Review sections
Investor Protection & Regulations
“AvaTrade is licensed and regulated around the world. AvaTrade offers two different platforms that give you unique trading opportunities and account options, but both protect you from losing more than you deposit.”
AvaTrade is a licensed trading platform with a range of regulatory bodies. Licenses include the European Union (registered in Ireland ), Australia , Japan , South Africa , and the British Virgin Islands.
AvaTrade offers accounts from two different legal entities. Each has slightly different account offerings, but they are important to note when getting started:
Ava Trade Ltd
Account types – AvaTrade Standard Account, AvaTrade Options Account
Assets – FX, CFDs, FX Options
Ava Trade EU Ltd
Account types – AvaTrade Retail Account, AvaTrade Professional Account, AvaTade Options Account, AvaTrade Spread Betting Account
Assets – FX, CFDs, FX Options, Spread Betting
Both account entities give you access to the same trading platforms, markets, and negative balance protection. They are regulated by different entities and have different maximum leverage levels. EU account deposits are protected by an insured fund. Non-EU accounts are not. Non-EU accounts can be much more highly leveraged.
Client money is held by AvaTrade in segregated accounts. However, the site does not indicate any insurance or additional protections.
Tradable Products
“Accounts at AvaTrade allow you to trade more than 250 assets including: FX, CFDs, FX Options, and Spread Betting assets.”
AvaTrade offers more than 1,250 assets for trading. These trades are all in the form of CFDs, and include stocks, forex, FX options, indices, commodities, bonds, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies via CFDs on AvaTrade.
Highlights and popular trades include stocks like Amazon, Apple, and Berkshire Hathaway, popular currency pairs including USD/EUR and EUR/JPY, the VIX ETF, and Bitcoin.
Not all public stocks are listed on the platform, though most popular companies, currency pairs, and funds are available for trades.
For foreign exchange, AvaTrade offers a range of popular currency pairs and currencies including US Dollars, Euros, Great British Pounds, Japanese Yen, Swiss Francs, and others. In the cryptocurrency sphere, AvaTrade offers Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Ripple trading.
According to the Financial Instruments list on the AvaTrade website, it offers the following CFDs for trade:
Asset
Tradable Securities
US Stocks
38
UK Stocks
5
Spain Stocks
6
Germany Stocks
10
France Stocks
5
Italy Stocks
5
Bonds
2
ETFs
5
FX Pairs
54
FX Options
51
Commodities
17
Indices
19
Cryptocurrency
10
Account Opening
“Opening a new account online at AvaTrade is quick and easy. You can open an account with one of two legal entities, which does impact your account and the assets you can trade.”
Creating an account at AvaTrade is relatively easy and painless. If you want to kick the tires before funding your account, you can test out the AvaTrade web, mobile, and desktop platforms with a free demo account. This demo account requires your name, email address, and phone number to get started.
Once you create a live account, you can connect your bank account and fund it with currencies from supported countries. Deposits are available via credit card, wire transfers, and several forms of electronic funds transfer depending on your location.
A live account requires contact information, a valid color copy of a government ID, and a utility bill from the last six months for address verification.
If you have multiple accounts, don’t worry! AvaTrade MAM Accounts (Multi-Account Manager) allows you to enter orders for all of your sub-accounts under one login.
Islamic Accounts
If you follow the strict guidelines of Sharia law in your personal finances, you may be interested in the Islamic account options from AvaTrade. If this is of interest, you can open an online trading platform account with access to swaps compliant with Islamic customs.
Trading Platforms
“AvaTrade offers seven unique trading platforms for the web, desktop, and mobile devices. MetaTrader 4 is the flagship desktop trading system.”
AvaTrade MetaTrader 4 Web Version – Forex Homepage The web and desktop platforms both offer quite a lot of features and customizations. In addition to trades, you can customize views for charts data views, with trade boxes built right into the chart views.
When it comes to market trading, timing and speed are essential. By having the trade entry forms built right into the chart views, you can save precious seconds and trade on the fly.
In addition to the convenient web versions , you can download native applications for Windows, Mac, Android, and iPhone. The mobile version, AvaTradeGO, offers quick and easy account summary views and trades. Whether you’re on wi-fi or using mobile data, you can manage your investments anywhere you have an internet connection.
MetaTrader 4 Desktop App Features
Serious traders should download the Windows or Mac version of the trading app, which gives you more power and integrated features. As with most investment platforms, you can expect more robust features with the Windows version. However, the Mac version is quite competitive. MetaTrader 5 is on the way soon, which promises enhancements and new features for expert traders interested in a more complex trading experience.
Across all markets, MetaTrader 4 gives you access to over 250 assets, 30 advanced charting tools, trading history, and other useful information. You can handle many of your trading needs through other connected platforms (the web and mobile versions), but most experienced traders will want to lean primarily on the desktop version.
A customized chart showing the popular Bollinger band indicator for GBP/USD trades Web Trading Features
The web version of AvaTrade includes instant live trading, options to view multiple customized charts simultaneously on the same screen, helpful analytical tools and overlays, language support for 41 languages, and support for Chrome, Internet Explorer, and Firefox browsers.
The order page on from the web version of AvaTrade allows you to quickly enter market, limit, and stop orders in a few clicks. Options trading platform
AvaTrade also offer the web-based AvaOptions platform, which does what the name suggests. This options trading interface allows you to manage spot and options trades in one account, trade options on over 40 currency pairs plus precious metals, and includes risk management features.
The desktop platform includes customizable interfaces, advanced stop and limit orders on both call and put orders, and overnight support for up to one year.
Image via AvaTrade A demo account includes access to the options trading platform too, so you can give it a test drive before funding your account with real money. Once you fund your account, try out the risk simulator to help you evaluate and build multi-leg strategies to take your options trading to the next level.
Mobile Platforms
AvaTrade offers a useful and easy-to-use mobile app for iOS and Android phones. Just download the app in your respective app store, login to your account, and you can view account details and enter a wide range of trades.
The AvaTradeGO mobile app supports multiple accounts at once, including multiple MT4 accounts. The most important features are at your fingertips including watchlists, charting, and fast trade entry.
If you don’t like the proprietary AvaTradeGO platform, AvaTrade also supports the MetaTrader 4 mobile app.
Mobile features a more limited than what you can do on the desktop platform you can use on your laptop or desktop computer, but when you’re on the go, mobile trading is incredibly valuable.
Advanced Features
AvaTrade offers several advanced features including automated trading and access to expert advisors to help you improve your investments.
Automated trading in MetaTrader 4 is run using a connected DupliTrade account. ZuluTrade is another add-on that can execute automated trades in your account.
The Expert Advisors at AvaTrade are actually bots that can trade on your behalf. These easy-to-program trading bots can open and close positions based on your specific criteria.
AvaTrade Guardian Angel is a free trader support system tool for MT4 and is included with an AvaTrade account. Guardian Angels analyze your account and trades to help you lower your risk, identify mistakes, grow your knowledge, and make better trades over time.
Commissions & Spreads
“AvaTrade charges various fees for spreads, margins, and overnight interest. You may also face an inactivity fee if you don’t use your account regularly.”
AvaTrade does not give you access to the widest range of investments out there, but it does cover the most popular asset classes. You can trade stocks, currencies, FX options, indices, commodities, bonds, and ETFs via CFDs on AvaTrade . These, as well as cryptocurrency CFDs, require fees and charges.
Pricing with CFDs is not as clear as the simple trade fees you pay when buying stocks, bonds, and other investments in the traditional markets. While AvaTrade CFDs can help you get to a highly leveraged position at a relatively low cost, there are important fees to be aware of.
CFD positions held overnight incur overnight premium charges. If you hold a position over a weekend, you’ll have to pay a 3-day swap charge (charged on Wednesdays). The overnight swap fees vary by the asset. As of this writing, the overnight rate on stocks on the platform is -0.0111% to -0.0166%.
Most commodities and indices charge around -0.0042% to -0.0053%.
Option CFDs charge up to -0.012%
ETFs cost between -0.0111% to -0.0166%
Bonds charge -0.0042%
Foreign exchange and cryptocurrency rates vary based on the currency.
Because the fees are not fixed per trade, it is important to understand how they affect your total profitability, particularly as you hold positions open over multiple days.
In addition to fees, you may also lose some of your investment value through the spread of the trade. All platforms don’t use the same exchange rates at the same time, which means some platforms give more favorable and others less favorable rates.
Customer Support
“Customer support is available by email, phone, or live chat. Support is available in multiple languages and local numbers are available in many areas.”
AvaTrade offers customer support in 14 languages, so no matter where you are, you are probably covered. Customer support is available via email, phone, or live chat on the AvaTrade website.
In fact, AvaTrade offers local phone numbers you can call for countries all over the world on all continents but Antarctica.
Research & Education
“New traders and those looking to boost their skills and knowledge have access to a range of resources from AvaTrade.”
AvaTrade hosts an education center on its website along with extensive resources for beginning traders. Major sections in the education section of the site include Trading for Beginners, Economic Indicators, Trading Videos and Tutorials, and a Forex eBook.
Other resources explain various order types and basic information you need to run your account. You won’t get the same detailed education here as you would from a university course, but it is good enough to get you started and answer basic questions.
You may also enjoy the public economic calendar, which offers useful insights into upcoming data reports around the world. When using the platform, you can enjoy news from a wide range of sources via a third-party integration.
Trading Experience
“With a wide selection of trading tools, AvaTrade fits both beginners and experienced traders”
As a beginner, AvaTrade gives you resources including useful bots and analysis tools to help you avoid costly mistakes. The platforms are easy to navigate and start you with basic charts that you don’t need an advanced degree to understand, decode, and use in your own trading scheme.
Advanced traders will appreciate automated selling tools, programmable bots, advanced trade orders, and a range of platforms you can use on the web, desktop, or mobile device on the go. While you won’t have access to some of the more rare securities in some markets, you get access to all of the most popular investments tracking hundreds of assets.
Conclusion
“AvaTrade is a high-tech broker that gives you access to a wide range of tradable markets with a CFD account. It is licensed and regulated in many jurisdictions around the world with trading systems suitable for beginner and advanced traders alike.”
If you are interested in getting into CFD trading, AvaTrade offers a transparent, easy-to-understand platform with tools for both beginning and advanced traders. While the assets you can trade are limited, with CFDs you can quickly build up a highly leveraged account to earn your big profits.
Of course, it is always important to understand the risks and costs of any investment or trading plan. With AvaTrade and any other CFD platform, you may encounter high risks and a high likelihood of losses.
Overall, AvaTrade offers a wide range of useful features and platforms for all of the most popular devices.
Pros Cons
Support for AvaTrade platforms on desktop and mobile as well as MetaTrader 4.
Guardian Angel system uses advanced analysis to manage your risk.
Customer support available in 14 languages.
No MetaTrader 5 support (website says that it is coming soon)
Inactivity fee on stagnant accounts
Desktop platform features are limited on Mac computers
