OvalX Review

Category: Reviews | Author: Trading Brokers | Date: November 17, 2022

OvalX is a regulated broker based in the United Kingdom. They offer a fantastic selection of over 1,000+ trading instruments with very competitive trading conditions including reasonable spreads and minimal trading fees. You can get straightforward access to the markets via user-friendly platforms with a relatively low minimum deposit fee of $100. Alternatively, they do provide free demo accounts if you want to practice your trading skills before making a financial commitment. You will find plenty of tools for assisting with your market analysis so you can pinpoint trading opportunities and make informed decisions. I like how they are an experienced broker with a dedicated premium relationship management team to help guide you along the way. If you are a UK trader and want to trade in a regulated environment across all of your devices, I think they are certainly worth consideration.

Pros & Cons

  • Large choice of more than 1,000 trading instruments
  • Trade on 60+ forex pairs with spreads from 0.8 pips
  • Invest in the world's largest indices and more
  • Explore 1000s of European and US shares CFDs See zero-commission CFDs
  • Cutting edge platforms suitable for all types of traders
  • Choose from and trade a wide range of both soft and hard commodities
  • Good variety of quick and easy payment options
  • Social trading via OvalX Connect
  • Free demo accounts available to practice trading
  • Excellent customer support
  • Clients from quite a few countries are not accepted
  • Incomprehensive daily market analysis to inspire trade ideas
  • Market maker broker means they don’t have the lowest spreads
  • Only provide support during office hours
  • No Islamic account options for Muslim traders
  • Inactivity fees apply
  • No FIX API connectivity

Summary

OvalX is a UK based online brokerage where you can open an account to trade shares, indices, forex, commodities and more. They are the trading arm of Monecor Ltd; which is an established financial investment firm founded in London in 1965 and it is a member of the London Stock exchange. Monecor Ltd launched OvalX in 2002 as TradIndex to satisfy demand for a fast, professional and easy-to-use online spreads trading platform. With a quick registration process and friendly website, TradIndex soon became a prominent player in the financial spread betting sector. They later changed to the name ETX Capital and now to OvalX, a powerful, advanced trading platform with a fresh new feel. The head office is located in London while other offices are spread across Europe and Asia. The broker boasts of having thousands of active clients from all over the world.

The broker offers a very impressive selection of more than 1,000 financial instruments for online trading via its cutting edge trading platforms. I found the spreads to be very good and trades executed swiftly. On its proprietary platform, there are plenty of powerful trading tools available to you for analysing the markets and to manage your tarde positions. I am pleased to see that OvalX has won several industry awards in honour of its brokerage services as this shows that they know what traders are looking for in a broker.

AvaTrade Logo

Our #1 Broker 2023

AvaTrade is an award-winning and multi-regulated broker offering a great selection of trading instruments including Forex, Cryptos, Stocks and Commodities. You can trade on all of your devices via user-friendly platforms with excellent trading conditions and no commission fees.

Between 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Regulation

When it comes to choosing a trading broker, regulation is one of the first things that I look for. I would always prefer to use a regulated broker as they must follow strict rules and procedures that have been put in place to help protect investors. I was therefore pleased to see that the parent company of OvalX, Monecor (London) Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom. I personally consider this to be top-tier regulation and would therefore have no problem trusting them so that I can focus on my day trading activities without needing to worry about the safety of my broker.

Funds

Clients’ funds are kept in segregated bank accounts held with the top-rated banks in Europe. This helps to ensure that they are not used for any other purposes such as business running costs. OvalX is a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). This adds an insurance security to the traders’ funds and means that if OvalX becomes insolvent.

‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) verification is carried out on every client. This procedure entails uploading a ‘government issued id card’ and ‘a utility bill’. This is a regulatory requirement and it is important in order to identify every client to ensure that illegal acts like money laundering, financing terrorism, etc, are not carried out on the pretext of forex or CFD trading.

Countries

OvalX does not accept clients who are residents of the United States, Belgium, Canada, Singapore, or any particular country where its services will be contrary to the local law or regulations. If you find that they do not serve your country for whatever reason, please feel free to take a look at our broker reviews for some alternative options.

Platforms

You can enjoy a seamless trading experience wherever you are with a powerful and advanced trading platform from OvalX. You can get the full functionality with all the bells and whistles using the desktop platform or download the OvalX mobile platform and trade market moves as they happen from the palm of your hands. I personally find the desktop platform ideal for when I need to conduct detailed chart analysis but like the convenience of the trading app for keeping track of my account and the latest market news whenever I feel like it. Either way, I think the platforms are very user-friendly and provide everything you need for trading online without any hassle.

OvalX Platform

This is the proprietary trading platform from OvalX. This intutive platform is web based which makes it convenient as it requires no downloads or installations. It is also versatile because it runs across all operating systems and comes with useful market analysis and trading tools. You can analyse markets using a multitude of indicators and drawing tools across various chart types. I like how you are able to create your own watchlists and set price alerts to keep track of the markets you follow and trade. It is flexible as you are able to customise and save up to 10 unique workspaces with the chart views and time frames that you need, when you need them. The intuitive trade tickets make it simple to set up and understand your Stop and Limit levels for neccesary risk management.

OvalX Platform

OvalX Platform

The OvalX platform also has an Android and iOS app which can be downloaded from their respective app stores. These mobile trading apps are useful for those who wish to trade whilst on the go from anywhere in the world provided that they have an internet connection.

Here are some of core features of the OvalX platform:

  • Customisable workspace, layouts, windows, drag and drop charts
  • Charts can be displayed in over 15 timeframes
  • 8 chart styles including OHLC, Heikin-Ashi, Cloud, Plot, Area, Three line break, Line and Candlesticks
  • Over 55 technical indicators and 14 drawing tools for detailed chart analysis
  • Multiple order types and risk management tools

MetaTrader 4 (MT4)

With fast execution and competitive pricing, OvalX are one of the UK’s leading providers of MetaTrader 4. This is the most widely used online trading platform in the forex and CFD trading industry. There are millions of MT4 software apps, indicators, trading robots and other tools already in use. This makes it very difficult for many traders to abandon the MT4 platform, thus, most brokers provide MT4 if they desire to attract more clients. MT4 has therefore unofficially established itself as a standard among online trading brokers. The platform is loaded with important tools for thorough chart analysis and trading in addition to its intuitive interface and user friendliness.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) Platforms

MetaTrader 4 (MT4) Platforms

The OvalX MT4 platform is available as downloadable desktop applications for Windows and MAC operating systems and also available as trading apps for Android and iOS devices. I have used MT4 for many years and find it the perfect platform for conducting detailed market analysis and running my automated trading strategies. If you can think of a trading strategy, chances are that you can build it in MT4. I like how the platform can be setup to be as simplistic or complex as you need it to be. This makes it a suitable solution both new and experienced traders alike.

Here are some of the key features of the MT4 platform:

  • Built for speed as 94% of trades are executed within 30 milliseconds
  • Available in over 35 languages
  • Supports the automation of strategies using software expert advisors (EAs)
  • Strategy tester to back test EAs on historical price data
  • All the instruments’ buying and selling prices are listed in real time in the market watch window
  • Customisable price alerts via SMS, email and popups
  • Supports one-click trading and trading directly from the charts
  • Charts can be displayed in 9 timeframes
  • Around 30 inbuilt technical indicators can be added to the charts for market analysis. This number can be increased to thousands through the use of extension apps
  • 24 analytical tools are available for technical analysis

OvalX Connect

This is a wide community made up of traders from over 15 major brokers from across the world. It is a social trading platform where you can chat to the other traders, copy the trades of other users and following the portfolios of thousands of members of the network. OvalX Connect is entirely free of charge. This can be a good way to choose from a large variety of trading strategies to copy signals from or share your own with other traders. I think it is good for learning purposes but would actually prefer to maintain control over my own trading decisions. I personally think it is best to try and learn from your mistakes in order to become a better trader.

Tools

The OvalX and MetaTrader platforms come fully loaded with more tools than most of you will ever need. There is also the MQL marketplace where you can get lots of add-ons and a programming interface where you can create your own. If you don’t have the skills to do so, you could hire a freelancer to help you out. In addition to the abundance of built-in indicators and other useful tools, it is nice to see that OvalX have a few more to improve your trading possibilities. This includes the following:

  • OvalX Analysis: Market leading analysis
  • News & Calendar: Financial news and economic calendar
  • Trade Terminal Tab: Trade from your own watchlist with one click
  • Mini Trade Terminal: Graphical placement of pending orders
  • Order templates: Build templates for pending and market orders
  • Drag & Drop: Easy change pending orders
  • Correlation Matrix: See if your portfolio is diversified

Education

I think it is important that a broker provides educational content in order to encourage traders to learn more about the markets and ensure they have the knowledge to make informed decisions. I am therefore pleased to see that OvalX have a decent selection of webinars, trade courses and other resources.

Webinars

At least one webinar is scheduled every week where they cover a range of different trading subjects including technical indicators, trading strategies and how specific events affect the markets. This can be a great way to brush up on your trading skills.

Trading Guides

There is a handy range of trading guides which can be useful to those who are new to trading online and want to start with the very basics. The topics in the books cover types of markets, trading platforms, market analysis and more. The books are short and full of illustrations which makes them easy to understand.

Tutorial Videos

There are a total of 8 videos on ‘platform guides’. Only one video gives a walkthrough of the MT4 trading platform while the remaining 7 teaches how to use the OvalX trading platform.

Courses

The following training courses are available on the education section of the OvalX website: CFDs, indices, forex, commodities, shares, cryptocurrencies and risk management. Each of these courses is structured with 3-4 subtopics under them. Estimated reading time, skill level and other statistics are assigned to each subtopic.

Glossary

A glossary of more than 70 trading terms is provided with full definition of the terms. This is nothing ground-breaking but it is nice to have everything in one place.

Market Analysis

This section of the brokers website focuses on the market news, commentary and analysis. It can help to inspire trade ideas by giving a preview of the week ahead, technical round up and analysis of selected economic events. Unfortunately, this section is not frequently updated. I think the broker could improve by integrating a third-party analysis software such as the brilliant Autochartist and Trading Central. Both of which you can get through other brokers such as Forex.com.

Markets

There is a great selection of more than 1,000 trading instruments for you to choose from. I think there should be enough to build a diverse portfolio for anyone, regardless of your interests. That being said, they don’t quite compare to IG who have an even more impressive selection of over 17,000 instruments in comparison. The broker only provides crypto trading to professional clients, so if this is an asset you are actively looking to trade then you might want to consider XTB instead.

Forex Trading

trade forex with 60+ majors, minors, and exotics with spreads as low as 0.6 pips. FX is traded in pairs, where one will rise (or fall) in value against the other.

Indices Trading

Invest in the world’s largest indices. An index measures the performance of a group of companies, typically weighted by market capitalisation

Shares Trading

Explore 1000s of European and US shares CFDs. Shares CFDs give traders a way to speculate on the value of publicly listed companies without needing to physically own stocks.

Commodities Trading

Choose from and trade a wide range of both soft and hard commodities ranging from traditional markets like gold and oil, to wheat, cotton, and even orange juice.

Accounts

I found the broker to provide transparent and fair spreads across all markets. They only offer two main account types which are based on the platform that you choose. You can choose between CFD and spread betting accounts. Inactivity fees are charged from accounts that have been dormant for 6 months and above. The fee is charged monthly until the account is depleted or the client begins trading again. They don’t provide spreads from 0.0 pips so might not be ideal for those of you who are planning to use scalping systems. For that, you might want to consider IC Markets as they have raw spreads from 0.0 pips with ECN execution at the best available prices.

OvalX Account

This account gives access to trade on OvalX’s proprietary trading platform with very competitive conditions. The average spread for the EURUSD is 0.8 pips which is relatively low when you consider there is no commission fee added on top.

MT4 Account

This account is for traders who choose to trade on the user-friendly MT4 platform. The average spread on the MT4 account is 0.8 pips for the benchmark EURUSD, which is again very reasonable. I like how all trading strategies are allowed including scalping, hedging and automated trading using expert advisors (EAs).

Demo Account

Demo accounts are offered on both platforms. This can be a great way to try them both out and see which is best for your trading style. It is also a good opportunity for beginners to practice trading and build confidence without the risk.

Support

The OvalX customer service team works during office hours UK time from 7:30am to 9:00, Mondays to Fridays. The team can be reached on various phone numbers and emails. On social media, the broker is on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. I think they could improve by adding live chat support as I often find this to be the quickest way to speak with someone. Alternatively, you can explore the most frequently asked questions on everything from setting up your account, to getting more out of the platforms and tools.

Funding

This is an aspect of the broker I was also impressed by. I like how they have a good variety of quick and easy account funding options for you to choose from. This includes digital wallets which I find to be the most convenient for moving funds around between my trading account. You can get 5 free withdrawals every month after which £10 is charged for further withdrawals. £10 is also charged for withdrawals less than the threshold of £100. Withdrawal requests received before 2pm are processed on the same working day. Just keep in mind that they do not accept third party deposits. All deposits must emanate from the same name on the trading account.

Bank Transfer

If the client’s bank is located in the UK, then the deposit is processed within 24 hours. Other locations take 3-7 days for the funds to reach OvalX bank accounts

Credit/Debit Cards

Deposits made by cards are processed instantly. But, card withdrawals can take up to 7 days depending on the location of the client and the card processors

Online Payments

Deposits are processed instantly while withdrawals take up to 24 hours

Conclusion

OvalX is a multiple award-winning online broker that offers thousands of tradable assets to its clients via flexible and sophisticated trading platforms. The brand is regulated by the stringent FCA and therefore must abide by the regulatory rules which include account segregation, digital security, client verification, etc. Regulation can help to give potential clients some peace of mind that they are using a reputable brokerage firm.

The wide array of tradable assets on the broker’s platforms is impressive at over 1,000. It is an outstanding platform replete with essential trader tools for conducting comprehensive market analysis. They also have the easy to use MT4 platform is also very popular and widely accepted by professional traders across the globe. You can seamlessly access your account and trade between all of your devices.

The trader training resources provided by are commendable. Newcomers may find the training courses and eBooks very useful to help them improve their trading skills and knowledge. The multiple payment options are also a beneficial as they enable you to fund your trading account using a range of convenient options.

However, in the area of market news and analysis, I think the broker is lacking behind when compared to other top-rated brokers. There is limited expert analysis, daily insights and trading ideas. Trading accounts are limited with no mini/micro accounts for testing the real trading conditions but free demo accounts are available. I didn’t find the spreads to be the lowest but it is worth considering there is no commission fee on trades. There is also an inactivity fee to be aware of and funding without any fees is limited.

Overall, I think they can be a good choice of broker for anyone who is looking for easy market access in a regulated environment with decent trading conditions and excellent customer support.

OvalX Logo

$100

OvalX is financial services company providing financial derivatives trading such as contracts for difference and financial spread betting along with corporate brokerage services for professional clients.

Between 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.


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