Africa Platform is a project launched to help South African online traders and investors to find the best and most reputed online Forex brokers in the industry. It is run by a team of expert traders who are eager to help other traders, especially beginners, find the best products in the trading industry.

We research and test licensed, regulated, and reputed Forex brokers before reviewing and rating them. We encourage traders to read our reviews, make a comparative study of various online Forex brokers, and choose one that best suits their trading styles, goals, and requirements.

Traders can rest assured that we choose only licensed and regulated online Forex brokers, which enjoy an excellent reputation in the trader community. At the same time, we have blacklisted a number of shady companies that we would like you to avoid.

In addition, we offer a comprehensive library of high-quality articles on CFD trading, Forex trading, options trading, trading strategies, trading tips, and automated trading. Our aim is to provide free and high-quality trading education to those who visit us.

How We Choose Top Forex Brokers

We spend a lot of time researching an online Forex broker before actually reviewing it, rating it, and recommending it to traders. We actually sign up at the online broker services we advocate so that we have authentic and insider information to share.

While choosing top FX brokers, we take the following criteria into consideration:

  • Licensing and Regulation – We recommend opening accounts only at licensed and regulated brokers.
  • Spreads – Brokers offering the lowest spreads need not always be the best. So we research a combination of factors such as execution quality, swap, commission, and spread before recommending a product.
  • Trading Platforms – We choose only brokers offering CFD and Forex platforms that suit a variety of trading requirements.
  • No Restriction on Trading Styles – We do not advocate brokers that limit or restrict trading styles.
  • Slippage and Quality of Order Execution – Our recommended FX brokers not only have low spreads, but also execute orders at asking price.
  • 100% Secure – We never support FX brokers that fail to segregate trader funds from operational funds.
  • Optional Leverage – CFDs and currency pairs are leveraged products. So we recommend online brokers that enable traders to choose their leverage.
  • Customer Support – We select only FX brokers that respect their traders and provide them excellent customer support.
  • Wide Range of Trading Accounts – Great brokers offer a wide range of trading accounts to suit a variety of trading styles and requirements.
  • Diverse Trading Instruments – Since we are aware that most traders prefer to invest in multiple financial markets, we support only brokers that offer a wide range of trading instruments.
  • Trading Tools – Online brokers that fail to offer great trading tools are not worth considering. We therefore choose online brokers offering demo accounts, trading tools, add-ons, and other features that help them to make successful trades.
  • Education – We recommend brokers that provide high-quality educational material. This is because we want Forex beginners to learn the ins and outs of trading on demo accounts before actually beginning to trade for real. This greatly minimizes the risks of trading, which is anyway fraught with risks even for expert traders.

Best Forex Brokers in South Africa

South African traders have a wide choice when it comes to online Forex brokers, but our team has handpicked the following as the top Forex brokers for South African investors and traders to sign up at:

  1. IC Markets claims to be the world’s biggest true ECN Forex broker. You can start live trading right away or work on a free demo account. IC Markets’ true ECN environment has spreads that start from 0.0 pips, no price manipulation, no restrictions, and no requotes. The online broker attracts a number of scalpers, robots, and high volume traders for these reasons. IC Markets offers trading on over 60 currency pairs, 17 indices, 19 commodities, 5 bonds, and 120 stocks. Traders can choose from powerful trading platforms such as MT5, MT4, and cTrader for Windows, browser, Mac, Android, and iOS.
  2. IQ Option offers trading instruments such as cryptocurrencies, indices, options, stocks, commodities, and ETFs. Traders can trade CFDs on 187 stocks with leverage of up to 20x. In addition, they can choose from 52 options, 75 forex pairs, 24 cryptocurrencies, 10 indices, six commodities, and 22 ETFs. The online broker offers not only the best trading instruments, but also the best trading tools such as stock screeners, newsletters, volatility alerts, market updates, and calendars. It allows registration via Google or Facebook accounts. Or you can just reveal your details and open an account. You can read more about IQ Option here.
  3. FinmaxFX offers bonuses to new customers. Financial broker FinmaxFX appeared on the market a few years ago, but for such a short period of its existence Finmax FX managed not only to win the attention of users, but also to push all its competitors into the background. The main mission of the broker is to help all its clients to realize their investment potential. The company approaches each user individually, sees and hears his problems, provides operational assistance and support to give him all the opportunities to develop in trading and achieve success.
  4. FXCM offers Forex trading 24 hours per day and five days per week. Traders can trade micro CFDs on GER30, US30, and UK100, absolutely free of commission. They can get started by making a minimum deposit of $50. If you are unsure about trading, you can open an FXCM practice account for free, test the online trading platform, and practice trading without risking your own money.
  5. FX Pro has more than 15 years of industry experience to its credit. You can trade CFDs on shares, spot indices, futures, forex, spot energies, and spot metals. You can choose from four trading platforms such as MT4, MT5, Edge, and cTrader. The trading environment features ultra fast execution of trade orders, enabling the online broker to execute orders in less than 11.06ms. Moreover, the online broker offers 24/5 support in multiple languages. You can definitely rely on a broker that has won more than 60 international and UK awards.
  6. HotForex is the home of supercharged bonuses, which can help you to boost your trading. The online broker offers bonuses such as 100% supercharged bonus with instant rebates, 30% rescue bonus, and 100% credit bonus. The best features of this online broker are 12 trading platforms, account leverage of up to 1:1000, 100% credit bonus, $0 fees on deposits, and 24/5 customer support. Ever since its launch in 2010, over 1,300,000 traders have opened accounts at HotForex. The online broker employs 200+ employees from different parts of the world. The online broker has won 20+ industry awards and supports 27 languages. Those who wish to trade on the move can download the mobile trading apps for Android and iOS from the Google Play Store and Apple Store, respectively.
  7. JP Markets is one of the best online forex traders for South African traders because it is licensed and regulated by the Financial Services Board of South Africa. The online forex broker offers sophisticated security for traders’ money, fast trading platforms, negative balance protection, friendly customer support, fast payouts and deposits, and zero fees. JPMarkets is the biggest forex broker in Africa and South Africa. Ever since its establishment a few years back, the company witnessed fast growth and expanded quickly into Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Kenya.
  8. CM Trading calls itself “your local international broker” and offers trading on forex, indices, commodities, and stocks. Since it is voted as the “Best Performing Broker in Africa 2017,” it is one of the best online brokers for South African traders and investors. Traders can choose from platforms such as CopyKat, 1×1 Trading, and MT4 for the best online trading experience. CM Trading is safe and secure as it constantly evolves with financial authority requirements. It separates client funds with company’s funds and never mixes the two for any purpose. In addition, it implements the latest Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology to keep client details safe. CMTrading is also a great place to learn trading as it offers high-quality educational materials such as webinars, training videos, and eBooks. Traders can get started by downloading the MT4 app for Android, desktop, or iOS. If they prefer browser-based trading, they can trade on Webtrader.
  9. FBS Forex. You can get started at FBS.com on a training account. Demo or training accounts at FBS.com give traders the opportunity to practice for free till they gain the experience and expertise they require to trade for real. Traders can choose from a wide range of account types, download trading software for Windows and Mac or apps for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, and trade 46 instruments across a variety of asset classes. The advantages of trading with FBS.com are many. The online broker offers generous bonuses and runs exciting promotions. It offers a variety of safe, secure, and reliable funding methods and provides plenty of learning opportunities for beginners who want to learn how to trade.

Best CFD Brokers in South Africa

We have selected the following top CFD brokers for South African traders and investors who like to trade CFDs on a wide range of assets such as commodities, bonds, shares, currency pairs, and others:

  1. XM Forex. XM.com allows you to open a demo account and invest in more than 100 shares. You can trade CFDs on commodities, metals, indices, energies, and stocks. Forex trading on over 55 international currency pairs is also available. More than 2.5 million clients are signed up at XM broker because it is licensed in Australia, UK, Belize, and Cyprus. Its staff speaks 30+ languages to serve clients from more than 196 countries from different parts of the world. South Africans can trade 1000+ instruments across seven classes of assets. To get the ultimate online trading experience, they can choose from 16 trading platforms. If you know nothing about trading, you can use the online broker’s extensive range of educational materials, including webinars, seminars, market research, and trading tools.
  2. Forex Time (FXTM). The best time to sign up at Forextime.com (FXTM) is now as it is offering a big deposit bonus of $5,000. If you are new to trading, FXTM is a great place to learn, trade, and invest. The educational materials include a free demo account, local & online seminars, step-by-step articles & tutorials, and personal account managers. The online trading environment features tight spreads, sophisticated trading tools, risk protection, and high-speed execution of trade orders. If you prefer to invest, you may do so by joining FXTM Invest. There are no hidden fees to worry about and you can automatically copy trades from professional traders and earn profits when they do.
  3. Pepperstone is an award-winning online broker ideal for gold, oil, forex, and CFD trading. The online broker offers 24/5 trading across 72 classes of assets. Since it processes trades worth an average of US$ 8.3 billion daily, it becomes one of the top online brokers in the world. The CFD broker has won 17 industry awards in recognition and appreciation of its innovative technology, client service, and FX brokerage. Traders can choose from sophisticated platforms such as MT5, MT4, WebTrade, and cTrader, along with mobile trading apps for Android and iOS.

Conclusion

Forex trading and CFD trading are fun, but not everybody’s cup of tea. Eager beginners must understand the various risks associated with trading. Before plunging headlong into the tempestuous sea of trading, they should focus on getting educated.

Fortunately, all the above-mentioned online trading services we recommend for South African traders produce free and high-quality educational resources such as video tutorials, eBooks, eCourses, webinars, and articles on trading and subjects related to trading. We encourage you to get started with a demo account and practice trading for several days till you gain the confidence you need to start trading for real.

We also encourage you to read our top guides, such as Complete Guide to Forex Trading, No Deposit Bonus Offers for South African Traders, Top Binary Options platforms in Africa and Complete Guide to CFDs. If you want to start trading, these guides will be of great use to you.