The Electronic Communication Network (ECN) is designed to provide traders and investors with direct automated access to a platform where trading orders are sent between clients and liquidity providers. The idea is to limit the number of intermediaries between two market players.
This is a list of the top ECN brokers in South Africa
In this in-depth guide you’ll learn:
- 10 FCA-regulated ECN forex brokers
- What is an ECN forex broker
- Why many traders don’t use ECN accounts to trade forex
- Why should you trade with an ECN forex broker
And lots more…
Let’s dive right in…
10 Best Forex Brokers in South Africa for 2023
Rank
Broker
Review
Regulators
Min Deposit
Official Site
ECN brokers are popular with traders and investors who are interested in making larger transactions. It allows traders to trade outside of traditional trading hours and is a useful platform for traders who aren’t full-time traders and can’t actively trade when financial markets are open. ECN require higher initial deposits but they provide greater transparency, and a level of anonymity, and have lower commissions and fees with direct access to liquidity providers.
| 🌐 Broker | 👍 ECN Broker? | ⚖️ Regulation | 📉 Open an account |
| ActivTrades | Yes ✔️ | FCA, SCB | 👉 Click Here |
| Infinox | Yes ✔️ | FCA, SCB | 👉 Click Here |
| ETX Capital | Yes ✔️ | CySEC, FCA | 👉 Click Here |
| FXGiants | Yes ✔️ | ASIC, FCA | 👉 Click Here |
| FXOpen | Yes ✔️ | ASIC, CySEC, FCA | 👉 Click Here |
| HotForex | Yes ✔️ | CySEC, DFSA, FCA, FSA(SC), FSCA | 👉 Click Here |
| IronFX | Yes ✔️ | ASIC, CySEC, FCA | 👉 Click Here |
| USG UK | Yes ✔️ | FCA | 👉 Click Here |
| Pepperstone | Yes ✔️ | ASIC, BaFin, CySEC, DFSA, FCA, SCB | 👉 Click Here |
| Price Markets | Yes ✔️ | FCA | 👉 Click Here |
10 FCA-regulated ECN forex brokers in 2023 * in alphabetical order
👉 These ECN forex brokers are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom. The FCA is a top-tier authority and is regarded as the gold standard of regulated authorities in the world.
👉 The FCA is an independent public body that regulates about 60 000 financial services firms and financial markets in the UK, independently of the UK government. It serves to protect consumers, maintain the integrity of the industry and promote competition.
FCA register
Check what these ECN brokers are registered to do and your protections when doing business with them.
ActivTrades
Overall Rating
4.2/5
Rated #221 of
Recommended FX Brokers
Minimum Deposit
–
Regulators
–
📱 Trading Desk
–
₿ Crypto
Yes
📈 Total Pairs
–
Islamic Account
Yes
Trading Fees
Low
🕒 Account Activation Time
24 Hours
ActivTrades is considered a low-risk and can be summarized as trustworthy and reliable. ActivTrades is regulated by the top-tier FCA and SCB. ActivTrades has an overall rating of 4.5/5 with a 95% customer satisfaction rating.
Infinox
Overall Rating
4.5/5
Rated #39 of
Recommended FX Brokers
Minimum Deposit
USD 1
Regulators
FCA, SCB
📱 Trading Desk
MetaTrader 5
₿ Crypto
Yes
📈 Total Pairs
49
Islamic Account
Yes
Trading Fees
Low
🕒 Account Activation Time
24 Hours
🏛️ Visit Broker
Overall, Infinox is considered a low-risk, reliable broker with a wide range of trading instruments and an economical social trading environment. Infinox is regulated by the top tiers SCB, FSC & FSCA and has low spreads and competitive trading fees against major currency pairs
ETX Capital
Overall Rating
4.7/5
Rated #– of
Recommended FX Brokers
Minimum Deposit USD 100
Regulators CSEC
–
Yes
📈 Total Pairs
79
Islamic Account No
Trading Fees Low
24 Hours
overall, ETX Capital is a global CFD and FX broker. Its parent company Monecor (London) Ltd. was established in 1965 and is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Monecor (Europe) Ltd., the entity that handles EU accounts, is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
FXGiants
Overall Rating
4.4/5
Rated #372 of
Recommended FX Brokers
Minimum Deposit –
Regulators –
–
Yes
📈 Total Pairs
–
Islamic Account No
Trading Fees Low
24 Hours
According to research in South Africa, FXGiants is a company founded in 2015 with headquarters in London, United Kingdom. It also has offices in Australia and Bermuda.
FXOpen
Overall Rating
4.8/5
Rated #30 of
Recommended FX Brokers
Minimum Deposit
USD 10
Regulators
ASIC
📱 Trading Desk
No Trading Desk
₿ Crypto
Yes
📈 Total Pairs
4
Islamic Account
Yes
Trading Fees
Low
🕒 Account Activation Time
24 Hours
🏛️ Visit Broker
Overall,FXOpen was the first broker to offer ECN and STP trading via MetaTrader 4 (MT4), an award-winning platform that boasts instant trade execution at competitive prices.
HotForex
Overall Rating
4.8/5
Rated #6 of
Recommended FX Brokers
Minimum Deposit
USD 5
Regulators
CySEC, FSC, FSCA
📱 Trading Desk
₿ Crypto
No
📈 Total Pairs
50+
Islamic Account
Yes
Trading Fees
Low
🕒 Account Activation Time
24 Hours
🏛️ Visit Broker
Overall, HotForex can be summarised as a trustworthy and safe broker with 24/5 educational support. Hotforex is regulated by Tier 1 and Tier 2 Trading Bodies. . Hotforex has a high trust score of 90 out 99.
IronFX
Overall Rating
4.5/5
Rated #187 of
Recommended FX Brokers
Minimum Deposit
USD 100
Regulators
FCA, ASIC, FSCA, CySEC
📱 Trading Desk
MetaTrader 4
₿ Crypto
Yes
📈 Total Pairs
–
Islamic Account
Yes
Trading Fees
Low
🕒 Account Activation Time
24 Hours
Overall, IronFX can be summarised as a reliable and credible broker that is very competitive in terms of its trading fees, (against major currency pairs). The spread is also very low and is considered low-risk.
USG UK
Overall Rating
4.1/5
Rated #491 of
Recommended FX Brokers
Minimum Deposit USD 100
Regulators FCA
No dealing desk
Yes
📈 Total Pairs
–
Islamic Account No
Trading Fees Low
24 Hours
Overall, it seems that USGFX is a decent choice for traders outside of the US who are interested in trading Forex or CFDs, though we think there may be better options that can give traders more peace of mind without the high minimum deposit requirement
Pepperstone
Overall Rating
4.9/5
Rated #54 of
Recommended FX Brokers
Minimum Deposit
USD 10
Regulators
FCA, SCB, CMA, ASIC, DFSA, CySEC, BaFIN
📱 Trading Desk
MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader and TradeView
₿ Crypto
Yes – CFDs
📈 Total Pairs
70
Islamic Account
Yes
Trading Fees
Low
🕒 Account Activation Time
24 Hours
🏛️ Visit Broker
Overall, Pepperstone can be summarised as a credible and trustworthy broker. Pepperstone is considered low-risk to medium-risk. Pepperstone offers competitive trading fees and pip spreads which gives it an overall trust score of 92 out of 99.
Price Markets
Overall Rating
4.8/5
Rated #56 of
Recommended FX Brokers
Minimum Deposit
–
Regulators
–
📱 Trading Desk
₿ Crypto
Yes
📈 Total Pairs
–
Islamic Account
Yes
Trading Fees
Low
🕒 Account Activation Time
24 Hours
🏛️ Visit Broker
According to research in South Africa, Price Markets is an award-winning brokerage firm founded in 2013. The company’s headquarters are based in London, the United Kingdom.
What is an ECN forex broker?
👉 ECN forex brokers use the Electronic Communication Network which provides traders with direct access to liquidity providers via interbank trading prices. Liquidity providers include banks, large brokerages, hedge funds, and investment corporations.
👉 The ECN platform issues orders entered by Market Makers directly to third parties and individual traders. It effectively cuts out the traditional ‘dealer middleman’ in the over-the-counter forex market.
👉 Traders with an ECN account benefit from the best pricing because they get different prices from a variety of market participants. This is because as the integration of orders increases, so does the overall pool of orders in the network.
👉 ECN forex brokers charge a small fixed commission on every trade, regardless of the size of the trade. They don’t make profit on the spread difference. Instead, ECN traders are shown the best bid and ask price on the ECN platform and the matching and execution of orders takes place automatically. ECN account holders can always be sure that the forex broker never trades against them.
Why should you trade with an ECN forex broker?
➡️️ Best bid and ask prices available
👉 Traders using an ECN trading account receive the best bid and ask prices available. This is because a variety of market participants are involved in the trade. Prices are instantly consolidated and the execution of trades is seamless.
➡️️ Very low/tighter bid-ask spreads
👉 A major benefit of an ECN trading account is the spreads are very low during times of high market volatility. This is because the ECN provides deep liquidity from multiple providers and merely act as hubs for various players in the forex market.
👉 Due to the fact there are so many participants in the ECN hub, it’s expected that there will be both higher and lower bid-ask prices. There will always be liquidity providers who have a lower bid price and higher ask prices which results in large spreads; and there will always be those who have higher bid and lower ask prices which results in tighter spreads.
👉 The good thing about the ECN system is you can buy currency pairs from one liquidity provider at a lower price and sell to another provider at a higher price. This is what makes the ECN so popular among traders and investors who prefer to trade large amounts of capital.
➡️️ ECN brokers don’t trade against their client
👉 An ECN broker can only match trades between its clients and other market participants. It cannot trade against the client. As a result, ECN spreads are often narrower than those used by Market Maker brokers and ECN brokers make money by charging clients a fixed commission per transaction.
➡️️ Transparency
👉 ECN accounts offer full transparency because the ECN platform connects orders directly to other market participants. This limits price manipulation because all ECN brokers have access to the same feed and a certain amount of the price history is readily available to all parties. No ECN trader has a particular advantage over other ECN traders because everyone has equal access to the information.
➡️️ No Dealing Desk (NDD)
👉 The ECN system does away with the dealing desk. The benefit of this is there are no re-quotes which can negatively impact your trading performance and increase costs. You deal directly with the interbank market without any dealer intervention.
➡️️ Trade outside of traditional trading hours
👉 Trading with an ECN account means you can trade outside of normal market hours.
Why many traders don’t use ECN accounts to trade forex
👉 For as much as there are numerous benefits to using an ECN account through an ECN forex broker, there are a few disadvantages that put many beginner and intermediate traders off using them. Higher service prices and higher initial deposits are the two main reasons why many traders opt for other types of trading accounts.
➡️️ Higher deposit requirements
👉 ECN accounts require higher initial deposits. This makes an ECN account less suitable for beginner traders who should not be trading with large amounts of capital. The trade-off to higher deposit requirements is ECN account holders benefit from tighter spreads.
➡️️ Very high commission
👉 ECN forex brokers charge a commission on each trade and it is higher than the commission charged by STP brokers. The per-trade-based commissions on ECN accounts can be costly and can affect a trader’s bottom line and profitability.
➡️️ No micro lots
👉 ECN account holders are subject to minimum requirements from liquidity providers and typically have to take a minimum position of 0.1 lot (10 000 currency units). ECN traders cannot open positions for 0.01 lot (1 000 currency units) which is available to traders using Market Maker forex brokers.
FOREX TRADING AFRICA DISCLAIMER
Forex is a complex instrument and trading forex involves a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You need to understand how forex trading works and decide whether you can afford to take the risk of losing money on trade orders that do not go your way.
Forex Trading Africa annually reviews brokers regarded as the best in the world and provides information on the products, fee structure, market analysis and service they offer. We aim to provide important information for you to base your decisions on when choosing the right forex broker for your needs.
