Rakuten Securities Review 2021

Rakuten Securities has low forex and average CFD trading fees. Non-trading fees are average, as there is no inactivity fee, but a withdrawal fee is charged on international bank transfers and electronic wallets.

How we ranked fees

We ranked Rakuten Securities'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 Rakuten Securities 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 Rakuten Securities's fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, Tickmill and Oanda. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of Rakuten Securities alternatives.

To have a clear overview of Rakuten Securities, let's start with its trading fees.

Rakuten Securities trading fees

Rakuten Securities has low trading fees. 

We know it is super hard to compare trading fees for forex 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 in each asset class usually provided by forex brokers:

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

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

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

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

Forex fees

Rakuten Securities forex fees are low.

CFD fees

Rakuten Securities has low CFD fees.

Non-trading fees

Rakuten Securities has average non-trading fees. There are no inactivity, account or deposit fees. 

On the other hand, for international bank transfers and electronic wallets, there is a high withdrawal fee. You have to pay $25 for an international bank transfer and 2% of the withdrawn amount when using e-wallets like Skrill or Neteller.

The account opening at Rakuten Securities is user-friendly and fully digital. It is also very fast, as it took only 1 day for our account to be approved.

Can you open an account?

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74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

What is the minimum deposit at Rakuten Securities?

The required Rakuten Securities minimum deposit is $50. For using the copy trading service, a minimum $1,000 account balance is required.

Account types

You can choose from several account types at Rakuten Securities:

• Standard Individual: account is owned by an individual.
• Islamic Account or Swap-free Account: account is owned by a Muslim individual. At these accounts, a flat commission is charged if you hold your leveraged position overnight, instead of a percentage-based financing rate.
• Corporate Account: account is owned by a legal entity.

How to open your account

Rakuten Securities account opening is easy and fully digital. The online application takes roughly 10-15 minutes and the account approval took one business day. 

Here are the five steps of opening an account at Rakuten Securities:

1. Provide your personal details, like email address and date of birth.
2. Add your residency and employment status.
3. Complete a survey about your trading experience.
4. Choose the account type, leverage and the base currency.
5. Verify your identity and residency by uploading a copy of your passport/ID, and a bank statement or utility bill. If you choose an Islamic account, you have to verify your Islamic faith.

Rakuten Securities charges no deposit fees and the process is user-friendly, with even electronic wallets available. However, bank cards are not accepted, withdrawal is slow and can be expensive.

Account base currencies

At Rakuten Securities, you can choose from 4 base currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, AUD.

Why does this matter? For two reasons. If you fund your trading account in the same currency as your bank account or you trade assets in the same currency as your trading account base currency, you don't 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. These 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.

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Deposit fees and options

Rakuten Securities charges no deposit fees. However, international transfers might carry a charge at your bank.

You can use bank transfers and some electronic wallets, such as Neteller, Skrill and China UnionPay for the deposit payment.  

If you have a bank account at a major bank in Malaysia, Thailand or Indonesia, or you use an electronic wallet, you can deposit instantly.

We tested the bank transfer deposit, which took 3 business days. You can only deposit money from accounts that are in your name.

Rakuten Securities withdrawal fees and options

Withdrawals are free within Australia, but in the case of international bank transfers there is a $25 withdrawal fee. Withdrawals through Skrill and Neteller cost 2% of the total transferred amount.

How long does it take to withdraw money from Rakuten Securities? We tested the bank transfer 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 Rakuten Securities? Follow the steps below.

1. Transfer from your Rakuten account, called Standard, to your Rakuten wallet.
2. Select the withdrawal method you want to use.
3. Enter the withdrawal amount and the reason for withdrawal.
4. Initiate the withdrawal.

At Skrill and Neteller, you cannot withdraw more than you deposited via these services. For example, if you deposited $100 using these, then you can only withdraw up to $100.

Compare to other brokers

Rakuten Securities doesn't offer a web trading platform, only mobile and desktop trading platforms. This is quite unusual for an online broker.

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74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Rakuten Securities has a good, well-designed and user-friendly mobile trading platform, offered by MetaTrader 4. On the negative side, it lacks a safer, two-step login.

Rakuten Securities doesn't have an in-house developed trading platform, it uses MetaTrader 4, a third-party platform. MetaTrader 4 is available for both iOS and Android. We tested it on Android.

After you download the MT4 mobile trading platform, you have to access the following MT4 server: RakutenSecuritiesAustralia-live. 

You can choose from a many languages on the mobile trading platform. Changing the language is a bit tricky on Android devices, as you have to change the default language of your mobile.

Look and feel

Rakuten Securities has a good mobile trading platform, we really liked its design and user-friendliness. You will easily find all the features you need.

Login and security

Rakuten Securities provides only a one-step login. A two-step login would be safer.

You can't use fingerprint or Face ID authentication. Providing this feature would be more convenient.

Search functions

The search functions are good. You can search by typing the name of the product or by navigating the category folders. On the other hand, the categorization of the assets is a bit confusing, as there are several different forex folders.

Placing orders

You will not find very sophisticated orders, such as 'one-cancels-the-other'. 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 canceled (GTC)
• Good 'til time (GTT)

Alerts and notifications

You can't set alerts and notifications on the Rakuten Securities mobile platform. However, you can set mobile push notifications on the desktop trading platform. It would be much easier if you could set these notifications within the mobile platform.

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Rakuten Securities uses the MetaTrader desktop trading platform, which is highly customizable, with a clear fee report and price alerts. However, it lacks two-step login and its design is outdated.

Similarly to the mobile trading platform, the desktop trading platform is provided by MetaTrader 4, a third party.

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

Look and feel

Rakuten Securities's desktop 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 some time until we found how to add an asset to the watchlist.

Login and security

Rakuten Securities provides only a one-step login. A two-step authentication would be more secure.

Search functions

The search functions are OK. You can find the assets in categories. However, categorization is a bit confusing, as there are several forex categories. We also missed the usual search function where you can just type in the asset's name manually.

Placing orders

You can use the same order types (with trailing stop as an additional option) and order time limits as on the mobile trading platform.

Alerts and notifications

You can set alerts and notifications to be received via email, a push notification to mobile, or a notification on the desktop platform. 

To set email or mobile notifications, you have to add your email address and your mobile MetaQuotes ID (you can find it in the MT4 app's settings). You can do this by going to 'Tools' and then 'Options'.

Portfolio and fee reports

Rakuten Securities has clear portfolio and fee reports. You can easily find your profit-loss balance and see the commissions you paid. These reports can be found under the 'Account History' tab: right click on a position, then choose 'Save as Detailed Report'.

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74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

At Rakuten Securities you can only trade some forex pairs and CFDs. A lot of popular asset types, like stocks, ETFs and funds, are not available.

Rakuten Securities is a forex broker that also offers some CFDs. To learn more about CFDs read our article on CFD trading tips.

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 74-89% 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.

Rakuten Securities has a limited product portfolio. You can only trade forex, stock index CFDs and commodity CFDs. The broker does not offer any stock CFDs, bond CFDs, or crypto CFDs. This selection compares poorly to the (also limited) product portfolios of similar competitors.

When opening your account, you can select the maximum leverage levels: 100:1 or 400:1. These maximum levels are much higher than in the EU, since Rakuten Securities is regulated in Australia.

You cannot change the default leverage level of the products. We think this is an important negative factor, as you should be able to change the leverage according to your preferences. Changing the leverage manually is a very useful feature when you want to lower the risk of your trade. For example, instead of trading with 5:1 leverage, you can reduce your risk by trading with only 2:1 leverage in case of stock CFDs.

Be careful with forex and CFD trading, since the preset leverage levels are high.

Social trading

Rakuten Securities offers a social trading service through MyFXBook, a third-party service provider. This service allows you to copy others' trades.

Rakuten Securities's research tools could be much better: some trading ideas are available, but many of them are outdated. Fundamental data is also missing and the news feed is low-quality.

Trading ideas

Rakuten Securities provides trading ideas on the website based on technical analysis, but it seemed that they haven't been updated for several months. In addition, the recommendations are available only for a few selected products. The fact that the research tools are on the website instead of the desktop trading platform makes usage a bit complicated.

Fundamental data

Rakuten Securities does not offer any fundamental data on assets.

Charting

Similar to the desktop trading platform, the charting tools are OK, but not outstanding. 

You can use 31 technical indicators alongside 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 had a hard time finding how to remove an indicator from the chart.

News feed

There is no news feed on the desktop trading platform.

You can find daily market updates on the website, but they cover only a few products and are outdated, often several months old.

Compare research pros and cons

Rakuten Securities customer service gives fast and relevant answers via email. However, live chat and phone support is slow and unsatisfactory, and is not available 24/7.

You can contact Rakuten Securities via:

• live chat
• phone
• email

Rakuten Securities has a slow live chat and phone support, and we received irrelevant answers on both channels. On the other hand, email customer service works well as we got quick and relevant answers.

We missed 24/7 availability. We also missed information on what time zone customer service is available in.

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74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Rakuten Securities offers quality educational texts, webinars and a demo account as an educational tool. However, there are no instructional videos or other material available.

At Rakuten, you can learn from articles, webinars and by opening a demo account.

You can open a demo account by providing some personal details, and selecting the base currency, leverage and balance.

Rakuten Securities also has a 'Learn' section on its website, but there is no content uploaded.

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74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Rakuten Securities is regulated by a top-tier authority and its parent company is publicly listed. On the negative side, it does not provide investor or negative balance protection.

Is Rakuten Securities regulated?

Yes, it is regulated by one of the top-tier regulators, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Is Rakuten Securities safe?

To be certain if a brokerage is safe, we highly advise to check two facts:

• how you are protected if something goes wrong
• what the background of the broker is.

How you are protected

The investor protection amount differs from entity to entity and can be very different across locations. Rakuten Securities is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Be careful, as ASIC does not require Australian brokers to provide any monetary investor protection, so not a single dime of your investment is protected! 

In addition, Rakuten Securities does not provide negative balance protection either, so you can lose more than your deposited money.

Background

On the other hand, the background of the broker matters a lot, as a strong parent company reduces the chance that the company can go bust, and we have good news in this respect. 

Rakuten Securities is owned by Rakuten, one of the largest holding companies in Japan, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. This is a good sign, as listed companies are under more scrutiny than private companies and also have to release financial statements regularly and transparently.

The Rakuten holding group is a legal entity that holds a banking license, called Rakuten Bank. This is also a good sign for safety because companies with banking licenses are subject to tougher regulations than brokers.

Rakuten Securities was established in 1999. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.

Being regulated by the ASIC and having a strong parent company are all good signs for Rakuten Securities's safety.

Find your safe broker

Rakuten Securities does not charge an inactivity fee and account opening is fast and easy. The mobile platform is user-friendly and well-designed.

On the other hand, Rakuten Securities offers only forex and some CFDs for trading. Customer service is poor and we also missed the availability of a web trading platform.

Feel free to try Rakuten Securities, as you will have an account within a day and there is no inactivity fee. 

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74-89% of retail CFD accounts lose money

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

Lower fees, lower costs?

We detailed this in our Rakuten Securities fees article.

What about the minimum deposit?

Our ultimate guide to the Rakuten Securities minimum deposit is updated regularly.

How to start your Rakuten Securities account?

Look no further than our evaluation of the Rakuten Securities account opening.

How's their trading app?

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

Is the quality of customer service satisfactory?

All you need to know about the Rakuten Securities customer service.

Legit or scam?

Is Rakuten Securities 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 Rakuten Securities is really free.

Is this broker good for beginners?

We checked it in Is Rakuten Securities good for beginners.

Should you buy your silver bullets on Rakuten Securities?

Research for silver bugs in the Silver buy on Rakuten Securities guide

I want to trade options, are they available at Rakuten Securities?

We explored the topic in Can you trade options on Rakuten Securities?