Beginner's Guide to OANDA Fees

William: Here are the details from OANDA:

OANDA has been an established broker since 1996. OANDA is headquartered in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, British Virgin Islands, Malta, Singapore and Australia. OANDA will provide Forex/CFD trading services to more than 4 million customers. Based on its headquarter, OANDA company is registered under several well-known jurisdictions in financial trading. They are regulated by CFTC and NFA in the US, FCA in the UK, ASIC in Australia, and many others. Traders do not need to worry anymore about security when trading in OANDA. And the one you need to be noted is the CFTC and NFA (USA Body regulator). The brokers that regulate from this regulator is safest because the term to get regulated in there is very difficult and the penalty is heavy if the brokers break the law, even break the small law's detail!

This broker number registration is : CFTC/NFA 0325821, FCA (UK) 54257, FSA (Japan) 1571, FSC (BVI) SIBA/L/20/1130, Kanto Local Financial Bureau (Japan) 2137, MFSA 18.12.2020, MAS 200704926K and ASIC ABN 26 152 088 349 AFSL number 412.

YOu can check yourself by searching the body regulator that you want and enter those number to check if the regulate number is true or fake

Kalsey Winstor: There is no minimum withdrawal in OANDA  but the payment method that used has the minimum funds in order to process your withdrawal process. There is some lists of the minimum transaction that needed in common used by OANDA's traders

• Bank Wire Transfer, usually the minimum transaction that needed is $100. 
• Credit and Debit Card, depending on your bank's policy.
• PayPal, depending on how much your funds.
• Skrill, doesn't have minimum transfer amount
• Neteller, have $0.01 minimum transfer amount.

You need to be know that deposit and withdraw payment option needed to be same. So, make sure to choose the best payment method for deposit and withdraw. Read this article if you want more information about OANDA withdraw : how to deposit and withdraw at OANDA

Hudson: If your account is inactive for 12 months, you will be charged an inactivity fee. The fee is £10 or USD depending on the exchange rate between pounds and dollars. So it goes higher or lower. Fees are charged monthly until the account is empty.

But you should be careful with open positions. Once you open a position, your account will be tracked as an active account. Therefore, the position must be closed first. Secondly, during maintenance your account will be d and all trading journals will be d as well. Therefore, we recommend that you monitor your account before closing it. 

Kathleen:

In this case, your account will be permanently d if your funds are not sufficient to pay the inactivity fee. So, if you are planning not to trade with OANDA, you are better off withdrawing all your funds and before withdrawing you need more money to do so, even though OANDA does not impose a maximum withdrawal limit. Minimums for their merchants, the payment options of your choice such as bank transfer, e-wallets or other payment options require different minimum amounts to process your withdrawal request.

It is very important to monitor your funds if you are going to stop trading. Better stop trading before your amount is lower than the payment option allows 

Samantha: Simply, the fees that may be added to you will be waived because you have already started trading, i.e. your account is active for trading. During this time, previously charged fees cannot be recovered.

I don't know how long your account is inactive (meaning your account is inactive for trading for 12 months), you better have a deposit if you are still going to trade with OANDA in the future because if you have no deposit or your deposit is not enough to pay the inactivity fee, your account will be d forever. 

Michael: It maybe stupid question but I think I need to ask. Why should OANDA charge an inactivity fee? I would rather have a button to close my account than an inactivity fee. Even other brokers had the feature of not offering inactivity fees.So traders can be reassured that their money is safe when they stop trading there.

And without these inactivity fees, I can feel like my broker is really in responsible to my account and my funds, giving me peace of mind when I need to stop doing trade for some times or stay for a while to forex trading. 

Sammy: I disagree with your reasoning and statement about the inactivity fee. The main reason why OANDA and some brokers charge inactivity is because of the broker's servers. The more accounts are added to their servers, the more power is required. And the server must be quality because it will also affect the transaction. And the more accounts open, the more expensive it is to maintain. In Forex Trading, multiple accounts will be inactive.

And I can be sure that every broker will have more inactive accounts than active accounts because most traders, especially beginners, will quit Forex if they fail or lost all money. Broker cannot withdraw your funds without terms and conditions especially segregated account. So they will be charged an inactivity fee and that is agreed because you agree to the terms and conditions upon signing up. 

Sammy: Dude, how long are you going to stay away from trading Forex? I mean OANDA will only charge the account with no activity for 1 year. If you leave it for a month, you will not be charged. But if you are planning to take a break for 1 year, I think you need to learn Forex again if you are going to start Forex again.

I mean, the inactivity fee is like a warning to traders to trade earlier before being charged by the broker. And you don't need to take a break for 1 year, and I think as a trader this is a very unnecessary rests. 

Sammy:

Certain brokers impose account inactivity fees as a way to encourage their clients to be active and to generate revenue for the broker. An account inactivity fee is typically charged when an account has been inactive for a certain period of time, such as 6 months or a year, and the client has not made any trades or deposited any funds into the account during that time.

Here are some reasons why brokers may impose account inactivity fees:

1. Revenue generation: Inactivity fees provide brokers with a source of revenue even when clients are not actively trading. For example, if a client has funds in their account but is not trading, the broker can still generate revenue by charging an inactivity fee.
2. Administrative costs: Maintaining client accounts requires administrative work, such as verifying account information, processing withdrawals, and sending statements. Inactivity fees help cover these administrative costs.
3. Encouraging activity: Inactivity fees can encourage clients to remain active and engaged with the platform, which can lead to increased trading activity and revenue for the broker.
4. Compliance with regulations: Some financial regulatory bodies require brokers to charge inactivity fees as a way to ensure that inactive accounts are properly monitored and maintained.

So, if you consider yourself in a disadvantage here, you can always look for better option elsewhere (no one is forcing you to stay trading with a broker)

Diego: OK, friends, I want to help explain a little about the security of our account at OANDA. In my opinion, OANDA is one of the forex brokers that has been in this field for a long time because it started operating in 1997. wow, that's quite a long time in my opinion, because most forex brokers just started around the 2000s. Now for OANDA's own regulator, the good news is that it is regulated by 8 top-level international regulators, namely:

• OANDA Asia Pacific Pty. Ltd. regulated and licensed in Singapore by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and International Enterprise Singapore (Commodity Brokers) for commodity CFD trading
• OANDA Australia Pty Ltd. regulated in Australia by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC)
• OANDA Japan Inc. holds a Type 1 Financial Instrument license from the Japan Financial Services Agency, is registered with the Local Financial Bureau Office, and is a member of the Japan Financial Futures Association.
• OANDA Corporation is a registered Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer (RFED) with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. (Commodity Futures Trading Commission/CFTC), and a Forex Dealer Member (FDM) of the National Futures Association.
• OANDA (Canada) Corporation ULC is regulated in Canada by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC).
• OANDA Europe Limited is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK.
• OANDA Europe Markets Limited is a company registered in Malta. The company is authorized and regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority as a Category 3 Investment.
• OANDA Global Markets Ltd is regulated by the BVI Financial Services Commission.

Diego: hello guys, I also want to help answer, is the OANDA broker safe for trading activities? My answer is that it's not too safe either. because apart from being regulated by more than 7 international regulators, there is something this broker lacks, namely negative balance protection. OANDA Global Markets Ltd does not offer negative balance protection, so traders may lose more than they invested.
but the positive side of this broker is that trader funds will be kept separately. So, if you want to consider this account as your trading broker, that's fine, but you can learn more to avoid doubts.

OANDA is generally considered a safe and reliable forex broker. It is regulated by several financial authorities, including the National Futures Association (NFA) in the United States, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

Having multiple regulatory bodies oversee its operations provides an additional layer of protection for clients' funds and helps ensure the broker operates transparently and in compliance with industry standards.

However, like with any financial service, there is always some level of risk involved, and traders should always thoroughly research a broker before investing their funds. Additionally, it's important to implement risk management strategies and never invest more money than you can afford to lose.

Gleen: if I prefer the deposit and withdrawal method at OANDA, it's Skrill/Neteller. when compared to other withdrawal methods, Skrill/Neteller is the fastest method in my opinion for both funding and withdrawing funds.
Deposits with Skrill and Neteller are free and take up to 1 business day – However, Skrill/Neteller may charge a service fee. Withdrawals to Skrill and Neteller take up to 1 business day and are also free, although conversion fees may apply and Skrill/Neteller may charge additional service fees.
For other funding methods, the process of funds is quite long, around 1-3 days for the credit card method and 2-4 working days for the bank transfer method.

Actually, I don't know the broker's policy regarding swap-free accounts but for sure, some brokers need to see your ID because they just want to facilitate Muslim traders to trade freely without any tariffs. But if you say about decreasing broker profit totally wrong because swap free account only means you don't earn any rate fee earned during switch day. all real currencies have exchange rates, and those rates can vary each day so they form the basis of swap rates. So, it's not the broker's profit that goes down, but that naturally happens in Forex. Yes swap free accounts do not need to pay rollover fees/overstay fees but they do need to pay more like double spread or administration fees for example.

The main and only advantage that I know of in a swap-free account is that it is free of rollover/overnight rates. For swing traders who trade for weeks, months. The swap rate is actually very annoying because it happens every day. But if you are on a swap free account you will not get that fee but for change you will get fees like commission or other fees. Of course the fee is lower than the swap rate that occurs nightly. So, it is attractive to swing traders. However, if you are a scalper or day trader and you are Muslim, you can actually trade on a standard account because you are only trading on that day. And for the record, if you are day trading, just avoid changing the time of day to avoid exchange rates, and all your trades will be Halal for you.

Swap-free accounts are generally chosen by Muslims and are often referred to as Islamic accounts in general. This is because Islamic sharia law prohibits interest-bearing business transactions; Swap is considered the same as usury because it is taken from the difference in interest. Therefore, not a few Muslim traders choose this type of account. However, it is not uncommon for many traders to choose this account even though they are non-Islamic.

although for a limited number of instruments to trade using this Swap Free account. For me this is enough for trading, and the instruments included in this trading account are also popular and widely used by traders.

By using this account to trade on Oanda, I can eliminate the swap risk that arises when I trade overnight positions, because I also have to take into account the negative swap risk in risk management. Instead of being burdened with that risk, it will be easier for traders to be free from Swaps.

At OANDA Swap or what is commonly called fees are calculated per position and can be in the form of fees or credits to your account, depending on whether you are in a buy/long or short/sell position. and also Swap fees are charged if account positions are left open overnight after 5pm ET.
for me, fixed costs are costs be it swaps, spreads and commissions. But it should be noted again, as a trader I also do not want to be limited. Now, the limited meaning here is that we cannot access all the instruments on OANDA and can only trade by choosing from 26 foreign exchange instruments and indices.

Hello friends, your question is very to the point, and I think it's good. Along with technological developments and also interest in forex trading is increasing every day. Lots of brokers offer trading with all the advantages shown. Maybe for experienced traders choosing a good broker for them is not too difficult because they already have knowledge regarding trading. However, for novice traders, it is not easy to choose a suitable broker for them. Not all brokers provide appropriate and decent services for novice traders. Well, this corresponds to your question regarding OANDA for novice traders.

In my opinion, OANDA provides a feature that all novice traders including US traders need, namely its educational features , novice traders will get a relatively friendly user experience with a structured education section available for traders with different experience levels. Considering OANDA's history as an FX data service, it's no surprise that the market analysis it offers is incredibly detailed and excellent.

Even though US traders restrict access to all the instruments offered by this broker, Forex is still available to US brokers. I think for novice brokers, Forex instruments are very popular.

Yes Maybe if I agree with you about educational features, I admit that OANDA is indeed good in terms of educational features and more for novice traders. But I disagree with you, because OANDA's education section cannot be found easily on the OANDA website. This section is not linked from the menu at the top of the page and can only be found in the menu at the bottom of the page. I don't know if this was intentional or a form of negligence on the part of the OANDA team.

And yes, even though the educational features are good because the educational section placement features are not quite right, I can't say whether this broker is good or not for beginners. But what I need to emphasize here is that OANDA has successfully entered the US trading market, and this is an achievement, even though the instruments it offers are very limited, only forex and currency pairs, and even then not many products.

Oanda is a broker that offers hands-on setup, offers trading instruments, competitive prices and a state-of-the-art trading platform including educational features that have been programmed to suit novice traders.

If you also look at the funding sessions, I think this broker is good and provides low fees. OANDA does not provide a minimum deposit limit so it is not burdensome for beginners. OANDA provides 3 deposit and withdrawal methods, namely Bank Transfer, Credit/Debit Card, and Skrill/Neteller methods.

Of all the methods provided, nearly all are free for deposits and withdrawals, although conversion fees may apply and Skrill/Neteller may charge additional service fees and banks may also charge processing fees, especially in the case of international bank transfers.

I agree with you that OANDA broker's customer support is good enough for all traders. After all, OANDA is a broker with the perfect trading platform for everyone. FxTrade is powered by OANDA. The system is designed to be easy to use and offers some of the best tools to support Forex and CFD trading, although CFDs are not available to US traders.

But each feature naturally has its drawbacks. And as for this feature of FxTrade, the downside is that it doesn't have a super modern design and the functionality is still quite a pain to use. If you wish to view forums, news and analysis on the platform, you will be redirected to a new browser instead of being opened on the platform.
Despite the lack of features, FxTrade still caters to the trading needs of all experience levels. You have all the tools you need to trade and other useful features to help you trade with a few clicks.

Oanda is a US forex broker. Oanda offers a high-quality and easy-to-use trading platform, and powerful research tools, with a wide range of technical indicators and a great API offering. The account opening process is user-friendly and fast. On the downside, Oanda has a limited product portfolio, as you can only trade forex and CFDs.

Well, like this - US regulators like the NFA and CFTC have pretty strict rules about trading, and they don't allow certain types of financial products like CFDs. It's a bit of a disappointment, because it means traders in the US can't diversify their portfolios as much as they'd like. Basically, they can still trade Forex, but they miss out on the other cool stuff like Gold, Silver, and several types of stocks and indices.

It's a bit of a shame, because it means traders in the US have less freedom than traders in other parts of the world.

@Kirsteen: Wow, wow, that means you missed this hot news from the OANDA broker. Okay, well, let me tell you that at the end of October 2022, American traders will be able to access Cryptocurrency trading instruments. The broker announced the launch of a new cryptocurrency trading offering on the US market, designed to provide investors with easy access to crypto alongside their existing forex portfolio in a secure environment.

As you have explained, cryptocurrency trading is very popular among traders these days, and OANDA has established itself as a trading provider with access to cryptocurrency trading for its US customers.

Everything from opening a Paxos account to funding to trading is managed within the app so investors can seamlessly access major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and PAX Gold against the US dollar from an intuitive platform.

Even though US traders have not been able to access CFD instruments, the OANDA broker has proven its reliability by adding access to crypto currency instruments in America (US). and this is a good move from this broker to provide easy trading for its customers, especially those in the US. Maybe in time OANDA will also be able to get access to CFD instruments. Nobody knows about this.

@Ostland: Yes, I also heard the news. At this time, I think OANDA is also a good broker for cryptocurrency trading. The launch of this offering is an opportunity for merchants to engage cryptocurrencies and smartly with brands they can trust.

Cryptocurrencies emerged from the counterculture of wanting to trade currencies that were not regulated by a central bank and were not affected by national currencies or major economic events. However, the interest of traders in cryptocurrency trading is actually increasing year by year. For this reason, OANDA is ready to increase the demand for cryptocurrency trading by making cryptocurrency accessible to all traders, including US traders.

Oh, and remember that OANDA has years of experience and an unparalleled record of offering trading in foreign exchange and other derivative products worldwide. Paxos, OANDA's crypto partner, is a leading provider of regulated blockchain infrastructure.
The functionality offered by the OANDA app goes beyond simple 'buy and sell', allowing traders to set limit and stop order parameters in their account to take profits and limit losses on their positions.

@Quasimodo:You're right, some brokers, including Oanda, charge inactive fees if you don't use your trading account for a certain period. It's important to understand their policies, so let's address your concerns.

At Oanda, you can open multiple accounts. However, each account will be subject to the inactive fee if it remains inactive for a specified period. So, if you have multiple inactive accounts, the fee would apply to each individual account, potentially leading to higher costs.

To avoid incurring inactive fees at Oanda, there are a few solutions you can consider, and one of them is to stay Active. The most straightforward solution is to keep your trading account active by placing trades or engaging in other account activities within the specified timeframe set by Oanda. This way, you won't trigger the inactive fee.

Hey There! The financing rate fee is also known as the overnight interest rate or the swap rate. Essentially, it's the interest that you either pay or receive for holding a position overnight.

The financing rate is a way for brokers to make money off of trades that are left open for more than one day. If you are trading on margin, meaning you are borrowing money from the broker to make trades, you will have to pay interest on that borrowed money. The financing rate is the interest rate that OANDA charges for borrowing that money.

The financing rate can be either positive or negative, depending on the currency pair you are trading and the direction of your trade. If the interest rate on the currency you are buying is higher than the interest rate on the currency you are selling, you will earn a positive financing rate. Conversely, if the interest rate on the currency you are buying is lower than the interest rate on the currency you are selling, you will be charged a negative financing rate.

It's important to note that the financing rate is only charged on positions that are held overnight. If you open and close a position within the same day, you will not be charged a financing rate. Additionally, the financing rate is charged on a daily basis, so if you hold a position for several days, the financing rate will be charged each day.

Oh so basically it is occured when we do the trade overnight, right? It is interesting because I just know about that fees anyway. It seems I need to learn more about the traidng itself to avoid this confusion. So, is there any ways for a beginner trader to avoid financing rate fees when trading with a broker like OANDA? Are there certain trading strategies or account types that can help minimize these fees? And if financing rates are unavoidable, what steps can traders take to minimize their impact on overall profitability?

Yes there is some ways to avoid this rate. So, if you're a newbie and you're trying to avoid financing rate fees, here are some tips for you. First, try to avoid holding positions overnight or over the weekend because that's when the financing rate fees usually apply. Second, try to stick to shorter-term trades so that you don't end up holding positions for too long. Third, make sure to check the financing rate fees before you enter a trade so that you're aware of any potential costs. And lastly, consider using a broker that offers lower or no financing rate fees, or even a demo account to practice trading without any risk of fees. Keep in mind that financing rate fees are just one of the fees that you may encounter when trading, so it's always important to educate yourself on all the costs involved before diving in.

Holding onto a single trading position for a whole year is not something you see every day in the trading world. Most folks prefer dynamic strategies, adjusting their moves based on what's happening in the market, the latest news, and various factors. Keeping a position static for that long might be a bit out of sync with the active and ever-changing nature of trading.

Now, when it comes to that $10 inactivity fee from OANDA, whether it feels like a lot or a little really comes down to how you trade. Personally, I find it pretty reasonable since it's a monthly charge. But for others who aren't trading as often or have smaller accounts, that fee might sting a bit more. The key is for traders to take a good look at their own trading habits and figure out how these fees fit into the big picture of their overall trading experience.