Compare Forex Brokers side by side

How do AvaTrade and HFM stack up against each other?

The Radar Chart below highlights how the brokers stack up against each other across various metrics. The highest score a broker can receive in each area is 5.

At FX Scouts, we help traders find the broker that suits their trading needs. In many cases, the best way to achieve this is to compare brokers side-by-side.

To compare AvaTrade and HFM, we used the same factors we use when reviewing brokers: The trust and regulation of the broker, the trading platform, the costs and trading conditions, and the level of education and market analysis available at the broker.

Does AvaTrade or HFM have a better trust and regulation rating?

Trust and regulation are some of the most important factors to consider when choosing a Forex broker. Trust in the Forex trading business is almost entirely founded upon regulation. We spend many hours evaluating the safety of each broker by delving into their fine print and confirming each one of their regulatory licences on the online registers. The more top-tier authorities a broker is regulated by, the higher its trust rating.

In our comparison, we found that AvaTrade holds three Tier 1 and two Tier 2 licences, and HFM holds two Tier 1 and one Tier 2 licences.

 

Is AvaTrade financially regulated?

Yes AvaTrade was founded in 2006 and is regulated by ASIC, CBI, CySEC, FRSA, FSA-Japan and FSCA.

 

Is HFM financially regulated?

Yes HFM was founded in 2010 and is regulated by CySEC, DFSA, FCA, FSC, FSCA and FSA-Seychelles.

 

Based on these findings, AvaTrade earned a higher trust rating than HFM.

Does AvaTrade or HFM have lower costs?

Another important aspect we consider when comparing brokers is the cost of trading. When evaluating trading costs, we always consider the minimum deposit required to open an account and the ongoing trading costs, including the spreads and commissions. When calculating trading costs, we measure the cost to trade one lot of EUR/USD using the broker’s account with the lowest minimum deposit. The cost includes both the spread and any commission charged. 

Not all brokers publish their trading costs, so we often open accounts and trade on their platforms to verify the spreads and commissions. Based on our reviews, we found that AvaTrade has overall lower trading costs than HFM. 

 

Does AvaTrade or HFM offer a better choice of trading platforms?

Traders want Forex brokers to offer them a choice of trading platforms, so we give brokers who offer multiple platforms higher ratings. Trading platforms we consider include MetaTrader4, MetaTrader5, cTrader and proprietary mobile and web-based platforms. 

In this case, AvaTrade offers support for AvaOptions, Avatrade Social, MT4 and MT5 and HFM offers support for MT4, MT5 and HFM Trading App. 

Do the brokers offer copy trading?

Copy trading is a great option for beginner traders who can’t trade full-time or lack experience with Forex trading. In this case both AvaTrade and HFM offer copy trading.

 

Which broker offers a better choice of trading instruments?

A variety of CFD instruments – and a large range of CFDs for each instrument category allow traders more opportunities for profitable trading. The best brokers will have thousands of CFDs to trade, covering all these instrument categories. We found that AvaTrade offers a greater range and depth of instruments to trade than HFM. AvaTrade offers 63 Forex pairs to trade and HFM offers 53 Forex pairs to trade.

And what about Cryptocurrencies?

In this case, HFM offers 40 cryptocurrencies while AvaTrade offers 30 cryptocurrencies. So if you want to trade cryptocurrencies, we advise trading with HFM.

Which broker offers better deposit and withdrawal processes?

Although brokers may have reasonable trading fees, many traders are caught out by the high non-trading fees charged by some brokers, including deposits and withdrawals. Traders want to be able to deposit and withdraw funds quickly and cheaply. Most brokers have multiple funding methods with zero fees for making deposits, but some brokers make it more expensive and take longer to process withdrawals. 

We rate brokers more highly that process withdrawals within 24 hours by multiple withdrawal methods and without charging processing fees. We found that neither AvaTrade nor HFM charges a withdrawal fee. Overall, HFM has better deposit and withdrawal processes than AvaTrade. 

Which broker offers better educational support?

We often find that brokers offer very little in the way of educational materials, forcing traders to use other third-party sites or self-educate elsewhere. Beginner traders need well-structured, well-presented materials in multiple formats to get a good start at trading. More experienced traders also benefit from webinars led by experts in the field and advanced trading strategy sections with new trading ideas. 

AvaTrade and HFM both have very good educational support. Both AvaTrade and HFM offer educational support for more experienced traders.

 

Which broker offers better market analysis materials?

To successfully predict the price movements of an instrument, traders will need access to frequent market research and analysis. We find that research and market analysis are always better when they are produced in-house and updated frequently. Third-party resources don’t show the same expertise in trading ideas, so we place a strong emphasis on frequent in-house updates. Some brokers also often offer interactive webinars where traders can learn from experts in the field. 

We found that AvaTrade offers better research analysis than HFM and that both AvaTrade and HFM offer frequent webinars.

 

Our overall Verdict on AvaTrade

AvaTrade is an internationally regulated beginner-friendly CFD broker offering trading on Forex, cryptocurrencies, commodities, indices, stocks, bonds, vanilla options, and ETFs. AvaTrade has received extensive industry recognition for AvatradeGO, one of the most popular mobile trading applications available globally and, unlike many European brokers, has a local Nigerian customer support team. 

AvaTrade’s single commission-free account has a minimum deposit requirement of 100 USD and has average trading costs for a market maker broker, with spreads starting at 0.90 pips on the EUR/USD. In terms of trading platforms, AvaTrade offers a wider choice than most brokers, with support  MT4, MT5, AvaOptions, and its proprietary web trader platform. The same is true for the trading tools available, with Avatrade offering Trading Central, Duplitrade, and AvaProtect, its own innovative risk management system.  Furthermore, Avatrade does not charge any deposit or withdrawal fees and provides an excellent selection of educational materials to get new traders started.

Our overall Verdict on HFM

HFM (formerly known as HotForex) is a well-known international broker with a strong presence in Nigeria. It has local customer support, and unlike many other international brokers, it offers NGN trading accounts. It also offers fast and free deposits and withdrawals from local banks. 

HFM offers four standard accounts and one specialised copy trading account.  Three of its four standard accounts have no minimum deposit requirements and have extremely competitive trading fees. All accounts are available as Islamic accounts. We were also pleased to find that HFM has recently reintroduced cryptocurrency trading, no doubt because of the popularity of the asset. This is alongside an excellent range of trading instruments, including 950 international stocks.

HFM supports the MT4 and MT5 platforms in addition to its own mobile HF App, which allows clients to trade from charts and make deposits and withdrawals. It also has several excellent trading tools to assist traders further. Unfortunately, access to tools such as Autochartist, which other brokers offer as a free service, requires an account balance of 100 USD.

Which broker has the highest overall rating?

AvaTrade has an overall rating of 4.59 and HFM has an overall rating of 4.53. For more detail please read our reviews of AvaTrade and HFM.