OctaFX is a global forex trading company that is getting popular in India because of low initial deposit amounts, higher leverage, and low brokerage.
OctaFX is among a few forex brokers that allow you to deposit money via UPI or PayTm from India.
We are going to review OctaFX in detail to answer all your questions about the global forex trading company.
Disclaimer – The article is for informative purposes. The article is for informative purposes. In India, you can legally trade forex only in EUR-USD, GBP-USD, USD-JPY along with INR-based currency pairs with SEBI registered brokers. Forex trading is highly volatile and you may incur losses if you don’t have technical knowledge of the currency markets. Always trade with spare money that doesn’t affect your life even if you lose the entire investment amount.
OctaFX Overview
OctaFX.com launched in 2011 that is represented by 2 umbrella-brand companies –
- The first one is Octa Markets Cyprus Ltd. registered in Cyprus and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) for European citizens (under European regulatory norms) with a portal address – OctaFX.Eu.
- The other one is OctaFX.Com that was established in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (a Carrabian country) and is regulated by St. Vincent and the Grenadines Financial Services Authority (SVGFSA).
OctaFX currently accepts clients from 185 countries including India.
You have to deposit just 25 USD to open an OctaFX.com account which is the lowest in the forex brokerage industry. You can deposit via UPI or PayTm in a hassle-free manner.
You get 2 trading platform options in OctaFX – MetaTrader 4, and MetaTrader 5 that we will cover in detail in the upcoming trading platforms section.
Since now we have a quick understanding of the forex trading firm, let’s discuss the Pros and Cons before digging deep into the features, account types, platforms, and reliability of OctaFX to answer all your questions.
OctaFX Features & Benefits
A. Low Spreads
OctaFX is among a few forex brokers that offer low spreads which are around 0.6 pips.
The spread is the difference between the asking and bidding price of a currency pair in a trade. A low spread means that there is a smaller difference between the bid and the asking price. Lower the difference means higher profitability.
(PiP is the unit of measuring spreads in forex trading. A pip is the 100th of 1%.)
B. Fast execution With No Slippage
OctaFX provides a snappy trading platform that facilitates faster trade execution with no slippage.
Slippage is the difference between the intended price of a trade and the actual price at which the trade is executed. Slippage mostly occurs when the market is highly volatile when a large order is executed but you don’t get enough volume at the chosen price.
C. Negative Balance Protection
OctaFX offers negative balance protection in which none of the trade losses can exceed your funds in the trading account. So you won’t get your trading account balance negative.
D. Deposit Benefits
OctaFX offers 1 USD by adding just Rs. 55 (instead of the current market price of around Rs. 75) fixed for Indian clients irrespective of the current USD price. That means you get additional funds available for trading. For example, you will get $100 for trading by adding Rs. 5500 only.
You can easily deposit funds in an OctaFX trading account through UPI and Paytm. Check out the deposit options below –
However, you can’t use UPI or Paytm for withdrawing money, but you can withdraw through banks without paying any commission.
OctaFX is among those few brokers that don’t charge any commission on deposits or withdrawals of funds that saves you a decent amount of money.
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E. Multiple asset trading options
You can trade in several assets such as –
- Currency trading – 32 currency pairs with a leverage of up to 1:500
- Indices CFDs – 10 popular index CFDs with 1:50 leverage
- Commodities like gold, silver with up to 1:200 maximum leverage and in natural gas up to 1:50 leverage
- Cryptocurrencies – Major 5 cryptocurrencies available including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, and Bitcoin Cash. with a maximum leverage of 1:25. (minimum trading amount is $100).
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OctaFX Account Types
You can open two types of trading accounts with OctaFX – Habitual trader and Smart trader.
1. Habitual Trader Account
Habitual trader account is for beginner traders with the easy-to-understand graphical representation of market trends, opening a new window for order execution. Your trades are limited to 200 lots which are still enough for a beginner trader.
2. Smart Trader Account
Smart trader account is for experienced traders with detailed analysis of market movements with a maximum volume of 500 lots.
Both accounts differentiate on trading platforms as habitual trader accounts offer MT4 and Smart trader accounts provide MT5 trading platforms.
Let’s discuss the trading platforms in detail.
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OctaFX Trading Platforms
A. Meta Trader4 (MT4) Trading Platform
MT4 trading platform is the most widely used trading platform all over the world. You can easily analyze market trends thanks to the graphical interface.
You can open a new window for new order placement and use the stop-loss feature to avoid slippage. MT4 allows you to quickly switch between financial instruments on charts.
MT4 also provides free financial news to keep you updated with the latest happenings in the world that may affect your trading decisions.
You can install the OctaFX MT4 app from the Google Play Store or Apple’s App Store for trading on the go.
B. Meta Trader5 (MT5) Trading Platform
MT5 is an advanced version of the MT4 platform which includes ‘buy stop limit’ and ‘sell stop-limit order options, not available in the predecessor platform.
You get more in-depth technical analysis in MT5 thanks to 8 additional built-in indicators such as Fibonacci studies, and Elliot wave.
MT5 platform also allows you to do both hedging and netting whereas MT4 offers to hedge only.
MT5 is also available as an android and iOs app to get similar trading benefits on your smartphone.
C. Copytrading App
OctaFX Copytrading is a social trading app that allows you to copy the trading strategies of other experts.
If you are a newbie, you can start copying experienced traders’ strategies until you learn to create your strategies.
You can choose your master trader from the list of expert traders. You have to pay a certain commission to the master trader against copying the strategy.
Social trading is quite popular that is a quick and easy way to start earning profits for a beginner.
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OctaFX Pricing
Habitual Trader (MT4 Platform) Pricing
OctaFX charges 0.6 pips on spreads (for the MT4 platform) which is quite low as compared to industry standards.
Swap charges apply on the MT4 platform. Swap is the ‘interest’ broker charges for leveraged funds.
In OctaFX, Swap short is -0.64 and Swap long is -1.03. (Short and long are the trade positions.)
Let’s calculate the swap short and long charges in dollars.
If you are short on EUR/USD by 1 standard lot on a Thursday and keep the position open overnight, closing it on Friday, the Swap short is calculated as shown below –
100 000 (the size of 1 Standard Lot) x (-0.64 x 0.0001 pip) = $-6.4 means you have to pay $-6.4 of interest for shorting overnight.
If you opt long on EUR/USD by 1 standard lot on Thursday and only close your position on the following Tuesday, the swap long would be calculated as below –
100 000 x (-1.03 X 0.0001 pip) = -$10.3 per night.
You have to pay $10.3 of interest per night. Since you have been keeping your position open for three nights, you would be paying a total of $30.9 (-10.3 X 3) as the total interest for 3 nights.
Smart Trader (MT5 Platform) Pricing
In the MT5 platform, the spread charges remain the same as 0.6 pip but you have to pay $3 per lot as a commission (which is quite low as compared to other competitors).
However, you don’t have to pay any daily rollover swaps but a fixed weekend rollover fee is applicable which is $20.
OctaFX also offers Islamic Accounts where the fee structure complies with Sharia law.
Reliability of OctaFX
Regulations
OctaFX European firm is regulated by Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) in Europe which has separate dealings from the global company.
The global firm is registered and regulated by St. Vincent and the Grenadines Financial Services Authority (SVGFSA) that’s where they lose the trust of people.
But the OctaFX has received several awards for its efficient customer support and reliable trading platforms as shown below –
- Best FX Broker Asia 2021 (Global Banking & Finance)
- Most Transparent broker 2020 (forex-awards.com)
- Best ECN Broker 2020
- Best FX Broker (2019)
- Best Broker 2019 (Global Banking and Finance)
- Best ECN/STP Broker 2019 (FX Daily Info)
- Best Forex Broker Asia 2019 (FX Daily Info)
Remember, OctaFX is now registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) but make sure you only trade in allowed forex pairs.
Platform Reliability
OctaFX platforms are stable and easy to use, making them highly reliable for users.
97.5% of all orders on OctaFX experience no slippage thanks to the fast execution of fewer than 0.1 seconds. Because you get a non-dealing desk model focused on straight-through processing (STP) execution.
Data Security
OctaFX uses SSL encryption to protect its customer’s information security. Apart from that, they have collaborated with highly secure payment gateways like Skrill, UPI, Visa to provide hassle-free and secure payment transfers.
Pros and Cons of OctaFX
Pros of OctaFX Account
- Lowest minimum opening balance of $25
- Easy account opening process
- UPI and PayTm transfer available for easy fund deposit
- Access leverage up to 500:1 with negative balance protection
- No commissions on deposits or withdrawals
- Dual trading platform access such as MT4, and MT5 across web browsers, desktops, and mobile applications.
- Access to copy trading and several research tools
- Dedicated learning platform
Cons of OctaFX Account
- The international platform (OctaFX.com) is less regulated
- Some currency pairs are not available to trade
- No individual Stock CFDs
How to Open a Trading Account with OctaFX
Step 1: Visit the OctaFx website and click on “Open Account”.
Step 2: Enter your name, email address and password to start the signup process. Or you can use your 3 accounts –
- Facebook account
- Google account
- Apple account
Step 3: Enter your personal details and click on “Continue”.
Step 4: Choose the trading platform.
Step 5: After selecting the trading platform, press “Continue” to finalize your account creation. You’ll be asked to fill out important information like bank account details and complete the KYC to open your account.
That’s it. Your OctaFX trading account will be opened within 2-3 days after completion of the verification process.
Final Thoughts
Though OctaFX is missing multiple regulations worldwide, the awards they have received for their fair dealings and customer service along with tight spreads and aggressive promotional offers make them an ideal choice for a newcomer.
Since they also support UPI and Paytm, that means they are highly dedicated to Indian clients that make more sense to use OctaFX.
But remember SEBI or RBI doesn’t allow you to directly trade in foreign currency which doesn’t include INR, so it’s totally at your discretion whether you want to experience international forex trading or not.
