Best Forex Brokers in South Africa

With strong regulations and relative economic power, forex trading continues to expand in South Africa. The forex market is highly competitive and finding a reliable broker can be a daunting task with so many options available.

Most importantly, brokers must be authorized by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) in South Africa. Being authorized by the FSCA is a sign of legitimacy and is beneficial for forex traders. There are also brokers regulated outside of South Africa who accept local residents for forex trading.

Keep reading to explore some of the best forex brokers in South Africa that offer competitive trading conditions, a wide range of trading instruments and top-notch customer service.

Quick Look: Best Forex Brokers in South Africa

• Best for Leverage Trading With Many Instruments: IFC Markets
• Best for Lightning Fast Execution Speed: Blackbull Markets
• Best for High Volume Traders: FOREX.com
• Best for Low Forex and CFD Trading Fees: HYCM

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Disclosure: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 74% to 76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. The products and services available to you at FOREX.com will depend on your location and on which of its regulated entities holds your account

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Best Forex Brokers in South Africa

South African residents can open up an account with each top forex broker below, so review what your trading requirements are and check out the various options before you choose a broker.

1. Best for Leverage Trading With Many Instruments: IFC Markets

IFC Markets supports nearly 200,000 clients in 80 countries (including South Africa). When you want to trade unique assets like forex and CFDs based on stocks, indices, oil, gold, etc, you can get started with IFC Markets at any time. The platform offers well over 600 trading instruments, and you also have the option to build as many synthetic instruments as you like. This means that you can grow your portfolio that much more quickly and use your creativity to invest more effectively and aggressively.

Floating spreads dip as low as 0.4 and fixed spreads can be as low as 1.8. Leverage is available up to 1:400. Plus, you can use the GeWorko Portfolio Quoting Method, which makes it that much easier for you to build those synthetic assets and collect data that will improve your decision-making. 

Moreover, the platform is regulated by The British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (BVI FSC) and the Labuan Financial Services Authority (LFSA) in Malaysia, making IFC Markets safer for South African investors.

2. Best for Lightning Fast Execution Speed: Blackbull Market

BlackBull Markets provides a range of trading instruments, including forex, indices, commodities, energies, metals and CFDs. BlackBull Markets' global expansion and strong reputation further establish it as a trusted and reliable choice in the trading industry.

With its headquarters in New Zealand and regulation overseen by regulatory bodies such as the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) in New Zealand and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the Seychelles, the broker is a popular choice for all types of traders.

3. Best for High Volume Traders: FOREX.com

FOREX.com is the leading U.S. forex broker based on client assets and is well-regulated by the NFA and CFTC in the United States. It is also regulated in the U.K., Japan, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, and the Cayman Islands.

Opening a trading account at FOREX.com requires just $250, and you can trade micro lots through this broker if you wish to deal in smaller trading sizes. The broker keeps client funds segregated from its own and it also offers an Islamic account option for clients.

FOREX.com has several desktop, web-based and mobile trading platforms that include the highly popular MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms from MetaQuotes, as well as NinjaTrader. Traders can also access its proprietary Advanced Trading Platform for desktop computers and its Web Trading platform that lets you trade using an Internet browser.

FOREX.com has a rather low (though safe) maximum leverage ratio of just 50:1 for forex clients.

4. Best for Low Forex and CFD Trading Fees: HYCM

HYCM is a reputable forex broker that provides investors with access to more than 69 currency pairs. In addition to forex trading, HYCM provides various other services such as high leverage rates, stock and ETF trading, commodity investing, and more. Opening an account with HYCM is a quick and easy process, taking as little as 10 minutes for most investors.

HYCM provides investors with a flexible fee structure that enables them to select the spread option that suits their needs. Various educational and investing tools are accessible to traders of all levels, providing equal benefits to both experienced and novice traders. HYCM provides service to residents of 140 countries, making it a viable option for many.

How to Choose a Forex Broker in South Africa

When seeking a decent online forex broker to trade through from South Africa, the list of well-regulated forex brokers in South Africa shown above provides a good place to start. These include online brokers or banks with a South African presence in addition to well-regulated foreign brokers that accept South African clients, such as FOREX.com, for example.

If you prefer to do business in a language other than English, you might want to choose a broker with a website that translates into your preferred language. The broker should also have a customer service staff member fluent in that language.

Select a broker that has established a South African office and is regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) because these brokers tend to act more responsibly toward locals since they can be sued in South Africa. Litigating against a foreign company can be a challenge, and it can easily involve extra time and cost to pursue justice if you feel that it’s necessary. Finding the best forex broker for your needs usually depends on your particular situation.

What to Look for in a Forex Broker

No matter where a forex broker is based, the best forex brokers will demonstrate the following traits:

• Well-regulated
• Will open an account for you
• Have a good reputation
• Offer the currency pairs and assets you want to trade
• Require an affordable minimum deposit
• Make prices with decent dealing spreads
• Have minimal order slippage
• Allow enough leverage for your preferred trading strategy to work
• Provide negative balance protection
• Segregate client accounts from its own
• Support the deposit and withdrawal procedures you wish to use

Keep in mind that the type of trading software a broker supports is vitally important as well. Many online brokers have their own proprietary trading platforms they let clients use, and some also support third-party platforms like the popular MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms from MetaQuotes.

South Africa Forex Trading Strategies

When it comes to the forex market, failing to plan is planning to fail. The more strategies you master, the more likely you are to consistently profit. Start your journey with some vetted game plans.

Price Action

If you like reading and interpreting charts, you should enjoy trading off of price action. Predict the next move, strike while the iron is hot and take profits quickly. The price action trader is more concerned with a currency pair’s pattern of movement.

Large macroeconomic conditions and long-term trends don’t matter as much because these trades aren’t meant to be long — sometimes only a few seconds (if that).

Day Trading

Day trading is a specific kind of price action trading that closes all trades by the end of the day. Placing a time limit on the action protects a trader from big overnight moves. Although forex trades 24 hours a day, weekend moves can be somewhat surprising.

Day traders exercise many of the same techniques as price action traders and are opportunistic. This kind of trading is also usually higher frequency than position trading, range trading or trend trading. 

Range Trading 

Range traders may hold a trade for minutes, hours or days. This kind of trading tries to take advantage of larger patterns based on support and resistance levels.

Range trading works when a currency pair has no definite direction — it is moving within a range that can be predicted. Successful traders buy at the low points of the range and sell at the high points over and over.

Trend Trading

Trend trading usually takes place over the same time frame as range trading. The major difference is the behavior of the currency pair — it's moving in a direction rather than within a range.

The successful trader will identify the trend (usually just up or down) and trade accordingly. You will usually ignore small pullbacks and wait for bigger profits as well.

Forex Trading Example in South Africa

Let’s say ZAR/USD is trading at 0.05780/0.05790, and you think the price will rise. The margin rate of this currency pair is 3.17% and you want to purchase R150,000.

You will only need $275.08 in your account — the broker will let you borrow the rest.

The ZAR/USD price moves up according to plan. After 3 hours, it’s trading at 0.06020/0.06040.

This is a move of 23 points (0.06020-0.05790), and your profit is (R150,000*0.06020)-(R150,000*0.05790) or $345.

Making Money with Forex in South Africa

There are many ways to make money in the forex market outside of the traditional “buy low, sell high” mantra (which works just fine as well). The more you know, the more likely you are to see opportunities as they come.

• Carry trading: You can make money on the directional movement of a currency pair, but you can also make movement on the interbank interest rate of a currency. When you hold a currency in forex, that’s just like holding it in a bank. You gain interest on your holdings. Carry traders try to profit from the difference in interest rates of various currencies.
• Binary options: Instead of taking profit or loss based on the real time movement of a currency pair, you can participate in all or nothing options. If a currency is at a certain price on a certain date, you win money. If it is lower than the pre-established price on that date, you lose your investment.
• Shorting: If you think the value of a currency will decrease in the future, you can borrow that currency and sell it at a high price to buy it back cheaper later. This is known as shorting a currency.

Get Started with Forex in South Africa

Anyone who knows how to trade forex will tell you the game is 90% preparation. Your infrastructure needs to be solid or even the best laid plans will fall flat. As the biggest financial market in the world, forex is a global competition that takes no prisoners. Here’s how you can get started.

• Connect online: You can connect to the world of forex and trade currencies across the world from anywhere in South Africa. Make sure you have a solid Internet connection with no built-in latency. Forex trades are all about timing, and you don’t need a delayed system reaction messing up a perfectly good strategy.
• Search for the best online forex broker: You can connect to forex brokers across the world. Take note of the regulatory bodies that govern your chosen brokers. South Africa has relatively strong protections, but those protections may not apply if the broker you choose is offshore.
• Open the account: Your broker will have a process for you to follow to open an account. Make sure you follow the directions closely. You must properly identify yourself and connect your bank account.
• Fund your account: You can begin your trading career using virtual (not real) money. When you want to start making money, you will need to fund your account. This should be a relatively simple process if you have connected your bank account. Certain brokers will also allow funding through a check, debit card or credit card. 
• Download your trading platform: Most reputable brokers have proprietary trading platforms. This is the user interface you will use to make your investments into the forex market.
• Trade: Now that your infrastructure is set, you can begin trading in the forex market.

The South African national currency is the South African Rand (ZAR), which is further divided into 100 smaller denominations known as cents. Although the International Monetary Fund (IMF) does not consider the ZAR a common Central Bank reserve currency, according to data compiled by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the South African currency ranked as the 20th most-traded of 2016, accounting for one percent of overall forex market activity that year.

With respect to the South African financial sector regulation, South Africa has employed a so-called “Twin Peaks” regulatory system since 2017. Since that time, regulation of online forex and contract for difference (CFD) brokers has come under the responsibility of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), an entity that was created to take the place of the Financial Services Board (FSB).

Financial institutions need to be authorized by the FSCA before starting to operate in South Africa. The FSCA has been authorized to ensure that regulated entities obey relevant laws and fulfill capital adequacy requirements to support their financial soundness and protect traders and investors. Brokers with local licenses must keep all client funds segregated and in a recognized bank in South Africa.

When it comes to forex trading, South Africa is an increasingly popular locale for forex brokers due to its rapidly growing economy as one of the most developed countries in Africa, as well as strong demand for financial services and less strict regulation.

South Africa has a few locally-based online brokers licensed by the FSCA, such as BlackStone Futures and Khwezi Trade, although the more reputable international forex brokers who have opened offices in South Africa will typically offer a better service. 

Remember that if you do want to trade via a foreign forex broker, it should be reputable and overseen by one or more regulators where its main operations are situated.

Open New Financial Doors in Foreign Exchange Trading

You can use forex to open new financial doors in South Africa. Many brokers offer stocks of educational content, and there are online courses to teach you more about foreign exchange investments. Start with our guide to learn to succeed in the forex market.

Frequently Asked Questions