Forex trading has been growing in popularity in the African continent for almost 5 years. This is evident from data that show countries like Nigeria, South Africa, and others experiencing an increase in online traders and trading activity.
All of this has been achieved despite the sweeping regulations and challenges that have crept up over the years.
The growth in Forex trading can be directly attributed to the success attained by the online brokerage and trading platforms, especially ones that provide their services to nations in the African continent.
The growth of internet connectivity and favorable trading conditions have both played parts in attracting an increasing number of traders towards forex online trading.
That being said, not all brokers are reliable and provide the same level of services. This makes it critical to evaluate various factors before settling for a particular broker. To make things easier for traders based on the African continent, a list of 5 of the best and most reliable brokers operating in Africa has been prepared.
Based in London, Plus500 is a well known global CFD broker that was initially founded in Israel in 2008. Unlike several other brokers, Plus500 is listed on a stock exchange, which requires it to disclose its financials regularly, increasing its legitimacy.
It comes under the jurisdiction of several regulatory bodies including the Australian Securities and Investments Commission(ASIC) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the U.K.
Plus500 has customers across 50 countries, whom they provide tradable instruments such as stock indices, forex, individual shares, commodities, options, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies. It was one of the world’s first brokers to introduce Bitcoin CFD trading in 2013.
Plus500 provides a proprietary platform to its users, which is designed to be navigatable, streamlined, and user-friendly. The platform can be accessed from a range of devices such as Windows PCs, smartphones, tablets, and several web browsers.
Plus500’s WebTrader platform has a simple to use interface that lets users easily create watchlists, go through charts, place trades and monitor them. They get a collection of technical analysis charts that offer more than a hundred technical indicators, ready to be applied to different time frames.
Overall the WebTrader platform offers clients more than 2000 instruments. However, Since WebTrader is a closed system, it does not allow traders to incorporate third-party analytical and automation tools. Additionally, Plus500 does not provide the popular MetaTrader 4 platform.
When it comes to security, Plus500 offers negative balance protection for its clients, which is required under ESMA directives that came into effect in 2018. It also allows guaranteed stop-loss orders to be used on some instruments, which are usually subject to a wider spread. Overall Plus500’s spreads are competitive, which results in low costs and favorable trading conditions.
Founded back in 2009, RoboForex is a reputed and reliable online brokerage service that has received over 20 titles and awards. It comes under the direct regulation of the International Financial Services Commission in Belize.
The IFSC is compliant with international anti-money laundering policies and works to enforce regulations for the protection of investors. To increase even more transparency, RoboForex has also worked with Verify My Trade, an authoritative service that provides quality auditing reviews of a platform’s order execution.
RoboForex offers its users the opportunity to trade more than 9400 trading instruments which include stocks, indices, metals, cryptocurrencies, ETFs, CFDs, energies, and foreign exchange. It offers the MetaTrader platform, the cTrader platform as well as its proprietary R Trader platform. All the platforms can be accessed easily from desktop and mobile devices through provided apps.
RoboForex caters to the growing needs of its customers and provides several different account types: Pro Standard, ECN- Pro, Prime, R Trader and Pro-Cent. All these account options vary when it comes to spreads and commissions.
While some of them offer lower variable spreads with a chargeable commission, others provide variable spreads with no commission needed. The minimum deposit requirements of all these account types except for the R Trader Account is $10.
As mentioned before, RoboForex provides CFD trading in forex consisting of more than 40 major, minor and exotic pairs. They also provide options to trade more than 26 major cryptocurrencies, including the likes of Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin, along with stocks, ETFs, indices, metals, soft commodities, and energies.
RoboForex also provides a range of different useful tools. This includes the Analytics Center which provides signals, a calendar, chat options, videos, and educational resources, the RTrader Strategy Builder, and the Virtual Private Server.
IQ Option first entered the market as a binary options broker back in 2013. The broker has since expanded its offering to include numerous asset classes including Forex, CFD, and cryptocurrencies. The broker is headquartered in Cyprus and provides its services to more than 27 countries.
It is registered under the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, which is regarded as one of the most reliable regulatory bodies in Europe. Additionally, IQ Option ltd is also registered in Seychelles.
IQ Option provides a host of different tradable instruments which include binary options, digital options, CFDs on stocks, Forex and cryptocurrencies. Their offering includes 27 forex pairs including EUR/USD and GBP/USD, 15 cryptocurrencies and over 433 different stock options from major companies such as IBM, Apple, Google and others.
There are 66 options for options traders as well. Traders can use a demo account to get acquainted with all these different instruments using virtual money.
One of the reasons behind the spectacular increase in customers for IQ Option is its favorable trading conditions. IQ Option has fixed the minimum deposit amount at $10 for traders having a real account, while VIP accounts have a $1900 minimum deposit requirement. It does not demand any commissions from its traders and offers typically tighter spreads. Additionally, users are protected by Negative Balance Protection.
Unlike many other brokers on this list, IQ Option depends entirely on its in-house, uniquely developed trading platform which is constantly updated. The trading platform is available via apps for PC and mobile devices, making it compatible with most browsers like Google Chrome, Opera, and Mozilla Firefox as well as with mobile operating systems like iOS and Android.
To make it even more convenient for traders, IQ Option offers a myriad of deposit and withdrawal methods, including via credit/debit cards, bank transfers, eWallets, and payment processors. A responsive customer service team is always on hand to guide users through any queries they might have while using IQ option.
IC Markets is one of the most reputed CFD providers, offering favorable trading conditions for traders of all experience levels: beginners, active day traders and scalpers. The broker is known for providing cutting edge trading platforms that are complimented by low latency connectivity and superior liquidity. The minimum deposit requirement is $200 of the currency equivalent, while the minimum trading amount is 0.01 lots per trade.
IC Markets comes under the jurisdiction of the Financial Services Authority of Seychelles, along with ASIC and Cysec. There are three main account types to choose from.
The Raw Spread Account, cTrader Raw Account and Standard Account. IC Markets provide MetaTrader4 and 5, WebTrader, cTrader and ZuluTrade( which allows social trading). Additionally, clients can also choose a multi-account manager
When it comes to depositing, IC Markets provide 15 flexible options for funding accounts. There are also ten different base currencies to choose from. Funding options include credit and debit cards, Neteller, Neteller VIP, PayPal, Wire Transfer, Broker to Broker, POLI, Bpay, FasaPay, Thai Internet Banking, Klarna, Bitcoin Wallet, rapid pay, and Vietnamese internet Banking.
IC Markets also provides educational resources including a video tutorial, a help center, educational webinars and online education on various trading topics. There is also 24/7 customer support available along with a FAQ page that does a great job in answering some of the user queries.
Instaforex is another high leverage Forex broker that encourages forex trading. It is the current partner of the Loprais Team taking part in the Dakar Rally. It is registered under the British Virgin Islands Services Commission and is also compliant with ESMA and Cysec regulations. Its impressive track record is further complemented by a string of awards it has won, including the “Best Forex Broker Central and Eastern Europe 2020”.
Instaforex provides four types of trading accounts which differ in terms of features, accounting spreads, and commissions. These are the Cent Standard Account, Insta. Standard account, Cent.Eurica account and Insta.Eurica account. Additionally, it provides a demo account as well which provides virtual money for traders to practice trading.
Instaforex provides educational courses that encompass videos, blogs, and a forex trainer program. A support team is available for answering any question related to the platform. With multiple offerings such as MetaTrader 4 and 5, Multiterminal, InstaTick Trader, and WebTrader, Instaforex is one of the best brokers available to African traders.
Conclusion
As more and more people are attracted to the prospects of online trading, traders have to be careful about the brokers they choose. The above-mentioned brokers are just some of the best options open to African nations, which provide favourable conditions for trading success.
