Best Online Trading App in South Africa for 2024 - TOP 5 Comparison

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8.61
Your capital is at risk.
2
9.4
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eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFDs.
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9.1
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Many traders in South Africa use mobile apps to trade. Many brokers operate in this country, each offering their own platform. Before making a choice, it is important to evaluate apps to find the one that perfectly suits your goals and strategy. TU analysts compared Top 5 mobile apps. You will be able to choose the Best Online Trading App in South Africa for 2024, based on our assessments.

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8.61
VISIT BROKER
Your capital is at risk.

The minimum deposit in RoboForex is $10. Leverage up to 1:2000. Traders choose RoboForex for reliability, favorable trading conditions, minimum spreads, and commission fees. The company is recommended for beginner traders and experienced investors.

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9.4
VISIT BROKER
Your capital is at risk.
eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFDs.

eToro is an international broker for trading and investing in assets, copying trades of experienced market players and earning income on offering your own successful strategy. The activities of eToro are controlled by European financial regulators: CySEC and FCA. The broker offers its clients the opportunity to trade indices with a maximum leverage of 1:20 and ETF instruments with a leverage of 1:5. Size of leverage in eToro can also vary depending on the regulation of the division of the broker you work with.

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Interactive Brokers is a reliable brokerage company that is popular with traders from all over the world. Interactive Brokers offers its clients an author's web terminal as a trading platform with a convenient and understandable interface - the "Client Portal." In addition, the company has an IBKR API available for developing custom software. Interactive Brokers also has investment programs. Currency pairs, metals, stocks, indices, and several other stock market instruments are available to clients as trading instruments. The company accepts clients from the USA. Interactive Brokers offer better conditions to professionals and are not focused on novice traders.

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Ninja Trader is a highly customized broker that will attract traders looking for direct entries to the US stock market.

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Tastytrade is suitable for users of all experience levels: professionals and newbies. However, it should be borne in mind that the client must have an account with an American bank to trade freely.

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Best Online Apps in South Africa - RoboForex

RoboForex is a well-established brokerage company offering a broad spectrum of trading opportunities for active traders and investors alike. With an impressive selection of over 12,000 financial instruments - including currency pairs, CFDs on stocks, indices, metals, energies, and futures - RoboForex provides a versatile trading environment.
The broker boasts competitive trading conditions: tight spreads starting from 0 pips, high leverage up to 1:2000, and fast execution speeds. The broker also offers the CopyFx investment program, which allows traders to copy the strategies of successful investors and earn passive income. Additional perks include instant fund withdrawals and some of the industry’s highest affiliate payments (up to 84%).
RoboForex prioritizes reliability and client satisfaction, establishing itself as a trusted partner for traders worldwide.

👍 Advantages of trading with RoboForex for traders in South Africa:

Availability of favorable trading conditions and a minimum deposit

Unique investment program CopyFx

Highest affiliate payments: up to 84% of the fee paid by the referral

Market launch - STP and ECN

Instant withdrawal of funds

Minimum deposit - $10

👎 Disadvantages of RoboForex for traders in South Africa:

A small number of currency pairs - 36, for accounts: Pro, Pro-Cent, ECN, Prime

Lack of tools when trading on the R StocksTrader platform

VISIT BROKER
Your capital is at risk.

2
Best Online Apps in South Africa - eToro

The eToro broker was founded in 2007. The company promotes itself as a social trading platform working with traders from over 140 countries. The broker has several divisions operating under different jurisdictions and licensed by different regulators. For example, eToro (Europe) is licensed by the Cypriot regulator CySEC (109/10) and eToro (UK) is licensed by the British regulator FCA (583263). The broker also has a representative office in Australia and the USA.

👍 Advantages of trading with eToro for traders in South Africa:

High level of reliability ensured by the licenses of respected regulatory authorities and participation in the compensation funds.

Wide selection of assets quoted at stock exchanges in the UK, U.S., Australia and Asia.

An opportunity to combine active trading with social trading and passive investing.

Zero-fee trading of a number of stocks.

Access to ready-made diversified asset portfolios with various risk levels.

Provision of leverage, educational materials on various markets and user-friendly trading platforms that can run on any device.

Zero fees for portfolio management, depositing funds and account maintenance.

👎 Disadvantages of eToro for traders in South Africa:

High minimum deposit for users of a number of countries.

No live chat on the website for quick connection to customer support.

VISIT BROKER
Your capital is at risk.
eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFDs.

3
Best Online Apps in South Africa - Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers is among the best-known US investment companies, operating since 1977. The broker offers to trade currency pairs, but its basic instruments are stocks, CFD, indices, metals, ETF, futures, and other exchange market assets. The company is regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the UK Financial Regulatory Authority (FCA, 208159), and other international financial regulation commissions. In 2020, the broker was awarded the "Best Online Broker” (Barron's) and "Best Broker for Economical Investments" (NerdWallet) titles and got five stars in the Online Stock Trading for Traders category (Canstar). Also, the broker is popular in other countries. Here you can read reviews of Interactive Brokers in Canada, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland.

👍 Advantages of trading with Interactive Brokers for traders in South Africa:

wide range of training materials;

access to 135 markets in 33 countries;

a huge subset of trading instruments.

👎 Disadvantages of Interactive Brokers for traders in South Africa:

website interface is only partially translated into other languages;

you have to pay for an inactive account;

Support service does not work on Saturday and Sunday;

long and complex registration procedure;

no cent accounts for novice traders.

4
Best Online Apps in South Africa - Ninjatrader

Ninja Trader is a Forex broker that has been providing brokerage services in the derivatives and foreign exchange markets since 2003. The main specialization of the company is in the futures and futures options markets. The broker is a licensed company with domicile in the United States. Ninja Trader also has offices in Germany and the Netherlands, but these are more representative functions.

👍 Advantages of trading with Ninjatrader for traders in South Africa:

availability of algorithmic trading using proprietary systems; there are more than 850;

proprietary trading platform, which is one of the best products for trading in the derivatives markets (like MetaTrader 4 for Forex).

👎 Disadvantages of Ninjatrader for traders in South Africa:

high trading costs. In addition to the commission for the contract, there are exchange and regulatory fees, a fee to the trade provider (intermediary broker);

the initial deposit is from USD 400. But that amount has nothing to do with fees associated with the US stock market;

the broker is tailored exclusively for the US futures and options markets;

a deep understanding of the principles of the derivatives market and the rules for working with exchanges is required;

chat and phones contacts are missing;

there are cases of neglect of client risks. Ninja Trader was fined in 2014 by its regulator for irregularities under its rules.

5
Best Online Apps in South Africa - Tastyworks

Tastyworks is a brokerage company that strives to allow its clients to trade single-handedly, without managing the account or copying transactions of other traders. To make self-investing a reality, the company has created a separate platform with a humongous library of learning materials. Tastyworks is controlled by bodies such as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA, CRD#: 277027/SEC#: 8-69649 ), the National Futures Association (NFA, 0492333), and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC).

👍 Advantages of trading with Tastyworks for traders in South Africa:

No minimum deposit. The client independently chooses how much to deposit to the trading account.

A vast array of educational materials for which the broker has allocated a special platform it calls the Tastytrade.

The company offers clients flexible trading accounts with different functions. Any of the three offered accounts have varieties, so the trader can choose the option that suits him the most.

👎 Disadvantages of Tastyworks for traders in South Africa:

To gain access to trading, the user must go through a snail-paced registration procedure and provide a list of documents that the broker requests.

To open a trading account and start working, a client must have an open account with an American bank.

The broker does not allow clients to test trading on a demo account; only a real trading account can be opened.

Best Online Trading App in South Africa 2024: Education for Investors

When choosing the app, it is important to consider educational tools offered by brokers. TU analysts prepared a comparison of educational programs.

RoboForex - Education for Investors

Investment Education Online

Information

A large training section has been created on the RoboForex website. Each trader will receive the necessary information for successful trading — from the basics of the Forex market to analytics, reviews of trading strategies, advisors, and indicators.

Information available in the Analysis and Education section
Information not available at the RoboForex website
Free video course on the basics of Forex, technical and fundamental analysis, trading psychology, etc.
Detailed theory on each issue. The broker focuses on practice
How to open a trading account
 
How to begin Forex trading
 
How to trade NASDAQ and NYSE stocks
 

The company's specialists recommend opening a demo (practice) account and educating yourself by obtaining and later applying theoretical knowledge in practice by actually trading on the demo account, thereby combining theory and practice. Thus, you will gain valuable experience and the necessary skills to work on a real account.

eToro - Education for Investors

Investment Education Online

Information

eToro pays special attention to the education of traders. The broker’s website features information about what copy trading, leverage and margin are. There are also descriptions of how to buy and sell various types of financial instruments.

Information provided in the Help Center
Information lacking on the eToro’s website 
What is Take Profit and how to set it?
What are exchange fees and how are they charged?
How to set effective Stop Loss targets?
Descriptions of investment strategies for working with exchange instruments
What is one-click trading?
How to form an asset portfolio on your own?
How to form watchlists?
 
How to work with charts and ProCharts?
 

Upon completion of registration, any trader can create a free demo account with a virtual deposit of $100,000 and practice trading in an entirely risk-free environment.

Interactive Brokers - Education for Investors

Investment Education Online

Information

Interactive Brokers provides clients with useful information to help novice traders to get Forex training and to help novices and professionals to improve their skills.

Information available in the "Education" section
Information not on the Interactive Brokers website
Trading academy
Forex Analysis
Webinars
 
Short videos
 
Trader’s Insight
 
IBKR Quant Blog
 
Trader's glossary
 
Learning lab
 
Trader’s calendar
 
Interactive events
 

We highly recommend you use the IBKR trial version to test your knowledge in practice without financial risk.

Ninjatrader - Education for Investors

Investment Education Online

Information

Ninja Trader positions itself as a stockbroker for professional traders, so there are almost no training materials on the site.

Information available in the Analysis and Education section
Unavailable information at Ninjatrader site
Instructions for working with NinjaTrader
About the essence and principles of derivatives trading
NinjaTrader Guides and Webinars
 
FAQs
 

Tastyworks - Education for Investors

Investment Education Online

Information

The broker Tastyworks is open to cooperation with novice users and those traders who already have experience in trading. In addition to favorable trading conditions, the company has created a special platform Tastytrade, where traders and investors can learn, be inspired by the examples of other traders, study historical data and discuss the market situation in live chat sessions. There is a lot of educational materials on the Tastytrade platform, and a trader with any experience can find something interesting and useful for himself.

Information available in the Education Section
Information not available at the Tastyworks site
Glossary
Educational podcasts
Educational courses
 
Educational videos
 
Trivia
 
Articles on option strategies, portfolio management, probabilities, statistics, and trade management
 
TastyTrade LIVE
 
Video on trading, asset management, and working on options or exchanges
 

Tastyworks does not allow its clients to open a demo account and test trading conditions, knowledge gained and different trading strategies risk-free.

Summary

In this review, you had an opportunity to learn about the features of 5 brokers, which traders in South Africa choose the most. However, now you need to choose the best of them. You can do it using the scores given by the Traders Union. Check out the score table that will help you choose the Best Online Trading App in South Africa 2024.

RoboForex eToro Interactive Brokers Ninjatrader Tastyworks

Overall score

8.61

9.4

9.1

8.4

7.5

Execution of orders

8.95

9.1

8.8

8.1

7.29

Investment instruments

8.2

9.7

9.4

8.7

7.71

Withdrawal speed

9.71

9.5

9.2

8.5

7.35

Customer Support work

9.17

9.3

9

8.3

7.65

Variety of instruments

8.75

9

8.7

8

7.13

Trading platform

6.86

9.8

9.5

8.8

7.87

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eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFDs.

FAQ

Do all brokers offer mobile apps for iOS and Android?

Unfortunately no. Some companies focus only on one operating system. Before opening an account make sure that the broker offers the version for your operating system.

Is it possible to register with a broker using the mobile app?

Yes. Brokers provide an opportunity to open an account and pass verification directly in the mobile app.

If a broker has several platforms, does it mean it offers several apps?

No. If a broker has several trading platforms, there is either an option to switch between them in the app, or only one trading platform is available (usually the proprietary one).

Do I need to pay for downloading the app?

Brokers do not charge a fee for downloading their mobile app. They are provided for free.

Team that worked on the article

Mikhail Vnuchkov
Author at Traders Union

Mikhail Vnuchkov joined Traders Union as an author in 2020. He began his professional career as a journalist-observer at a small online financial publication, where he covered global economic events and discussed their impact on the segment of financial investment, including investor income. With five years of experience in finance, Mikhail joined Traders Union team, where he is in charge of forming the pool of latest news for traders, who trade stocks, cryptocurrencies, Forex instruments and fixed income.

Olga Shendetskaya
Author and editor at Traders Union

Olga Shendetskaya has been a part of the Traders Union team as an author, editor and proofreader since 2017. Since 2020, Shendetskaya has been the assistant chief editor of the website of Traders Union, an international association of traders. She has over 10 years of experience of working with economic and financial texts. In the period of 2017-2020, Olga has worked as a journalist and editor of laftNews news agency, economic and financial news sections. At the moment, Olga is a part of the team of top industry experts involved in creation of educational articles in finance and investment, overseeing their writing and publication on the Traders Union website.