In our broker comparison of AvaTrade and Trade Nation, we will look at the features of each firm and give you all the information you need to determine which might be the best broker for you. Both are well-respected, regulated brokers, but which is the right one for you?
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
AvaTrade offers clients a zero-commission model, with fees taken from the spreads, which are pretty reasonable. On the EURUSD, for example, 0.9 pips is the average spread. There are no deposit and withdrawal fees, but there is an inactivity fee of $50 per quarter, an admin fee of $100 annually, and overnight swap fees.
At Trade Nation, the spreads are fixed and are generally very low on the proprietary platform. MT4 users have variable spreads, which are also competitive, and neither platform charges an additional commission charge. There are no deposit and withdrawal fees here, and also no inactivity fee, but there is an overnight swap fee.
Both AvaTrade and Trade Nation offer a good range of forex pairs and other products, with many available as CFDs. At AvaTrade, you can trade forex, stocks, commodities, indices and even cryptocurrencies with leverage, via CFDs. AvaTrade has more than 50 forex pairs available, along with various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash, Litecoin and other altcoins. AvaTrade offers the popular MT4 and MT5 platforms, WebTrader, and its own proprietary platform known as AvaTradeGO. Social and automated trading are also available.
Trade Nation offers CFD trading on forex, stocks and stock indices, along with some commodities, so it does not have quite the same range of assets as AvaTrade. The brokerage does not offer any cryptocurrencies and does not plan to do so. If you trade crypto, then AvaTrade will be the best option for you, unless, of course, like many crypto traders, you are happy to use a specialist crypto exchange alongside your CFD broker.
Both brokers offer an excellent and intuitive user experience. However, we did find that AvaTrade offers a better choice of trading platforms. At AvaTrade, you will find it easy to set up, verify and fund your account, and you will have a choice of trading using MT4 or MT5, WebTrader or the AvaTradeGO platform. Mobile apps are available for both iOS and Android devices, and are easy to download and install.
At Trade Nation, it is also quick and easy to set up your account, but the choice of platform is simply MT4 or the broker’s own trading platform, CoreTrader2. The CoreTrader2 platform is actually very user-friendly, but obviously, those who are already familiar with MT4 will tend to prefer this platform. Both options are available for desktop and mobile. There is a useful set of video tutorials on using the Trade Nation platform, found under ‘Platform Guides’ in the drop-down menu under ‘Our Platform’ in the main header of the website.
AvaTrade is an international brokerage with offices in various countries around the world, and is fully regulated by the relevant regulatory bodies, such as the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) in the EU and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in Australia. The broker is also fully regulated in the Middle East, South Africa and the British Virgin Islands.
Trade Nation is also a fully regulated and licensed international broker, with offices in London, Sydney, Johannesburg and Nassau. The firm is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in Australia, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) in South Africa, and the Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB) in Nassau.
When you sign up with AvaTrade, you will be offered the option to open a demo account, which will provide you with up to $100,000 of virtual funds so that you can explore the platform for free, find your way around, and experiment with your trading strategies, all completely risk-free. To register for a demo account, you will need to provide some basic information such as your email and phone number, but you will not have to deposit any money, until you decide to upgrade to a live account.
Trade Nation also offers demo trading through the use of a Trading Simulator tool. You do not have to sign up or submit any personal information to use the trading simulator, so anyone can try it out. You will initially be asked to choose your region, select the amount of virtual funds you want to trade with, and pick the conditions you would like to trade under (from low to high volatility), the direction of your trade, your $ per point, and your stops and limits.
At each step along the way, you will be shown some video training to help you understand the decisions you are making, or you can simply skip the video each time. When you run your trade simulation, you will see your profit and loss on the trade in real time and will have the option to close the trade at any point. You will then be told what your profit or loss on that trade was, and you will be asked if you want to place a new trade. You can continue to place trades, and you can review your trading activity on the simulator at any time.
When it comes to assessing AvaTrade vs Trade Nation, both brokers have a lot to offer. Trade Nation does not offer cryptocurrencies or MT5 trading, whereas AvaTrade does. The AvaTrade demo account allows you to actually try out the platform, whereas the Trade Nation simulator is more about learning to trade in general, with video training included. AvaTrade has a better choice of platforms and a wider choice of assets, though that is only relevant if you actually want to trade those particular assets.