5 Best South African MetaTrader 5 (MT5) Brokers List

By Stefano Treviso, Updated on: Jan 22 2024.

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 (BTW, find out more When is the Best Time to Trade Forex in South Africa).

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

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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. They're part of Playtech Ltd (a publicly traded company on the LSX).

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 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

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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 value financial regulators. Their specialty is definitely currencies trading as they provide fixed spreads and 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

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

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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 including their (FSCA one). Their specialty is currency trading as they pride themselves on having an execution speed below 14ms.

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

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

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71% of retail CFD accounts lose money.

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: Classic account has no commissions Pro account has a commission of 2 units of your base currency round turn per lot VIP account has a commission of 1 unit of your base currency round turn per lot
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 South African brokers.

The Good	The Bad
Very low and competitive spreads depending on the account type Leverage can be either removed or customised for the whole account	Extremely low asset offering (over 80+ instruments in total) All of Tickmill’s assets are CFDs (users can’t purchase real stocks or ETFs)

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

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Your Capital is at risk.

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 Standard account there are no commissions For Zero account there is a commission of $3.5 per lot round turn 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
Possibility to invest in real stocks and ETFs or trade CFDs Proprietary platform ThinkTrader is smooth and user friendly Spreads are very competitive when compared to similar competitors	Real stocks or ETFs are only from ASX (Australian Securities Exchange) Expensive stock trading commissions ($8 flat fee for ASX shares or ETFs) While their stock and ETFs offering is great, they lack variety in all other asset classes

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.