ActivTrades Review

The following table summarizes the different investment products available to IG clients.

Commissions & Fees

Regarding commissions and fees, ActivTrades lists an average spread of 0.9 pips in the EUR/USD pair, applicable to all its platforms, including professional account status.

ActivTrades also charges a minimum one euro commission for its share-trading service in Europe, and while its market data is free, it is not offered in real time in MetaTrader 5 (MT5). For US market data (including international ADRs and ETFs) the broker charges just one euro per month, in addition to a minimum commission per trade.

The forex spreads on offer by ActivTrades are not great,  and I found it ironic that the broker doesn’t have an Active Trader program (in terms of offering liquidity rebates, spread discounts, or other VIP-style accounts to high-volume “active” traders).

ActivTrades is primarily a MetaTrader broker that offers the suite of platforms developed by MetaQuotes Software Corporation, including the MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) platform. To learn more about MT4, read our MetaTrader guide.

While MT4 comes standard, with little variation in functionality from broker to broker, there can be significant differences in how the platform is set up for trading spreads and commissions, execution, and other tools, features, and administrative areas.

Besides spreads, the range of instruments, and account types, here is a summary of the differences in features between ActivTrades’ MT4 offering and the default MetaTrader experience:

• Offers the SMART forecast and template indicators
• Offers SmartOrder 2 Expert Advisor module
• Economic calendar in MT5
• No Economic calendar in MT4
• News streams from Dow Jones newswire

ActivTrades also provides the ActivTrader platform, a responsive web-based app with a very simple layout and user-friendly interface.

While the default charts in ActivTrader were unimpressive, I quickly switched to the more advanced charting option powered by Trading View.

The watch list didn’t include any favorites button, although it was nice to see the sentiment indicator below each instrument. Beyond the charts, watch list, and open positions/orders section, the platform does not offer traders a wide variety of trading information and options.

ActivTrades offers iOS and Android mobile trading applications for its MetaTrader platforms, available directly from the developers on the iTunes Store and Google Play. To learn more about MT4, read our MetaTrader guide.

Other Notes

In August 2018, ActivTrades announced it had received ISO27001 certification from the International Standards Organization (ISO) related to the effectiveness of its internal controls in handling clients’ funds.

ActivTrades provides an array of research tools, including periodic reports in its Active Trade analyses and market analysis on its blog.

The broker also has a suite of tools related to MetaTrader, including its Smart pattern and Smart forecast custom indicators, as well as an expert advisor-powered SmartOrder 2 module that enhances the MetaTrader experience with additional order types.

ActivTrades has a hefty range of MetaTrader-related tools, while the broker is not as heavily weighted in its other forms of research content on its site.