What are the best South Africa forex brokers?
We’ve tested over 60 international forex brokers and created unbiased, data-driven broker ratings to show you the best forex brokers in the industry. To help you navigate the world of forex regulations and choose a broker that you can trust, our expert research team has built a proprietary database containing over 100 global regulatory licenses and jurisdictions; that research determines each broker's individual Trust Score. Check out our top picks for the best South Africa forex brokers:
Winner: IG
Year after year, IG has shown itself to be the best broker in the forex industry. Highly trusted and regulated in a staggering eight Tier-1 jurisdictions, IG holds a Trust Score rating of 99. Though IG does offer MetaTrader 4, IG’s proprietary web-based trading platform steals the show with its wide variety of rich features, market research, and powerful trading tools. Fans of social copy trading will appreciate IG’s seamless integration of trading signals into its web platform. IG has won countless Annual Awards from our sister site, ForexBrokers.com, and is a fantastic choice for forex traders of all experience levels.
IG Trading Platform Screenshots
IG Features
- Overall rating - 9.9/10
- Trust Score - 99
- Tradeable symbols - 19537
- Minimum deposit - £250.00
Runner Up: AvaTrade
AvaTrade is a well-rounded, highly trusted broker that offers excellent educational resources for beginner forex traders and great tools for social copy trading. AvaTrade's commissions and market research are close to the industry average, and traders gain access to AvaTrade's proprietary platforms as well as third-party favorites like MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5.
AvaTrade Trading Platform Screenshots
AvaTrade Features
- Overall rating - 8.7/10
- Trust Score - 94
- Tradeable symbols - 1260
- Minimum deposit - $100
Podium Finisher: FXCM
Founded in 1999, FXCM (a Jefferies Group company) is a long-standing brand that caters to global forex and CFD traders. FXCM offers multiple trading platforms for algorithmic trading and social copy trading, along with a proprietary platform suite (and access to MetaTrader 4). FXCM is also a great option for beginners due to its wide range of educational materials and easy-to-use platforms (including integration with the popular TradingView platform). Though the range of markets available at FXCM has increased following the addition of its share trading feature, it's worth noting that pricing at FXCM is just average.
FXCM Trading Platform Screenshots
FXCM Features
- Overall rating - 8.5/10
- Trust Score - 95
- Tradeable symbols - 440
- Minimum deposit - Starts from $50
Compare trading costs for the best South Africa forex brokers
Based on our own data (our independent database contains over 4,000 data points), this table compares trading costs for the top South Africa forex brokers.
| Company |
Accepts ZA Residents |
Minimum Deposit |
Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard |
Average Spread EUR/USD - Mini |
All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active |
Active Trader or VIP Discounts |
 IG
|
check |
£250.00 |
0.98 info |
0.98 info |
0.82 info |
Yes |
 AvaTrade
|
check |
$100 |
0.92 info |
0.92 info |
0.61 info |
Yes |
 FXCM
|
check |
Starts from $50 |
1.38 info |
1.38 info |
1.38 info |
Yes |
 Plus500
|
check |
€100 |
0.8 (August 2021) info |
0.8 (August 2021) info |
N/A |
No |
 Tickmill
|
check |
$100 |
0.51 info |
1.71 info |
0.31 info |
Yes |
Comparing trading platforms between South Africa forex brokers
Trading platforms grant access to the foreign exchange market and allow you to analyze market conditions, manage positions, and execute trades. Check out a side-by-side comparison of the trading platforms available at the best South Africa forex brokers, based on our independent product testing.
Comparing investment options between South Africa forex brokers
We closely monitor the availability of investment products such as forex trading (CFD and spot), stocks (CFD and non-CFD), spread betting, ETFs, and social copy trading – among many others. These investment types are tracked as variables within our extensive independent database. Check out the offering of investments at the top South Africa forex brokers.
| Company |
Accepts ZA Residents |
Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) |
Spread Betting |
Social Trading / Copy Trading |
U.S. Stocks (CFD) |
|
IG
|
check |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
|
AvaTrade
|
check |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
FXCM
|
check |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Plus500
|
check |
Yes info |
No |
No |
Yes |
|
Tickmill
|
check |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
FAQs
Please note:
A member of our editorial team used a proprietary blend of Generative AI technologies to assist in the creation of the content on this page. All information contained herein has been fact-checked by our lead writer in conjunction with our research team, and thoroughly edited by our editorial staff. Learn more about our generative AI policies, our editorial principles, and our testing methodologies.
How to get started with forex trading as a South Africa-based trader
We’ve put together some important first steps for getting started as a forex trader in South Africa:
1. Learn the basics
Before diving into forex trading, it's important to learn about fundamentals such as market size, trading sessions, currency pairs, and how to read currency prices. Reading up on the forex market can help you understand the terminology and get a feel for the inner workings of the market. Check out educational courses, forex books, podcasts, and video series – there's a ton of options out there for beginner forex traders. ForexBrokers.com, BabyPips, and Coursera are all great resources for beginners.
2. Choose a forex broker
We always recommend that you choose a reliable, highly regulated forex broker. Regulated brokers must comply with local financial regulations and are subject to stricter laws. If you choose an unregulated broker and then find that you've been scammed, you'll likely have no recourse for recovering your money (learn more about how to avoid forex scams at our sister site, ForexBrokers.com). Check out our picks for the best forex brokers for 2023 across all countries.
3. Open a trading account
Opening an account with a forex broker is a straightforward process. Fill out the application form, submit your KYC documents, and your account will be verified. Once your account is approved, you'll want to choose a reliable payment method for depositing and withdrawing funds with your forex broker. PayPal has grown in popularity as a reliable method for depositing funds into brokerage accounts; check out our guide to the best brokers that accept PayPal.
4. Develop a trading plan
A trading plan is a set of rules and guidelines that define your trading goals, style, strategy, risk management, and evaluation criteria. A trading plan can help you stay disciplined and consistent, and can provide away to track your performance over time. Try to develop a trading plan that suits your personality, preferences, and objectives. You should also test your trading plan on a demo account before applying it to the real market.
5. Start trading
Make sure you use proper risk management strategies, such as setting stop-loss orders and proper lot sizes, to maximize your profits and minimize losses. We recommend starting with a demo account before moving to a live account. It's also not a bad idea to keep a trading journal where you record your trades and review them over time. Be patient and realistic in your expectations to avoid emotional or impulsive trading.
What is forex?
Foreign exchange, also known as forex, is a global financial market where the exchange rate of currencies is traded back and forth between individuals, businesses, and financial institutions. The forex market is one of the largest and most liquid trading markets in the world, with trillions of dollars in daily trading volume. Learn more about the forex market on Wikipedia.
At its core, forex is the exchange of one currency for another. This happens every day through international trade, travel, and other financial transactions. For example, if you’re an American traveling to Europe, you’ll need to exchange your dollars for euros. The exchange rate between the two currencies is determined by the market and fluctuates based on various economic and geopolitical conditions. Traders in the forex market buy or sell currencies with the goal of profiting from changes in the exchange rate.
What is the best forex broker in South Africa?
IG is our pick for the best forex broker in South Africa. Founded in 1974, IG holds licenses across a number of notable global regulatory jurisdictions, and has earned an overall Trust Score rating of 99. IG's impressive offering of 19537 tradeable symbols opens up a wide variety of trading opportunities for its clients. If you are interested in opening an account, the minimum deposit to get started as a trader at IG is £250.00. We've tested and reviewed dozens of forex brokers and created unbiased, data-driven broker ratings to highlight the best forex brokers in the industry. Our overall rating for IG is 9.9/10. Read our data-driven broker reviews to learn more.
Check out a gallery of screenshots from IG's trading platforms, taken by our research team during our product testing.
Is forex trading safe?
Investing in the forex market carries a certain level of risk, like any other investment. Market volatility is a significant risk factor. Forex markets are known to experience sudden fluctuations, which can result in significant losses for traders. Furthermore, forex trading requires deep knowledge of the global economic factors influencing currency movements – which can be subject to sudden changes.
Choosing a reliable forex broker is an important step towards protecting yourself from risks as a forex trader. We always recommend that you choose a regulated broker, preferably overseen by reputable regulatory authorities such as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the primary financial regulator for the United Kingdom. A regulated broker is required to follow strict guidelines and regulations to ensure the safety of their traders' funds.
Despite the potential risks, forex trading has several benefits, such as the flexibility of trading hours; forex markets are open 24 hours, five days a week. This allows traders the flexibility to trade around their schedules.
Best South Africa Forex Brokers
Here are our picks for the best forex brokers that accept South Africa-based clients in 2023. The below table is sorted by the brokers' Overall Ratings.
Popular Country Guides
Looking for a guide to trading forex in your country of residence? Check out our full list of Country Guides.
Popular Guides
Methodology
At BrokerNotes.co, our data-driven reviews of online brokers are based on our own extensive testing of each broker's products and services as well as the qualified observations of our expert editorial team. In conjunction with our sister site, ForexBrokers.com, we’ve published well over 100,000 words of research and collected thousands of data points across hundreds of variables. Our in-depth trading guides are created with the same rigorous, data-driven approach.
Our proprietary Trust Score rating system tracks data from over 100 regulatory jurisdictions to help forex traders understand the regulatory status of their forex broker and choose a broker that they can trust.
Our editorial team is led by Steven Hatzakis, an industry veteran with decades of experience and a deep understanding of the forex market. Our team conducts thorough testing on a wide range of brokers, platforms, products, technologies, third-party trading tools, and mobile apps. We also test for the availability of high-quality educational content, actionable market research resources, and the accessibility and capabilities of mobile platforms. All of our ratings and rankings are based on the collection and validation of thousands of data points and our in-depth product testing.
Part of our testing process involves in-depth research into commissions and fees. We dive into each broker’s trading costs, such as VIP rebates, inactivity fees, custody fees, bid/ask spreads (we always strive to determine the average spreads for each broker to better serve our readers), and a variety of other fee-based data points.
All websites and web-based platforms are tested using the latest version of the Google Chrome browser. Our Desktop PCs run Windows 11, and we use MacBook Pro laptops running the latest version of macOS to test trading on the go.
When testing mobile apps or mobile products, we test on both Apple and Android devices. For Apple, we test with the iPhone XS running iOS 16, and for Android we use the Samsung Galaxy S9+ and Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra devices running Android OS 13.
All of the content on BrokerNotes.co is researched, fact-checked, and edited by members of our editorial team. Our ratings and rankings are driven by our independent data collection. We may use generative AI tools to assist in some of the rote aspects of our content production processes, but the substance of our content, as well as our opinions and evaluations are based on our extensive research and product testing. Read our Generative AI policy to learn more.
Our rigorous data validation process provides our readers with quality data they can trust. Click here to learn more about how we test.
Forex Risk Disclaimer
There is a very high degree of risk involved in trading securities. With respect to margin-based foreign exchange trading, off-exchange derivatives, and cryptocurrencies, there is considerable exposure to risk, including but not limited to, leverage, creditworthiness, limited regulatory protection and market volatility that may substantially affect the price, or liquidity of a currency or related instrument. It should not be assumed that the methods, techniques, or indicators presented in these products will be profitable, or that they will not result in losses. Learn more about foreign exchange risk.
