5 Best South African MetaTrader 4 (MT4) Brokers List

By Stefano Treviso, Updated on: Jan 22 2024.

Here’s our selection of the 5 Best South African MetaTrader 4 (MT4) brokers for the year 2023:

Broker	Reason
AvaTrade	Best for experienced currency options traders
Markets.com	Best for share traders
IG	Best in most assets offered
FxPro	Best in execution speed
ETX Capital	Best in no commissions offering

All the above South African brokers are required to possess a financial license from FSCA (Financial Sector Conduct Authority of South Africa). This grants South African traders (BTW, find out more about Forex Trading Sessions in South Africa in our article) a great layer of protection in the event of any dispute as complaints can be dealt with locally.

Each one of these brokers was analysed using our proprietary methodology.

1. AvaTrade - Best for experienced currency options traders

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71% of retail CFD accounts lose money.

AvaTrade is a top-tier multinational broker with more than 7 financial regulators specialising in FX and options trading with their own proprietary platforms.

Key data
EUR/USD Spread	Dynamic - From 0.9 Pips
Commissions	None
Minimum Deposit	$100
Financial Regulators	ASIC, FFAJ, CBI, IIROC, CySec, FSCA, ADGM, ISA.
MT4	Yes
MT5	Yes
cTrader	No
TradingView	No
Proprietary Platform	Yes

AvaTrade holds 8 financial licenses from which 6 belong to high reputation financial regulators. Their specialty is definitely the forex arena but from either the complete beginner's experience looking for a simple platform or the professional trader looking to trade currency options.

The Good	The Bad
AvaProtect feature for negative trades payback Great variety of platforms (proprietary ones, MT4 & MT5) Smooth platform experiences and easy account management Custom Options trading platform	Lack of variety in stocks, ETFs and bonds Expensive inactivity fees No multi-chart tools High trade minimums in all assets except forex

When it comes to pricing and competitiveness, AvaTrade is definitely not leading the market in commissions or spreads yet, the most powerful advantage they offer are currency options which can definitely be a useful tool for professional currency traders.

2. Markets.com - Best for share traders

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68% of retail CFD accounts lose money.

Markets.com is an international broker that offers share dealing and CFD trading accounts through their own proprietary platform or MT4 and MT5.

Key data
EUR/USD Spread	Dynamic - From 0.7 Pips
Commissions	No comissions on CFDs. For share dealing, the first 3 months are commission free, then the structure is: EU Shares = 0.1% (min €10) UK Shares = 0.1% (min £8) US Shares = 2c (min $15) AU Shares = 0.1% (min A$10)
Minimum Deposit	$100
Financial Regulators	CySec, FCA, UK, ASIC, FSCA.
MT4	Yes
MT5	Yes
cTrader	No
TradingView	Yes
Proprietary Platform	Yes

Markets.com holds 4 financial licenses from which 2 belong to high value financial regulators. Their specialty is offering a wide variety of assets (both as real equity or derivatives such as CFDs) via their own proprietary trading platform with TradingView charts included.

The Good	The Bad
Clear separation between investors and Traders by offering share dealing accounts and CFD trading accounts Wide range of platforms (Proprietary, MT4, MT5) Wide range of stocks and stock CFDs	Minimum trade sizes larger than average Spreads above average

Markets.com did a great job by taking their wide variety of assets and their great strategy-crafting tools and mixing them up with MetaTrader 4. If you’re looking to trade shares and get access to a no-commission trading environment via MT4, Markets.com can be a great choice for you.

3. IG - Best in most assets offered

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79% of retail CFD accounts lose money.

IG is a global broker established in 1974 that holds 8 reputable financial licenses and provides CFD trading on stocks, commodities, ETFs, indices, cryptocurrencies, bonds, futures, options along with real stocks through their share dealing account.

Key data
EUR/USD Spread	Dynamic - From 0.6 Pips
Commissions	Yes, they charge depending on the client’s account base currency and exchange location of the shares being traded. For example, for some clients US shares can have a minimum charge of $10 in-and-out.
Minimum Deposit	From $10 to $450.
Financial Regulators	ASIC, FMA, NFA, ADGM, FINMA, MAS, FFAJ, FSCA, BMA.
MT4	Yes
MT5	No
cTrader	No
TradingView	No
Proprietary Platform	Yes

IG holds 8 licenses from mostly high reputation financial regulators. They are one of the world’s most well-known brokers having been around since 1974.

The Good	The Bad
Broad platform offering with high customisability and integrated news feeds Comprehensive asset offering with more than 10,000 + CFDs or real stocks and ETFs	There are too many small costs such as custody, in-and-out-commissions in some cases, management fees, etc Their standard contracts can be too large some times for low volume traders

IG’s offering is well north of 10,000+ financial instruments with the possibility to add more via data subscription to several exchanges over the world. IG created their own proprietary platform which is one of the best, yet if what you’re looking for is MetaTrader 4, you’ll find your needs met with them.

A very important point to consider about IG is that they charge commissions in shares trading and for low volume traders, they can be quite expensive.

4. FxPro - Best in execution speed

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74.46% of retail CFD accounts lose money.

FxPro is a regulated global brokerage firm offering a vast array of tradable instruments including CFDs on FX, Stocks, Crypto, Commodities, Indices, Energies and Futures.

Key data
EUR/USD Spread	Dynamic - From 1.2 Pips
Commissions	No commissions on MT4 & 5 ($45 per $1million USD traded on cTrader.
Minimum Deposit	$100
Financial Regulators	CySec, ASIC, SCB, FSCA.
MT4	Yes
MT5	Yes
cTrader	Yes
TradingView	No
Proprietary Platform	Yes

FxPro holds 4 financial licenses from which 1 belongs to a high tier regulator. Their specialty is definitely forex as they pride themselves on having one of the best execution speeds in the industry (14 ms).

The Good	The Bad
Moderate asset offering (around 2,500+ instruments) Great plafform variety (FxPro Edge CFD, MetaTrader 4 & 5, cTrader)	No real stocks or ETFs Proprietary platform is not user friendly

If you’re looking for a broker that offers MetaTrader 4 and has over 2,500+ different financial instruments to trade, FxPro can definitely be a great choice for you.

5. ETX Capital - Best in no commissions offering

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Founded in 1965, ETX Capital dedicated the last decades to both spread betting and CFD trading until their recent rebranding into OvalX.

Key data
EUR/USD Spread	Dynamic - From 0.6 Pips
Commissions	Depending on asset class. (Eg: U.S shares have a 2 cents per share charge with a minimum of $15 per order, European shares have a 0.1% of transaction value charge with a minimum 10 € charge)
Minimum Deposit	From $100 to $10,000
Financial Regulators	FCA, FSCA, CySec.
MT4	Yes
MT5	No
cTrader	No
TradingView	No
Proprietary Platform	Yes

ETX Capital holds 3 financial licenses from which 1 belongs to a high tier regulator. Their specialty is providing a wide variety of assets (over 5,000+) from which 250 are commission free.

The Good	The Bad
Commission-free trades for 250 equities Low minimum deposit to open standard account (100£) Wide selection of commodity futures and bonds Decent educational material for market research, including seminars on indices, commodities and currencies	Doesn’t provide live news feed on standard account No ability to purchase real stocks or ETFs (All assets are CFDs) Expensive commissions on shares (Eg minimum $15 on US shares, 10 € on EU shares)

ETX Capital’s proprietary platform is quite friendly and easy to use yet for those looking for MetaTrader 4, they’ll find that they decided to create a “remastered” version of it to fit at their client’s convenience.