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Alison Heyerdahl is the Head of Content at FxScouts and a financial writer with extensive experience in Forex trading, broker analysis, and market research. She has reviewed 100+ brokers, publishes weekly YouTube trading videos, and co-hosts the “Let’s Talk Forex” podcast to help traders make informed, safe decisions.
In the fast-paced world of forex trading, choosing the right broker is crucial. AvaTrade and SquaredFinancial are two popular options, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. This comparison will dive into the key features of both platforms,helping you decide which one best suits your trading style and goals.
The radar chart above illustrates the comparison between AvaTrade and SquaredFinancial across several key metrics, with the highest possible score being 100 in each category.
At FxScouts, our mission is to assist traders in finding the broker that best suits their needs. Comparing brokers side-by-side is an effective method to achieve this goal. We evaluated AvaTrade and SquaredFinancial, using our standard criteria: trust and regulation, trading platforms, costs and trading conditions, and educational and market analysis resources.
Trust and regulation are crucial when selecting a Forex broker. A broker’s credibility is largely built on its regulatory status. We spend considerable time verifying the safety of each broker by examining their regulatory licenses. We also consider numerous factors when deciding which tier a regulator belongs to. Regulators that we rank as the world’s top regulators, gets a tier 1 rank, while regulators who only scores a tier 5-rank, provide virtually no regulatory oversight. The more top-tier authorities regulating a broker, the higher its trust rating. Read more about regulation and our tier system here.
In our comparison:
Based on these findings, AvaTrade earned a higher trust rating than SquaredFinancial.
When comparing brokers, trading costs are a significant factor. We consider the minimum deposit required to open an account and ongoing costs, including spreads and commissions. We measure the cost to trade one lot of EUR/USD using the broker’s account with the lowest minimum deposit, including both the spread and any commission charged.
We found that AvaTrade has overall lower trading costs than SquaredFinancial.
Trading Platforms Offered Traders prefer brokers that offer a variety of trading platforms. We rate brokers higher if they support multiple platforms like MetaTrader4, MetaTrader5, cTrader, and proprietary platforms.
Copy trading is beneficial for beginner traders or those unable to trade full-time. In this case both AvaTrade and SquaredFinancial offer copy trading.
A broader range of CFD instruments provides more trading opportunities. AvaTrade offers a greater variety of instruments compared to SquaredFinancial:
For those interested in trading cryptocurrencies, AvaTrade offers 30 cryptocurrencies, while SquaredFinancial offers 5 cryptocurrencies. Therefore, AvaTrade is the better choice for cryptocurrency trading.
Traders prefer brokers with quick and cost-effective deposit and withdrawal processes. We favor brokers that process withdrawals within 24 hours using multiple methods without charging fees.We found that neither AvaTrade nor SquaredFinancial charges a withdrawal fee. Overall, SquaredFinancial has better deposit and withdrawal processes than AvaTrade.Â
We often find that brokers offer very little in the way of educational materials, forcing traders to use other third-party sites or self-educate elsewhere. Beginner traders need well-structured, well-presented materials in multiple formats to get a good start at trading. More experienced traders also benefit from webinars led by experts in the field and advanced trading strategy sections with new trading ideas.Â
AvaTrade has better educational support than SquaredFinancial. Both AvaTrade and SquaredFinancial offer educational support for more experienced traders.Access to frequent and high-quality market research and analysis is crucial.
We found that AvaTrade offers better research analysis than SquaredFinancial and that both AvaTrade and SquaredFinancial offer frequent webinars.
As one of the best all-around Forex brokers, AvaTrade will be an attractive choice for most traders. AvaTrade has low trading fees, a wide range of trading instruments, and a choice of four different trading platforms. AvaTrade offers some of the best trading tools in the industry, alongside a world-class selection of educational and market analysis materials.
AvaTrade is also popular for its award-winning mobile app which has great risk management tools and a direct connection to AvaSocial, AvaTrade’s popular social trading system.
One major drawback for Filipino traders considering AvaTrade is that they are onboarded through AvaTrade’s BVI-regulated entity, which means that they are not as well protected as their international counterparts.Â
SquaredFinancial has a large range of tradable assets, low admin fees, and an Elite account with very low trading costs. This combination will appeal to many traders, though many beginners may be put off by the high minimum deposit on the Elite account.
SquaredFinancial has two trading accounts on both the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms. The SquaredPro Account is an entry-level account with no minimum deposit and trading costs included in its variable spreads, which start at 1.20 pips on the EUR/USD. SquaredFinancial's commission-based Elite account has a minimum deposit requirement of 500 USD, excluding many beginner traders, but offers spreads of 0 pips on the EUR/USD in exchange for a low commission of 5 USD, making it one of the lowest-cost trading accounts in the industry. SquaredFinancial's clients are not charged for making deposits, and withdrawals only incur a fee if there has been no trading on the account.
SquaredFinancial offers over 10,000 financial instruments to trade, a much broader selection of assets than is typically available at other brokers, including over 40 forex pairs, 9000 share CFDs, 250 ETFs, commodities, and cryptocurrencies.
Although trading tools, market research, and education are limited, traders beginners will be able to subscribe to automated trading signals from Trading Central, a world leader in technical and fundamental analysis.
For more detailed reviews, please read our comprehensive assessments of AvaTrade and SquaredFinancial.
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Broker | Countries Regulated | Minimum Spread EUR/USD | Minimum Deposit | Trading cost/lot EURUSD Total trading cost at the time of last update, for 1 lot of EUR/USD using the account with the lowest minimum deposit. Includes spread and commission. | Broker Score | Broker Website | Select and Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |     | 0.10 pips | USD 3 | USD 7 | |||
 |     | 0 pips | USD 0 | USD 10 | |||
 | | 0.10 pips | USD 200 | USD 8 | |||
 | | 0.70 pips | USD 10 | USD 17 | |||
 |  | 0 pips | AUD 0 | USD 4.50 | |||
 | | 0.90 pips | USD 100 | USD 9 | |||
|  | 0.60 pips | USD 5 | USD 6 | |||
 | | 0 pips | USD 0 | USD 10 | |||
 | | 0.70 pips | USD 5 | USD 7 | |||
 | | 0 pips | USD 100 | USD 6 |
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Alison and Chris cover a range of topics, including how to choose a Forex broker, safety and regulation, how to reduce your risk, trading psychology, trading platforms, and trading strategies, among others.
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