Wanna see if OANDA is a legit broker? Is it safe to trade? Is spread high or low? How long to deposit or withdraw funds?
We provide answers to all the questions in this OANDA Review.
We checked OANDA licenses and regulation status, compared OANDA Fees, spread & commission from the Live account to other 150 brokers. The time for deposit & withdrawal and many more findings, all you can get in this Review.
What is OANDA
OANDA is a global financial service corporation founded in 1996 with headquarters in USA. OANDA is one of the largest companies offering services in Foreign Exchange including Currency Exchange and Currency Converter, FX data services and CFD trading.
OANDA is regulated by several financial authorities including the respected CFTC in the US, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, Australian ASIC, IIROC in Canada, etc.
OANDA Highlights
🗺️ Regulated in | USA, UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Japan, Malta |
🛡️ Is OANDA safe to trade | Yes |
💵 EUR/USD spread | 1.2 pips |
🏦 Deposit | Cards, Bank Transfer, PayPal |
💰 Minimum deposit | US$0 |
🏦 Withdrawal | Cards, Bank Transfer, PayPal |
💻 Trading platform | OANDA Trade, MT4 |
💳 Trading markets | Forex, Indices, Commodities, Metals, Bonds |
📈 Number of product | 100+ |
📉 Live chat response | Instant and relevant answers |
Regulation
License and regulation are the keys to traders’ money security. There are two factors to check, the broker’s license with its background and how traders protected if anything go wrong.
Is OANDA legit
OANDA is regulated by several financial authorities with global coverage, including the USA Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Australia Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC). Asian region covered by MAS in Sigapore and Japan FFAJ.
OANDA Licenses and Regulatory status
Entity | Registered in | Regulator | License no. | Status |
OANDA Corporation | USA | Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) | No: 0325821 | Currently Regulated |
OANDA Europe Limited | United Kingdom | Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) | 542574 | Currently Regulated |
OANDA Australia Pty Ltd | Australia | Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) | ABN 26 152 088 349, AFSL No. 412981 | Currently Regulated |
OANDA (Canada) Corporation ULC | Canada | Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) | 09-0280 | Currently Regulated |
OANDA Asia Pacific Pte Ltd | Singapore | Monetary Authority Singapore (MAS) | 200704926K | Currently Regulated |
OANDA Japan Co., Ltd | Japan | Financial Futures Association of Japan (FFAJ) | (Kin-sho) No. 2137 | Currently Regulated |
OANDA Europe Markets Limited | Malta | Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) | C 95813 | Currently Regulated |

Is OANDA safe
OANDA considered safe because regulated by the top-tier CFTC, NFA, FCA, ASIC.
OANDA operates over seven fully legal and regulated entities allowing to serve traders worldwide from almost any region. Each entity applies specified laws and regulatory restrictions, also the amount of protection the trader get in case of insolvency.
OANDA Compensation Scheme
Entity | Compensation Amount | Negative Balance Protection |
OANDA Europe Limited | £85,000 | Yes |
OANDA Europe Markets Limited | €20,000 | Yes |
OANDA (Canada) Corporation ULC | CAD 1,000,000 | Yes |
OANDA Corporation | No Protection | Yes |
OANDA Japan Co., Ltd | No Protection | Yes |
OANDA Australia Pty Ltd | No Protection | Yes |
OANDA Asia Pacific Pte Ltd | No Protection | Yes |
We recommend registering trading account with the UK entity, if it’s possible for you
OANDA provides negative balance protection for the accounts that on trades went below zero.
Markets and Products
At OANDA there is a good range of product offering traded as CFDs and including Spread Betting for the UK residents.
Currency
OANDA main offering is based on Forex and Currency trading, where other instruments like Indices, Commodities, Cryptos like Bitcoin and Bonds are available. The missing point is Shares trading.
Forex
A good range of Forex pairs are available to trade as CFDs and/or Spread Betting.
Markets | Instruments |
Forex | 71 |
Indices | 16 |
Commodities | 31 |
Cryptocurrencies | 3 |
Bonds | 6 |
Shares | – |
Account types
OANDA has two account types, Standard and Premium account for higher account balances, where Premium account entitles extra benefits like free VPS, API trading and free Wire transfers.
There is sub-account that enables UK residents to trade Spread Betting.
Login
To login OANDA account you should follow registration and account opening to sign-up from the official website link.
Standard | Premium | |
Minimum Deposit | 0 USD/EUR/GBP | 20,000 USD/EUR/GBP |
Minimum Balance | – | 20,000 USD/EUR/GBP |
Spreads From | – | 1.4 pips |
Commissions | Zero Commissions | Zero Commissions |

Fees and commissions
Fee levels in OANDA ranked as average and low based on the instrument offering and compared to other 150 brokers Live account spread.
Spread we collect for popular instruments, 6 markets and 150 brokers
Markets | Instruments | Low | Average | High |
---|---|---|---|---|
Forex | EUR/USD | 0.1-0.9 | 1-1.5 | 1.6 or higher |
Indices | US S&P500 | 0.75-1 | ||
Commodities | Gold | 0.3-0.5 | ||
Stocks | Tesla | |||
ETFs | US Russell 2000 | |||
Cryptocurrencies | Bitcoin | 0.5-0.75% |
Spreads
OANDA CFD trading costs are built into a floating spread, however fee structure depending on the entity. E.g. US traders can choose between spread and commission basis.
Comparing the spreads derived from Live Account to industry benchmarks, we found OANDA Live spread on Forex and Stocks are low. While the spreads on CFD ETFs and Commodities are high.
Markets | Instruments | Trading Spread | Other brokers’ avg spread |
Forex | EUR/USD | 0.6 | 1-1.5 |
Indices | US S&P500 | 0.4 | |
Commodities | Gold | 2.5 | |
Stocks | Tesla | Not available | |
ETFs | US Russell2000 | 3 | |
Cryptocurrencies | Bitcoin | 36 |
Currency Converter
OANDA Currency Converter is additional and separate from the trading offering service that provides option to exchange currencies through real-time rates, also transfer funds. This service is very convenient and accessible through OANDA website – Currency Conversion.
Historical Rates
OANDA provides historical rates for both services Historical Exchange Rates and Historical Currency Converter with 25 years exchange rata data.
Other Fees
OANDA has low non-trading fees. There are no fees for deposits and withdrawals are available for free.
However, there is an inactivity fee for an account with no activity of 12 months and conversion fees for CFD trading of other currencies different from your account currency applying 0.5% markup.
Trading Conditions
The trading conditions at OANDA are good. You can deploy Hedging available on MT4 platform and Scalping strategies.
Trading Conditions | Yes/No |
Hedging Allowed | Yes |
Scalping Allowed | Yes |
Change Leverage Allowed | Yes |
For hedging, there are no time limitations for keeping your open hedging positions. However, hedging is not available in the US due to regulations.
For scalping, OANDA does not restrict timing or profits so scalpers are welcomed.
Expert Advisors (EAs) are available via the MT4 platform. VPS is provided by subscription through partners OANDA cooperates with, including BeeksFX, CNS and LiquidityConnect.
OANDA allows to use leverage for CFD trading, the levels are defined by both the instrument you trade and regulatory restrictions likewise.
Deposit
OANDA has no deposit fees.
Various payments options are supported, but vary according to enitity regulation, including Bank transfer, Credit or Debit cards, electronic wallets, PayPal.
A bank transfer can take several business days, while alternative payments are almost instant.
Deposit Method | Funding Time | Fee |
Credit Card | Instant | Free |
PayPal | 1 Business day | Free |
Wire Transfer | Few business days | Free |

Minimum Deposit
There is no minimum deposit requirement for Standard account, Premium account requires 20,000$.
Withdrawal
You can make one free withdrawal for Credit Card per month, PayPal is Free of charges, and Bank Transfer will incur a fee depending on your region. Typically, withdrawal requests are approved within 1 business day.
Withdrawal Method | Withdrawal Time | Fee |
Credit Card | 3 business days | 0$ |
Wire Transfer | 3 business days | 0$ |
PayPal | 1 business day | 0$ |
Bonus
There is no welcome Bonus or any other trading bonuses available at OANDA offering. The only benefits are included for Premium clients as apart of the trading Account.
Trading Platform
OANDA develop its own proprietary Platform supporting all devices and available as Web Platform, Desktop Platform accessible across Windows or Mac and supporting fully automated trading.
Mobile Trading platform OANDA App for Android and iOS is in the package too.
MT4
OANDA traders still can still use popular MT4 with full range of its capabilities, automated strategies and EAs.
API
There are two different options OANDA APIs, Exchange Rates API for Foreign exchange services, and APIs for CFDs trading which is available for Premium Account.

Research and Tools
OANDA research tools are available directly on the platform, and some are presented at the website. Economic Calendar, Real-time News and Market Analysis, Autochartist, Dow Jones, etc also with trading analysis application.
We didn’t find serious cons in OANDA research, there are both quality in-house developed research tools and advanced third party providers materials.
OANDA Research tools available through:
- OANDA platform
- OANDA website – Tools

Education
OANDA education content is good, you can access it through the website Learn section. Video tutorials, Demo account, Live Webinars and recorded sessions, with quality read Articles defined by topics.
At OANDA you can learn though the following ways:
- Demo account
- Educational videos
- Attend Live Webinars
- Learning articles
Demo Account
Demo Account is Free use and available through the OANDA Trade or MT4 platforms.

Customer Service
OANDA customer service is well organized, separate support is for currency conversion OANDA and another one for trading. We got relevant answer through e-mail, but couldn’t connect to Live Chat.
OANDA Customer Support is available 24/5 in various languages:
- Live chat
- Telephone

OANDA e-mail response is fast speed, the agents are helpful.
Question Asked | We asked about Spread Betting conditions. |
Time of Reply | We got response within 1 day. |
Quality of Reply | The answer was relevant and informative. |
Conclusion
OANDA is a safe broker to trade. There are many world entities OANDA serves around the world and we would recommend trading with the UK, ASIC or Singapore.
For the downsides, the range of instruments is rather limited to trade CFDs on Forex, Commodities and Indices, there is no Shares.
We recommend OANDA for traders who prefer CFDs trading of Currency Pairs and convenient Currency Exchange.
Author of this review

By Jimmy O'Brien
Author of this review
Over 15 years experience in forex, commodities and equities markets research. He loves analyzing and trading the markets as a strategist and trader. In late 2019, Jimmy turned to researching and analyzing forex brokers. Now he and his team focus researching and comparing broker’s pros and cons.
Over 15 years experience in forex, commodities and equities markets research. He loves analyzing and trading the markets as a strategist and trader. In late 2019, Jimmy turned to researching and analyzing forex brokers. Now he and his team focus researching and comparing broker’s pros and cons.