Is it true that OANDA offers tights spreads? This article will not only explore OANDA's spreads but also the pricing and the Depth of Market.
OANDA is one of the foremost forex brokers in the world that offers competitive pricing to its clients. One of the major ways it offers competitive pricing is through its tight spreads. OANDA offers two pricing options namely spread-only and commission plus core spread. This means OANDA employs clear and transparent pricing models as traders can either opt to pay the spread via OANDA's spread-only pricing option or take advantage of the commissions model to access lower spreads. How so?
How Much are OANDA's Spreads?
With the spread-only pricing, the commission has been integrated into the spread offered by the broker so the only cost that the trader will be paying is the spread. For the commission plus core spread pricing, traders gain access to an even better spread relative to the spread-only pricing. Traders only have to pay a fixed commission on each trade. The total cost for each trade is the addition of the commission and the appropriate core spread. The core pricing spreads begin from 0.1 pips while a commission of $40 is charged on every million USD traded.
How does OANDA Set Its Pricing?
In terms of how OANDA derives its pricing, it is seen in the financial instruments the broker offers and this is discussed below.
Forex and Metals CFDs
The pricing for forex and metals CFDs is derived from the liquidity providers used by OANDA. They are essentially large financial institutions that provide the broker with available spot pricing for FX pairs and metals. OANDA uses various groups of liquidity providers to generate pricing for different financial instruments.
🌐 WebsiteTraders looking for brokers with accurate precision, OANDA can be an option. That is because OANDA is a broker that provides quotes with 5-digit accuracy and active price movements that follow market developments. Order execution speed is also faster in this broker.
It provides benefits for novice traders, as they can trade with smaller volumes using the calculation system based on currency value, unlike other brokers adopting the lot system.
Founded in 1996, OANDA was built by Dr. Michael Stumm who is a lecturer in Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto, Canada, along with his colleague, Dr. Richard Olsen of The Olsen Ltd., which is one of the leading econometric research institutes. They have a head office in San Francisco, United States.
OANDA branch offices can be found everywhere. Some of these offices are located in the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, and Canada. With this number of offices spread, OANDA has increasingly attracted the attention of clients worldwide.
OANDA's 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. However, these advantages make trading rules at OANDA more stringent compared to other brokers.
For example, OANDA only allows maximum leverage of 1:20, because the rules in the US and Japan do not allow leverage above that. Besides, the registration procedure is more complex due to various additional requirements that are not submitted by other forex brokers. On top of that, hedging is not allowed in one trading account as the client must open an additional account to hedge.
Nevertheless, OANDA is known for being a leading broker with many advantages offered. OANDA faces increased market risk during periods of price volatility, such as economic and political news announcements. When market spreads increase or decrease, their pricing engine widens or narrows spreads accordingly. That way, traders can get the latest conditions from price movements in the market more quickly.
Prices move very fast in the market. Especially when news releases have a large impact on market volatility. This condition is often exploited by brokers to take advantage of clients with Requotes. However, traders do not need to worry about additional costs when trading with OANDA.
The company never withdraws Requotes so traders can get maximum profit. When traders are unavailable to monitor open positions, they can set take profit orders to lock in profits and Stop Loss orders to help protect against further losses.
As an experienced and well-known online forex broker, OANDA is committed to maintain an efficient trading environment that reduces latency and provid tools to help clients manage the degree of acceptable slippage.
With a fast & reliable trading platform by OANDA, clients' trades are executed in 0.012 seconds. This suits traders who choose brokers based on execution speed.
Because of this exceptional execution service, it is not surprising that OANDA won many awards, including the winner of the world's Best Retail FX Platform at the prestigious e-FX awards. The broker is also voted number 1 for Consistency of filling trades at quoted prices, Execution speed, and Reliability of platforms.
There is no minimum deposit or minimum balance required to open an OANDA account. Deposit and withdrawal can be done easily. OANDA provides a variety of payment method facilities, including Paypal, Wire Transfer, Credit Card, and Debit. Traders can adjust it to the region where they live.
OANDA provides more than 100 trading instruments, including 71 currency pairs, 16 indices, 8 commodities (Brent Crude Oil, Copper, Corn, Natural Gas, Soybeans, Sugar, etc.), 6 Bonds, and 23 Metals.
The fxTrade and MetaTrader platform are available at OANDA. These platforms can be used for Desktop and Mobile. Another plus is they have an OANDA Technical Analysis that exists in collaboration with a technical analysis provider called Autochartist.
With these platforms, clients can monitor price movements easier and automatically recognize patterns created on charts, as well as receive alerts when the awaited patterns appear. Access to this technology can be enjoyed free of charge.
In conclusion, OANDA is an ideal broker for traders in need of fast execution backed by many years of experience. The company is also a good alternative for those looking for a well-regulated broker with flexible trading and deposit conditions.
Indices CFDs
OANDA calculates pricing for its indices CFDs by referencing a combination of the relevant futures prices and the 'cash' or 'spot' prices with regard to the underlying financial instrument. The broker then makes modifications such as adding its own spread while taking into account differentials in currency exchange rates, liquidity in external markets, and other pertinent factors. Modifications can also be made to show market movement after the payment of dividends and other expected corporate actions.
Commodities and Copper CFDs
OANDA prices of commodity (including copper) CFDs are determined by underlying futures contracts. This means that when an underlying futures contract is about to expire, the broker calculates the basis rate, which is a representation of the price difference between the futures contract that is about to expire and the next futures contract.
From that point forward, OANDA calculates its CFD price as the current value of the price of the next futures contract with the basis rate used for calculating the current value. The calculation of the current value is done continuously on a second-by-second basis. As a result, whenever the basis rate is positive, the CFD price is likely to move in an upward direction toward the contract price. But when the basis rate is negative, the CFD price will likely move downwards in the direction of the contract price.
The Final Touch
These methods of deriving prices across different classes of financial instruments enable OANDA to offer tight spreads but most importantly, this is made possible through the Depth of Market (DoM). Depth of Market is a feature that is native to the MT5 and cTrader platforms, but OANDA also offers it as one of its premium tools on its platform. The Depth of Market has the following benefits:
- Trading large sizes in a single transaction.
- Placing pending orders directly in the Depth of Market window.
- Spreads for normal trade sizes begin from 1 pip on EUR/USD.
- The bid and ask prices are readily seen for the available liquidity.
- Full transparency of pricing and spread.
To access the Depth of Market on MT4, go to the mini terminal app and click on the spread on the mini terminal order ticket. It should be noted that the DoM feature is not accessible on the standard MT4 order ticket or the mobile version of MT4.
Once the number of lots is entered on the mini terminal order ticket, the buy and sell prices at the top of the ticket will be updated dynamically so that the trader can clearly see the entry/closing price along with the spread for the number of lots requested.
From tight spreads to the Depth of Market, it's clear that OANDA puts a lot of effort into providing the best trading conditions so that traders can maximize the profits from their trades while reducing the cost of these trades. For more details on how OANDA applies its fees, see Beginner's Guide to OANDA Fees.
24 Comments
Hernandes
Feb 13 2023
"The OANDA commission of $40 is charged on every million USD traded."
Man, I mean when is the commission calculated? Is it $4 for every $100,000 traded or $40 for every $1 million traded? I mean if I calculate it, that means each standard lot is $100,000; you will be charged a commission of $4 and in fact these are very competitive commissions.
But if OANDA charges 10 standard lots at a time, I mean that will burden the trader because he has to pay $40 one time, whereas if he charges $4 for 1 lot , that can create more stable cash flow. In my opinion, if paying $4 for 1 lot of eery is better than charging $40 for 10 lots
Saito
Feb 27 2023
Hernandes: As a market moving broker, OANDA offers trading on four instruments: Forex, indices, commodities and precious metals. Although only 38 Forex pairs are available and only the MT4 trading platform is supported, this broker offers three account types. Available accounts are Demo Account, Standard Account, Core Account and Swap Free Account for Muslim clients.
According to your question, the Core Account offers a much tighter spread of 0.2 pips, but charges a reasonable commission of 4 USD per lot. So you understand, right? The commission that is charged $ 40 per million, if calculated again per lot, is only about $ 4 per lot. Please note that the normal commission fee is $ 7 per lot, while in your main OANDA account it is below this value, so yes, the commission is already low.
But what you need to worry about in OANDA accounts is that the minimum Deposit for a Core Account is 5000 USD. In my opinion, this is quite high for trading, both beginners and experienced. Maximum leverage is set at 200:1. The base currencies for trading accounts include USD, EUR, SGD and HKD.
Shamila
Feb 14 2023
As an aspiring forex trader, I'm curious to understand how brokers determine the spreads they offer on currency pairs.
I'd like to know what factors OANDA takes into consideration when making modifications to the spreads. Can somebody explain to me?
Rendy
Feb 28 2023
Shamila: Overall, brokers determine the spreads they offer on currency pairs based on a combination of market conditions, liquidity, their own costs and profit margin, and the trading volume of their clients. SO, it is not just add some modification of the spread with proftbale but also many factor included and more detail, I can list at below :
All the factor above, it's basically the same from broker to broker. It's the same with OANDA too
Khalid
Feb 27 2023
OANDA is a multi-disciplinary financial services provider with a CFD trading division. As a market mover, OANDA offers trading on Forex, indices, commodities and metals. Although the trading fees offered are average compared to its counterparts and only the MT4 trading platform is supported, OANDA excels in terms of education, market analysis and trading tools.
The Core Account offers market spreads but charges a commission, and requires a minimum deposit of 5,000 USD. If I only saw one account provided by OANDA, I would definitely think this broker provides accounts with quite high trading fees. even though the spread starts from 0.2 pips.
But actually at OANDA there are still accounts at OANDA with low spreads and no minimum deposit. If I see that the Core account has the highest minimum deposit. If the funds that have to be deposited are high enough, I am quite worried and doubtful.
But I don't know the security provided by this broker. Can you explain whether this broker is safe for trading and for the funds that I have deposited? Because the deposit amount for the Essential account is very high, so it's only natural that I ask this.
Diego
Feb 27 2023
Khalid: Wow, your question is really interesting. Indeed, in choosing a trading broker, the most important thing to know is where the broker is from, only after that do we make sure of the features and services provided. Founded in 1997 in Delaware, USA as a provider of FX rates, Oanda has grown to become a large multi-service financial company offering retail CFD trading, Forex data services for institutions, and exchange rate information for more than 38,000 currency pairs.
As an international CFD broker, OANDA is highly regulated, with regulatory oversight from no less than 7 top tier national regulators:
All clients will trade with OANDA Global Markets Ltd, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands (No. 2026433) and authorized and regulated by the BVI Financial Services Commission, number: SIBA/L/20/1130.
Tabitha
Feb 27 2023
Diego: I also want to add from the explanation. OANDA has won numerous awards for their services and products over the years, such as Best Educational Material 2018 (Investment Trends – US Foreign Exchange Report) and No. 1 Forex Broker. 1 in Singapore 2017 (Investment Trends Singapore CFD & FX Report).
Recently, OANDA was voted Most Popular Broker and Best Forex and CFD Broker 2020 by TradingView clients in the company's inaugural TradingView Broker Awards. TradingView is one of the world's largest social networks for traders, with over 15 million registered users worldwide.
While some OANDA clients can rest assured that their funds will be kept in segregated bank accounts, OANDA Global Markets Ltd does not offer negative balance protection, so traders may lose more than they invested. This is what makes me not like this broker because the security system for client funds is not good in my opinion, even though this broker has been regulated and received several awards
Van Gogh
Mar 11 2023
Khalid: OANDA is generally regarded as a safe and reliable forex broker. It is regulated by a number of financial authorities, including the National Futures Association (NFA) in the US, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Monitoring of their activities by various regulatory bodies provides additional protection for client funds and helps ensure that brokers operate in a transparent manner and in accordance with industry standards.
However, like all financial services, there are always risks involved and traders should always perform due diligence on a broker before investing their money. In addition, it is important to apply a risk management strategy and never invest more money than you can afford to lose. So, if you want to consider this account as your trading broker, that's fine, but you can learn more to avoid doubts.
Joseph
Feb 28 2023
I know Forex, metals, indices and commodities. I know gold and silver, but what really surprised me was the copper trade. I know that Copper is one of 3 precious metals which are Gold, Silver and Copper. The fact is that gold and silver have different trading terms and many articles have talked about the trading terms of gold and silver. But I have never heard of the copper trade. What are the advantages of copper trading and which is better, copper, silver or gold? ? THANK!!
Thomas
Feb 28 2023
Joseph: Bro, trading copper has a few good things about it. Copper is super important in things like building and electronics, so people always need it. That makes it a reliable investment. Plus, copper prices often show how the world economy is doing, which can help you make smart investment choices. And when the cost of living goes up, copper prices often do too, which can help protect your money.
As for whether copper, silver, or gold is the best choice, it really depends on what you want. Gold is often seen as a safe haven when things are unsure in the world. Silver is used in lots of things like phones and solar panels, and it's not as expensive as gold, so more people can invest in it. Copper is also used in lots of industries, and people always need it, so it's a good investment too. Basically, the best choice for you depends on what you want to do with your money and how much risk you're comfortable with.
Eduardo
Feb 28 2023
Is there any different between Depth Of Market on Metatrader 4 with Metatrader 5?? In my opinion, as trading platform that have different program language, one with MLQ4 and the other MLQ5. Even the EA in there also different each other. I mean, the DoM might be same but what I mean is the feature that may get with trading MT5 that didnt get in MT4, is there any different?
Because, I have seen many ECN Brokers that always use metatrader 5 and for the first time I have heard about ECN Brokers that used Metatrader 4
Jay C
Feb 28 2023
Eduardo: Yes, there are some differences between Depth of Market (DOM) on MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5).
Overall, while both MT4 and MT5 offer the DOM feature, MT5's integration with Market Watch, inclusion of exchange market data, and additional features make it a more robust platform for DOM trading.
Sweety
Mar 11 2023
Spreads on OANDA are wider than similar sized market moving brokers, with EUR/USD spreads on Standard Accounts starting at 1 pip. Core Account spreads are tighter, starting from 0.2 pips on EUR/USD with a reasonable commission of 4 USD per lot traded – this is average for accounts of similar raw spreads.
Beginner traders will find a relatively friendly user experience with a structured education section available for traders of different experience levels. Considering OANDA's history as an FX data service, it is not surprising that the market analysis offered is both detailed and excellent. However, customer service in Indonesia is still limited in scope.
However I am slightly interested in this broker, however I am curious about the inactivity fees charged by the OANDA broker. How long will I be charged for inactivity?
Grace
Mar 11 2023
Sweety: Simply put, any fees that may be added to you will be written off because you have already started trading, i.e. your account is active for trading. During this time, previously charged fees cannot be recovered.
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 up or down. Fees are charged monthly until the account is empty.
But you have to be careful with open positions. Once you open a position, your account will be tracked as an active account. Therefore, positions must be closed first. Second, during maintenance your account will be d and all trading journals will be d too. Therefore, we recommend that you monitor your account before closing it. It's better if you have a deposit if you are still going to trade with OANDA in the future because if you don't have a deposit or your deposit isn't enough to pay for inactivity fees, your account will be usable.
Diego
Mar 11 2023
This might be a stupid question but I thought I'd ask. Why does OANDA have to pay an inactivity fee? I like the close account button over the inactivity fee. Even other brokers have the privilege of not offering inactivity fees. So traders can rest assured that their money is safe when they stop trading there.
And without this inactivity fee, I feel that my broker is fully responsible for my account and money, which gives me peace of mind if I need to stop trading for a while or stay in the forex market for a while.
Byorka
Mar 11 2023
Diego: I disagree with your reasons and arguments about inactivity fees. The main reason OANDA and some brokers charge inactivity fees is the broker server. The more accounts added to their servers, the more energy they need. And the server must be valid because it also affects transactions. And the more accounts opened, the higher the maintenance fee. In forex trading, many accounts are inactive.
And I think every broker has more passive accounts than active accounts because most traders, especially beginners, give up on forex when they fail or lose all their money. Brokers cannot unconditionally withdraw your money, especially in segregated accounts. So they will be charged an inactivity fee and this is accepted because you agreed to the terms while signing up.
Lumai
Mar 11 2023
Byorka: Some brokers charge an account inactivity fee to encourage their clients to be active and generate income for the broker. An account inactivity fee is usually assigned when an account is inactive for a certain period of time, such as 6 months or a year, and the customer does not make any transactions or deposit money into the account during that period. There are several reasons why a broker may charge an account inactivity fee:
Revenue generation: Inactivity fees provide a source of income for the broker even when clients are not actively trading. For example, if a client has money in his account but is not trading, the broker can still earn by charging activity fees.
Administrative costs: Maintenance of customer accounts requires administrative work, such as checking account details, processing reports, and sending bank statements. An inactivity fee helps cover these administrative costs.
Enable Activity: Inactivity fees can encourage customers to stay active and interact with the platform, increasing trading activity and broker income.
Compliance: Some financial regulatory agencies require brokers to charge an inactivity fee to ensure that inactive accounts are properly monitored and maintained.
So if you feel unlucky here you can always look for better opportunities elsewhere (no one is forcing you to continue trading with a broker)
Marcail
Mar 11 2023
Diego: In this case, your account will be permanently closed if you don't have enough funds to pay the unpaid fees. So, if you plan not to do business with OANDA, it is better to withdraw all funds and you need more funds for this before repatriation, even though OANDA does not set a maximum withdrawal limit. This minimum merchant amount, your chosen payment method (such as bank transfer, e-wallet, or another payment method) requires a different minimum amount to process your withdrawal request.
If you are going to stop trading, it is very important to control your finances. It is better to stop trading before your amount is less than the possible payout options
Adair
Mar 11 2023
In the world of trading, the term spread can have many meanings. However, the meaning of spread in general is the difference between two prices, rates, or earnings. The most common definition of spread is the gap between the bid and ask prices of trading instruments such as Forex, stocks, indices, commodities and metals.
Therefore, it is not surprising that many traders are hunting for brokers with the lowest spreads. With today's increasingly intense competition between brokers, it is not uncommon for brokers to compete to reduce their spread levels. Nowadays, spreads starting from 2 pips and even 1 pip have been found in many online forex brokers. The most extreme, brokers are now starting to reduce the spread to the range of 0 pips.
Indeed, I admit that at OANDA the Sperad that is offered is quite tight, especially on Core and Inti Premium accounts which have a spread of 0.2 pips. But are these two accounts suitable for beginners? I mean that the spread is not the only yardstick for the worthiness of a broker for each trader's competition. I asked like that because I saw how tight the spread offered by this broker meant that the OANDA spread met the standards for novice traders. However, is it really suitable for beginners?
Lachlan
Mar 11 2023
Adair:
Seeing the role of spreads as a trading fee which is a broker's profit, it is only natural that traders take this aspect into account when choosing the best forex broker. Therefore, in the forex learning stage, you also need to really understand spreads. The minimum spread size and the type of forex broker spread will later be important considerations when you open a trading account.
In terms of spreads, for several accounts provided by OANDA, it is quite good and tight. But I'm not sure OANDA is good for beginners if it only relies on accounts with low spreads. Apart from the size of the spread offer, we can see whether or not a broker is "expensive" from the amount of the minimum deposit offered. If I were positioning myself as a novice trader, I would not open a trader's account on the Core account, because the minimum deposit offered is very high, at least $5000.
Also, As a market-moving broker with an impressive history and a large non-CFD business, OANDA seems to be quite a disappointment as a CFD provider. Only 38 FX pairs are available for trading, besides a small number of commodities, indices, and metals and only MT4 is supported.
While there is no minimum deposit on the Standard Account, the trading conditions offered are average, and no negative balance protection is provided for Indonesian traders. Customer service is not available over the phone or in Indonesian, but the education and market analysis features are excellent and OANDA provides a number of tools and plugins for MT4.
Coinneach
Mar 11 2023
Lachlan: I also agree with your explanation that low spreads are not necessarily suitable for some of the criteria of traders, such as for example beginner traders. Because as you explained, the Core account offers a fairly high minimum deposit of $5000 and the premium core account must maintain a minimum balance of USD20,000 and trade with a nominal amount of more than USD10 million or the equivalent per month. and yeah those 2 accounts seem to be provided by OANDA not for beginners but for Expert Advisors (EA), short term traders, high frequency traders.
Actually, OANDA also provides accounts which in my opinion are suitable for beginners, but the spreads offered are still above the average of other similar brokers, with EUR/USD spreads on Standard Accounts starting from 1 pip. But behind this average spread, the commission that OANDA offers for Standard accounts is much lower than for INti accounts, which is $0. So you can trade without worrying about commission fees being charged.
The trading instruments provided are the same as the Core account, which is more than 200. OANDA offers trading on four instruments: Forex, indices, commodities and precious metals. Although only 38 Forex pairs are available and only the MT4 trading platform is supported, this broker offers three account types.
Beathan
Mar 11 2023
OANDA is a trading broker that offers trading with low spreads for some of its accounts, although not for all accounts. The Core account is more suitable indeed for experienced traders. For beginner traders, it looks like a standard account can be an option.
But yes, as previously explained, accounts with tight spreads require a large deposit, which is a minimum of $5000 for a Core account and $20,000 for an Inti Premium account. in my opinion, it includes a fairly large amount for trading. actually, for traders with high volume, it's not a problem, right... because it really depends on the goals of the user.
But for deposits with an amount that cannot be said to be small, OANDA must definitely provide good service for its clients. What I want to ask is, how is the deposit and withdrawal system at OANDA? Are there any costs involved in the funding process?
Morven
Mar 11 2023
Beathan: The Core Account offers much tighter spreads than the Standard Account, but charges a reasonable commission of 4 USD per lot. The minimum deposit for the Core Account is 5000 USD and the maximum leverage is set at 200:1.
In my opinion, you can say that this is a broker that is not at all complicated (easy) in terms of depositing and withdrawing funds. and yes what is fun here is the freedom to deposit funds. many brokers ask their customers to start depositing by limiting the minimum deposit. But the good news here is that you are free to make a deposit regardless of the value, if you want to deposit, you can start from the lowest number.
However, as far as I know, deposit fees at OANDA are free, but if you withdraw funds via the bank transfer method, there is a fee. bank transfer withdrawals are charged 20 USD per transaction and take 2-4 working days. It should also be noted that banks may charge a processing fee, especially in the case of international bank transfers.
Lalisa
Mar 11 2023
Morven: if my preferred OANDA deposit and withdrawal method is Skrill/Neteller. Compared to other withdrawal methods, I think Skrill/Neteller is the fastest way to fund and withdraw.
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.
In the case of other financial methods, it takes quite a long time for the money to be processed, around 1-3 days for the credit card method and 2-4 working days for the bank transfer method.