZAR Forex Trading Accounts are quite useful for traders in South Africa. This will help you avoid losses in fees during the conversion of currency on deposits or withdrawals.
Having a ZAR Account implies that all your funds with the broker will be kept in Rand. In most cases, this would mean the broker likely has local bank account so you can access quick and convenient withdrawals and deposits through bank transfer.
However, only a few Forex Brokers in South Africa have ZAR Accounts currently. Most of them claim to provide more or less similar trading environment and features. So choosing the best ZAR account broker is not easy.
7 Best forex brokers with ZAR accounts in South Africa
For this guide, we have done extensive research of 10+ Forex brokers offering ZAR Accounts to help you out. Then, we have chosen only the highly regulated and reliable brokers working in the South African market.
For the safety of your funds, even if your consideration is ZAR base currency account, you must still trade with only brokers that are well regulated with FSCA or other Top tier regulators like FCA, ASIC.
Our research offers a comparison of the top regulated Forex brokers offering ZAR Trading Accounts. This includes overall fees (spread +commissions), trading conditions, platforms, and local support.
Ranked #1 ZAR account Forex Broker in South Africa
HotForex is one of the best ZAR account forex broker for traders in South Africa. They are locally regulated with the South Africa Financial Security Conduct Authority – FSCA (FSP No.46632). Plus, they have been regulated by 2 other Tier-1 regulators FCA and CYSEC. Thus we consider HF Markets SA safe for traders in South Africa.
HotForex offers Direct Marker access by being an STP broker. This means your orders get straight-through processing with no dealing desk. Orders are placed directly with their liquidity providers. Therefore conflict of interest is absent.
Fees: We compared their fees and found the cost to be quite fair (though not the lowest). In terms of fees for trading, HotForex has the lowest spread with the Zero Account. There is no fee for deposits or withdrawals.
The average USDZAR spread with the HF Premium account is around 90 (variable as per market conditions). For a Zero Account, it is usually around 45 pips. Premium Account is a commission-free spread only. Zero Account has a spread of + $6 per 100,000 units (1 standard lot). For other instruments like XAU/USD (0.29 pips), EUR/USD (1.3 pips), NAS100 (2.03 pips) etc. their average fees is quite competitive compared to other forex brokers.
Fair Trading Conditions: HotForex offers you 50 currency pairs including exotic, minors, and majors. Its trading instruments also include CFDs on 56 shares, 4 Cryptocurrencies, leading 11 Indices globally, 8 Commodities, 3 top global Bonds, Energies such as Crude and Brent Oil, US Natural Gas, and Spot Metals – Silver and Gold. HF offers trading on the latest MT4 and MT5 platforms for all devices.
The minimum balance for opening an account is ZAR 76 approx. & there are no deposit or withdrawal fees. The max. leverage offered is up to 1:1000 and the speed of order execution is fair. HF also allows Scalping, Hedging, EAs, and Swap-Free Accounts.
Good Support: HotForex has a local phone number in South Africa (+27-10-443-9924, 0-800-999-265). The Live Chat Support is quick and helpful available 24X5 on weekdays. We did not experience a hold time of above 1 minute while connecting during working hours at any time.
Hotforex Pros
Hotforex Cons
Ranked #2 ZAR account Forex Broker
Exness is one of the largest forex broker in terms of average daily trading volume. Exness is licensed by 3 Top Tier regulations i.e. FSCA, FCA & CySEC, so it is considered a safe broker.
Fees: The trading fees at Exness is very low compared to other forex brokers. With their Standard account the average spread is 1 pips for Major pair EURUSD, and the spread is much lower with Pro account.
Wide range of trading Instruments & features: Exness offers over 100+ currency pairs, and CFDs on 100+ Metals, Cryptos, Stocks & Indices
The highest leverage at Exness is 1:2000. Exness offers MT4 & MT5 trading platforms.
Not so Good Customer Support: Customer Support at Exness is not the best. They offer customer support via email, live chat & phone support. But they don’t have a local phone number in South Africa & their responses via email are very slow. During our tests, we received the response in few days on average via email.
Ranked #3 ZAR account Forex Broker
XM is one of the leading forex broker that is very popular in South Africa. They are regulated with 2 major regulators i.e. ASIC & CySEC, but they are not authorized by FSCA.
Fees: Their trading fees with Ultra Low account is very competitive. As an example: the average EURUSD spread is 0.8 pips with Ultra Low Standard account.
Wide range of CFD trading Instruments: XM had a wide range of CFD trading instruments available on its platform including 57 currency pairs & 1000+ CFDs on stocks, commodities, metals, shares & indices. But Crypto CFDs are not available currently on their platform.
Plus, negative balance protection is available. Traders have choice between MT4 & MT5 platforms.
Responsive Live Chat Support: Customer Support is solid at XM. We tested their live chat support & we found it to be quite responsive & helpful.
Ranked #4 ZAR account CFD Trading platform
Plus500 is one of the leading forex trading platform. They are well regulated with multiple Top tier regulators including with ASIC, FCA & CySEC. Moreover, the company Plus500 Ltd is also listed on the London Stock Exchange and is thus considered a relatively safe platform for traders in SA.
Fees: Plus500 offers competitive spread to the traders – as low as 0.6 pips for the benchmark EUR/USD. They also do not charge any fees for withdrawals or deposits.
Moreover, there is no other volume/lot based commission on Forex trading. The only trading fees that they charge is the variable spread.
Trading Conditions & features: There is only a single account type for Retail traders at Plus500. The minimum deposit is ZAR 1500 and the max. leverage is 1:300 for SA traders. The broker also provides protection for the negative balance and assured stop-loss protection. This is without charging any additional fees.
Traders can choose from 71 currency pairs, 1000+ CFDs on stocks. The other asset classes include CFDs on 8 Commodities, 7 Cryptocurrencies, 8 Indices, 6 Energies, and 4 Precious Metals.
Plus500 offers you its proprietary trading platforms for Web and Mobile trading. On the downside, this platform is not accessible in Desktop.
Decent Support: Customer Support is available through Live Chat, Email & Whatsapp. There is also a decent FAQs section for self-help.
Live Chat support can be accessed only when logged in. It is necessary to fill Contact Form for availing e-mail support. On testing, we received a response within 1 hour on a weekday from their email.
Plus500 Pros
Plus500 Cons
There are a few advantages to trading with a broker that offers ZAR base currency accounts.
a. Depends on your mostly traded trading instrument:
This is valid if your account is funded through the most frequently traded quote currency.
For instance, if you mostly trade South African Rand pairs with quote currency being ZAR such as USD/ZAR, EUR/ZAR, GBP/ZAR, then there may be certain advantages to opening your trading account in ZAR base currency.
If your account is funded in ZAR, then your account balance will be in Rand, and all your profits too will by default be converted into ZAR (Rand) once you close the trade. In case you are trading mostly ZAR quote currency pairs, then a conversion transaction will not be required. You will also save the commissions if your broker charges commission for the transaction to convert to another base currency like USD or EUR.
It is preferred that your account currency is the same as the quote currency of your mostly traded currency pairs. If not, you will lose during the re-conversion of funds to your funding currency each time you trade. You may have to pay an extra commission each time you trade if the broker charges for conversion. This could add up to much eventually.
b. Conversion charges during withdrawal (by your bank and/or the broker):
Once you decide on the withdrawal, you will want to get withdrawal from your broker in your South African bank account.
In case you hold a ZAR account, the broker can directly send your withdrawal in Rand. Instead consider a case where you request the withdrawal in USD (if your base currency is US Dollar), then your bank, broker (or both) may charge you fees for the USD wire transfer to your SA based bank account.
Here, the currency conversion fees/spread on exchange rates of anywhere from 2%-6% could be charged by your bank. If the USD/ZAR exchange rate is 15, your bank will likely charge its fees on the exchange rate and offer you around 14.8 at the very least. Your broker and bank may also levy wire charges for receipt of USD payments.
But in case of ZAR account, it is very likely that the Rand withdrawal transfer by broker will be from the broker’s local bank account in South Africa.
This will save you the fees for withdrawal that can incur for your bank wire transfer withdrawals in another currency.
The important question comes, how can you check whether the broker offers ZAR base currency trading account or not?
Step 1: If a forex broker does offer ZAR trading account they will mostly tell that clearly on their website. You would normally find this option on account types page & during signup where you can choose the account base currency.
For example: Hotforex (HF Markets SA Pty Ltd) shows the ‘Account Currency’ options available for each account type & the minimum deposit in ZAR as well.
The below screenshot of their Premium Account types shows their available base currency options.
Similarly, other brokers like XM list ZAR base currency on their trading account types comparison page. All brokers would generally allow you to select the base currency during signup process.
Step 2: Choose the account base currency during Account Opening. You must note that many forex brokers don’t allow to change the account base currency once the Live account is opened. So you must carefully select the right account currency during Signup.
For example, Exness does not allow traders to change account currency. But you are allowed to open another trading account with another base currency.
If ZAR account currency option is available at the broker, then you would see that option during account opening.
As an example: Hotforex SA requires you to choose your “myHF Account Base Currency” during Account opening. They have 2 currency options i.e. USD & ZAR. So, if you want to open a ZAR base currency account then select the ZAR option here.
The account currency option that you select would be your base currency.
Below comparison table shows the features, fees of SA Forex Brokers that offer ZAR Accounts.
| ZAR Account Forex Broker | Regulation | Average Spread (EUR/USD) | Leverage | Minimum Deposit | Visit Website |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hotforex ZAR Account | FSCA, FCA, CySEC | 1.2 pips with Premium Account | up to 1:1000 | $5 (~R76) | Visit Broker |
| Exness ZAR Account | FCA, CySEC, FSCA | 1 pips with Standard Account | 1:2000 | $1 | Visit Broker |
| XM ZAR Account | ASIC. CySEC | 0.9 pips | 1:888 | $5 | Visit Broker |
| Plus500 | ASIC, FCA | 0.8 pips | 1:300 | R1500 | Visit Broker |
| FXPro | FCA, FSCA | 1.5 pips | 1:500 | $100 | Visit Broker |
Yes, there are some benefits but it mostly depends on your choice.
If you mostly trade on Rand pairs like USD/ZAR then it is preferred to open a ZAR account with the broker. As you could save on the conversion losses.
Moreover, another plus point to creating ZAR account over USD or EUR, is that you can make deposits & withdrawals in Rand. In this case, there will be no losses on exchange rates or transfer fees that would be charged by your bank (or broker) if you were to say make transfer to your broker in USD.
Hotforex, Exness & XM broker have ZAR accounts & they also have NASDAQ or NAS100 CFD on their platform. So you can open account in ZAR currency & trade NAS100 on these 3 broker.
The spread at ZAR Account brokers for NAS 100 are 2.03 pips at Hotforex for USA100, 5 pips at XM & 4.28 pips at Exness for USTEC.
As per our research, there are about 10 FSCA regulated forex brokers that offer ZAR accounts. We have listed 3 such brokers here in our list (last updated in August 2020): Hotforex, FxPro & BlackStone Futures. We will add more ZAR account offering brokers in this list once we have compared their features & fees.
In terms of fees (USDZAR benchmark) – Hotforex has 90 pips spread on average with their Premium Account (1.2 pips for EURUSD). BlackStone Futures has spread as low as 10 points (variable) for USD/ZAR currency pair.
Trading CFDs is risky. Your capital is at risk.
Disclosure: We earn a commission if you Sign Up with a broker through referral links in this review. This helps us cover the expenses for running the website.
Hotforex is the #1 ZAR Account Broker
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