Opening an account with Oanda

[Atomic_Sheep]

Hi guys, I've never traded live before and I'm looking to open an account with Oanda. I tried opening an account with IG but I didn't meet their requirements... go figure, I'm new and they don't want my money. Anyway, the thing with Oanda is that revenue service form that I need to fill in, what's it all about?

Also, how long does it take to transfer money to Oanda? Do they have stringent requirements in the way of who they allow to open accounts? and lastly, since I'm in Australia, will my account be in AUD or whill I have to do an exchange into US and then hedge my account balance?

 

[Knoxy]

You can open an AUD account with OANDA, believe they also offer USD, JPY, EUR, CHF accounts. No personal experience with them but believe they won't be too stringent about things, if you meet minimum account opening balance they'll take you. Likely to take 3 -5 days for wired money to appear in an account if they're anything like my experience with overseas brokers.

Have you considered Australian brokers other than IG? (eg. Go Markets, GFT, FXCM Aus etc.)

 

[Atomic_Sheep]

My friend suggested Go Forex and I'm looking into them, another one of my mates trades with FXCM and seems to be pretty happy with them. I think at the end of the day, most of my experience has been through MT4 platforms so maybe I really should look into GoMarkets the most. I just read that Oanda seems to be the least dodgy broker with the most reliable feeds out there and I'd rather have that than have a platform that shuts down and spikes like crazy every day.

 

[Knoxy]

most of my experience has been through MT4 platforms so maybe I really should look into GoMarkets the most.

I have MT4 accounts with FXCM and Go Markets, can recommend both. Go Markets allows smaller accounts, FXCM has better spreads. I also see that Kinetic Securities have just announced MT4 as an option. I'll probably demo with them just to check it out.

 

[inspira]

Oh I didn't know FXCM had better spreads than GoM - will have to do some homework.

Knoxy do you know if Kinetic are acting as a white label for someone else? I thought they were from memory...

I'm happy with Go at the moment and have an unfunded Oanda account - would like another Aussie broker though.

Looking to diversify,
inspira

 

[Knoxy]

do you know if Kinetic are acting as a white label for someone else? I thought they were from memory...

Don't know much about them to be honest. Had a look at their 'global direct' platform for a day, has to be white label for someone else, didn't like it.

Anyway, as they had my email address got an email last week saying 'coming soon - MT4'.

 

[Profit Scenario]

Hi guys, I've never traded live before and I'm looking to open an account with Oanda. I tried opening an account with IG but I didn't meet their requirements... go figure, I'm new and they don't want my money. Anyway, the thing with Oanda is that revenue service form that I need to fill in, what's it all about?

Also, how long does it take to transfer money to Oanda? Do they have stringent requirements in the way of who they allow to open accounts? and lastly, since I'm in Australia, will my account be in AUD or whill I have to do an exchange into US and then hedge my account balance?

Hi Atom,

I've been trading with Oanda for more than 4 years and I am very satisfied with them. Yes, you can open your account in AUD, as well. They will ask you to prove your ID and your address, that's it. Transfer obviously depends on your sender bank, as well, it ususally takes no more than 36 hours for me (one day +time gap). (sender account must be on the same name for tax purpose) Withdrawing a little bit shorter, can be done within a day.
They have no minimum account size, no minimum transaction size, literally you can put $10 in a single trade. Max leverage 1:50. Very low spreads which can be increased during news time (for couple of minutes). Because of this reason you can newstrade and scalp, as well, no problem. Carry trade also available, interest based on seconds, withdrawed every day 6.00 AM.

I guess you've already tried them on demo so you know their system. Simple, not too sophisticated but stable and reliable. You can trade from your IPhone, as well.(no charting software just account managing platform)

I hope that it helps, good luck.