OANDA vs IC Markets 2023

OANDA has a trust score of 93, giving it a "Highly Trusted" trust label. Here's what each trust score label means:

• "Highly Trusted" (90-99) - These brokers are considered the most trustworthy firms in the industry. Simply put, we would not hesitate to open and fund an account with a Highly Trusted broker.
• "Trusted" (80-89) - These brokers are reliable and trustworthy. "Trusted" firms are a solid choice, and may simply hold fewer regulatory licences or feature different corporate structures than those brokers that have earned our top Trust Score rating.
• "Average Risk" (70-79) - Average Risk brokers are firms we generally consider to be safe, but that may warrant a closer inspection before you open and fund a live trading account. At the least, we always encourage traders to check the regulatory licenses for Average Risk firms to verify that they are regulated in their own country of residence.
• "High Risk" (60-69) - High-risk firms should be scrutinized and carefully reviewed before opening an account. These forex brokers are – in most cases – operating without credible regulatory licensing, and likely have a history of legal or financial issues. Before considering an account with a high-risk firm, we recommend checking our country guides for your country of residence to see if a more trusted broker is available.
• "Do Not Trust" (<59) - We do not recommend opening an account of any kind with a broker that earns a “Do Not Trust” rating.

IC Markets has a trust score of 84, giving it a "Trusted" trust label.

Founded in 1996, OANDA is a long-standing, highly trusted broker licensed in an impressive seven Tier-1 regulatory jurisdictions. Forex and CFD traders will find plenty to like at OANDA, including strong market research and support for a range of third-party plug-ins and platforms (like MetaTrader 4 and the wildly popular TradingView). The OANDA Trade platform is available for web, desktop, and mobile. Though the desktop platform is good – not great – the mobile app is easy to use and boasts a great balance of features. The only downside with using OANDA is its comparatively small range of markets and industry-average spreads.

IC Markets' low spreads, competitive pricing, and scalable execution policies make it a great choice for algorithmic traders. A trusted broker licensed in multiple Tier-1 regulatory jurisdictions, IC Markets boasts support for a variety of social copy trading apps, including its IC Social mobile app. IC Markets consistently ranks near or at the top of our ratings for MetaTrader brokers (and was our top pick for MetaTrader brokers in 2023). Traders at IC Markets gain access to MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, as well as the Advanced Trading Tools package for desktop and support for third-party plugins from Autochartist and Trading Central. It's worth noting that the broker's research and educational offerings still have room to improve.

Tier-1 regulators go above and beyond by requiring additional capital requirements, checking in on brokers more frequently, and putting brokers through a tougher screening process. OANDA is Australia (ASIC Authorised), Canada (CIRO Authorised), Japan (SFC Authorised), Singapore (MAS Authorised), United Kingdom (U.K.) (FCA Authorised) and USA (CFTC Authorized), while IC Markets is Australia (ASIC Authorised).. Neither have Hong Kong (SFC Authorised), CBI Authorised (Ireland), New Zealand (FMA Authorised) and Switzerland (FINMA Authorised)

Tier-2 and tier-3 licenses are still important in evaluating the overall trustworthiness of forex brokers. As far as tier-2 licenses go, OANDA is none, while IC Markets is Cyprus (CySEC Authorised).. Neither have China (CBRC Authorised), India (SEBI Authorised), Israel (ISA Authorised), Russia (CBR Authorised), South Africa (FSCA Authorised), Thailand (SEC Authorised) and UAE (DFSA/Central Bank Authorised). When comparing tier-3 licenses OANDA is British Virgin Islands (FSC Authorised), while IC Markets is Bahamas (SCB Authorised).. Neither have Belize (FSC Authorised), Bermuda (BMA Authorised), Cayman Islands (CIMA Authorised), Mauritius (FSC Authorised) and Vanuatu (VFSC Authorised).

For trading platforms OANDA supports a Proprietary Platform and Desktop Platform (Windows), whereas IC Markets supports a Desktop Platform (Windows), cTrader and ZuluTrade.. Neither have DupliTrade

Both OANDA and IC Markets offer the whole MetaTrader suite, which consists of both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. If you’re new to MetaTrader 4 here’s our educational guide on how to use MT4.

OANDA requires a minimum deposit of $0, while IC Markets requires a minimum deposit of $200. From our testing we found OANDA offers spreads of 1.26, while IC Markets offers spreads of 0.62. Both OANDA and IC Markets offer Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw), Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit), PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) and Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) for deposits.

OANDA offers a more diverse selection of investment options than IC Markets allowing you to trade Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs), Spread Betting, Social Trading / Copy Trading, Metals, Energies and Agriculturals. Looking at total tradeable symbols, OANDA has 124, compared to 3583 from IC Markets.

Crypto trading is popular with forex traders. Most crypto assets are offered either as the underlying physical asset or as a CFD or other derivative — including spot forex contracts. In terms of trading physical cryptocurrency neither OANDA nor IC Markets allow you to trade physical cryptocurrencies.

In terms of research and research tools OANDA gives traders the following tools: Autochartist, Daily Market Commentary, Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) and Social Trading / Copy Trading. In comparison IC Markets has the tools listed here: Autochartist, Daily Market Commentary, Stock Charts, Forex News (Top-Tier Sources), Trading Central (Recognia) and Social Trading / Copy Trading.

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