Aug 21 2023
Broker Rankings
5 Best South African MetaTrader 4 (MT4) Brokers List
Ranking list of the 5 best South African MetaTrader 4 (MT4) brokers, comparing trustworthiness, capabilities, fees and legitimacy versus each other.
5 Best South African MetaTrader 5 (MT5) Brokers List
By Stefano Treviso , Updated on: Aug 21 2023.
Here’s our selection of the 5 Best South African MetaTrader 5 (MT5) brokers for the year 2023:
| Broker | Reason |
|---|---|
| Markets.com | Best in most assets offered |
| AvaTrade | Best for experienced currency traders |
| FxPro |
Best in execution |
| Tickmill | Best FSCA alternative |
| ThinkMarkets | Best for share traders |
All the above brokers are required to possess a financial license from FSCA (Financial Sector Conduct Authority of South Africa). This grants South African traders 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 prior to being ranked using our comparison tool.
1. Markets.com - Best in most assets offered
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:
|
| 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. They're part of Playtech Ltd (a publicly traded company on the LSX).
| The Good | The Bad |
|---|---|
|
|
Markets.com offers the possibility to trade thousands of CFDs or to invest in more than 7,000+ real shares via their own proprietary platform or via MetaTrader 5. If having a massive asset variety is important for you, you’ll find yourself well-served with their offer. On the other hand, their spreads are not that competitive.
2. AvaTrade - Best for experienced currency traders
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 value financial regulators. Their specialty is definitely currencies trading as they provide fixed spreads and currency options.
| The Good | The Bad |
|---|---|
|
|
AvaTrade's spreads are not the most competitive in the industry, but if you’re an experienced trader looking for an interesting speculative or hedging strategy, you may find yourself well served with their currency options offering.
3. FxPro - Best in execution
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 including their (FSCA one). Their specialty is currency trading as they pride themselves on having an execution speed below 14ms.
| The Good | The Bad |
|---|---|
|
|
Execution is a very important point especially for professional high volume traders that execute strategies such as scalping as a few seconds difference can mean a massive profit or a massive loss. If execution speed is a very important point for you, you may find yourself well served with FxPro.
4. Tickmill - Best FSCA alternative
Tickmill is an international CFD broker headquartered in Cyprus that specialises in currency trading paired with MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms.
| Key data | |
|---|---|
| EUR/USD Spread | Dynamic- From 0 to 1.6 Pips |
| Commissions | Depending on account type:
|
| Minimum Deposit | $100 |
| Financial Regulators | CySec, FSA, FCA, FSA, FSCA. |
| MT4 | Yes |
| MT5 | Yes |
| cTrader | No |
| TradingView | No |
| Proprietary Platform | No |
Tickmill holds 5 financial licenses from which 1 belongs to a high value regulator. Despite their offering being well below their competitors we still decided to include them as an alternative for those specifically looking for FSCA regulated brokers.
| The Good | The Bad |
|---|---|
|
|
Tickmill has a very low instrument count, they are clearly specialised in Forex. Their biggest advantages are having very competitive spreads depending on the account type chosen. Their best account is called “VIP account” and it requires a minimum deposit of 50,000 ($,€,£) to gain access to their 1 commission per side per lot. This can only be considered effective if you’re a high net worth trader.
5. ThinkMarkets - Best for share traders
ThinkMarkets is a global broker headquartered in Australia that offers real stocks and ETFs along with CFDs on stocks, etfs, commodities, indices and cryptocurrencies accompanied by their proprietary platform: ThinkTrader.
| Key data | |
|---|---|
| EUR/USD Spread | Dynamic - From 0.4 to 1 Pip |
| Commissions |
For real stocks and ETFs investing, there is a flat fee of $8 per trade (in-and-out) or if the trade value is above $200,000 then a 0.05% fee per trade. |
| Minimum Deposit | From 0 to $500 |
| Financial Regulators | FCA, ASIC, FSAS, FSCA. |
| MT4 | Yes |
| MT5 | Yes |
| cTrader | No |
| TradingView | No |
| Proprietary Platform | Yes |
ThinkMarkets holds 4 financial licenses from which 2 belong to high value financial regulators. Their specialty is providing access to over 3,000+ ASX real shares or 1,250+ stock CFDs along with several other asset classes.
| The Good | The Bad |
|---|---|
|
|
ThinkMarkets offer is very competitive, they offer fractional share trading and their real share trading commissions are relatively low for ASX shares ($8 flat fee). If trading shares is a very important point for you, you may find their offer a good match.
