How to make my first trade in South Africa revealed. We have laid out a comprehensive guide on how South Africans can make their first trade in a competitive, fast-paced market.
This is a complete guide on how to make your first trade in South Africa.
How to make my First Trade in South Africa Revealed (2025):
- ☑️ How does Forex Trading work?
- ☑️ How can I make my first trade?
- ☑️ Choose a Financial Market in which to trade
- ☑️ Educate yourself
- ☑️ Choose a Trading Strategy
- ☑️ Choose a Suitable Broker and Register an Account
- ☑️ Analyze The Market
- ☑️ Read the Quote and Choose a Position
- ☑️ Set Your Stop Loss and Take Profit
- ☑️ Order Types
- ☑️ Confirm Your Order
- ☑️ Be Patient
- ☑️ Complete your trade
- ☑️ How to Find a Good Broker in South Africa
- ☑️ The Best Forex brokers in South Africa
- ☑️ Conclusion
- ☑️ Frequently asked questions
- ☑️ Addendum/Disclosure
10 Best Forex Brokers in South Africa for 2025
Rank
Broker
Review
Regulators
Min Deposit
Official Site
In this in-depth guide, you’ll learn:
- How does Forex Trading work?
- How can I make my first trade?
- How to choose the Right Forex Broker in South Africa
- The Best Forex Brokers in South Africa
How does Forex Trading work?
Foreign exchange trading is, at its core, the same as exchanging money while going abroad: Trading involves the simultaneous purchase and sale of one currency in exchange for another, with the resulting exchange rate fluctuating continuously in response to market forces.
The foreign exchange market is a worldwide market where currencies may be exchanged around the clock, Monday through Friday. However, instead of a centralized exchange like the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), all forex trading takes place over the counter (OTC).
OTC means there is no physical exchange (like there is for stocks), and a worldwide network of banks and other financial institutions supervises the market.
Most foreign exchange is between banks, hedge funds, and multinational corporations. These investors can be speculating on or hedging against future exchange rate swings rather than planning to acquire actual ownership of the currencies themselves.
If a trader expects the US dollar will appreciate and buy more South African Rand in the future, they could purchase USD (and sell ZAR).
How can I make my first trade?
For each trader, making their first transaction is a watershed moment in their career. However, this is only the first step on a long road toward realizing your dream of being a successful trader.
Realize there is more to initiating a transaction than just clicking the “buy” or “sell” button. Before trading, there are several options to configure, including the amount to invest, the size of your stop loss and take profit, the sort of order you want to make, and more.
Choose a Financial Market in which to trade
Select the financial market you wish to trade in before investing. The stock market, the foreign exchange market, commodities, bonds, and cryptocurrencies are among the most actively traded markets by retail traders.
Forex
Currencies are yet another widely-traded financial product. Currency values, like stock prices, change daily as they reflect the changing fundamentals of each country’s economy.
The Foreign Exchange market (or Forex for short) is a decentralized international market where currencies are exchanged over the counter. Forex trades in eight major currencies: the US dollar, Canadian dollar, British pound, Euro, Swiss franc, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, and New Zealand dollar.
It is common practice to refer to the first currency exchanged as the “base currency” and the second as the “counter currency” when discussing currency pairings.
For example, the US dollar serves as the “base currency” and the South African rand as the “counter currency” in any USD/ZAR exchange. A pair’s exchange rate represents the cost of the counter currency in terms of the base currency.
Stocks
The stock market is among the most widely-known financial exchanges. The most frequent method to invest in profitable firms is purchasing stocks representing partial ownership in the issuing company.
Companies issue stocks to the public to generate money for research, development, and product launch. Big shareholders may weigh in on what the firm does next since they control a large chunk of it.
But most stock market investors are not looking to get their hands dirty with operational details. Instead, they make directional bets by purchasing stocks, expecting the company’s future profits to rise, driving the stock price upward.
The stock market is the major trading platform for stocks. Stocks can only be traded during a stock exchange’s open market hours.
Commodities
It is common practice to employ commodities to manufacture more complex products. The most frequently traded commodities are metals, oils, gases, grains, and other agricultural products, including maize, coffee, and wheat.
Commodities trading in futures or options contracts on an exchange are subject to certain minimum requirements.
All sorts of commodities can be found on the lists of tradable instruments provided by most brokers. It would help if you chose an instrument to trade before you make your initial investment.
Educate yourself
Get as much education as possible about investing and the market before you make any trades. It is not cheap to make mistakes.
Learning how to trade using an online broker is simple, and many free tools are available to help you get started. In addition, many brokers have instructional facilities and employ ex-traders or financial experts who may counsel you.
As a bonus, many brokers will allow you to open a “practice” or “demo” account where you may get experience trading with virtual money in real market circumstances.
Choose a Trading Strategy
Currency traders use several strategies to decide whether to purchase or sell a certain currency pair in the foreign exchange market.
Technical analysis and fundamental, news-based events are viable bases for Forex trading methods. In addition, currency traders often use a trading strategy based on trading signals that prompt them to purchase or sell.
Forex trading strategies may be found online, or they can be created from scratch by the trader. Traders that stick to their plans are more successful.
There is no “optimal” trading technique in the foreign exchange market, and different approaches will provide different results depending on the market conditions.
In addition, there is a wide variety of trading methods, each of which calls for a unique depth of technical and fundamental research.
Consider your trading personality and the available trading techniques before settling on a plan for foreign exchange trading. Traders can use a single or a combination of strategies, so the decision is not as black-and-white as it would initially seem.
When looking for a forex trading strategy, you should first establish what you are looking for. Then, to restrict your search, you should evaluate criteria like:
- How much time can you commit to FX trading?
- Which Forex pairs do you plan to prioritize?
- Your position size.
- Whether you want to go long (buy) or short (sell) currencies.
Traders use the following forex trading tactics to give their trades some structure. These methods are not tailored to the Forex market but apply to the financial markets. Furthermore, the type of trader you are will determine your approach.
- Scalping – The goal of forex scalping is to make consistent, tiny gains while minimizing losses. Even though the price swings in such transactions would be little (only a few pips), the trader would be taking on much risk due to the large leverage.
- Day Trading – Day trading is an alternative to scalping for forex traders who wish to trade for short durations but are not comfortable with the high speed of the approach. This entails a single daily transaction, which is never held over until the next day.
- Position Trading – Forex position trading is a long-term strategy that might be attractive to traders with plenty of time. However, it is not overly concerned with short-term market changes. As a result, many forex traders, known as position traders, stick to their positions for months, if not years.
- Swing Trading – Swing trading is a method of making money from short-term price fluctuations by anticipating and acting on price changes at key points in a trend, known as “swing highs” and “swing lows.” Positions in swing trades could be maintained for many days.
- Carry Trades – To acquire a currency pair with a higher interest rate, one could often borrow from a currency pair with a lower interest rate, a strategy known as a “carry trade.”
Choose a Suitable Broker and Register an Account
Before making your first transaction, you must have an account with a broker. While it just takes a few minutes to register an online trading account with most brokers, it is important to choose a broker that is a good fit for your trading style.
You will want a broker that lets you trade all the products in which you are interested. Furthermore, the broker must provide convenient deposit and withdrawal methods, keeps trading expenses low, and be properly regulated.
If you are starting trading and can only afford a modest trading account, having access to some leverage can help you make bigger trades.
When it comes to trading platforms, many brokers provide both web-based and mobile options, allowing clients to make trades from anywhere with an internet connection.
MetaTrader is the most widely used retail trading platform in the world. Some brokers also provide their proprietary systems, although many use MetaTrader.
Analyze The Market
Once you have transferred the capital to your trading account and logged into your trading platform, you can start with market analysis. Successful trading is built on a foundation of research and analysis.
Without them, you will have to rely on gut instinct. Unfortunately, in most cases, this leads to a bad outcome.
As you begin your exploration, you will discover an abundance of resources, which might initially seem overwhelming. However, as you go further into the details of a particular currency pair, you will come across some excellent resources that stand out from the crowd.
It is important to undertake technical and fundamental research consistently, which includes looking at charts (both current and historical) and news for economic announcements. A more in-depth discussion of specialized fields of study is forthcoming.
Read the Quote and Choose a Position
Currency pairings have two different prices shown. For instance, the image below shows how South African traders will see the quote for EUR/USD.
The first-rate or sell price (1.07172) is the price at which a South African trader can sell their currency pair, while the second (1.07191) is the price the trader will pay when they buy the pair. Furthermore, the difference between these rates, also known as the bid/ask prices, is the spread.
The spread is what your broker will charge for facilitating the trade. Moreover, traders must note that the spread will differ between brokers. However, traders are likely to pay the least on major pairs, such as the EUR/USD, because they are the most traded in the forex market.
Should you buy or sell?
If you have ever traded stocks, bonds, or any other financial commodity, you know that you can only enter long (buy) positions.
Trading foreign currencies is a bit different. You can easily speculate on up and down market moves by purchasing one currency and selling another simultaneously.
Buy Position
To enter a “buy” or “long” position, you must anticipate an increase in the value of the base currency relative to the quote currency.
You anticipate that the value of one Euro will increase relative to one US dollar by purchasing EUR/USD. In other words, you have a bullish (optimistic) outlook on the Euro and a bearish (pessimistic) outlook on the US dollar.
Sell Position
If you take a “sell” or “short” position, you are anticipating that the value of the base currency will decrease in relation to the “quote” currency.
Therefore, you anticipate a decline in the value of the Euro relative to the US Dollar if you sell EUR/USD. Thus, you are bullish (optimistic) about the US dollar and bearish (pessimistic) about the Euro.
Position Size
When you have settled on an instrument to trade, the next step is to settle on a position size. Most traders who lost their money did so because they traded with excessively high position sizes, making this a critical stage in trading. In trading, the potential gain or loss is proportional to the size of one’s stake.
Your risk appetite and the risk management criteria of your trading strategy should inform the size of your trade positions.
You should aim to risk no more than 2% of your trading account on any one transaction; this means that if your stop-loss is triggered, you stand to lose no more than 2% of your account.
Margin and Leverage
Position sizes are related to margin and leverage. Using leverage, a trader can make a much larger investment than their initial trading capital would permit. Your broker will credit your account for the margin plus any profits once the trade is closed.
Furthermore, ensure you always have sufficient available margin in your trading account.
Set Your Stop Loss and Take Profit
Setting your stop loss at half the pip value or less than your take profit level could increase the likelihood of your long-term success. This is because a positive risk-reward ratio allows you to be correct less than half the time and come out ahead at the end of the week, month, or year.
If the market does not move in your favor, you can mitigate your losses by putting in a stop-loss order. In addition, establishing a take-profit level may ensure a profitable exit from the trade once the anticipated drop in the market has occurred.
Setting these limits before a transaction enters the market might be helpful since, after the deal has been placed, it can be difficult to make judgments due to the pressure.
Order Types
It is time to move on to the next step once you have established your stop-loss and take-profit points. Next, you must choose your order type, and there are two main types, namely:
- Many retail traders use market orders, which can be executed immediately at the current market price. For example, to establish a position in a stock trading at $34.50 using a market order, you only need to place the order at that price.
- Pending orders – Unlike market orders, do not immediately execute a deal at the current market price but instead wait for a predetermined set of criteria to be satisfied. Stop orders and limit orders are two subsets of pending orders.
- Though some traders might get them mixed up, pending stop orders and stop-loss orders are distinct types. Pending stop orders automatically trigger the purchase or sale when the market price hits a certain threshold.
- Pending Limit orders are like market orders, except they are activated only if the price first breaks above or below a defined price level and then returns to that level.
Confirm Your Order
Put in your order, and then check your screen for confirmation. Keeping the confirmation and ticket number safe is crucial in case you need to contact your broker regarding the deal.
Even if you hope nothing goes wrong with execution, if your broker makes a mistake, you should contact them with your confirmation and ticket number so that they can make the appropriate adjustments and, if required, credit your account.
Be Patient
If you use the medium to long-term strategies, it means the pause in action has begun. This is a challenging topic in foreign exchange trading.
After entering the market, some investors find it beneficial to walk away from their computers and stop thinking about the stock price. If your stop-or-take profit order is triggered, you have done your job successfully since you have stuck to a decent risk-reward method.
Complete your trade
Choosing when to close both the profitable and losing order is the most challenging aspect of investing. You might change your mind and close the deal in an old-fashioned manner, or you can use Take Profit or Stop Loss orders.
How to Find a Good Broker in South Africa
Working with a broker might be useful if you are just getting started trading Forex or are considering it as an option.
There are also hazards involved and finding a Forex trading broker or brokerage that provides Forex trading services could be challenging. In addition, it can be much more difficult to ensure that the broker or brokerage is trustworthy and can suit your expectations.
Why is it important to choose a regulated, reputable broker?
South African traders must consider two questions, namely:
- Is it a dependable firm that will investigate your complaint about fairness in a business transaction with integrity?
- The second and more crucial question is whether the public can access and review its financial records.
It is crucial that you feel completely at ease with your broker. Therefore, they should be completely transparent with you and subject to strict regulation. Unfortunately, unprepared brokers have abruptly closed their doors as the foreign exchange market has become more volatile.
This could create an overly complicated situation for traders. Your broker’s ability to withstand future storms and volatility in Forex could be gauged by familiarizing yourself with the broker’s financial standing.
Trading Platforms
Traders who wish to access the market in several different ways would do well to use platforms that offer a wide variety of options. Examples of common trading platforms that most online forex brokers offer include web, desktop, and mobile applications.
Regulation and its importance
Whether a brokerage is regulated affects whom you can complain about unsatisfactory if there is a trade dispute. One way to look at it is as insurance. Although you hope you will never need it, it is nice to know that the insurance policy is there if you do.
Customer Support
Success in forex trading hinges on the level of service a broker provides to their clients. So, having a good customer support team is crucial.
It is becoming more common for brokers to tailor their customer care divisions to the specific requirements of their overseas customers.
Education and Research
Access to a complete set of guides and tutorials might be helpful while learning the ropes of trading. In addition, many investors use professional blogs, podcasts, and webinars to supplement their education.
Tools to use when looking for the right broker in South Africa
You can use Google to look for Forex brokers, but the results may not tell you anything. Therefore, before depositing a significant number of money with a broker, it is a good idea to become acquainted with them via user evaluations and practice accounts.
Consult Broker Reviews
Find reviews of Forex brokers online. Keep in mind that one review might not be representative of the broker overall. In addition, reviews are written by people who are not always unbiased.
Therefore, conduct thorough research on the broker and investigate any claims regardless of whether they are positive or negative.
The broker should suit your unique trading objectives and needs. Therefore, remember that traders are all different and what suits one will not suit all.
Visit popular and reliable forex forums
Learn from the experiences of other Forex traders by visiting discussion forums dedicated to the topic. The Forex trading community forums are a treasure trove of useful information. It is a central repository for reading about people’s positive and negative experiences with various Forex brokers.
Use the broker’s demo account
Start a practice account with a broker you are considering once you have narrowed your options. A demo account will give you access to virtual funds that you can use to make trades in live market conditions without any risk to your capital.
In addition, most demo accounts do not require anything other than your name, surname, email address, and mobile number.
You will not have to commit any capital, and if your broker requests that you make a deposit to use a demo account, it is an exceptionally large red flag, and you should stay away.
The Best Forex brokers in South Africa
In this article, we have listed the best brokers offering share trading. In addition, we have further identified the brokers that offer additional services and solutions to traders.
Best MetaTrader 4 / MT4 Forex Broker in South Africa
Overall, LiteFinance, now known as LiteForex, is the best MT4 forex broker in South Africa. Traders from South Africa can use MetaTrader 4 with LiteFinance’s ECN and Classic Account. Traders using MT4 can take advantage of low spreads (zero pips), low fees, and high leverage (from 1:1 to 1:500).
Best MetaTrader 5 / MT5 Forex Broker in South Africa
Overall, HFM is the best MetaTrader 5 forex broker in South Africa. This is because HFM makes it simple for traders to open an MT5 Zero Spread account and take advantage of the firm’s cheap fee rates and narrow spreads.
In addition to safeguarding client funds and investor assets, HFM operates within a regulatory framework that is both comprehensive and stringent.
Best Forex Broker for beginners in South Africa
Overall, eToro is the best Forex and CFD broker for beginners in South Africa. If you want to learn how to trade, eToro’s demo account, educational materials, and powerful copy trading capabilities are excellent places to begin.
For new traders, eToro’s fixed spreads and zero percent commission costs are a welcome relief.
Best Low Minimum Deposit Forex Broker in South Africa
Overall, FBS is the best Low Minimum Deposit Forex Broker in South Africa. The minimum deposit required to open an FBS trading account in South Africa is 17 ZAR, or around $1.
A wide variety of trading accounts are available to traders who want to participate in a wide range of marketplaces. FBS also allows traders to obtain leverage of up to 1:3000 with an exceedingly small initial commitment.
Best ECN Forex Broker in South Africa
Overall, Pepperstone is the forex broker in South Africa. Pepperstone’s Razor Account offers competitive spreads on major currencies and indexes, including the US dollar and Euro.
Pepperstone gives South Africans access to many trading platforms, and the broker’s substantial educational materials are tailored to novice investors. In addition, the research and trading tools at Pepperstone are great for novice and seasoned investors.
Best Islamic / Swap-Free Forex Broker in South Africa
Overall, XTB is the best Islamic / Swap-Free forex broker in South Africa. XTB’s Swap-Free Account gives South African traders access to many trading products.
Anyone in South Africa may access the xStation5’s advanced features, including those for research, teaching, and more, from any laptop or desktop computer.
Best Forex Trading App in South Africa
Overall, NinjaTrader is the best forex trading app in South Africa. In addition, traders in South Africa may download the NinjaTrader mobile applications on their iPhones and Androids.
South Africans may place trades directly from the charts, use automated trading systems, and access a wealth of analytical data with the help of these powerful applications.
Best Lowest Spread Forex Broker in South Africa
Overall, Axiory is the best forex broker in South Africa. This is because traders on Axiory may choose among many accounts, each with its own set of trading parameters. For example, spreads are as low as 0.1 pips for the Standard Account and 0.2 pips for the Max Account.
Nano and Tera Accounts, on the other hand, have the lowest trading fees, at only $8 on average, when spreads and charges are included in.
Best Nasdaq 100 Forex Broker in South Africa
Overall, AvaTrade is the best Nasdaq 100 Forex Broker in South Africa. South Africans can trade a large portfolio of 1,260 instruments on AvaTrade, with many foreign exchange pairings.
Furthermore, AvaTrade allows traders to trade the Nasdaq on MT4, MT5, and other platforms with set spreads.
Best Volatility 75 / VIX 75 Forex Broker in South Africa
Overall, IC Markets is the best Volatility 75 / VIX 75 forex broker in South Africa. IC Markets has low spreads on the VIX 75 and is well-liked for its round-the-clock support service.
Moreover, on cTrader and MetaTrader 4, traders at IC Markets may choose from several trading accounts and raw spread options for all available instruments.
Best NDD Forex Broker in South Africa
Overall, Exness is the best NDD forex broker in South Africa. This is because non-Dealing Desk brokers like Exness employ aggregated prices from liquidity sources to provide clients with favorable trading conditions and a safe trading environment.
This entails a wide range of features, such as zero-pip spreads, cheap fees, and robust trading platforms.
Best STP Forex Broker in South Africa
Overall, JustForex, now known as JustForex, is the best STP forex broker in South Africa. Seven MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 accounts can be opened with JustMarkets, an STP and ECN broker.
Trading costs for South Africans begin at USD 6, while spreads for MT5 Raw Spread accounts begin at 0.0 pips.
Best Sign-up Bonus Broker in South Africa
Overall, Tickmill is the best sign-up bonus broker in South Africa. Another reputable broker that accepts and caters to South African traders of all styles is Tickmill. When traders sign up and validate their information, Tickmill gives them a no-deposit incentive of 30 USD.
Conclusion
Congratulations, you have done it! You ventured out into the world of finance and made your first investment.
You have just taken the first of many steps toward becoming a successful trader, which will need many hours of study, self-discipline, risk consideration, and market conditions.
Before you click the “buy” or “sell” button and execute a trade, you must determine the correct position size for your trading account, establish your stop-loss and take-profit levels according to key technical levels in the price chart, and choose the appropriate type of market order.
Frequently asked questions
Can I teach myself to trade Forex?
There is a wealth of information available on the internet, in books, and in other media for anyone interested in learning more about foreign exchange trading. The finest instructor of foreign exchange trading is, as you may discover with time, actual practice in the market.
Is learning Forex hard?
Though it may seem simple, foreign exchange (Forex) trading is a challenging and interesting career option.
Despite its status as the world’s biggest and most liquid market, trading currency presents a few unique challenges and opportunities not seen in trading stocks or commodities. Therefore, traders must ensure that they have enough knowledge and experience before they risk real money.
Which trading app is the best for beginners in South Africa?
Some beginner-friendly trading apps include IG, AvaTrade, Exness, HF App, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, FOREX.com, cTrader, and several other options.
Does forex trading require money to start?
The initial deposit needed to create a Forex trading account is often little across Forex firms. Your typical starting capital for trading can be 100 USD / 1,700 to 2,000 ZAR.
However, some Forex brokers offer “micro” or “cent” accounts, which let you trade with as little as one dollar / 17 ZAR.
Which type of trading strategy is the best for South African beginners?
Swing trading, which is keeping an investment for more than a day but less than a couple of months, is a good place to start for novices. Comparatively, day trading is more difficult and time-consuming.
Addendum/Disclosure
No matter how diligently we strive to maintain accuracy, the financial markets are volatile that could shift and change at any given time, even if the information supplied is correct at the time of going live.
Table of Contents
Toggle