According to research in South Africa, best discount brokers ( Cheapest trading brokers ) cost much less than a full-service broker, but they only offer limited services. In a nutshell, they execute your orders to buy or sell your investments.
A discount broker costs you much less money per trade without the commissions that full-service brokers charge. What they do not provide is advice.
This is a double-edged sword. You won’t get the insight, expertise and experience that a good professional broker can bring to the party, but you also won’t have to deal with brokers “upselling” you to buy more or to listen to their picks.
This doesn’t mean, however, that you don’t get any support. In these times of digital resources and online platforms most discount brokers offer great online resources and tools for both education and research.
Many also offer tutorials and demo accounts to help you build your trading skills and confidence.
| Almost all the good discount brokers also offer customer service on multiple channels when you really just need help and need a response from a human being. |
Once you decide a discount broker is a good option for you, the hard part is now picking one to trade with. Here are some basic things to look for in a good discount broker.
Fees: All the fees, not just the obvious ones. There often times are a lot of hidden or extra fees. Are there annual fees, maintenance fees, inactivity fees? Don’t always take what seems like the “cheapest” broker at face value.
Minimum deposit: Some brokers require a minimum deposit to open the account. Some brokers don’t have a minimum deposit and others have minimum deposits that are quite low or to the other end of the spectrum and require initial deposits that are quite steep. Be aware of this.
Customer service: To be an online trader, customer service (and yes, you will need it) can be crucial. Try to not only ensure that they have customer service on multiple channels and 24/5 at least but also test them out. Try and contact them and see how long it takes to respond.
Tools/Education: Online brokers offer a varying number of tools, resources and educational material. Depending on your level of experience you will need different things. See who the broker is geared for and who they prioritize and see if they are a good fit for your level and for the level you will grow to be as well.
If a discount broker sounds right for you then check out our list of great discount brokers to consider. Keep in mind that these brokers may all have good pros but that doesn’t mean they are all great for you. Try and see which is the best fit for your experience level, capital you have available to invest and amount of trades you will be doing.
This list is not meant to be a ranking but rather a comprehensive list of good discount brokers in the marketplace.
Good luck and good trading.
FXTM
FXTM (ForexTime) is known for their emphasis on fantastic customer support. They not only offer 24/7 support, but in multiple language over multiple channels.
FXTM is also a broker that prioritizes educating new traders with huge amount of educational resources, materials and tools.
Overall Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Great customer Service | Inactivity and withdrawal fees |
| Strong Educational tools for the beginner trader | High CFD fees |
| Fast account opening | Limited product range. |
FP Markets
FP Markets have been awarded “The Highest Overall Client Satisfaction Award” by Investment Trends 2016 Australia CFD Report. Do we need to say more?
FP Markets is also known for great pricing as well as their excellent client support over multiple languages.
Overall Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Great Educational tools | Limited portfolio |
| Great Customer Service | Web Platform needs to be updated a bit |
| Large Product offering | High fee for international bank withdrawal |
| Easy and quick account opening |
Go Markets
GO Markets is an incredibly strong Forex and CFD broker for both experienced as well as new traders. For new traders they offer a huge selection of educational tools. For experienced traders, they have good research and analytical tools.
Their customer service team is excellent as well and a good backup to the resources they provide.
Overall Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Low minimum deposit | Only two account types |
| Very fast execution of trades | |
| Good trading analysis tools on offer | |
| Demo option available | |
| Low Forex fees |
XM
XM Group is a great broker for beginners since it offers a ton of educational resources. It just happens to be one of the most experienced brokers in the financial market as well.
Overall Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Great Educational tools | Limited product portfolio |
| Easy and fast account opening | Inactivity fee after 90 days |
| No withdrawal fees | Only average Forex fees |
| Low minimum deposit |
AvaTrade
AvaTrade, one of the largest online brokerages in the world is also one of the most regulated as they are in 6 jurisdictions overall. Within the EU they must remain compliant with ESMA regulations which lends to a lot of trust and confidence.
The company has also won numerous awards for “Best Customer Support”, “Best Alert System”, “Best Financial Derivative Trading Provider”, and “Best Forex Broker Year”.
Overall Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Easy and Fast account opening | Only CFDs, Forex and Crypto offered |
| Free deposit and withdrawal options | Poor phone support |
| No withdrawals fees | Inactivity fee |
Alpari
Alpari Financial Services Ltd (Alpari) is one of the world’s leading independent forex brokers globally.
Alpari offers a variety of account types and they provide top shelf online trading services on the international currency market.
To top it off they have an excellent customer support team with support in over 30 languages.
They also offer demo accounts and copy trading to complete an already well rounded broker offering.
Overall Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Low minimum deposit | Limited educational resources |
| Best Broker for copy trading accounts | Lack of resource tools |
| Diverse selection of trade-able assets | High fees |
| Demo accounts and social trading available for the beginner trader | Withdrawal fees |
| Good support in over 30 languages |
Forex.com
FOREX.com is U.S based broker that offers a large range of currencies. Their platform is impressive, easy to use and offers well displayed and easily customizable charts and layouts.
They have a ton of educational resources for all trading levels, and best of all they are free to use. This makes sense since education of traders is their forte and they are always offering market forecasts, hosting webinars on trading strategy and updating their forex educational library.
Overall Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Low Forex fees | Limited product portfolio |
| Great variety of currency pairs | Non user friendly trading platform |
| Lots of educational and research tools | Inactivity fee |
| Low minimum deposit | Slow account verification |
Axi
Axi comes to the table with fast, easy, and fully digital account openings as well as low trading fees, no inactivity fee and no fees for deposits and withdrawals.
Their customer support, however, is only available only through email during the work week and is known to have long response times.
Overall Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Dedicate support team over multiple channels | Short demo time doesn’t allow time to master trading |
| Great educational tools | Limited currency pairs |
XTB
XTB is first known to be a highly regulated broker that operates globally. Their trading platform is acclaimed.
They also provide excellent customer service, a training academy and free deposits and withdrawals with low trading fees to top it off.
Overall Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Award winning platform which is very user friendly | Limited product portfolio |
| Free and fast deposit and withdrawal | No website trading platform |
| Training Academy | Poor support |
| Low trading fees | |
| No withdrawal fees |
TD Ameritrade
TD Ameritrade is a top American focused brokerage with a solid range of account and investment options and competitive fees.
They also provide a good amount of investor resources, tools and analytics as well.
Overall Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Excellent desktop trading platform | Can only trade in US markets |
| No minimum deposit | Slow and not fully digital account opening |
| Great customer support | No credit/debit cards and electronic wallets for money transfer |
| Lots of educational resources | High fund fees |
| Low Forex fees |
Trading 212
Due to its easy to use, well-designed web and mobile trading platforms that are so easy to navigate and use, Trading 212 definitely makes the cut as an excellent discount broker.
In addition to having a great range of powerful features, Trading 212 is an online brokerage that has focused on making the world of trading securities and forex more accessible to the normal person that wants to start trading.
Overall Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| No minimum deposit | Limited product portfolio |
| Great user friendly platform | Basic research tools |
| Quick and easy account opening | No live chat for support |
| Large product portfolio | Sometimes problems with verification |
| No Inactivity fee |
Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers is recommended for traders looking for low fees and a professional trading environment. They are one of the biggest US-based discount brokers and their longevity proves their worth.
They offer a large range of products as well as a host of research tools for a trader of any level of experience.
Overall Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Large range of products | Platform is complex and confusing |
| Outstanding Research tools | Complicated account opening |
| High Inactivity fee |
Tasty Works
Tastyworks, for traders in the know, started with an instant reputation as it comes from the same brain pool that built Thinkorswim, which is now in the TD Ameritrade family.
Tastyworks offers some of the lowest out-of-pocket costs of any broker and this combined with a great trading platform, fantastic research tools, and a formidable selection of educational resources make them a solid discount broker choice.
Overall Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Great trading platform | No demo account |
| Outstanding Research tools | Deposit and withdrawal options limited |
| High quality educational resources | |
| Low trading fees |
eToro
eToro is one of the biggest and most well-known names in the Forex trading market.
They do deliver a great amount of services and value but their Forex fees are on the high side.
Its best feature by far is the amazing and easy to use copy-trading platform.
Overall Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Easy and fast account opening | Withdrawing money is slow and expensive |
| No deposit fees | Account only based in one currency |
| Low minimum deposit | High Forex fees |
| Easy to use copy-trading platform |
Markets.com
With Markets.com more is considered better as they offer more than 70 global currency pairs to trade with.
They also have multiple platforms to trade on and on top of this, there are no forex trading commissions at all.
Overall Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Large range of trading instruments | Professional account needed for best trading conditions |
| Fixed spreads | Minimum transaction size |
| Commission free accounts | Lack of telephone support |
| Low minimum deposit | |
| Multiple trading platforms |
City Index
City Index offers an online Trading Academy consisting of various courses and videos that would definitely benefit the beginner and advanced traders alike.
Their in-depth market analysis and research competitive spreads, great platform options, premium research tools, and reliable customer service make CityIndex a good choice for traders looking for a well-rounded discount broker, according to research in South Africa
Overall Pros and Cons when you start trading for real
| Pros | Cons |
| First class trading platform | 12 weeks is better than some but may not be be enough time to skill up and gain confidence in forex trading |
| Great educational resource | Basic research tools |
| No minimum initial deposit to start trading for bank transfers | No Volume discounts |
| Low Forex fees |
What is discount forex brokers?
Brokers that buy or sell your investments at a lower cost than a full-service broker.
Should a beginner make use of a discount forex broker?
It will cost you less but remember that they do not provide advice.
Do discount brokers offer customer support?
Most of them do.
What are the things to look out for in discount brokers?
Fees, minimum deposit, customer support, tools, education.
Who are the best discount forex brokers?
See SAShares website for a comprehensive list and info of 17 Best Discount Brokers.
https://sashares.co.za/best-discount-forex-brokers
Featured SA Shares Writer and Forex Analyst.
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