AvaTrade Review 2019

AvaTrade was founded in 2006 and it is a global CFD and FX broker. It is regulated by several financial authorities globally, including the top-tier Central Bank of Ireland Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

AvaTrade is considered safe because it has a long track record and regulated by top-tier regulators.

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Recommended for forex and CFD traders looking for MetaTrader 4 platform.

AvaTrade pros and cons

AvaTrade has low trading fees. The account opening is user-friendly and fast. It offers a lot of deposit and withdrawals options and they are free of charge.

The product portfolio is limited as it offers only CFDs, forex, and cryptos. The research tools are limited as there are no trading ideas, fundamental data, or news. The telephone support is bad as they don't pick up the phone.

Compare to other brokers

AvaTrade review
Fees 4 stars

AvaTrade has low trading fees and there is no withdrawal fee. On the negative side, it has high financing rates and charges high inactivity fee.

We ranked AvaTrade's fee levels as low, average or high based on how they compare to those of all reviewed brokers.

To get things rolling, let's go over some lingo relating to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees, financing rates, and non-trading fees.

• Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions or spreads.
• Financing rates or overnight rates are charged when you hold your leveraged positions for more than a day. A leveraged position means that you borrow money from the broker to trade.
• Non-trading fees include things like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

We also compared AvaTrade's fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, XM and Plus500. This selection is based on factors like products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc.

Let's start with the trading fees.

Trading fees

AvaTrade trading fees are low.

It is super hard to compare trading fees for CFD brokers. What did we do at Brokerchooser? Instead of quoting long fee tables, we compare brokers by calculating all fees of a typical trade for three assets.

These are the assets we chose:

• Apple, a large US stock
• Vodafone, a large European stock
• EURUSD, a popular currency pair

A typical trade means buying a position, holding it for one week and then selling. For the volume, we chose a $2,000 position for the stocks and $20,000 for the EURUSD transaction.

This super catch-all benchmark includes spreads, commissions and financing costs for all brokers.

Here is the verdict. AvaTrade's stock CFD fees float between XM and Plus500, while forex fees are a bit higher than at competitors.

Financing rates

AvaTrade financing rates are generally high.

Financing rates are charged when you hold your leveraged positions for more than a day. It can be a significant proportion of your trading costs.

AvaTrade financing rates are only published on the trading platform, and the calculation method is not transparent.

Non-trading fees

AvaTrade has average non-trading fees. It charges no account and withdrawal fees.

However, it charges a high $50 per quarter fee after 3 months of inactivity.

AvaTrade review
Account opening 5 stars

Account opening at AvaTrade is super easy and fully online. You can start trading literally in minutes.

Can you open an account?

Almost all countries are accepted AvaTrade. There some exceptions, e.g. you can't open an account if you are from the US, Belgium, Iran, Israel, New Zealand, etc.

What is the minimum deposit at AvaTrade?

The required AvaTrade minimum deposit is $100 with credit cards and $500 for bank transfers. As usual, you deposit this amount after the account creation so you can test all platforms to make sure it fits your needs.

Account types

The types of accounts available at AvaTrade are

• Standard account - account is owned by an individual
• Corporate account - account is owned by a legal entity
• Islamic account - swap free account which means that it doesn't charge swaps for the account

As an additional account type, they also provide a demo account. It is ideal to test and simulate your trading strategy, but surprisingly the demo account looks different than the real trading account.

How to open your account

Creating an account is easy and quick, just like with other CFD/Forex brokers:

1. Input some of your basic personal data (you can use one of your social profiles like Facebook or Google, too)
2. Answer a couple of questions that assess your level of understanding in trading
3. Verify your identity and residency by uploading either a copy of your ID card, drivers license or passport and uploading a copy of a recent utility bill or a bank statement.

AvaTrade review
Deposit and withdrawal 5 stars

AvaTrade deposit and withdrawal are cost-friendly and can be done in several forms. However, the withdrawal took more than 3 business days.

Account base currencies

At AvaTrade, you can choose from these base currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, CHF, and AUD. AUD is available only for Australian clients.

This base currency offer floats between XM and Plus500.

Why does this matter? Two things. First, if you fund your account in the same currency as your bank account, you won't be charged a currency conversion fee. Second, if you trade assets in the same currency as your account base currency, you will not have to pay a conversion fee.

A convenient way to save on the currency conversion fees can be to open a multi-currency bank account. Revolut or Transferwise both offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. The account opening only takes a few minutes on your phone.

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Deposit fees and options

AvaTrade charges no deposit fees. Besides the bank transfer and credit/debit cards, you can use a lot of electronic wallets:

• Neteller
• Skrill

The minimum amount you can deposit is $100 or equivalent in other currencies.

When we deposited our account by using a debit card, it took 4-5 hours until the money arrived. Credit/debit cards transfer money should be instant and it was due that AvaTrade verified the deposit slowly.

If you prefer bank transfer, it can take several business days. You can only deposit money from accounts which are in your name.

Withdrawal fees and options

AvaTrade charges no withdrawal fees. You can use the same options for withdrawal as at the deposit.

For credit/debit cards, you can withdraw up to 200% of the amount you have deposited before. It means if you make a profit more than twice of the deposited amount and want to withdraw the whole amount, you have to use bank transfer.

How long does it take to withdraw money from AvaTrade? We tested the debit card withdrawal and it took more than 3 business days.

You can only withdraw money to accounts in your name.

How do you withdraw money from AvaTrade? You can withdraw money from AvaTrade by following these steps:

• Log into your AvaTrade account
• Go to Withdraw Funds
• Select the withdrawal method you want to use
• Add the amount you wish to withdraw

Compare to other brokers

AvaTrade review
Web trading platform 3 stars

AvaTrade's web trading platform is provided by MetaTrader. It is highly customizable, available in a lot of languages, and has a clear fee report. On the negative side, it lacks a two-step login and the design is outdated.

AvaTrade offers two web trading platforms:

• MetaTrader 4, a third-party trading platform
• AvaOptions, AvaTrade's own trading platform for forex options

For the purpose of this review, we used MetaTrader4 as most people will go for this.

MetaTrader 4 is available in exceptionally lot languages. 

Look and feel

AvaTrade's MetaTrader4 web trading platform has great customizability. You can easily change the size and the position of the tabs.

However, the platform feels outdated and some features are hard to find. For example, it took time until we found how we can add an asset to the watchlist.

Login and security

AvaTrade provides a one-step login. A two-step authentication would be more secure.

When you log in, you have to select MetaTrader 4 as AvaTrade gives access only to that platform, and doesn't give access to MetaTrader 5.

Search functions

The search functions are OK. As usual with MetaTrader, you can find the assets at the Symbols section. The assets are not very well structured though which makes it finding them a bit more cumbersome than it could be.

We missed the classical magnifying search function when you can type the assets' name manually.

Placing orders

You can use the basic order types. You will not find very sophisticated orders like the "one cancels the other" order.

• Market
• Limit
• Stop-loss

If you are not familiar with the order types, read this overview.

There are also order time limits you can use:

• Good 'til canceled (GTC)
• Good 'til time (GTT)

Alerts and notifications

You can't set alerts and notifications on the AvaTrade web trading platform. This feature is available only on the desktop trading platform.

Portfolio and fee reports

AvaTrade has clear portfolio and fee reports. You can easily see your profit-loss balance and the commissions you paid. These reports can be found at the History tab. We didn't find a way to download them. 

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71% of retail CFD accounts lose money

AvaTrade review
Mobile trading platform 4 stars

AvaTradeGo is a contemporary-looking, easy to use mobile application with a decent set of features. On the other hand, the order types are limited and it's available in English only.

AvaTrade offers two trading platforms:

• AvaTradeGO, AvaTrade's own mobile trading platform
• AvaOptions, AvaTrade's own mobile trading platform for trading with forex options.

In this review, we tested AvaTradeGO as most clients would use that trading platform. It is available for both Android and iOS. We tested on Android. 

In contrast with MetaTrader trading platforms, it is available only in English.

Look and feel

The AvaTrade mobile trading platform looks nice and it's user-friendly.

Beyond the usual mobile functions like search function or alerts, even education videos and the customer support chat are available right within the app. It's a nice and useful detail. 

Login and security

AvaTrade provides a one-step login.  As a plus, you can set a fingerprint login as well.

Search functions

The search functions are good. When you can search by typing the assets name, a relevant result list categorized appears.

Besides the classical magnifying search function, you can also find the assets through categories.

Placing orders

Similarly to the web trading platform, you can use only basic order types:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop Loss

There are also order time limits you can use:

• Good 'til canceled (GTC)
• Good 'til time (GTT)

Alerts and notifications

You can set price alerts which can send you push notifications. Additionally, you can also set an expiration to these alerts and notifications.

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71% of retail CFD accounts lose money

AvaTrade review
Desktop trading platform 3 stars

In design and functionalities, AvaTrade's MetaTrader 4 desktop platform is almost the same as the web trading platform. One major difference is that you can set price alerts on the desktop trading platform.

Similarly to the web trading platform, you can use MetaTrader 4 and AvaOptions as desktop trading platforms. The latter is only for trading with forex options.

In this review, we tested the MetaTrader 4 desktop trading platform as it offers more assets to trade, not just forex options.

It has the same design, available in the same languages, offers the same order types, has the same search functions, and offers the same portfolio and fee reports.

The major difference is that you can set alerts and notifications in the form of e-mail / push notification on mobile / notification on the desktop trading platform. To set email or mobile notifications, you have to add your email address and your mobile MetaQuotes ID (it can be found in MT4 app's settings). You can add them if you go to the Tools and then the Options.

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71% of retail CFD accounts lose money

AvaTrade review
Markets and products 1 stars

At AvaTrade, you can trade only with CFDs, forex, and cryptos. It doesn't offer real stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, bonds, options, and futures.

AvaTrade has great crypto, stock index CFD, commodity CFD, and forex offers. However, the stock CFD and ETF CFD offers are much fewer than at the competitors.

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

AvaTrade offers options on forex as well.

You cannot change the default leverage level of the products. However, we think this is something you should be in control of.

Social Trading

AvaTrade offers social trading through two third-parties, DupliTrade and ZuluTrade. Both services make you available to copy others' trades.

The minimum deposit for using ZuluTrade is $500, while $2,000 at DupliTrade.

AvaTrade review
Research 2 stars

AvaTrade's research can be improved. It lacks analyst recommendations, fundamental data, and news. As a plus, you can use Autochartist on the MetaTrader and there is a great trading calculator.

AvaTrade's research tools have two sources:

• "Trading" section on the website
• MetaTrader trading platform

Just like the website and the MetaTrader trading platform, these research tools are available in a lot of languages.

Trading ideas

AvaTrade does not provide trading ideas.

Fundamental data

AvaTrade does not offer fundamental data.

Charting

AvaTrade has OK charting tools. These charting tools can be found on the MetaTrader trading platforms. You can use 31 technical indicators and other editor tools, like trendlines or Fibonacci retracement.

On the negative side, the design is outdated and some features are hard to use. For example, we hardly found how we could remove an indicator from the chart.

You can also use a pattern recognition tool powered by Autochartist, a third-party provider.

News feed

The news is missing. As a plus, there is an economic calendar. However, its design is outdated and lacks a filter function.

Other research tools you will enjoy

On the website, you will find an easy to use a trading calculator. It helps you a lot to manage the risks.

Compare research pros and cons

AvaTrade review
Customer service 4 stars

AvaTrade offers a great live chat and fast email support. You can also contact them in local languages. On the negative side, the telephone support is bad and there is no 24/7 availability.

You can contact AvaTrade via:

• live chat
• telephone
• email

AvaTrade has a great live chat. We got relevant answers. Besides English, you can chat in a lot of other languages, like Arabic, Chinese, French, etc.

AvaTrade phone support can be improved. On the website, you can find a long list of telephone numbers for local countries. We tried to use the number there, but it didn't work. We tried to call the international phone number four times, but after 3+ minutes of waiting time, the phone call was ended.

On email, we received answers to our emails within a day which is quite fast. However, the answers we didn't get a detailed and helpful answer, the emails contained only a link.

We missed 24/7 availability as well.

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71% of retail CFD accounts lose money

AvaTrade review
Education 4 stars

Having a demo account is always a great way to learn. Beyond that AvaTrade offers several ways to educate yourself, all packed with quality materials.

The AvaTrade education section is great. You can learn in the following ways:

• Demo account
• Platform tutorial videos
• General educational videos
• Quality educational articles

Within video library, you will find exceptionally lot videos and they have a great quality.

The only missing part is regular webinars, which some other providers usually offer.

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71% of retail CFD accounts lose money

AvaTrade review
Safety

AvaTrade is regulated by a number of regulators. It is a well-established brand but it is not listed on any exchange, does not disclose financial information and does not have a bank parent.

Is AvaTrade regulated? Yes, it is regulated by numerous authorities and bodies across the world:

• the Central Bank of Ireland
• the B.V.I Financial Services Commission on the British Virgin Islands
• the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
• the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) in South Africa
• the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA)
• and the Financial Futures Association of Japan (FFAJ)

AvaTrade is based in Ireland and was founded in 2006. Is AvaTrade safe? To be certain, it is best to check two things: how you are protected if something goes wrong and what the background of the broker is.

How you are protected

AvaTrade operates more subsidiaries and depending on your residency, one of these subsidiaries will serve you. This is important for you because the investor protection amount and the regulator differ from entity to entity.

AvaTrade provides negative balance protection if you belong to the European entity, Ava Trade EU ltd.

Background

AvaTrade was established in 2006. The longer the track record of a broker, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.

Having a long track record and being regulated by several regulators including top-tier ones are all great signs for AvaTrade's safety.

Filter the brokers by investor protection

AvaTrade review
Bottom line

AvaTrade is regulated by more authorities globally, including the top-tier Central Bank of Ireland and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

On the plus side, the trading fees are low. We liked the seamless and hassle-free account opening. You can use a lot of deposit and withdrawal options and they are free of charge.

AvaTrade has some drawbacks though. The product range is limited to FX, CFDs, and cryptos. The research tools lack recommendations, fundamental data, and news. The telephone support is impossible to reach out.

As the trading fees are low, there is only a small minimum deposit, and inactivity fee only kicks in after three months, feel free to try AvaTrade.

AvaTrade main features and highlights

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71% of retail CFD accounts lose money