Understanding AvaTrade Fees: An Investors’ Guide

Product Mix and AvaTrade Trading Fees

AvaTrade has added a wide range of financial products to its platform, which attracts all types of investor. Products like Forex, stocks and derivatives always pique the interest of investors, and to expand its portfolio AvaTrade launched a platform to transact in cryptocurrencies. Such initiatives keep AvaTrade ahead of the global market. Another striking feature of AvaTrade is that cost is included in the spread and there are no AvaTrade commission charges on trades. In addition, there are no AvaTrade withdrawal fees for regular withdrawals or for terminating an account. AvaTrade offers two pricing options in FX trading:

Fixed spreads: The bid/ask spread is fixed even though the market price changes. AvaTrade fees come in at a 1.9 pip fixed spread for EUR/USD. That is quite competitive when compared to market spreads offered by other companies.

Variable spreads: The bid spread is variable, and changes based on market conditions. It offers variable spread of 0.7 pips for EUR/USD.

For price-sensitive clients a variable spread is the obvious choice. AvaTrade also offers AvaSelect, which is an active trade program with customized trading terms. But overall, AvaTraders spreads are not as competitive compared to those of its competitors, as variable pricing is higher. One of the key features of AvaTrade is that traders with even $/£/€100 in their account can engage in trading, but on the flipside there are AvaTrade charges of $/£/€25 are levied if the account is inactive for more than three months.

Trading Costs Compared to Peers

AvaTrade provides a feature-rich experience, but the trading cost is comparatively higher than competitors. AvaTrade offers a first-time deposit bonus of 20%, so for example, if a client deposits $200 there will be $40 bonus available to the client. Demo and trade accounts can be opened free of cost and the company accepts payment through all popular methods including PayPal, Skrill, Visa and MasterCard. The maximum leverage permitted by the company is 400:1. AvaTrade does not charge AvaTrade fees but its spreads – both floating and fixed – are comparatively wider than its peers. There are no AvaTrade withdrawal fees and withdrawal requests are processed within one to two business days. Similarly, Traders can deposit their funds – with a minimum initial deposit of £100 – using various payment methods. Investors are free to trade using the following financial instruments:

Forex: Traders can enjoy fairly low spreads (0.8 pips) with over 50 currencies available for trading.

Cryptocurrency:  Traders have the liberty to trade in nine different cryptocurrencies with leverage up to 20:1. Currencies include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, etc.

Indices, stocks, ETF, bonds and commodities: Traders can enjoy the highest of leverage with competitive and low spreads. For commodities, leverage varies. For example, on gold it is 200:1 and on crude oil it is 100:1. Charges are typically 0.0028%, which is a very competitive rate compared to other companies.

Trade Size and Spread

The Initial deposit AvaTrade requires is significantly less than other stock brokers, which demand a minimum of £1,000 to open an account. Trade size and leverage depend on the particular derivative which the investor plans to trade. It should also be noted that the company earns money from the spread only and does not charge other fees. The spread is the difference between the quoted and actual buying/selling of financial instruments, and spread costs continually change based on market conditions. Customers need to be aware that there are charges incurred when positions are held overnight, but the charges are reasonable.

The downside is that charges accumulate over time and so it is not ideal for investors looking for long-term exposure to cryptocurrencies. Also, residents of certain countries – the US, Vietnam, Pakistan, China, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong – are not eligible to open accounts with AvaTrade due to regulatory restrictions. To improve its portfolio, AvaTrade launched the AVoptions trading platform in 2013, and introduced Bitcoin trading with CFD on MT4 platform in 2017. Competitive pricing ensued, and in-depth marketing analysis tools and a variety of trading costs, trading tools and secure platforms allow us to rate this broker as one of the best stock broker. Traders have the option to select the type of account they would like based on their strategies and risk appetite. Accounts available are Silver (minimum deposit of $100), Gold (minimum deposit of $1,000), Platinum (minimum deposit of $10,000) and AvaSelect (minimum deposit of $100,000).

Award-Winning Service and Acquisitions

Since it was established more than a decade ago, AvaTrade has won numerous awards and garnered recognition and garnered positive AvaTrade reviews. It is primarily focussed on providing an automated platform with low costs and a high value of service to investors. Following are some of the acquisitions and awards achieved by the company during its journey to becoming a reliable broker:

• Acquired a Japanese forex trader in 2010 called Art Co to expand into Japan
• Acquired book of non-US broker eForex in 2011 and Australian customer book of YouTradeFX in 2014
• In February 2018, AvaTrade achieved another milestone by becoming the official trading partner for Manchester City Football club in Asia and Latin America
• Best Forex Award (2010, 2014 and 2016)
• Bitcoin Award (2012 and 2015)
• Excellence Award (2010, 2014 and 2016)

These acquisitions were conducted to bring customers onto the AvaTrade Platform and to expand across the globe. Since AvaTrade has been in business since 2006, it has perfected the online trading experience for its clients. Its total trading volume is around $60 billion per month, and these numbers speak volumes for the forex broker. Therefore, it is no surprise that the company won the Most Reliable Broker award from Daily Forex for the years 2011 and 2015. Awards like Best Trading Platform by Global Magazine also demonstrate the company’s performance and acceptability among investors.

Why Choose AvaTrade?

• Mobile Trading: AvaTrade provides cutting-edge technology by providing multiple trading platforms for handheld devices. The most used and reliable apps are the AvaTrade mobile app, MetaTrader 4 and AvaTrade Go. These apps are well designed and have an attractive user-friendly interface which makes trading seamless.
• Negative Balance Protection: AvaTrade provides assurance that clients will never lose more than what they have in their account, as clients are covered under negative balance protection. This ensures that even if AvaTrade becomes insolvent, clients’ funds are secured because they are kept in regulated banks like Danske Bank. Clients are also covered under ICCL and any shortfall up to €20,0000 will be compensated.
• Multiple Trading Platform: AvaTrade’s strength is in providing a variety of trading platforms to clients based on their needs. While AvaTrade has its own trading platform, AvaTradeAct, its other offering, MetaTrader 4, is used more by traders due to its comprehensive, user-friendly trading environment
• AvaTrade Rewards and Bonus: AvaTrade offers excellent rewards to its clients. All traders can earn rewards on their initial deposit amount, and this can surge up to 30% of the initial deposit. However, these rewards are conditional based on seasonal campaigns, but the broker is known to launch new promotions very frequently. AvaTrade provides a VIP program called AVASelect which provides reduced spreads and a better trading ecosystem to traders depositing more than $100,000. It also provides higher bonuses to VIP program traders.

Automated and Secure Trading Platform

One of the unique features of AvaTrade is its diverse and robust automated trading platform with built-in trading software. This software contains advanced trading strategies and forex APIs, which are offered free of charge to Investors. Other brokers charge a hefty amount for such services. The only cost charged is for spreads related to trading. Other professional services like auto trading tools are free. This automated trading package also includes a famous ZuluTrade system, AutoTrader system, which provides algorithmic trading and advanced arrays to allow customers to devise their own forex automation strategies.

AvaTrade understands its customers and thus provides both automated and manual platforms. Each platform provides access to over 250 trading instruments, analytical tools and updated charts. This auto trading software is best in class and allows an investor to duplicate trade of skilled traders online, at any time from your computer or mobile phones. If a stock broker comparison is conducted, then other broker houses lack such automated platforms and are heavily dependent on manual versions. AvaTrade offers five types of trade platforms which are unique and designed to suit different client needs:

• AvaTradeAct: aimed to provide personalised trading platform
• DupliTrade: copies the techniques other traders are using with their accounts
• RoboX: allows traders to select strategies from a wide pool of activities
• Auto Chartist: aims to conduct trade and market analysis and identify market patterns
• Expert advisor feature: provides in-depth market analysis to support trading

Multilingual Customer Support

Ava Trade provides multilingual customer support 24 hours a day, five days a week, so that the company is able to provide localized support to its customers. This also helps investors who are not comfortable speaking English to feel comfortable and get a speedy resolution. AvaTrade customer support can be reached via telephone, email, live chat, social media and fax. Apart from these mediums, the company also provides an exhaustive Help Centre which provides solutions to the most common problems. Investors can also log a support ticket after hours, and based on call centre SLA, they will receive a response within one to two business days. The company also provides its MQL5 online forum, which is a great support tool for traders to assist each other with any ongoing issues and problems. It should be noted, however, that there have been a few negative feedbacks regarding the chat service not functioning and a delay in responding to emails.

AvaTrade also has comprehensive learning tools for new and experienced traders. The company provides many types of training materials to its clients through research portals like SharpTrader.com. The information is provided in multiple forms like articles, videos and case studies. These skill programs help traders make better decision about their investments. In addition, many firms like XBT, Barclays and Daily Forex have ranked AvaTrade among the most trusted online forex platforms in the world, making it a go-to broker for investors.

The Verdict on AvaTrade

AvaTrade is among the companies that investors can trust because it provides a wide spectrum of automated trading platforms and seamless access to investors through their range of mobile apps. Since AvaTrade is a regulated and licensed broker around the world, including in the European Union, Japan, Australia, South Africa and the British Virgin Islands, it follows stringent regulations and rules which provide security and peace of mind for investors. Access to more than 200 products; forex, cryptocurrencies, indices, ETF, and bonds, and the reduction in trading costs has helped AvaTrade capture a bigger market share.

Company results speak volumes about the growth, and it has around 200,000 registered traders who are conducting more than two million trades per month. AvaTrade currently does not accept US traders due to regulations. Features of AvaTrade are well-suited for both beginner and advanced traders because there are no AvaTrade withdrawal fees. They also receive a client bonus of up to $10,000 upon opening an account. So, if an investor is looking for an intuitive, easy-to-grasp, trustworthy platform with more than a decade of experience, AvaTrade is an excellent choice.