AvaTrade Review: Is It Safe? Fees, Pros and Cons

AvaTrade offers competitive trading fees and spreads across various financial instruments. Here’s an overview of the key aspects of AvaTrade’s fee structure:

AvaTrade is a reputable broker, as can be seen from the large number of regulations. The central regulation for Germany would be the CBI (Central Bank of Ireland) for AVA Trade EU Ltd. – Further regulations include:

• AVA Trade EU Ltd. is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland (No.C53877).
• AVA Trade Ltd is regulated by the B.V.I Financial Services Commission (No. SIBA/L/13/1049).
• Ava Capital Markets Australia Pty Ltd is regulated by ASIC (No.406684).
• Ava Capital Markets Pty is regulated by the South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA No.45984).
• Ava Trade Japan K.K. is licensed and regulated in Japan by the Financial Services Agency (License No.: 1662) and the Financial Futures Association of Japan (License No.: 1574).
• AVA Trade Middle East Ltd is regulated by the Abu Dhabi Global Market Financial Services Regulatory Authority (No.190018).

Depending on the regulation, different trading conditions may apply. We primarily only discuss the CBI regulation here.

AvaTrade offers several deposit and withdrawal options. The minimum deposit is €100 for credit cards and €500 via bank transfer. People in the EU can deposit or withdraw money via the following payment methods:

• Bank transfer
• Credit cards
• Skrill
• Neteller
• Webmoney

Unfortunately, PayPal is not currently offered. As a rule, withdrawals are processed within two business days.

AvaTrade charges an administration fee or inactivity fee after 3 consecutive months of non-use (“inactivity period”). Here, each subsequent Inactivity Period will have an Inactivity Fee* deducted from the customer’s trading account balance. The inactivity fee is 50€. After 12 months this increases to 100€.

By regulation, every new client must go through some basic compliance checks to ensure that you understand the risks of trading and are admitted to trading. When you open an account, you will probably be asked for the following items, so it is good to have them handy: A scanned colour copy of your passport or national ID A utility bill or bank statement from the last six months with your address You will also need to answer a few basic compliance questions to confirm how much trading experience you have. It is therefore best to take at least 10 minutes to complete the account opening process. Although you can explore the demo account immediately, it is important to note that you cannot make any real trading transactions until you have passed compliance, which can take up to several days depending on your situation.

AvaTrade offers a wide range of trading platforms. On offer are: MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, AvaOptions, AvaTradeGO as well as its own webtrader platform.

Depending on the platform, different trading instruments are tradable. For example, FX options are only tradable via AvaOptions. Most stocks, on the other hand, are tradable on the web or via MetaTrader 5 (MT5).

What is AvaOptions?

AvaOptions looks a bit confusing and is not suitable for the absolute trading novice. Here you can trade FX options. You can use a historical chart and confidence intervals to estimate the direction in which the market might move. At the same time you can see the risks and opportunities on the profit/loss diagram.

In the picture on the right, you can also see the implied volatility. From this, among other things, the option prices are calculated. But it can also be used to draw conclusions for normal Forex trading. A high implied volatility would for example warn the trader of larger movements.

As with real options, up to 13 option strategies can be implemented with AvaOptions, from straddle, strangle to butterfly or condor. If you do not have an options broker, you can also trade these options directly via AvaTrade. However, we would like to point out that options are very complex and are probably too difficult for trading beginners.

AvaTradeGO and AvaProtect

The proprietary trading platform AvaTradeGO has some additional features that MT4 or MT5 do not have. For example, you can use the AvaProtect function, which protects the trader from possible losses. As compensation, a commission is due here.

What is AvaProtect?

With AvaProtect you protect your positions in advance, before you enter the trade. So if you are afraid that the trade will go into the red, you can pay a fee (depending on the position size) to minimize this risk. Once the protection ends and you have an open position that incurs losses, AvaTrader simply refunds the amount to your account. Thus, the only cost is the AvaProtect fees. Comparable to AvaProtect is dealCancellation from easymarkets.

How does AvaProtect work?

AvaProtect can be offered by AvaTrade, as they act as a market maker and process all orders in-house. Thus, orders do not have to be forwarded directly to the exchange first.

So especially trading beginners should have positive experiences with the offered platforms with AvaTrade.

AvaTrade offers a wide range of trading instruments. In particular, the 24/7 crypto trading is worth highlighting.
AvaTrade currently offers over 700 trading instruments, including:

• +55 forex/currency pairs
• +23 indices
• +5 metals
• +6 energies
• +7 agricultural products
• +14 Cryptocurrencies
• +600 Shares
• +19 ETF
• +2 Bonds
• +50 FX options