AvaTrade Review 2023

How we ranked fees

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

First, let's go over some basic terms related to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees and non-trading fees.

• Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions, spreads, financing rates and conversion fees.
• Non-trading fees include charges not directly related to trading, like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

In the sections below, you will find the most relevant fees of AvaTrade for each asset class. For example, in the case of forex and stock index trading the most important fees are spreads, commissions and financing rates.

We also compared AvaTrade's fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, XM and Admirals (Admiral Markets). This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of AvaTrade alternatives.

To have a clear overview of AvaTrade, let's start with the trading fees.

AvaTrade trading fees

AvaTrade trading fees are low. The fee structure is very transparent and trading costs are easy to calculate. However, if fee levels for forex pairs are your most important consideration, then there may be better alternatives.

We know it is hard to compare trading fees for CFD brokers. So how did we approach the problem of making their fees clear and comparable? We compare brokers by calculating all fees of a typical trade for selected products.

We have chosen popular instruments within each asset class:

• Stock index CFDs: SPX and EUSTX50
• Stock CFDs: Apple and Vodafone
• Forex: EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, EURCHF and EURGBP

A typical trade means buying a leveraged position, holding it for one week and then selling. For the volume, we chose a $2,000 position for the stock index and stock CFDs and $20,000 for the forex transactions. The leverage we used was

• 20:1 for stock index CFDs
• 5:1 for stock CFDs
• 30:1 for forex

These catch-all benchmark fees include spreads, commissions and financing costs for all brokers. Let's see the verdict for AvaTrade fees.

CFD fees

AvaTrade has low CFD trading fees.

Forex fees

AvaTrade forex fees are not the best on the market, they are rather average.

Forex trading fees at AvaTrade are built into the spreads.

As a plus, Forex fees at AvaTrade are really transparent. The company offers a handy Forex Calculator that lets you to calculate your next forex position in a few simple steps:

1. Pick the instrument you want to trade
2. Set your account currency
3. Choose your preferred leverage level
4. Select whether to buy or sell
5. Set the parameters of your planned trade (volume, etc)

Non-trading fees

AvaTrade has mixed non-trading fees. AvaTrade doesn't charge any account fees, while deposits and withdrawals are also free of charge.

On the negative side, AvaTrade charges an inactivity fee of $50/€50/£50 (depending on your account currency) per quarter after 3 straight months of inactivity. On top of that, after 12 consecutive months of non-use, an annual administration fee of $100/€100/£100 will be deducted. When added up, these inactivity-related fees are quite high compared with AvaTrade's peers.

Can you open an account?

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Clients from almost all countries are accepted by AvaTrade, with some exceptions including the US, Canada, Belgium or Iran. AvaTrade operates under a different brand, Atrade in Israel, though we have not tested their services.

What is the minimum deposit at AvaTrade?

The required AvaTrade minimum deposit is $100 via credit/debit cards, wire transfers or e-wallets.

Account types

The types of accounts available at AvaTrade are:

• Retail account (EU) / Standard account (Rest of the world) - account is owned by an individual
• Corporate account - account is owned by a legal entity
• AvaOptions account - to trade FX options
• Spread betting account - offered only in the UK and Ireland
• Islamic account - a swap-free account to meet Sharia requirements

If you are an experienced trader, you can request AvaTrade to open a Professional Trading account for you, where the leverage is higher than in the Standard account. This requires that you have relevant experience in the financial sector and sufficient trading activity in the past 12 months, and hold at least €500,000 portfolio value.

A demo account is also offered.

In this review, we tested the EU retail account.

How to open your account

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

1. Enter some basic personal data (you can use your existing profiles on Facebook or Google as a shortcut)
2. Fill in information on your employment, savings and income status
3. Answer a few questions assessing your trading experience, knowledge and goals
4. Verify your identity and residency by uploading a copy of your ID card, driver's license or passport; as well as a copy of a recent utility bill or bank statement

Account base currencies

At AvaTrade, you can choose from the following base currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, CHF, AUD, ZAR and JPY. AUD is only available for Australian clients, CHF is only for Swiss clients, JPY only for Japanese clients and ZAR is only for South African clients.

This selection is similar when compared with rival brokers.

Why does this matter? For two reasons. 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 currency conversion fees is by opening a multi-currency bank account at a digital bank. They usually offer bank accounts in several currencies with great currency exchange rates, as well as free or cheap international bank transfers. Opening an account only takes a few minutes on your phone.

Compare digital banks

Deposit fees and options

AvaTrade charges no deposit fees. In addition to making a deposit by bank transfer or credit/debit cards, you can also use electronic wallets, including the following (though some country restrictions usually apply):

• PayPal
• Neteller
• Skrill
• Klarna
• Webmoney
• POLi Payments
• Boleto
• Perfect Money

The minimum amount you can deposit is $100 or 100 units in any of the other base currencies.

Please note that although depositing with credit/debit cards is usually instant, your first such transaction may take up to 1 business day to go through (it took us about 4-5 hours). This is because AvaTrade carries out a security verification for each card when it is used for the first time.

If you prefer depositing via bank transfer, this can take several business days. You can only deposit money from accounts that are in your name.

AvaTrade withdrawal fees and options

AvaTrade doesn't charge any withdrawal fees. You can use the same options for withdrawal as for deposits.

As a general rule, withdrawals can only be sent via payment methods by which you funded your account with. For example, if you have earlier deposited $1,000 by credit card, the first $1,000 you withdraw must go to your credit card before you can use any other method (such as bank transfer) to withdraw additional funds. This is a quite common rule among similar brokers, required by anti-money laundering regulations.

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

You can only withdraw money to accounts that are in your name.

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

• Log in to your AvaTrade account
• Go to 'Withdraw' in the main menu that opens from the top left corner
• Select the withdrawal method
• Add the amount you wish to withdraw

AvaTrade offers several trading platforms to choose from:

• WebTrader, AvaTrade's own trading platform
• MetaTrader 4, a third-party trading platform
• MetaTrader 5, a third-party trading platform
• AvaOptions, AvaTrade's own trading platform for CFD options

In this review, we tested WebTrader, MetaTrader 4 and AvaOptions, as these are the most popular among customers. Our scoring and Pro/Con list are based on our assessment of the WebTrader platform.

Note that most ETF CFDs and individual stock CFDs can be traded only on the MT5 platform and not on MT4 or the WebTrader platform.

Webtrader

Webtrader is available in many languages: English, Dutch, Hungarian, Swedish, Thai, Indonesian, German, French, Chinese, Polish, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, Mongolian, Russian, Turkish and Japanese.

Look and feel

Webtrader is user-friendly and well designed. Even first-timers can easily handle the platform. However, it's not customizable; for example, you can't change the size and position of the tabs.

Login and security

WebTrader only offers one-step login. A two-step login procedure would provide an added layer of security.

Search functions

The platform's search functions work well. You can search by starting to type an asset's name or by clicking one of the asset categories.

Placing orders

You can use only basic order types:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop

To get a better understanding of these terms, read this overview of order types. There is also a Good 'til time (GTT) order time limit you can use to set an exact date and time for the expiry of an order.

A unique feature offered by AvaTrade is AvaProtect: it's basically a hedge/insurance you can buy, for a pre-determined fee depending on how long you want your trade to be insured (1 hour, 1 day, etc). Should you have any losses on that trade, AvaTrade will reimburse your losses. Note that you can't use this feature on limit orders, only on market orders.

Alerts and notifications

Unfortunately, you can't set price alerts and notifications.

Portfolio and fee reports

AvaTrade provides clear portfolio and fee reports. You can find them under the 'History' section. Also, if you click on your positions, you can see the swaps charged.

MetaTrader 4

MetaTrader 4 is available in an exceptionally large number of languages.

Look and feel

MetaTrader 4 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 us a while to figure out how to add an asset to the watchlist.

Login and security

Just like the WebTrader platform, MetaTrader 4 provides only one-step login. Two-step authentication would be more secure.

Search functions

The search functions are OK. You can find assets grouped into categories. However, we missed the usual search function where you can type an asset's name manually.

Placing orders

You can use only basic order types. You will not find very sophisticated orders like the 'one cancels the other' order. The following order types are available:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop

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

There are also order time limits you can use:

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

Alerts and notifications

You can't set alerts and notifications on MetaTrader 4 web trading platform. This feature is available only on the mobile app and on the desktop trading platform.

Portfolio and fee reports

MetaTrader 4 has clear portfolio and fee reports. You can easily see your profit-loss balance and the commissions you paid. These reports can be found under the 'History' tab. We didn't find a way to download them, though.

AvaOptions

AvaOptions is AvaTrade's own options-focused platform. The platform is available only in English.

Look and feel

AvaOptions is an intuitive and well-designed platform. You can easily set the underlying asset and the strategy you would like to trade. However, it's not customizable; for example, you can't change the size and layout of the various sections.

Login and security

Just like the WebTrader platform, AvaOptions provides only one-step login. Two-step authentication would be more secure.

Search functions

The platform's search function works well. You can search by simply starting to type an asset's name.

Placing orders

First, you can select from a list of option trading strategies.

After that, you can set all the details of the trade on an easy-to-use graphical interface.

Alerts and notifications

Unfortunately, you can't set price alerts and notifications.

Portfolio and fee reports

AvaTrade provides clear portfolio and fee reports. You can find them under the 'History' section. Also, if you click on your positions, you can see the swaps charged.

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AvaTrade offers three mobile trading platforms:

• AvaTradeGO, AvaTrade's own mobile app
• AvaOptions, AvaTrade's own mobile app for trading forex options
• MetaTrader 4, a well-established third-party trading platform.

In this review, we tested AvaTradeGO, the platform used by most clients. It is available for both Android and iOS. We tested it on Android.

Unlike the MetaTrader trading platforms, AvaTradeGO is available only in English.

Look and feel

The AvaTrade mobile trading platform looks nice and is user-friendly.

Beyond the usual mobile functions such as search or alerts, even education videos and customer support chat are available right inside the app.

Login and security

By default, AvaTrade provides only one-step login. For added convenience, though, you can also set up biometric or PIN code authentication.

Search functions

The app's search functions are good. When you search by typing an asset's name, a list of relevant results appears. Another way is to browse the various asset categories.

Placing orders

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

• Market
• Limit
• Stop

Similarly to the web platform, the mobile app also offers the AvaProtect insurance feature.

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 that will send you push notifications. Additionally, you can also set expiration criteria to these alerts and notifications.

AvaOptions Mobile

AvaTrade's AvaOptions is available for mobile devices as well. It has the same functionalities as the browser version, However, sometimes it can feel clunky.

Look and feel

AvaOptions is exactly the same as on the web. The platform is well designed and has lots of functionalities despite being a mobile platform, but can be hard to navigate on a mobile device. For starters, you can view the platform only in horizontal mode.

Login and security

Just like the WebTrader platform, AvaOptions provides only one-step login. Two-step authentication would be more secure.

Search functions

The platform's search function is hard to find. You have to tap on the pencil icon on the top left, under the Ava logo.

Placing orders

The AvaOptions mobile provides the same options strategies and trade details as the web platform.

Alerts and notifications

Unfortunately, you can't set price alerts and notifications.

Portfolio and fee reports

AvaOptions provides clear portfolio and fee reports. You can find them under the 'My Account' and 'History' sections. Also, if you click on your positions, you can see the swaps charged.

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You can use MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and AvaOptions as desktop trading platforms. The latter is only for trading 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, is available in the same languages, offers the same order types (trailing stop is also available), has the same search functions, and offers the same portfolio and fee reports as the MT4 web trading platform. These reports can be found under the 'Account History' tab: right click on one position, then choose 'Save as Detailed Report'.

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

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Disclaimer: 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 is a forex broker but also offers some CFDs. To learn more about CFDs, read our CFD trading tips.

AvaTrade's currency pair selection is OK, in the same ballpark as its closest competitors. CFD coverage of individual stocks and ETFs is rather average. Most of these stocks can only be traded on the MT5 platform and not on the MT4 or WebTrader platforms.

Bond CFDs include Japanese and European government bonds. Unlike at many brokers, at AvaTrade you can also trade the VIX index.

Additionally, FX options are available through the AvaOptions platform. At AvaOptions, you can trade more than 40 different instruments. For this, you'll need a separate account from the main account.

Automated Trading

AvaTrade offers automated trading through DupliTrade. The minimum deposit is $2,000. 

AvaTrade provides research tools in different places:

• WebTrader trading platform
• MetaTrader trading platform
• AvaOptions trading platform
• Website

We tested AvaTrade's research tools on WebTrader, as they're the best ones in our opinion. Research tools are user-friendly and available in the same languages as the WebTrader trading platform.

Trading ideas

AvaTrade provides trading ideas through Trading Central, a third-party research provider. The ideas are based purely on technical analysis, and cover certain commodities, stock indices, as well as most FX pairs. You can find them if you click 'Trading Central', then 'Analysts Views' or 'Forex Featured Ideas'.

Fundamental data

The best place to access fundamental data is AvaTrade's economic calendar. We really liked the feature that allows you to gauge historical volatility and trends: for example, if you see that a Bank of Canada interest rate decision is coming up, you can click the 'impact' button and see how the USD/CAD price evolved after recent decisions.

We missed fundamental data on stocks, however.

Charting

AvaTrade has good charting tools. You can easily edit the charts and the interface has a great design. There are 90 technical indicators you can use, which we thought was more than enough.

News feed

We liked AvaTrade's news feeds, provided by Trading Central. You can find them under the 'Market Buzz' section.

Not only can you filter the news feeds for a specific asset, but you are also shown a sentiment score for that asset. For example, if all the articles are bullish/positive, then a 100% positive score is given.

Additionally, there's a tool called Trend Analysis that bluntly says if the asset "might fall" or "might rise" x or y%. The somewhat sensationalist headline is based on technical analysis by AI software that is also presented among trading ideas.

Overall, we wouldn't say that the quality of the information presented in 'Market Buzz' is good enough to base your trading decisions on, but it's still much more useful compared with other MetaTrader brokers' news feeds.

Additionally, AvaTrade has a blog that posts daily market updates. It has the kind of content you can find at many similar outlets: news (current events, both politics and economy), as well as regular market commentary presented in videos, where they also show some technical analysis and setups.

Compare research pros and cons

You can contact AvaTrade via:

• live chat
• phone
• email

AvaTrade has a great live chat. There were no long waiting times; we were able to reach a customer support agent almost immediately.

We got relevant and detailed answers. Besides English, you can chat in many other languages including Arabic, Chinese, French, Italian, German or Russian, among others.

AvaTrade phone support is OK. On the website, you can find a long list of local telephone numbers for most countries, so you don't have to dial an international number. We had mixed results when trying to call customer service: sometimes we could immediately speak to an agent (in English); however, at another time, the phone call was disconnected after 3+ minutes of waiting time.

We received answers to our emails within a day, which is quite fast. On one occasion, though, the response we received didn't directly answer our question, but merely referred to a link.

We missed 24/7 availability. AvaTrade customer support is only available 24/5, which is still considered quite good.

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AvaTrade's education section is great, offering several learning opportunities when it comes to trading basics, economic indicators or charting.

You can learn in the following ways:

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

Within the video library, you'll find a good number of videos, most of which are great quality. AvaTrade also provides webinars on a regular basis.

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Is AvaTrade regulated?

Yes, it is regulated by numerous authorities across the world, including some top-tier ones:

• 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)
• the Financial Futures Association of Japan (FFAJ)
• the Abu Dhabi Global Market Authorities Financial Services Regulatory Authority (ADGM – FSRA)
• Israel Securities Authority (ISA)

Also, AVA Trade EU Ltd operates a Polish Branch under the AvaTrade EU authorization, which has been approved by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority.

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
• what the background of the broker is

How you are protected

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

AvaTrade provides negative balance protection for retail clients.

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 authorities, including some top-tier ones, are all great signs for AvaTrade's safety.

Find your safe broker

We recommend AvaTrade for forex and cfd traders looking for an option to use metatrader platforms.

Below you can find links to all aspects of AvaTrade in this comprehensive collection.

Lower fees, lower costs?

We detailed this in our AvaTrade fees article.

What about the minimum deposit?

Our ultimate guide to the AvaTrade minimum deposit is updated regularly.

How to start your AvaTrade account?

Look no further than our evaluation of the AvaTrade account opening.

How's their trading app?

Here's our expert view after checking the AvaTrade trading app.

Is the quality of customer service satisfactory?

All you need to know about the AvaTrade customer service.

Legit or scam?

Is AvaTrade legit features all the key aspects you need to look at to see if a broker is safe and legit.

Free or premium? Or both?

A glance at actual costs and whether AvaTrade is really free.

Is this broker good for beginners?

We checked it in Is AvaTrade good for beginners.

Should you buy your silver bullets on AvaTrade?

Research for silver bugs in the Silver buy on AvaTrade guide

I want to trade options, are they available at AvaTrade?

We explored the topic in Can you trade options on AvaTrade?

What is the minimum account balance at AvaTrade?

Check out the current account balance requirements at AvaTrade in our What is the minimum account balance at AvaTrade article.

Looking for commission and fees data for AvaTrade?

We collected them in AvaTrade commission and fees.

How do you withdraw money from AvaTrade?

We tested it and collected the options and costs in How to withdraw money on AvaTrade.

How to use AvaTrade?

All you need to know about using the broker in How to use AvaTrade?