eToro, which offers retail brokerage services, announced on Wednesday that the  trading platform  Trading Platform In the FX space, a currency trading platform is a software provided by brokers to their respective client base, garnering access as traders in the broader market. Most commonly, this reflects an online interface or mobile app, complete with tools for order processing.Every broker needs one or more trading platforms to accommodate the needs of different clients. Being the backbone of the company’s offering, a trading platform provides clients with quotes, a selection of instruments to trade, real-time updates on quotes, charts and is the main frontend which customers are facing.Brokers either use existing trading platforms and sometimes customize them, or develop their own platform from scratch. Since the beginning of the retail FX trading business MetaQuotes and its platforms MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) have been the industry standard, especially when it comes to automated trading.MT4 Shows Resiliency While MT4 has long been seen as ubiquitous amongst brokers’ offerings, a targeted push by MetaQuotes themselves has led to broader adoption of MT5 in recent years. Advanced trading platforms such as MT4 or MT5 also allow access to a wide range of asset classes available for trading.The development of trading platforms over the past decade has failed to successfully dethrone MT4 or MT5, notably in the retail market. However, in institutional markets, brokerage companies and banking entities also construct and utilize proprietary currency trading platforms to help satisfy internal needs with trades executed through institutional trading channels.By far the most important parameter for many retail clients is the optionality and pairs available on trading platforms. Additionally, demand by traders has led to a greater emphasis on newer features such as advanced charting and other tools. In the FX space, a currency trading platform is a software provided by brokers to their respective client base, garnering access as traders in the broader market. Most commonly, this reflects an online interface or mobile app, complete with tools for order processing.Every broker needs one or more trading platforms to accommodate the needs of different clients. Being the backbone of the company’s offering, a trading platform provides clients with quotes, a selection of instruments to trade, real-time updates on quotes, charts and is the main frontend which customers are facing.Brokers either use existing trading platforms and sometimes customize them, or develop their own platform from scratch. Since the beginning of the retail FX trading business MetaQuotes and its platforms MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) have been the industry standard, especially when it comes to automated trading.MT4 Shows Resiliency While MT4 has long been seen as ubiquitous amongst brokers’ offerings, a targeted push by MetaQuotes themselves has led to broader adoption of MT5 in recent years. Advanced trading platforms such as MT4 or MT5 also allow access to a wide range of asset classes available for trading.The development of trading platforms over the past decade has failed to successfully dethrone MT4 or MT5, notably in the retail market. However, in institutional markets, brokerage companies and banking entities also construct and utilize proprietary currency trading platforms to help satisfy internal needs with trades executed through institutional trading channels.By far the most important parameter for many retail clients is the optionality and pairs available on trading platforms. Additionally, demand by traders has led to a greater emphasis on newer features such as advanced charting and other tools. Read this Term is now onboarding new clients from South Africa.

“It's been a long time coming, but we are SO excited to announce that we are now accepting new users from South Africa,” eToro stated in an announcement.

The brokerage does not hold any license from the South African financial market regulator, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority. It is registering clients from the African country under a United Kingdom-based entity, eToro (UK) Ltd, which is regulated by the  Financial Conduct Authority (FCA  Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the largest financial regulator for all financial markets in the United Kingdom (UK).The UK regulator is responsible for the conduct of firms authorized under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Moreover, the FCA is also responsible for the regulation of behavior in retail and wholesale financial markets, supervision of the trading infrastructure that supports those markets, and the prudential regulation of firms not regulated by the PRA. Its role includes protecting consumers, keeping the industry stable, and promoting healthy competition between financial service providers. The FCA publishes and updates a guide handbook that sets out the rules, guidance, and provisions made by the FCA under its powers. The FCA has supervisory authorities overall financial services firms conducting regulated activities, such as offering loans, car financing deals, any consumer credit. Investment firms carrying on certain activities concerning financial instruments such as shares and bonds, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) requires you to be authorized. Businesses are providing pre-paid cards or other such financial services, money transfers, E-money, and credit cards. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ExplainedThe Financial Conduct Authority is responsible for all financial activities conducted in the UK or by UK citizens. Parliament gave the FCA a single strategic objective – to ensure that relevant markets function well – and three operational goals to advance, i.e. protecting consumers, integrity, and promoting competition.The FCA has been instrumental in policing the forex industry, including curbing market abuse in the form of scams, schemes, clones, etc. Recent years has seen the authority take a harder stance on investment products, including forex, contracts-for-difference (CFDs), and binary options. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the largest financial regulator for all financial markets in the United Kingdom (UK).The UK regulator is responsible for the conduct of firms authorized under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Moreover, the FCA is also responsible for the regulation of behavior in retail and wholesale financial markets, supervision of the trading infrastructure that supports those markets, and the prudential regulation of firms not regulated by the PRA. Its role includes protecting consumers, keeping the industry stable, and promoting healthy competition between financial service providers. The FCA publishes and updates a guide handbook that sets out the rules, guidance, and provisions made by the FCA under its powers. The FCA has supervisory authorities overall financial services firms conducting regulated activities, such as offering loans, car financing deals, any consumer credit. Investment firms carrying on certain activities concerning financial instruments such as shares and bonds, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) requires you to be authorized. Businesses are providing pre-paid cards or other such financial services, money transfers, E-money, and credit cards. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ExplainedThe Financial Conduct Authority is responsible for all financial activities conducted in the UK or by UK citizens. Parliament gave the FCA a single strategic objective – to ensure that relevant markets function well – and three operational goals to advance, i.e. protecting consumers, integrity, and promoting competition.The FCA has been instrumental in policing the forex industry, including curbing market abuse in the form of scams, schemes, clones, etc. Recent years has seen the authority take a harder stance on investment products, including forex, contracts-for-difference (CFDs), and binary options. Read this Term).

Headquartered in Israel, eToro made its name by offering copy trading services and then transitioned to a full brokerage. Additionally, the brokerage is regulated in multiple other jurisdictions like Australia, Cyprus and Seychelles.

The broker entered the South African trading market when it was pushing to list itself publicly on a United States stock exchange. It has already entered into an agreement with an America blank-check company for a reverse merger but is yet to close the deal with the approaching deadline of June 30, 2022.

Moreover, eToro registered itself as a digital asset service provider (DASP) in France which will allow it to offer non-leveraged crypto products in the country. Further, the broker is aggressively expanding its cryptocurrency offerings.

Africa: An Emerging Retail Trading Market

South Africa is a major African market where retail trading activities are booming. The number of daily forex traders in the country is estimated to be around 190,000, which is just behind Nigeria. However, South Africa topped the average transaction size per trader in the continent, according to a Finance Magnates Intelligence report last year.

Meanwhile, other brokers are planning to enter the lucrative South African retail trading market. Poland-headquartered XTB is intending to launch South African forex trading operations in the second half of 2022.