Octa

While Octa is not FSCA-regulated, its intermediary in South Africa – Orinoco Capital Pty – is a licensed South African Financial Services Provider.

FSCA-Regulated Intermediary:  In South Africa, traders will be trading with Octa’s intermediary company Orinoco Capital Pty, which has been regulated by the FSCA in South Africa since 2021. In addition, Octa has a good reputation and is regulated by CySEC in Europe.

Safety Features: Octa segregates all funds from the company’s operating capital and offers negative balance protection to all its clients. As South African clients will be trading with an FSCA-regulated company, all complaints are handled by the South African ombudsman using South African laws.

The account opening process at Octa is hassle-free  and accounts are ready for trading immediately. Account verification is only required for withdrawals.

All South African residents are eligible to open an account at Octa if they meet the minimum deposit requirements stipulated by their chosen deposit method.  

Creating an account is straightforward, the process is fully digital, and accounts are available for trading immediately:

New traders will have to click on the “Open Account” button at the top of the page where they will be directed to register an account.    

1. Octa’s intake form requires clients to register an account with an email address and a password.
2. Next, new traders are directed to fill in their personal details (including name, country of residence, email address, birth date). 
3. Traders then need to select their preferred account type (MT4 or MT5), live or demo account, level of leverage, and account base currency.
4. Once this step is complete, traders can make their first deposit via several payment channels and can start trading. 
5. Traders are only required to submit any verification documents to Octa when they want to withdraw funds.These include:
   • Proof of Identification – Octa accepts all government-issued identification documents such as passports, national ID cards, driving licenses, or other government-issued IDs. 
   • Proof of Address – Proof of residence/address document must be issued in the name of the Octa’s account holder within the last 6 months and must contain a trader’s full name, current residential address, issue date, and issuing authority. 
6. We advise that you read Octa’s risk disclosure, customer agreement, and terms of business before you start trading. 

Octa does have 30 cryptocurrencies to trade at 25:1 leverage. This isn’t the largest selection in the world, but it is wider than most other brokers. Leverage is up to 500:1 for Forex trading. 

Both of Octa’s accounts require a minimum deposit of only 25 USD, and each account is associated with a different trading platform (MT4 or MT5). Fees are the same on both accounts – with spreads starting at 0.6 pips (EUR/USD). Spreads at other brokers tend to be around 1 pips (EUR/USD), making Octa one of the lowest-cost brokers in the industry. We were also pleased to find that both accounts are swap-free. 

We opened and tested Octa’s MT4 and MT5 accounts:

MT4 Account

The MT4 Account requires a minimum deposit of 25 USD, and no commission is charged on trades. Spreads start at 0.6 pips (EUR/USD) and average at 0.7 pips, tighter than other similar brokers. Leverage is up to 500:1 for Forex trading, and the margin call/stop out is 25%/15%. Metals, indices, and cryptocurrencies are also available to trade, but not equities.

MT5 Account

The minimum deposit is also 25 USD on the MT5 Account. Spreads start at 0.6 pips, and average at 0.7 pips on the EUR/USD, and no commissions are charged. The MT5 trading platform has some extra features, including depth of market, an integrated economic calendar, and full-size tick charts.  Traders can access Octa’s full range of financial instruments on this account.

Leverage Restrictions

Octa has a couple of odd rules on leverage: Traders can only modify their leverage levels once every 24 hours, and leverage decreases with an increase in investment capital. 

OctaTrader App

Easy to use: After downloading the app, we found it easy to open new real and demo accounts, manage our leverage, deposit and withdraw funds, and trade on the charts. 

Trader Tools: Useful tools include the Market Insight tab, a feed of market news and trading ideas from reliable news sources, and a profit calculator. It also features a market monitor so we could keep tabs on our favourite trading instruments. None of these tools are ground-breaking, but they all worked as expected and the profit calculator took into account the different swap rates on MT4 or MT5.

Customer Support: Support was available 24/5 from inside the app. We found the customer support team helpful and responsive.

The app also lets you manage any bonuses or contest accounts you have open with Octa. Overall, we liked how user-friendly the app is; its simple design will appeal to beginner traders.  

MT4 and MT5 Mobile Trading 

There is some loss in functionality when compared to the desktop versions of these trading platforms, including reduced timeframes and fewer charting options.

Octa’s mobile trading support is good compared to other brokers, with the MT4 and MT5 mobile versions available, in addition to the Octa trading app. 

OctaTrader

MT4 and MT5

The main benefit of using third-party platforms such as MT4 and MT5 is that traders can keep their own customised versions of the platforms should they choose to migrate to another broker. Both MT4 and MT5 are available for Windows, Android, iOS, and web browser.

Overall, Octa’s platform support is about average when compared to other brokers. Additionally, MT4 and MT5 are generally more difficult to set up and are less user-friendly than the web-based platforms available at some other brokers. 

Octa Copy Trading

Octa also offers a copy trading platform free for all accounts, allowing beginners to copy the trades of more experienced, successful traders for a small fee per traded lot. Beginners simply find the Strategy Providers they want to follow and click “Copy.” Their positions will be copied automatically.  The copy trading service is also user-friendly and well-designed. This function is also available through the mobile app.

Like most brokers, Octa does not allow funding to or from third parties. All withdrawal requests from a trading account must go to a funding source in the trader’s name.

Accepted Deposit Currencies: South Africans will be disappointed that Octa only allows trading accounts to be denominated in EUR and USD. Always check the exchange rate when converting from ZAR to other currencies, as hidden conversion fees can make trading expensive and affect profitability.

Funding Methods: Octa does not charge any deposit or withdrawal fees.

Alongside industry standards such as an Economic Calendar, Profit, and Trading Calculators, Octa also offers an Account Monitoring tool and Autochartist.

Account Monitoring Tool: The Account Monitoring tool allows traders to monitor any other Octa trader’s account and sort by Balance, Gain, Trades, and Account Type. This tool also allows you to dig into the history of an account so you can learn how the account holder has managed their success. Accounts are only represented by numbers, so all holders remain anonymous.

Autochartist:  Octa also supports Autochartist, the industry-standard trading signals provider. Autochartist provides traders with automated alerts for opening and closing trades, a volatility analysis tool that allows you to better optimise take-profit and stop-loss levels, and integrated market reports. Autochartist is available on both MT4 and MT5 and requires a minimum balance of 500 USD in your Octa account.  

The market analysis materials available at Octa are better than most other brokers. 

Market Insights: Octa has an excellent Market Insights section which is updated frequently. Regular posts include a Daily Forecast, a Daily Review, and Weekly Review. These posts frequently offer predictions of future market movements – but be cautious and do your own research before acting on any predictions.

Octa YouTube Channel: The Market Insights section also has a daily video series, uploaded to the Octa YouTube channel, called Market in a Minute, which covers all the big news from the Forex markets for the preceding trading day. In addition to all these regular updates, there are irregular short pieces published in reaction to trading events with detailed technical insight.

Forex News: Octa also hosts a Forex News section, with short briefings on all the major news stories affecting the Forex markets, this is updated over the weekend and the articles are well-written and concise. These briefings are offered without any suggestion of how the events will affect the markets.

Forex Basics: Back on Octa’s main website, the in-house education section is anchored by a collection of articles collectively called Forex Basics. Article topics range from explainers on ECN trading and Risk Management to Technical Analysis and Trading Strategies as well as more advanced concepts such as Pair Correlations and Fibonacci Retracements. These articles are detailed and well-written and offer valuable advice for new and intermediate traders.

Octa is also very active on YouTube, with a range of live trading sessions and webinars taking place on a regular basis.

Tutorials: Also on the main site, there is a short Tutorial section covering the MetaTrader platforms, CopyTrading, Autochartist, and CFDs, and a Video Tutorial section focused on getting started with MetaTrader. Finally, there is a FAQ section and a useful glossary of Forex trading terms. The education section also has links to the Manuals for the different platforms Octa supports (MT4 ad MT5).

Octa customer support is open 24/7 via live chat and 24/5 via phone (with local numbers for the UK, Hong Kong, and Indonesia), email, WhatsApp, and Telegram.

Additionally, the Finance Department is open from 06:00 – 22:00 (EET), and the customer verification department is open from 08:00 – 17:00 (EET) for account setup and troubleshooting queries.