Best Forex Brokers in South Africa

Honestly, some of the popular brokers in South Africa have really high fees on their lowest account types. It is really hard to say one broker is best without actually understanding the requirements like deposit, which instrument do you trade etc.

Many SA regulated forex brokers like FXTM, XM, FxPro, Plus500, HFM, Vault Markets, Tickmill charge a lot on spreads with their Micro & Standard Accounts. So, I would say they are okay, but not good. For example, you would easily be paying 1+ pips spread on EUR/USD.

In general, in my experience, you should only trade with the South African brokers regulated by the FSCA. Here is how you can do it.

a. Check the forex broker's website for their FSP number.

b. Search the FSP number & license details on FSCA's search: https://www.fsca.co.za/fais/search_fsp.htm

c. Verify the license details & the products approved. Which will look something like the attached image in which Tickmill is an example. They are authorized to offer Derivative instruments as an Intermediary only.

d. Forex Brokers that offer CFDs are also required to be approved ODP. Search if the broker is approved as an ODP or not from: https://www.fsca.co.za/MagicScripts/mgrqispi.dll?APPNAME=Web&PRGNAME=Search_ODP

Note: I've only used the broker in screenshot as an example to search FSP, this is not a recommendation. I don't trade with Tickmill.

The best forex brokers are those with both FSP & ODP licenses issued by the FSCA which is the financial market watchdog in South Africa.

The FSP licenses them to offer CFD products as intermediaries but the ODP further authorizes them to act as market makers.

Brokers like Tickmill South Africa, Just Markets South Africa, Exness South Africa, & Markets.com are some of the best forex brokers in South Africa based on the above regulation criteria.

Personally I have traded with Just Markets & Tickmill & their spreads are tight & very transparent.

Exness I have also traded with but the only issue I had with them was platform instability when markets are volatile. But generally I think Exness is also an okay broker.

I've not traded with Markets.com or IFX, so I cannot say any positive or negative things about these 2 brokers.

But I just checked & Markets.com are FSCA regulated & their entity FINALTO (PTY)LTD is an approved ODP. As per their website, 0.6 pips spreads on EUR/USD is their lowest (attached image from their website), which is okay but their rollover costs are not good.

The broker I trade with has 0.3 pips spread on EUR/USD. I traded with Exness before, but they are not good enough. During active London hour, sometimes their MT4 feed would freeze (this happened 2 times in a month), and the leverage would be lowered as well.

That is not even the major issue though.

Now I only think of broker only as way to place orders. As long as it is reputed & regulated & has the lowest trading cost for instrument I trade.

I use MT4 demo account of FXCM & tradingview for charting. I use my active broker's platform only for placing orders, not charting.

A lot of scam forex brokers in South Africa despite FSCA regulation. Are they doing their job? I will like to think so. For now on my personal experience I know Easy Markets is good broker for beginners & FXCM is good for professional

I trade with Markets.com and I haven't had any problems so far. Before them, I used to trade with IFX brokers and they were not giving me what I wanted. So for me, Markets.com stands out as the best.

I like @Karbin approach cos it makes sense. Select the broker with lowest cost & good regulation (even if they don't have excellent tools) then use the demo account of a broker with better tools for analysis.

For me, the choice of forex broker depends on the instrument I am trading. For CPI trading I use the broker Just Markets because of their high leverage. For Currency trading I use the broker Plus 500 because I like to trade currencies with lower leverage which this broker offers (1:500).

So far, I have not had any issues with either of the brokers I mentioned.

I have never traded with Justmarkets or Plus500, so I can't say anything positive or negative.

But looking at Justmarkets's spreads, 0.6 with Pro Account, 0.9 pips with Standard account on EUR/USD, it is okay (not the lowest, but also not the highest).

Their spreads on indices CFDs are not that great.

Just Global Markets (PTY) Ltd. have a CATEGORY I license, meaning, they can only act as an intermediary. I don't really know who the counter party is, because their are not an approved ODP.

From what I know of all the FSCA regulated forex brokers, TradeNation have the lowest CFD trading costs, it is quite low on forex & indices (and it is fixed during active trading hours).

But they are also not an approved ODP, and as per FSCA's website Trade Nation Financial (Pty) Ltd were fined R30,000 in 2022 because of it. You will find it on FSCA's website.

But overall, their trading costs are quite low. And they are reputed. Note that it is not a recommendation of any broker. It is just my opinion.