The Lowdown on AvaTrade
Who Are AvaTrade?
The concept of investing in cryptocurrencies presents one of the most interesting undertakings of today. Indeed, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoins have grown so much in value and with that comes an opportunity for investors to realize solid returns. One of the players making it painlessly easy for that to happen has been operating globally since 2006. In this AvaTrade review, we are going to talk about how this UK-headquartered company plays a pivotal role in the fast-growing marketplace.
Who Can Trade with AvaTrade
Anyone with the desire to invest can be a part of AvaTrade. The platform has been designed in such a way that it is accommodative to all levels of traders. So, whether you are a beginner or an experienced trader, you can rest assured that this system has a module to get you moving.
Bottom Line
AvaTrade has been on the trading markets for slightly over one decade. Throughout the years, the company has made a name for itself by remaining consistent and steadfast in providing a platform for growth for investors. Given that the company is registered and licensed to transact as an international broker, it provides an outstanding choice for prospective traders who would like to be part of a flexible and intuitive trading platform. Different AvaTrade review postings laud this as one of the revolutionary approaches to cryptocurrency investment available out there.
Conducting over 2 million trades per month across a user-base of 200,000 customers across the globe, AvaTrade is a platform for retail traders to comfortably grow their trading strategies and benefit from a variety of financial trading instruments, from Forex to commodities to cryptocurrencies and more. In an industry where trust is paramount, AvaTrade has built a business that not only complies with all standard regulation, but has been recognized for its superior service year-after-year.
Trust and Recognition
AvaTrade is a trusted broker, with multiple AvaTrade reviews, over a decade of industry experience and global offices in over 10 countries worldwide. The company is an authorized broker-dealer and regulated according to many worldwide government institutions, giving users peace f mind that their funds are secure on the platform. However, because AvaTrade is not regulated in the United States, they are unable to accept clients residing in the US or take any deposits that originate in the United States at this time.
Not only is AvaTrade a trustworthy broker, because of its superior trading platform, reliable customer service, and trading options, it has won many awards for its contributions to the industry, including:
- Best Forex Broker – 2016, 2014, 2010
- Global Bitcoin CFD Trading Provider of the Year – 2015, 2012
- Forex Excellence Award – 2016, 2014, 2010
- FXEmpire Best Affiliation Program – 2016, 2014, 2010
- DailyForex Most Reliable Broker – 2015, 2011, 2009
Instruments Available for Trade
While many trading platforms only provide a small selection of trading instruments, AvaTrade offers one-stop-shopping for users to trade a variety of financial instruments. Forex spot trading is available with both fixed and variable spread pricing. Additionally, Vanilla Options are available for Forex trading on the AvaTrade platform. Stocks, bonds, indices, commodities, and more are available to trade with Contract for Difference (CFD) instruments. AvaTrade even offers exposure to the newly emerging cryptocurrency industry, with CFDs available on 7 of the sectors top coins.
Exchange Onboarding
To start, AvaTrade requires submission of personal information, such as date of birth and address (which must be confirmed via a utility bill or bank statement), as well as the submission of a form of government-issued ID. It may take some time for identity verification to be completed.
Once the account identity is approved, a deposit to the account can be made. Deposit and withdrawal methods on AvaTrade include credit card, PayPal, bank wire transfer, Neteller, and more and may be dependent on your country of residence.
Trading Tools
One thing that makes AvaTrade stand out when compared to its competitors is its variety of tools built-in to its trading platforms, allowing traders of all levels to build custom trading strategies for success.
- Demo Account – Want to test out trading tools without the risk of losing real money? The AvaTrade Demo Account allows users to get used to using the AvaTrade platform and make simulated trades before making any real-money deposits.
- AvaTradeGo – This mobile app delivers charting and market trend analysis on-the-go. Trade forex, cryptocurrencies, stocks, and more from your mobile device.
- Guardian Angel – An add-on for MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, Guardian Angel provides real-time feedback on trades and market changes. This tool will help mitigate future trading risks and increase your trading knowledge exponentially.
- Automated Trading – Do you have faith in a specific trading strategy? Or, would you like to simply ride on the backs of other traders with more experience than you? Automated trading tools such as DupliTrade and ZuluTrade allow you to do just that, giving users the opportunity to copy the trading strategies from other users to automatically execute trades without having to do any additional work.
- Education – AvaTrade has an entire section on its website devoted to user education, including everything from beginner tools and tips to a Forex eBook and video training tutorials. The Sharp Trader educational site provides daily trading analysis and tools to help traders build their skills.
AvaTrade Trading conditions
The minimum account deposit is dependent on the base currency and deposit method of each user, with the deposit minimums as follows, with the minimum for a credit card deposit on an account based in US Dollars being $100.
Withdrawals take 1-2 business days for approval on AvaTrade, with the entire withdrawal process taking up to 10 business days depending on the processing time and withdrawal method being used. Other important trading conditions to note are a minimum position for CFDs of 0.01 lots, with the minimum spread available on Floating Spreads account of 0.9 pips, while fixed spreads start from 3 pips, and up to 400x trading leverage.
AvaTrade Fees
A big part of any trading platform, fees play a large role in determining the benefit of any financial marketplace. AvaTrade does not collect fees on a commission basis, and instead, works across Bid/Ask spreads to collect fees from users. Spreads are calculated on a per contract basis and dependent on the financial instrument being traded. A few example spreads for various financial instruments include:
- Apple (AAPL) – 0.06 over market
- Google (GOOGL) – 0.20 over market
- Crude Oil – $0.03
- Gold – $0.50
- 5 Year US T-Note – 0.03 over market
- EUR/USD fixed rate – 1.9 pip
- EUR/GBP fixed rate – 2.5 pip
- BTCUSD (Bitcoin to US Dollar) – 0.75% over market
- Ethereum – 1% over market
Spreads change according to market conditions, so the most up to date version should be checked directly in the trading conditions section of the AvaTrade site found here.
Customer Support
A review of AvaTrade found that its customer support service is extensive, providing local phone support for a variety of countries worldwide, live online chat support, and email request ticket submissions. This variety of support tools gives users plenty of outlets to get all of their questions answered, and tickets that are submitted during off-business hours are usually responded to within 24 hours. At the beginning of 2018 AvaTrade experienced an overwhelming inflow of new customers that resulted in longer than usual support response times, but they increased their workforce capacity in order to handle it, and are back to normal response times.