SA's Top Rated Online Trading Platforms

Online trading platforms have become more easily accessible than ever, and freely so in some instances. finweek takes a look at fees, ease of use and market information offered by each to help readers find the best platform for their needs.

- Timothy Rangongo

all self-respecting active traders take the tools of their trade seriously. They arm themselves with trading platforms that enable them to execute trades in a wide range of securities (from options, swaps and equities to digital and virtual currency) at razor-sharp speeds.

We take a look at the online platforms EasyEquities, IG Markets, DWT Securities, Rand Swiss, Sharenet, GT247, Khwezi Trade, Old Mutual Wealth Trader and Standard Bank Online Share Trading and how they compare when it comes to fees, financial securities on offer, market information and most importantly, which platforms are best-suited for investors versus traders.

EASY EQUITIES

Intellidex conducted market research across financial and capital markets in SA in 2018. It designed two comprehensive questionnaires – one for stockbrokers and another for their clients. The survey report lauded EasyEquities’ ease of use, saying “the firm’s efforts to make trading and investing fun and less daunting to novice traders is paying off, and it is one of the lowest-cost brokers around”.

“EasyEquities enables anyone to invest in the stock market. We do that by making the experience of investing easy and educational – no jargon, no complex tech and lots of content to help you get clued-up about what investing means and how it can make a real difference in your life,” says the platform’s head of client engagement, Justin Pearse.

“We’re also really affordable – it’s part of our drive to lower barriers and create access to wealth creation. Because of our fractionalised investing model, anyone is able to invest with as little as R10.”

The broker (rated 9.07 out of 10 by Intellidex) prides itself on providing a simple trading process and platform for investing not only in equities but exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and notes (ETNs) as well.