AvaTrade Review

October 2023

76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

This broker started operations in 2006 and caters to over 300,000 traders globally. AvaTrade offers markets in FX, stock, indices, ETFs, bonds, cryptocurrencies and options. The broker offers an appropriate choice of online and mobile platforms. For those also trading options, they have their own proprietary trading platform. AvaTrade has received various rewards over the years, more recently Best Broker from the World Economic Magazine and Top 10 Brands of 2021 from The CEO VIEWS.

Pros

  • High level of regulation
  • Multiple Platforms
  • Proprietary Option Platform
  • Professional Accounts

Cons

  • Wider bid offer spreads
  • Limited number of instruments

Is Trading with AvaTrade safe?

AvaTrade is regulated across several jurisdictions, and by the following 5 top-tier regulatory bodies:

  1. Bank of Ireland (BOI) – the regulatory body for EU, licence approved by the FCA
  2. Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) – the regulatory body for the EU
  3. Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) – the regulatory body for Australia
  4. Financial Services Agency (FSA) & Financial Futures Association (FFA) – the regulatory bodies for Japan


All the regulatory bodies listed above guarantee the highest standards of transparency, financial accountability and trust.

Spreads & Fees

AvaTrade has slightly higher than average bid offer spreads, which may be compensated if you intend to make use of their proprietary platforms for mobile trading and options.

The table below shows the minimum spreads for each of the major forex pairs as listed on the AvaTrade website and compares them against the industry average.

Avatrade Spreads

Note: Spreads are variable and can change depending on the time of day and market conditions. For information purposes only.

AvaTrade’s bid offer spreads are slightly higher than average except for the EUR/USD. However, this may be justified if their proprietary platforms work particularly well for you, or you are going to use one of their extra features. They are one of the few brokers offering such a wide variety of trading methods. AvaTrade offers 3 copy trading services, automated trading and options. The copy trading services are, Duplitrade, ZuluTrade and proprietary AvaSocial.

Platforms

AvaTrade offers the mainstream MetaTrader MT4 and MT5 alongside their proprietary WebTrader. The MetaTrader platforms have an advanced selection of technical analysis tools and are open source. If you’re able to write code you can install your own technical tools. If you’re not a programmer you can always hire a coder from the MetaTrader community.

The proprietary platform from AvaTrade is a web browser based app. With a functional interface supplying 90 technical indicators, and a set of trading tools from Trading Central incorporated into the platform. They also offer an excellent options trading platform, AvaOptions, for those of you who wish to use this type of derivative contract.

The broker also caters to those who wish to invest in copy trading. All three choices, mentioned earlier, are functional and allow you to assess their many top traders.

AvaTrade Platforms

Mobile Trading

MT4 and MT5 both have respective mobile apps, and AvaTrade has a proprietary mobile app called AvaTradeGO. All three apps are well designed and user friendly. AvaOptions also has a mobile app with some well-designed features. For example, you can change the strike price of the option by dragging it higher or lower on the screen.

The benefits of the AvaTrade mobile apps include:

  • Option strategy setup at the touch of a button
  • Full range on the mobile app of technical indicators and tools
  • Manage positions and trade on the go

All the mobile apps are available in both the App Store and Google Play.

AvaTrade Mobile

Education

AvaTrade stands out in this section with an extensive display of material. Under their Education tab, you will find various sub-sections. Under Trading Videos, they have 60 videos that cover various topics from trading platform tutorials to technical analysis. They also have a section dedicated to beginners, and one for Technical Trading Strategies.

Trading topics covered include:

  • Trading basic tutorials
  • Forex basics
  • Market analysis
  • Technical analysis
  • How to trade with candlestick patterns
  • How to trade with Forex chart patterns
  • RSI trading strategies
  • Simple and advanced chart patterns
  • Developing a trading plan
  • Risk and reward in trading

The videos are aimed at beginner to intermediate traders, they are well-made, easy to follow and not too long. The written articles dig a bit deeper into the concepts of trading and technical analysis, with plenty of examples and are more extended.

Research

AvaTrade doesn’t have a strong in-house product in terms of research. There are no news feeds or timely articles on the market and economic events. The broker does have videos on YouTube that are uploaded as and when seems necessary.

The proprietary WebTrader and AvaTradeGO have news feeds and analyses from Trading Central. Trading Central supplies market insights and intelligence directly to AvaTrade traders through their platforms. The collaboration with Trading Central brings AvaTrade users trading plans, pattern recognition, fundamental research and a morning news brief.

For MT4 and MT5 traders, AvaTrade offers Trading Central's Analyst Views. This app is integrated into the MetaTrader platforms allowing you to generate actionable trade setups, recognize chart patterns, and receive trade ideas from the team of analysts at Trading Central.

Trader Support

The broker offers customer support in 29 languages, including French, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese and Arabic among others.

You can contact customer support via:

  • Telephone
  • Email

Verdict

AvaTrade is one of the few brokers out there that can offer retail traders the whole lineup of services. You can trade manually, automatically and you can also invest your money in copy trading other successful traders. Its platforms are state of the art, include an options dedicated platform, together with the MetaTrader platforms. The selection offers a comprehensive product in terms of tradability.

AvaTrade also offers full protection on your trades in return for a fee, called AvaProtect. Where for a limited amount of time your trade is fully protected if it goes against you. Overall we consider AvaTrade offers a full service in the world of retail trading. Its partnership with Trading Central and full protection from losses make it a valid choice.

76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.