To come up with this list, we have tested over 8 forex brokers holding FSCA licenses in South Africa.

We opened a real account and deposited between $4,000 and $8,000 with each broker. We placed real trades in each popular market to get the real spreads.

We also reached out to customer support to solve issues that we had encountered. Finally, we withdrew our funds to see if there is any issue with the withdrawal process.

We handpick the best forex brokers based on our trading data and experience as a trader.

FSCA Regulated Forex Brokers in South AFrica

Forex brokers must be registered and authorized with the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), formerly known as the Financial Services Board (FSB), to operate in South Africa. FSCA’s official website is www.fsca.co.za, and we recommend investors and traders follow FSCA on Twitter, @FSCA_ZA, for important regulatory updates.

FSCA is a regulator with some strict scrutiny measures, and thus brokers regulated by it are considered safe. It is the only South African regulator overseeing the local forex market. 

It mandates brokers to separate company funds and client deposits, and also requires regular audits of the brokers. On the downside, FSCA does not offer a compensation scheme to traders or negative balance protection.

Forex brokers regulated by the FSCA can offer a maximum leverage of 500:1 to retail traders.

Forex Trading South Africa SA

Some of the key highlights of Forex trading with FSCA regulated brokers:

🏦RegulatorFinancial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA)
📊Max. Leverage500:1
🛡️Is It safe to tradeYes
🔒Negative Balance ProtectionNo
💰Compensation SchemeNone

Best Forex Brokers in South Africa

To select the best forex brokers in South Africa, we have tested and reviewed over 8 forex brokers. We opened a live account, deposited real money, and placed real trades with each broker. With our test, we got a picture of the real spreads and commissions, trading platforms, deposit and withdrawal conditions, educational resources, and customer services.

  • Pepperstone – Best Overall Forex Broker in South Africa
  • AvaTrade – Best Forex Broker for Beginners in South Africa
  • Tickmill – Best MT4 Broker in South Africa
  • FXPro – Best Forex Trading Platform in South Africa
  • Plus500 – Best Forex Broker with Lowest Spread & Trading Fees in South Africa

Best Overall Forex Broker in South Africa

We picked Pepperstone as the overall best forex broker in South Africa. 

Headquartered and listed in Melbourne Australia, Pepperstone offers the best all-around service for forex trading in South Africa. It offers over 1,000 trading instruments across several markets, including forex, stocks, commodities, and cryptocurrencies.

Forex trading on the platform is very good, it also allows scalping and hedging. Pepperstone offers a variety of platforms, including industry-standard platforms MT4 and MT5, cTrader, and TradingView platform. It charges lower than average forex spreads with only 1.2 pips on EUR/USD pair, based on our tests.

Moreover, Pepperstone offers many options for fund deposits and withdrawals and has excellent customer support, as well as high-quality educational resources that suit traders of all expertise.

Best Forex Broker for Beginners in South Africa

We picked AvaTrade as the best forex broker for beginners in South Africa. 

AvaTrade offers excellent educational resources, which are a must to attract beginner traders. It provides detailed guides and videos on both forex trading techniques and platforms. Additionally, the broker organizes webinars with industry experts to guide beginner traders.

Apart from the educational resources, AvaTrade offers trading on both MT4 and MT5 platforms that are termed as industry-standard. It also simplifies trading with its proprietary mobile trading platform. Its offerings also range from forex to CFDs of indices, commodities, stocks, and cryptocurrencies.

Best MT4 Broker in South Africa

We picked Tickmill as the best MT4 broker in South Africa. 

TickMill is a well-known brokerage and holds regulatory licenses in multiple jurisdictions. Despite its vast offerings and reach, it offers trading services only on the MT4 platform.

Tickmill’s focus on only one trading platform makes it the preferred for the traders who want to trade on the MT4 platform. It integrated a ton of indicators and charting tools on the platform which makes trading easier for both beginner and expert traders.

Best Forex Trading Platform in South Africa

We picked FXPro as the best forex trading platform in South Africa.

When it comes to only forex trading, FXPro stands put in to be the best FSCA-regulated platform. It offers a long list of currency pairs to traders and allows them to run all trading strategies with no limits.

FXPro also offers trading services on MT4, MT5, cTrader, and FxPro EDGE, meaning traders have a lot of options to choose the desired trading platform.

It also offers competitive spreads that linger around the industry average. The average spread for our EUR/USD pair was 1.6 pips. It also supports deposits and withdrawals with several widely used methods and has minimum non-trading fees. 

Lowest Spread & Trading Fees in South Africa

We picked Plus500 as the best forex broker with the lowest spread and trading fees in South Africa.

Based on our tests, Plus500 is a regulated forex broker in South Africa that offers lower than average spreads on currency pairs. Our testing of the broker finds that the average spread for EUR/USD pair is 0.8 pips, which is almost half of the industry average of 1.6 pips.

Additionally, Plus500 does not charge any extra trading fees for opening and closing positions.

FSCA-Regulated Forex Brokers List & Review

Besides our best 5 picks above, we also put together a complete list of South Africa forex brokers we have tested along with our reviews.

South Africa Forex BrokerFSCA RegulatedAbout Our TestOur Review
FXTMYesDeposit Amount: Over €6,000
Total Trade: 12 trades
FXTM Review
Plus500YesDeposit Amount: Over €6,000
Total Trade: 18 trades
Plus500 Review
FxProYesDeposit Amount: Over €5,000
Total Trade: 15 trades
FxPro Review
AvaTradeYesDeposit Amount: Over €4,000
Total Trade: 21 trades
AvaTrade Review
ThinkMarketsYesDeposit Amount: Over €5,000
Total Trade: 15 trades
ThinkMarkets Review
INFINOXYesDeposit Amount: Over €4,000
Total Trade: 9 trades
INFINOX Review
TickmillYesDeposit Amount: Over €8,000
Total Trade: 12 trades
Tickmill Review
IGYesDeposit Amount: Over €5,000
Total Trade: 15 trades
IG Review

FAQ & More on South Africa Brokers

Traders usually have many questions related to trading generic trading-related queries. We tried to pick and answer some of the most important queries related to FSCA-regulated brokers.

How to Verify an FSCA-Regulated Broker?

The registration details of any FSCA-regulated forex broker can be checked on the online registry of the regulator.

Go to www.fsca.co.za/Fais/Search_FSP.htm and search for the forex broker using either the license number or the name. The registry will show all license-related details of the forex broker, even if the license has lapsed.

Tickmill's FSCA (the Financial Sector Conduct Authority) Registration
Tickmill’s FSCA Registration

Best No Deposit Brokers South Africa

No deposit bonuses are offered before traders make their first deposit with the forex broker. These no deposit bonuses are often limited only to new traders and come with a string of terms and conditions.

No deposit bonuses are like free money handed out to the trades but it is a lucrative marketing technique to attract both new and experienced traders to the forex broker platform. We highly recommend traders check the licenses of such brokers offering no deposit bonuses. Read more on forex brokers in Nigeria.

Some FSCA-licensed South African brokers offering no deposit and deposit bonuses are:

  • Tickmill
  • AvaTrade
  • Plus500
  • FXTM

ECN Forex Brokers in SA

ECN account brokers offer traders direct market access and do not take any positions against the traders. These brokers offer raw market spreads with zero or tight spreads and usually charge a commission as trading fees.

Some of the best ECN forex brokers are:

  • Pepperstone
  • FXTM
  • AxiTrader
  • Admiral Markets

MT4 Forex Brokers in SA

MT4 is the leading trading platform used by forex traders across the world. Despite many limitations, this legacy platform is supported by a large number of market developers with third-party plugins.

Some of the best FSCA-regulated MT4 forex brokers are:

  • Tickmill
  • FXTM
  • FXPro
  • AvaTrade

High Leverage Forex Brokers in SA

South African FSCA-regulated forex brokers are allowed to offer a maximum leverage of 500:1 to traders, which is quite high based on the industry standards.

Some of the high-leverage forex brokers in South Africa are:

  • FxPro
  • ThinkMarkets
  • FXTM

Forex Brokers for Beginners in SA

With an influx of new retail traders, forex brokers are getting focused on making their platforms beginner-friendly. They are offering better educational resources, and also simplifying the trading process has become a norm.

Some of the best forex brokers for beginners in South Africa that have top forex trading platforms are:

  • IG
  • Tickmill
  • AvaTrade 

Forex Brokers with ZAR Accounts in SA

Trading with local fiat currency is always a priority for traders and, for South Africa, its ZAR. Some of the South African forex brokers with ZAR accounts are:

  • Plus500
  • FxPro

Tax in South Afica for Forex Trading

Forex trading in South Africa is surely taxable. In the country, all the residents are required to pay taxes, irrespective of the source of income. All the traders are required to file tax forms to the respective institution annually.

Traders should remember that it is their responsibility to pay taxes. In case of delay or tax avoidance, South African traders may face dire consequences and be obliged to pay penalties and fines.

Author of this review

By George Rossi

Author of this review

I am a well-rounded financial services professional experienced in fundamental and technical analysis, global macroeconomic research, foreign exchange and commodity markets and an independent trader.

Now I am passionate about reviewing and comparing forex brokers.

Everything you find on BrokerTested is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology

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