Written by ForexBrokers.com
In this head to head comparison of Exness vs Octa, we will compare the trading platforms, mobile apps, range of investments, costs, market research, and more. Let's dive in.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 51% and 89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Exness, established in 2008, and Octa, founded in 2011, are prominent online brokers in the forex market. Neither Exness nor Octa is publicly traded or operates as a bank, which means they are not listed on any stock exchange and do not perform banking services. When it comes to regulatory strength, Exness stands out with two Tier-1 licenses and three Tier-2 licenses, signaling a high level of trust, while Octa holds one Tier-1 and one Tier-2 license. These licenses are crucial in assessing the brokers' reliability, as Tier-1 is regarded as highly trusted and Tier-2 as trusted by ForexBrokers.com.
In terms of overall trustworthiness, Exness achieves a Trust Score of 81 out of 99, categorizing it as a trusted broker. Octa, on the other hand, has a Trust Score of 72, placing it in the average risk bracket. While both brokers have their strengths, Exness's higher ratings and more extensive regulatory coverage may appeal to clients prioritizing security and trust in their trading experience.
| Feature |
Exness
|
Octa
|
|---|---|---|
| Year Founded | 2008 | 2011 |
| Publicly Traded (Listed) | No | No |
| Bank | No | No |
| Tier-1 Licenses | 2 | 1 |
| Tier-2 Licenses | 3 | 1 |
| Tier-3 Licenses | 0 | 0 |
| Tier-4 Licenses | 3 | 1 |
Exness stands out by offering a wide variety of account types catered to different trading needs. Its two standard accounts and three professional accounts come with unique cost structures. When considering commissions and fees, the zero spread account comes with a modest per-trade commission of $0.05, while the raw account imposes a commission of up to $7 per round turn lot, offering traders lower spreads. The Pro account garners attention as it offers both instant and market execution options, providing flexibility with notably lower spreads than the other commission-free options. With a rating of 4 stars from ForexBrokers.com, Exness ranks at #38 out of 62 brokers in the Commissions and Fees category, offering competitive pricing but with room for improvement.
Octa has made significant strides in improving its fee structure, earning recognition among the most affordable MetaTrader brokers. Depending on the account type and regulatory entity, traders can experience zero slippage on the majority of executed orders and no overnight carry costs. Although Octa does not specify date ranges for its average spread data, its EU entity offers an average spread of 0.5 pips on popular pairs like EUR/USD, positioning Octa alongside low-cost MetaTrader brokers. Octa also boasts a 4-star rating from ForexBrokers.com and ranks #28 out of 62 brokers, reflecting its progress in offering competitive fees while suggesting certain limitations for high-frequency traders.
| Feature |
Exness
|
Octa
|
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | $10 | $25 |
| Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard | N/A | 0.9 |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active | N/A | N/A |
| Active Trader or VIP Discounts | No | No |
| ACH or SEPA Transfers | No | No |
| PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) | No | No |
| Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | Yes |
| Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit) | Yes | Yes |
| Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Low Spread Forex Brokers.
When comparing the investment offerings of Exness and Octa, both brokers allow clients to engage in forex trading through CFDs or spot contracts. Exness offers a total of 227 tradeable symbols, including an impressive selection of 96 forex pairs, while Octa provides access to 257 symbols, featuring 35 forex pairs. Although neither broker offers direct access to exchange-traded securities on U.S. markets, such as Apple, only Octa offers international options like Vodafone shares. Both platforms offer copy trading and the ability to trade in cryptocurrency derivatives.
In terms of investment variety, both Exness and Octa receive a rating of 3.5 stars. Despite this tie, Octa slightly edges out Exness in ForexBrokers.com rankings for their range of investments, placing 52nd out of 62 brokers compared to Exness's 56th. This positions Octa as a somewhat more favorable choice for those seeking broader market exposure, although both brokers deliver solid capabilities for traders interested in forex and crypto derivatives.
| Feature |
Exness
|
Octa
|
|---|---|---|
| Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) | Yes | Yes |
| Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 227 | 257 |
| Forex Pairs (Total) | 96 | 35 |
| U.S. Stock Trading (Non CFD) | No | No |
| Int'l Stock Trading (Non CFD) | No | Yes |
| Social Trading / Copy Trading | Yes | Yes |
| Cryptocurrency (Physical) | No | No |
| Cryptocurrency (Derivative) | Yes | Yes |
| Disclaimers | Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients). | Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients). |
Dive deeper: Best Copy Trading Platforms.
Both Exness and Octa provide an excellent array of trading platforms and tools for traders. They each offer free virtual demo accounts, allowing users to engage in simulated trading. Traders with either broker can access proprietary platforms alongside popular choices like MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. For desktop users, both Exness and Octa have Windows-based trading platforms available, as well as web-based platforms for those who prefer trading via browser. Additionally, copy trading is supported by each broker, although neither supports platforms like DupliTrade or ZuluTrade.
Regarding tools for charting and watchlist management, Exness and Octa have various features that might appeal to different traders. Exness offers an impressive 87 drawing tools compared to Octa's 15, which could provide more charting flexibility for some users. Both brokers allow trading directly from stock charts and use watchlists with 7 columns. Rated equally with four stars for their trading platforms and tools, Exness edges out Octa in the ForexBrokers.com ranking, positioned at #31 compared to Octa's #37 from a pool of 62 brokers.
| Feature |
Exness
|
Octa
|
|---|---|---|
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes | Yes |
| Proprietary Platform | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes | Yes |
| Web Platform | Yes | Yes |
| Social Trading / Copy Trading | Yes | Yes |
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | Yes | Yes |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | Yes | Yes |
| DupliTrade | No | No |
| ZuluTrade | No | No |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 107 | 30 |
| Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) | 87 | 15 |
| Charting - Trade From Chart | Yes | Yes |
| Watchlists - Total Fields | 7 | 7 |
Dive deeper: Best MetaTrader 4 Brokers, Best MetaTrader 5 Brokers.
Both Exness and Octa offer dedicated trading apps for iPhone and Android users, ensuring that traders can access their accounts on the go. They provide essential features like price alerts for stocks and forex, real-time quote watchlists, and the ability to draw trendlines and view multiple time frames on charts. However, users should note that neither app syncs watchlist symbols with their online accounts, which may be a consideration for those who frequently switch devices or interfaces.
When it comes to charting capabilities, Exness offers a bit more with 35 technical studies compared to Octa's 30. Despite this, while Octa's app automatically saves chart drawings, Exness's does not, which could impact user convenience. Both apps are well-received with a four-star rating for mobile trading. However, ForexBrokers.com ranks Exness slightly higher at #32 compared to Octa's #36 out of 62 brokers, suggesting a marginal preference among reviewers for Exness in this category.
| Feature |
Exness
|
Octa
|
|---|---|---|
| Android App | Yes | Yes |
| Apple iOS App | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Alerts - Basic Fields | Yes | Yes |
| Watchlist Syncing | No | No |
| Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies | 35 | 30 |
| Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Charting - Multiple Time Frames | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Charting - Drawings Autosave | No | Yes |
| Mobile Watchlist | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Forex Trading Apps.
Exness and Octa both provide daily market commentary and access to forex news from leading sources like Bloomberg and Reuters, ensuring traders stay updated with global market trends. However, there are distinct differences in their offerings. For technical and fundamental analysis tools, Exness partners with Trading Central, whereas Octa utilizes the resources of Autochartist. This equips Octa with a broader range of analysis options. Exness further enhances its service with a sentiment-based trading tool, providing insights into market positions, which Octa does not offer.
Both brokers include economic calendars, allowing traders to keep track of significant global economic events. However, when it comes to comprehensive research ratings, Octa scores higher with a four-star rating compared to Exness's 3.5 stars. According to ForexBrokers.com rankings, Octa also performs better in the research category, holding the 26th spot out of 62 brokers, while Exness is ranked at 41. These distinctions highlight Octa as a more favored choice for research tools, although both brokers provide solid market information for traders.
| Feature |
Exness
|
Octa
|
|---|---|---|
| Daily Market Commentary | Yes | Yes |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes | Yes |
| Autochartist | No | Yes |
| Trading Central (Recognia) | Yes | No |
| Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs | Yes | No |
| TipRanks | No | No |
| Signal Centre (Acuity Trading) | No | No |
| Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Brokers for Forex Research.
When it comes to educational resources for beginners, both Exness and Octa provide a solid foundation with at least 10 educational pieces focused on forex and CFDs. Beginners can easily find videos and articles to start their learning journey. However, potential traders might find Octa slightly more engaging, as they offer monthly online webinars, while Exness does not. Both brokers maintain searchable archives of recorded webinars, allowing users to revisit past sessions at their convenience.
Exness caters to novices with over 10 beginner-friendly videos but falls short on advanced content, unlike Octa, which covers both beginner and advanced topics comprehensively. Both brokers support learning with an investor dictionary featuring definitions of over 50 investing terms. In terms of educational ratings, Exness scores a decent 3.5 stars, whereas Octa edges ahead with a 4-star rating. According to ForexBrokers.com, Exness ranks #47 and Octa ranks #41 out of 62 brokers in the education category, suggesting that while both offer valuable resources, Octa potentially offers a more complete educational experience for those looking to enhance their trading knowledge.
| Feature |
Exness
|
Octa
|
|---|---|---|
| Education (Forex or CFDs) | Yes | Yes |
| Client Webinars | No | Yes |
| Client Webinars (Archived) | Yes | Yes |
| Videos - Beginner Trading Videos | Yes | Yes |
| Videos - Advanced Trading Videos | No | Yes |
| Investor Dictionary (Glossary) | Yes | Yes |
Dive deeper: Best Forex Brokers for Beginners.
After testing 62 of the best forex brokers, our research and account testing finds that Exness is better than Octa. Exness finished with an overall rank of #43, while Octa finished with an overall rank of #47.
Exness is a MetaTrader-only broker regulated in the EU offering multiple account types and forex pairs, but its offering lacks the range of CFDs forex brokers typically offer.
| Feature |
Exness
|
Octa
|
|---|---|---|
| Overall Rating |
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| Trust Score | 81 | 72 |
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Both Exness and Octa allow users to trade cryptocurrency derivatives, but neither platform offers the ability to purchase actual, delivered cryptocurrencies.
Both Exness and Octa offer Skrill, Visa, Mastercard, and bank wire options for depositing and withdrawing account funds, though neither provides ACH, SEPA, or PayPal services.
Please note:
We review each broker’s overall global offering – a “Yes” checkmark in our Compare Tool does not guarantee the availability of any specific features in your country of residence. To verify the availability of any features within your country of residence, please contact the broker directly.
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0 of 5| Overall Rating | Exness | Octa | |
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| Trust Score | 81 | 72 | |
| Winner | check_circle | ||
| Review | Exness Review | Octa Review |
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| Regulation | Exness | Octa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trust Score | 81 | 72 | |
| Year Founded | 2008 | 2011 | |
| Publicly Traded (Listed) | No | No | |
| Bank | No | No | |
| Regulated in one or more EU or EEA countries (MiFID). | Yes | Yes | |
| Tier-1 Licenses | 2 | 1 | |
| Tier-2 Licenses | 3 | 1 | |
| Tier-3 Licenses | 0 | 0 | |
| Tier-4 Licenses | 3 | 1 |
| Tier-1 Licenses (Highly Trusted) | Exness | Octa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia (ASIC Authorised) | No | No | |
| Canada (CIRO Authorised) | No | No | |
| Hong Kong (SFC Authorised) | No | No | |
| Japan (SFC Authorised) | No | No | |
| Singapore (MAS Authorised) | No | No | |
| Switzerland (FINMA Authorised) | No | No | |
| United Kingdom (U.K.) (FCA Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| USA (CFTC Authorized) | No | No | |
| New Zealand (FMA Authorised) | No | No | |
| Regulated in one or more EU or EEA countries (MiFID). | Yes | Yes |
| Tier-2 Licenses (Trusted) | Exness | Octa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kenya (CMA Authorised) | Yes | No | |
| Israel (ISA Authorised) | No | No | |
| South Africa (FSCA Authorised) | Yes | Yes | |
| UAE (DFSA/Central Bank Authorised) | No | No | |
| India (SEBI Authorised) | No | No | |
| Jordan (JSC Authorised) | Yes | No |
| Investments | Exness | Octa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forex Trading (Spot or CFDs) | Yes | Yes | |
| Tradeable Symbols (Total) | 227 | 257 | |
| Forex Pairs (Total) | 96 | 35 | |
| U.S. Stock Trading (Non CFD) | No | No | |
| Int'l Stock Trading (Non CFD) | No | Yes | |
| Social Trading / Copy Trading | Yes | Yes | |
| Cryptocurrency (Physical) | No | No | |
| Cryptocurrency (Derivative) | Yes | Yes | |
| Disclaimers | Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients). | Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to retail traders from any broker's U.K. entity, nor to U.K. residents (except to Professional clients). |
| Cost | Exness | Octa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard | N/A | 0.9 | |
| All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active | N/A | N/A | |
| Active Trader or VIP Discounts | No | No | |
| Inactivity Fee | No | No | |
| Execution: Agency Broker | Yes | Yes | |
| Execution: Market Maker | Yes | Yes |
| Funding | Exness | Octa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum Deposit | $10 | $25 | |
| PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) | No | No | |
| Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | Yes | |
| Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit) | Yes | Yes | |
| Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) | Yes | Yes | |
| ACH or SEPA Transfers | No | No |
| Trading Platforms | Exness | Octa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proprietary Platform | Yes | Yes | |
| Desktop Platform (Windows) | Yes | Yes | |
| Web Platform | Yes | Yes | |
| Social Trading / Copy Trading | Yes | Yes | |
| MetaTrader 4 (MT4) | Yes | Yes | |
| MetaTrader 5 (MT5) | Yes | Yes | |
| cTrader | No | No | |
| DupliTrade | No | No | |
| ZuluTrade | No | No |
| Trading Tools | Exness | Octa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual Trading (Demo) | Yes | Yes | |
| Alerts - Basic Fields | Yes | Yes | |
| Watchlists - Total Fields | 7 | 7 | |
| Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) | 107 | 30 | |
| Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) | 87 | 15 | |
| Charting - Trade From Chart | Yes | Yes | |
| Charts can be saved | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Trading | Exness | Octa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Android App | Yes | Yes | |
| Apple iOS App | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Alerts - Basic Fields | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Watchlist | Yes | Yes | |
| Watchlist Syncing | No | No | |
| Mobile Charting - Indicators / Studies | 35 | 30 | |
| Mobile Charting - Draw Trendlines | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Charting - Multiple Time Frames | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile Charting - Drawings Autosave | No | Yes | |
| Mobile Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Research | Exness | Octa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Market Commentary | Yes | Yes | |
| Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) | Yes | Yes | |
| Autochartist | No | Yes | |
| Trading Central (Recognia) | Yes | No | |
| TipRanks | No | No | |
| Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs | Yes | No | |
| Economic Calendar | Yes | Yes |
| Education | Exness | Octa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Education (Forex or CFDs) | Yes | Yes | |
| Client Webinars | No | Yes | |
| Client Webinars (Archived) | Yes | Yes | |
| Videos - Beginner Trading Videos | Yes | Yes | |
| Videos - Advanced Trading Videos | No | Yes | |
| Investor Dictionary (Glossary) | Yes | Yes |
| Major Forex Pairs | Exness | Octa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GBP/USD | Yes | Yes | |
| USD/JPY | Yes | Yes | |
| EUR/USD | Yes | Yes | |
| USD/CHF | Yes | Yes | |
| USD/CAD | Yes | Yes | |
| NZD/USD | Yes | Yes | |
| AUD/USD | Yes | Yes | |
| Review | Exness Review | Octa Review |
| Overall | Exness | Octa | |
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| Trust Score | 81 | 72 | |
| Winner | check_circle | ||
| Review | Exness Review | Octa Review |
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