Forex trading in South Africa: market review and top online brokers

The economy of the Republic of South Africa (RSA) was revolutionized in the late 19th century when diamonds and gold were discovered there. Now it is the second-largest economy in Africa and the most industrialized, technologically advanced, and diversified economy on the continent overall. South Africa is an upper-middle-income economy, one of only eight such countries in Africa.

With a population of 60 million people, more than 200,000 are Forex traders. This popularity can be explained by the country’s current development stage: general digitalization and advancement of knowledge-intensive industries. People are gaining access to information, and better education, and as a consequence are looking for opportunities to bring their living conditions up to international standards. As the Internet and even a simple smartphone can give them the opportunity for additional income, secure and independent of the country’s turbulent employment situation, South Africans are moving to Forex trading as a new alternative source of income.

The South African national currency is the South African Rand (ZAR), which is further divided into 100 smaller denominations known as cents. According to data compiled by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the South African currency made it in the top 20 most traded, accounting for one percent of overall Forex market activity.

Popular online trading instruments in South Africa

Online trading infrastructure in South Africa is in booming development together with the country as a whole. As one of the fastest-growing economies, South Africa is one of the regional primary markets for commodities, currencies, CFDs, and forms of equity.

The wide range of instruments there gives traders the confidence they need to position themselves in a constantly changing market environment.

A list of the most popular trading instruments in South Africa includes:

Online trading CFDs in RSA

This kind of asset permits users to trade the worth movements of those instruments without having to purchase them. CFD trading in South Africa is available in stocks, indices, bonds, commodities, and Cryptocurrencies.

OANDA offers a lot of options for contracts compared to other brokers. The list of financial instruments consists of CFDs on indices, commodities, and bonds. The broker gives access to two types of trading platforms: fxTrode (Oanda’s personal development) and MetaTrader 4. Both of these platforms are available in three types: desktop, mobile, and Web.

In addition to CFDs, traders can choose from a variety of instruments such as Forex: more than 70 currency pairs; metals: Gold and Silver; commodities: Oil, Natural Gas, Copper, and Wheat; indices – 16 in total and Bonds.

Globally, OANDA offers three account types: demo, Standard, and Advanced Trader, which makes the broker a fine fit for both new and seasoned trades. Moreover, it requires no minimum deposit to open an account with OANDA, but new traders who’ll top up their accounts get a welcome bonus of up to $1000.

Online commodities trading in RSA

The rapid growth in the global demand for commodities seen in recent decades is expected to continue as emerging markets modernize their infrastructure and rising middle classes seek higher-value products in greater quantities. The African continent houses some of the world’s largest reserves of precious metals, including gold, platinum group metals, diamond, coal, zinc, and many others. They are a major part of the county’s trading volumes not only in the traditional export market but in online brokerage trading as well.

HF Markets is an international reliable broker with a presence in over 180 countries, 27 supported languages, and over two and a half million open accounts. It provides online trading in Forex and CFDs on commodities, gold, silver, and indices. It is a perfect option if you’re looking for diversity in your trading portfolio since the broker offers some of the best possible conditions for gold trading.

To present its services internationally, HF Markets is following the standards of multiple reputable global regulators. Their list includes the FCA of the United Kingdom and the FCSA – the local authority of South Africa.

Forex trading in RSA

In South Africa traders can make deals in a vast number of permutations of freely floating currencies. Many traders choose to focus on one or two major currency pairs, so they build a good level of expertise and knowledge of those currencies, their trading patterns, and successful strategies. Major currency pairs are USD, EUR, and YEN combinations.

XM Group is an international broker that provides access to a variety of financial instruments including more than 50 currency pairs that cover major pairs, crosses, and exotics. XM is licensed by such institutions as ASIC (Australia), CySEC (Cyprus), and DFSA (Middle East) and allows you to trade more than 1000 trading instruments including CFDs, commodities, indices, precious metals, energies, and stocks.

Broker has millions of clients worldwide, offering traders several choices of trading platforms such as MT4 and MT5 to trade multiple financial instruments such as CFDs, commodities, stocks, shares, precious metals, and energies. With XM Group, you can trade from anywhere as you get instant access to global markets with the new XM all-in-one mobile app. All it takes is to download the app and jump in with deals.

A pleasant offer from a broker is that XM Group offers three types of bonus programs, complementing them with free VPS and zero fees for depositing and withdrawing funds. You will receive a 100% automatic entry bonus of up to $5000 on your first deposit.

Forex market in South Africa

In the modern world, the Foreign Exchange market is the largest financial market in the world, experiencing a daily trading volume of more than 85 trillion ZAR. Forex trading has increased significantly in South Africa over the past years as it has become widely accepted as a hobby, side hustle, and even as a professional career for many.

The daily Forex trading in South Africa is estimated to be around 271 million ZAR and the South African rand is also in the top 20 currencies that are traded most, with an annual trading volume that exceeds 1 trillion.

That skyrocketing popularity has one more reason, except for the generally fast-developing economy. Forex trading in South Africa can provide a sustainable income stream and greatly improve traders’ financial situation. And though before people thought that getting into trading would require time, effort, and solid knowledge, with the appearance of Copy Trading public view has changed.

Of course, if you do spend time and master the required discipline and knowledge, the long-term beneficial impact will be well worth the effort. However, Copy Trading made everything so much easier. With the feature, you can subscribe to professional traders – just like on any other social media – and automatically copy their trading decisions. Profit earned is rightfully yours, and also you can learn from experienced traders: look at their moves to create your own trading strategies.

NAGA Markets, a trustful broker that originated from Germany, is in the market to introduce users to all possible benefits of Copy Trading. NAGA Autocopy is an innovative feature that lets you automatically copy leading traders on the platform and learn from their experience.
Moreover, it offers a wide choice of trade instruments and educational materials to make trading more effective and secure. The last point is guaranteed by several reputable regulative bodies, those rules NAGA has to follow such as FCA and CySEC.

Forex trading regulations in South Africa

In South Africa, retail traders are double-lucky. Firstly, they can legally sign up with any regulated Forex broker, based anywhere in the world. Secondly, South Africa has one of the best and most reputable market regulators that oversees all Forex trading – the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). It manages all financial service providers in the county and provides South Africans with the support and protection that they need.

A safe trading environment is FSCA’s number one priority, so the regulator is constantly updating the legislative base for the Forex market infrastructure. Traders can be assured that all brokers listed on our website can meet their financial obligations and provide a fair, secure trading environment.

Cryptocurrency trading in South Africa

As an emerging actively developing market, South Africa is officially embracing cryptocurrency trade and investment laws, with its financial and capital markets regulators predicting an increase in crypto activity in the country.

Within the region, South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya are now among the top markets for trade and investment in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in Africa. South Africa – the most sophisticated financial sector on the continent – sensing an impending boom in crypto trade in the country and on the African continent, so the country has recognized cryptocurrencies as an investment and taxable asset.

However, crypto trading is a relatively new field not only for newbies but even for more experienced traders. To make it safer, traders better do it only with regulated brokers with time-proved reliability, which gives traders the opportunity to trade not only famous cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum but also more exotic kinds.

AvaTrade is a broker regulated by 6 (!) global most reputable organizations, including ASIC and CySEC. Together with even rare cryptocurrencies, it offers a broad variety of tradable instruments including Forex, stocks, commodities, cryptocurrencies, and indices, with industry-standard spreads, on a wide selection of trading platforms for both manual and automated trading, across a variety of device types.

Also, AvaTrade provides a Copy Trading feature – your chance to earn some passive income just by automatically following the moves of more experienced traders. The combination of AvaTrade’s global reputation with the tech-advanced mechanisms gives traders the security of knowing that their deals and capital are in the safe hands of some of the best traders.

Top Forex Brokers in South Africa

The country has a solid foot in the Forex market and most Forex brokers offer a variety of currency pairs and other instruments including popular Cryptocurrencies that can be traded.

Brokers which our experts list below offer South Africans trading conditions with low minimum deposit requirements, tight spreads, low commissions, a wide range of tradable instruments, Copy Trading, and Forex bonuses up to $8000 on the first deposit. South African traders can use a wide range of trading strategies when dealing with these brokers, and they are provided with demo accounts, negative balance protection, popular trading platforms, and a choice of retail investor account types.

OANDA in South Africa 

OANDA is a well-known broker for traders all over the world. The broker offers trading in over 100 instruments including currency pairs, indices, commodities, bonds, and metals. There are 9 base currencies available in the company: EUR, GBP, CHF, USD, CAD, AUD, JPY, HKD, and SGD.

The broker holds licenses by such authoritative regulations around the world as FSA, ASIC, and IIROC.

Globally, OANDA offers three account types: demo, Standard, and Advanced Trader, which makes the broker a fine fit for both new and seasoned trades. 

Please note that with OANDA, you can get a bonus on the first account top-up of up to $1000. As soon as you top up the account, OANDA will immediately credit your balance with a one-off welcome bonus of 50% of the initial deposit.

XM Group in South Africa

XM comes as an ‘all-inclusive’ broker that combines the vastness of trading instruments – more than 1000, including Forex pairs, equities, commodities – and platform choices with attractive trading conditions.

XM also offers a multi-level Forex bonus program: mainly, there are three bonus types complementing each with free VPS and zero-fee deposits and withdrawals. The broker offers a 100% automatic entry bonus of up to $5000 and a transparent referral program: you get $35 for each friend that joins XM as your referral.

AvaTrade in South Africa

AvaTrade is one of the most popular forex brokers in the world, offering very competitive trading conditions. It is a broker well-regulated by several reputable entities including FSCA, ASIC, CySEC, and others.

AvaTrade offers its clients more than 1250 financial instruments, including Forex, stocks, bonds, indices, and Cryptocurrencies that can be traded through multiple powerful, reliable trading platforms together with 24/7 multilingual support all over the globe.

HF Markets in South Africa

HF Markets is a large and reputable forex broker based in Cyprus, that services South Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. With HF Markets, traders can expect a wide range of tradable instruments, low trading fees, powerful trading platforms, educational material, and advanced trading tools and resources.

HF Markets also offers a powerful solution to trade CFDs and Forex, also with costs built into the tight spread. Being a fully regulated broker in various jurisdictions, HF Markets maintains safe trading capabilities and delivers various solutions including Zero Spread trading, Islamic Accounts, and free VPS hosting.

South Africans are able to benefit from price fluctuations on more than 1200 instruments including Cryptocurrencies.

NAGA Markets in South Africa

NAGA is a trustful broker that originated from Germany, with a great range of trading instruments and a very competitive, but friendly social trading environment. By registering, you benefit from over 950 markets, including ETFs, Forex, commodities, crypto CFDs, a wide range of professional tools, and educational materials for traders of any level.

Together with more than a million users, you can trade and invest, learn from them, and automatically copy the best traders or become a trading pro yourself. As one, you’ll get a chance to earn extra income and a largely reduced commission. Or as a trading newbie, you can highly benefit from auto-copying the most successful traders in real-time: make money and learn at the same time.

Also, you can trade on some brokers on your own, while on others you can use the Copy Trading function. It will encourage you to continue exploring trading and increase your chances to earn some passive income.