OctaFX Review 2020

OctaFX is a CySEC regulated ECN broker that accepts traders in South Africa also. Their fees is low compared to most other brokers, but are their legit?

OctaFX is a STP Forex Broker established in 2011. The brand is managed and owned by Octa Markets Incorporated.

OctaFX is regulated by the Tier 2 regulator CYSEC – Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission. They are also regulated in St. Vincent and the Grenadines by the offshore regulator International Business Company – IBC.

The fees and commission at OctaFX are variable based on the account type you choose with them. But you can choose between Floating Spread & Fixed Spread accounts. You are not charged any commission for withdrawing or depositing funds at OctaFX.

Applications for opening a new account are processed online. You are offered 3 main types of trading accounts by the broker. All of them permit EAs, Scalping, and Hedging. Trading platforms offered by OctaFX include MT5, MT4, and CTrader. The choice of platform is tied to the type of account chosen although.

You can open an OctaFX Micro Account with a minimum deposit of $100. The assets offered by the broker include CFD trading in Shares, Forex, Indices, Commodities, and ETFs.

OctaFX offers traders a range of content for research through the Traders’ Tools section. Customer Support is offered through Live Chat and E-mail from Monday to Friday for 24 hours.

OctaFX – a quick look

Regulation and safety of funds

OctaFX is regulated by only 1 Top Tier regulator. Here is a breakdown of OctaFX’s regulations:

1. CYSEC – Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission: ‘Octa Markets Cyprus Ltd’ is regulated by CySEC under License number 372/18

OctaFX was previously acquired regulatory license with FCA, but they are no longer regulated.

OctaFX is also a member of the ICF – Investor Compensation Fund. This secures your claim as a qualified retail trader.

You are also offered protection of funds by OctaFX through the following measures:
Segregated Accounts: OctaFX uses separate accounts for keeping your funds segregated from the balance sheet of the company. This complies with international regulation standards. Your funds are thus untouched and secure with the broker.

Negative Balance Protection: You are also offered negative balance protection by OctaFX in case your trading balance goes into negative.

SSL-protected Personal Area: OctaFX makes use of highly advanced technology for protecting your financial transactions and personal data. This is through SSL-secured Personal Area safeguarded with 128-bit encryption. It ensures the inaccessibility of your data to any third party and safe digital transactions.

South African traders signing up with OctaFX are registered under SVGFSA regulation.

OctaFX Trading Fees

The fees at OctaFX are average in comparison with other Forex brokers. OctaFX has a combination of commissions and spreads for traders. These are variable depending on the trading account you choose with them.

1. Low Spread: You are offered both fixed and floating spreads that are linked to the account type. The typical spread on a EUR/USD trade can be 1.1 pips with their MT4 micro account. This is comparatively quite low, when compared to similar brokers like Hotforex, XM Broker, FXTM etc.

2. Commissions with cTrader Account: OctaFX does not charge any commission on trade for the Micro MetaTrader4 account and Pro MetaTrader5 account.

   The ECN CTrader account does have a commission. It is usually $3 per lot or unit of trading.

3. No Deposit/Withdrawal fees: There are no withdrawal or deposit fees. But the deposits are accepted only in USD or EUR.

   Traders in South Africa are also not offered withdrawal or deposit options through Local Bank. The available options include MasterCard/Visa, Bitcoin, Skrill, or Neteller.

OctaFX Account Types

The process of opening Account at OctaFX is fully digitized, quick, and user-friendly. Citizens of more than 185 nations including South Africa can open Forex & CFD trading accounts.

The minimum deposit at OctaFX is $100, but they don’t offer any ZAR accounts. The account can only be opened in USD or EUR.

OctaFX offers you 3 Account types for South African traders:

• Micro Account
• Pro Account
• ECN Account

OctaFX Micro MT4 Account

The minimum deposit required to open the Micro Account is $100. You can either choose the floating spread that starts with 0.4 pips or fixed spread at 2 pips. With this account, OctaFX does not charge you any commission on the trade, only fees is their spread.

The maximum leverage offered is 1:500. Stop out/margin call for this account is 25%/15%. Swaps are optional.

OctaFX Pro MT5 Account

You can open the Pro Account with OctaFX with a minimum deposit of $ 500. This account offers only a floating spread that begins with 0.2 pips. You are not charged any commission for trading with this account.

The leverage offered for Forex trading is 1:200. Stop out/margin call for this account is set at 45% / 30%. Pro-Account does not offer swaps. You are charged overnight commissions after 3 days.

OctaFX ECN CTrader Account

The minimum deposit required to open the ECN Account is $ 100. This account offers you only a floating spread that begins with 0 pips. You are charged a commission for trading with this account. It is generally $0.03 per 0.01 lots or unit of trading.

The maximum leverage offered for the ECN Account is 1: 200 (for Metals) and 1:500 (for Forex currencies). You are charged overnight commissions for this account only over weekends. Stop out/Margin call is set at 25%/15%.

Account Feature	Micro MT4 Account	cTrader ECN Account	MT5 Pro Account
Review	Good for beginner traders	Offers in-depth market information and ECN trading setting	Good for Professional Traders
Platform	MT4	cTrader	MT5
Execution	NDD, STP	NDD, STP, ECN, DMA	NDD, STP
Spread	Choose between Fixed or Floating	Variable	Variable
Minimum Deposit	$100	$100	$500

OctaFX Trading Instruments

You are offered a range of financial asset classes to select from by OctaFX. However, its offerings are limited in comparison with other standard Forex brokers in the market.

OctaFX offers CFD trading in Forex pairs, Cryptocurrencies, Commodities, and Stock Indices.

Forex Pairs at OctaFX

28 pairs of Forex currency are offered by OctaFX. These include the majors as well as crosses amongst EUR, USD, GBP, AUD, and JPY.

Cryptocurrencies CFDs

You are offered to trade in 3 Cryptocurrencies by OctaFX. These include Litecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin.

Commodities

OctaFX offers both precious metals and energies for trading in Commodities. These include Copper, Platinum, Silver, Gold, Bent oil, WTI oil, Crude oil, and Natural Gas.

Stock Indices

You can gain profit by trading with the 10 most popular Stock Indices offered by OctaFX. These include NASDAQ, Dow Jones, Eurostoxx 50, and Nikkei.

Account Type	Trading Instruments
Micro MT4 Account	28 Currency pairs, CFD Trading on 2 metals, 2 Energies, 4 Indices & 3 Cryptos
Pro MT5 Account	28 Forex pairs, CFD Trading on 2 metals, 2 Energies, 10 Stock Indices & 3 Cryptos
ECN cTrader Account	28 Forex pairs, CFDs on 2 metals

OctaFX Trading Platforms

You can trade through OctaFX with any of the 3 trading platforms that the broker offers. These are MetaTrader 5, MetaTrader 4, and CTrader.

OctaFX MetaTrader 4

This is the most popular trading platform. It has a very comprehensive charting package and several technical indicators. The two-step login process is not available.

MT4 utilizes Expert Advisors that permit it to sustain automated trading. It has versions for Android, WebTrader, Desktop, and iOS.

By and large, the MT4 platform is very simple and easy-to-use. This is suitable for beginner traders.

OctaFX Web & Desktop Trading Platforms

The globally recognized trading platforms like MetaTrader 5, MetaTrader 4, and CTrader are offered by OctaFX for trading through Web – Windows and Mac and Windows Desktop.

The Web Trading platform provides useful features for advanced traders like single-click trading. Meanwhile, it has limited advanced order functionality and chart views. Thus the web platform is more perfect for beginner traders.

OctaFX Mobile Trading Platforms

You are offered Mobile trading by OctaFX through CTrader, MT4, and MT5 Mobile trading apps for iOS and Android. Through these, you can trade through diverse trading accounts.

OctaFX also offers you its proprietary mobile app the OctaFX Trading App. This allows you to manage your trading accounts and finance.

You can download the MT4, MT5, and CTrader on iOS and Android mobile trading apps directly from Apple Store or Google Play. Alternatively, you can also download them from the OctaFX website that offers step-by-step useful installation instructions.

OctaFX mobile trading apps are useful for both advanced and beginner traders.

OctFX Bonus

OctaFX offers 50% deposit bonus with every deposit. The bonus is also available to traders in South Africa, we did not find any end date for this promotion.

Unlike many other brokers, the bonus at OctaFX can be withdrawn once you meet the specified trading requirements of number of lots traded.

OctFX Customer Support

OctaFX Customer Support is available to you through diverse channels. This is accessible to you on 5 weekdays for 24 hours through Live Chat, E-mail, and WhatsApp (texts only). You can also make use of the web-form for submitting your queries.

The Finance Department is accessible from 06:00 – 22:00 (Eastern European Time). The Customer Verification Department is available from 08:00 – 17:00 (EET) for troubleshooting and account setup inquires.

1. Helpful Live Chat: You can access quick Customer Support through Live Chat. However, at times a few minutes of hold times are also possible. We found their answers to be helpful & relevant for our queries.

2. Fair E-mail Support: During our tests, the email queries were reverted within few hours by OctaFX Customer Support on a weekday. This is comparatively a quick timeline for response.
3. No South African Phone Number: OctaFX’s Customer Support is not available through the phone in South Africa. Also, Customer Support is not available on weekends.

Do We Recommend OctaFX?

Yes, we do recommend OctaFX for traders in South Africa if you are looking for a low cost NDD broker.

OctaFX is one of the leading digital Forex trading platforms. Initial deposits are not too high and a variety of instruments for trading. The overall trading fees is quite low with all 3 accounts, plus they are also a CYSEC regulated broker.

OctaFX also has a 50% deposit bonus which is available for South African traders as well.

Advanced traders will appreciate the narrow spreads, zero commissions, and accessibility for all trading strategies. It includes Scalping, Hedging, and Automated Trading strategies. All traders are offered segregated accounts and negative balance protection by OctaFX.

Meanwhile, OctaFX also has certain drawbacks. The modes of making deposits and withdrawals are limited for South African. Their trading assets are also restricted in comparison with other brokers. And they also don’t offer ZAR Trading accounts. The lack of 24X7 Customer Support is another limitation.

Overall, with good support accompanied by low trading fees, abundant tools, OctaFX offers a great trading platform for beginner traders as well as Pros.

"Do you have experience with OctaFX South Africa? Please consider sharing your experience with a review below – good or bad – doesn’t really matter as long as it’s helpful to other traders!"