8 Best South African Brokers with NASDAQ

There are multiple ways to trade NASDAQ, including via ETFs, or via regulated CFD brokers.

Many CFD& forex brokers regulated by the FSCA in South Africa offer trading on the NASDAQ 100 index as a CFD instrument. SA traders can trade& speculate on NASDAQ legally via any of the licensed dealers.

In our research, overall Exness stood out based on multiple factors for trading NAS100 CFD instrument.

List of Best SA Brokers with NASDAQ

Exness – Overall Best South African Broker with NASDAQ
HF Markets – Best Broker with NASDAQ and ZAR Account
XM Trading — Good NASDAQ Broker in South Africa with No Commissions
IFX Brokers – FSCA Regulated Broker with NAS100
Tickmill – ECN Type Broker with NASDAQ CFD Instrument
FXTM – NASDAQ Broker with Meta Trader
FxPro – Good Broker with NAS100 on cTrader
AvaTrade – NAS100 Broker with Fixed Spread

It is important to avoid illegal brokers who operate without the authorisation of the FSCA.  Trading with such illegal brokers can cause you significant financial loss.

To avoid trading with illegal brokers, we have listed eight best South African brokers for trading the NASDAQ index with.

We compare a list of features including regulation, trading fees, minimum deposit in ZAR and leverage on NASDAQ.

1. Exness– Overall Best South African Broker with NASDAQ

Pros:

Exness is regulated with FSCA
Mini contracts on USTEC-m Futures are cheaper and have higher liquidity
ZAR base currency accounts are available
Unlimited number of positions on standard account for trading indices
Low minimum deposit with Standard & Pro Accounts

Cons:

Exness is not approved as an ODP
The customer support via email & live chat are very slow
High spreads for USTEC 100 trading
No Spot Cash USTEC-m CFDs

Exness was founded in 2008. It is registered in South Africa with the FSCA as Exness ZA (PTY) Ltd, with licence number 51024. Exness FSCA license is for derivatives instruments and forex investment only.

They are not a licensed ODP.

Trading Fees for NASDAQ (Ticker Symbol: 'USTEC-m'Futures CFDs)

Fees on Standard Account: Zero commissions and Swaps, and average spread of 38.3 pips when you trade USTEC-m Futures, and long/short dividend of $0.131.

Fees on Raw-spread Account: Commission of $0.625 per lot per side, Zero swap fee, average spread of 10.4 pips, and long/short dividend of $0.131.

Fees on Zero Account: Commission of $1.25 per lot per side, Zero swap fee, Zero spread, and long/short dividend of $0.131.

Fees on Pro Account: Zero commission, Zero swap fee, average spread of 23.9 pips, and long/short dividend of $0.131.

Exness USTEC-m Trading Conditions

4 Account Types: Standard, Zero, Raw Spread and Pro Accounts. All account types support ZAR base currency
Minimum Deposit: 190 ZAR for Standard accounts, and 9,500 ZAR for Professional accounts
Leverage: fixed at 1:400 for USTEC-m Futures
6 Asset Classes: 10+ Indices (including USTEC-m), forex, Metals, Crypto, Energy, and Stocks.
Available Platforms: MT4/MT5 Mobile, Web, and Desktop platforms.

Read more about Exness's NASDAQ trading conditions & open Account

2. HF Markets– Best Broker withNASDAQ and ZAR Account

Pros:

FSCA regulation
Both Spot and Futures CFDs when trading USA100 indices
Negative Balance Protection
ZAR base currency accounts
Zero minimum deposit on all accounts except for HFM Pro account

Cons:

Not an approved ODP under FSCA
No mini USA100 contracts
Commission of $1 when trading USA100 with Pro Account

HF Market (SV) Limited was established in 2010. It is regulated with the FSCA as HF Markets SA (PTY) Ltd with FSP no. 46632 authorizing them to trade derivative instruments.

But they are not an approved ODP.

Trading Fees for NASDAQ (Ticker Symbol: 'USA 100' Spot cash & Futures CFDs)

A typical spread of 2.1 pips in quote currency per unit for spot CFDs, and 3.13 for futures CFDs. Swap fee is 0.78of margin currency when short, and -3.41of margin currency when long on USA100 CFDs. Commissions of $1 per lot per round turn.

HF Market USA100 Trading conditions

Account Type: Cent, Zero, Pro and Premium Account. All accounts feature Negative Balance Protection and support ZAR base currency.
Minimum Deposit: 1,900 ZAR of $100 on Pro account the other accounts have zero minimum deposit.
8 Asset Classes: Indices (including USA100), Forex, Metals, Energies, Stocks, Commodities, Bonds, ETFs.
Leverage: fixed at 1:200 for USA100 indices.
Available Platforms: MT4, MT5, HFM mobile app, Web and Desktop

Read more about HFM's NASDAQ trading conditions & open Account

3. XM Trading– Good NASDAQ Broker in South Africa with No Commissions

Pros:

FSCA regulated but not an approved ODP
ZAR base currency accounts are available
Zero commissions on US100, spreads only
Both Spot and Futures CFD Options when trading USA100 indices
Low minimum deposit

Cons:

Not approved as an ODP
No mini US100 contracts
High Leverage

XM Global Limited was founded in 2009 and operates as an intermediary in South Africa using the name- Key Way Financial (Pty) Ltd. and is regulated by the FSCA with FSP license No. 49976 authorizing it to trade in derivatives.

But do note XM is not an approved ODP.

Trading Fees for NASDAQ (Ticker Symbol: 'US100' Spot Cash & Futures)

Fees for Spot Cash US100 Indices: Zero commissions, spreads as low as 1.1 pips, long swap of-3 in margin currency, short swap of 0.77 in margin currency,

Fees for US100 Futures CFDs: Zero commissions, spreads as low as 3 pips, and zero swap fees because you are trading US100 CFD futures.

XM US100 Trading Conditions

Account Type: Micro, Standard, and Ultra-low Account options. All account types support ZAR base currency
Minimum Deposit: 95 ZAR on all XM account types.
8 Asset Classes: Indices (including US100) Forex, Crypto, Stock CFDs, Commodities, Precious Metals, Energies, Shares.
Leverage: fixed at 1:500 for trading US100 Spot and futures CFDs
Available Platforms: MT4/MT5 for Mobile, Web, and Desktop.

Read more about XM Trading's NASDAQ 100 trading conditions & open Account

4. IFX Brokers– FSCA Regulated Broker with NAS100

Pros:

FSCA regulated & approved as an ODP
ZAR base currency accounts are available for SA traders
Imax mini Contracts are cheaper and have more liquidity than the non-mini
Islamic account
High leverage for T100m.Imax trading

Cons:

Imax mini-indices not available on MT5 platforms
No T100m.Imax Futures CFDs
No web platform
High commissions on VIP account which features Raw spreads

IFX Brokers Holdings (Pty) Ltd was founded in 2018 and licensed by FSCA with FSP No. 48021

Product approved by FSCA is derivatives instruments. Also, the are an approved ODP.

Trading Fees for NASDAQ (Ticker Symbol: 'T100m.Imax' mini Spot Cash)

Spreads: On standard account spread is 1.3pips, on premium account spread is from 1pip, VIP account spread is from 0.5 pips, Islamic account spread is from 1.3 pips, and cent account spread is from 1.6 pips.

Commissions: $6 commission on VIP account while the other accounts have zero commission

IFX T100m.Imax Trading Conditions

Account Types: Standard, Premium, VIP (gives you access to raw spreads), Islamic and Cent accounts. All account types support ZAR base currency
Minimum Deposit: Standard, Islamic, & Cent accounts have a 190 ZAR or $10 minimum deposit. VIP account has 19,000 ZAR or $1,000; and Premium account has 4,750 ZAR or $250 minimum deposit.
4 Asset Classes: Indices (including T100m.Imax mini indices), Forex, Commodities, Crypto. Note that T100m.Imax minicontracts mean they are cheaper than the standard non-mini, have better liquidity, and are less volatile than the non-mini.
Leverage: fixed at 1:500 on T100m.Imax mini
Available Platforms: MT4, MT5, Desktop, and Mobile. (No web platform)

Read more about IFX Brokers's NASDAQ 100 trading conditions & open Account

5. Tickmill– ECN Type Broker with NASDAQ CFD Instrument

Pros:

ZAR base currency account
Islamic account (swap free)
FSCA regulated forex broker

Cons:

Not ODP approved
No mini contracts
No futures CFDs on USTEC
Low leverage on USTEC indices trading
High minimum deposit amount
High commissions

Tickmill Group was founded in 2014. It is registered with FSCA in South Africa as Tickmill South Africa (Pty) Ltd with FSP no. 49464.

Products approved by FSCA are shares, forex investment, and derivatives instruments.  But they are not approved as an ODP.

Trading Fees for NASDAQ (ticker Symbol: 'USTEC' Spot cash)

Typical spread is 1.93 pips, long swap is -2.5 in margin currency, and short swap is 1.23 in margin currency for USTEC spot cash indices.

Commissions of 2 per side per 100,000 traded on Pro account, 1 per side per 100,000 traded on VIP account, and Zero commission on Classic account.

TickMill Trading Conditions

Account Types: Classic, Pro, Islamic and VIP accounts. All account types support ZAR base currency
Minimum Deposit: 1,900 ZAR or $100 for Classic & Pro accounts, and 950,000 ZAR or $50,000 'minimum balance' on VIP accounts.
Asset Classes: Indices (including USTEC), Forex, Commodities, Bonds, Crypto, Stocks.
Leverage: 1:100 for USTEC Spot Cash
Available Platforms: MT4, MT5, TickMill mobile app, Web, and Desktop platforms.

Read more about Tickmill's NASDAQ 100 trading conditions & open Account

6. FXTM– NASDAQ Broker with MetaTrader

Pros:

FSCA regulation
Mini contracts on NQ100-m are available and they cheaper & have higher liquidity
High leverage for NQ100-m indices trading
7 swap free days when trading NQ100-m indices
ZAR base currency accounts
A relatively low minimum deposit fee

Cons:

Not approved as an ODP by FSCA
High Commission
No NQ100-m mini Futures CFDs
High swap fees on NQ100-m Spot Cash mini

ForexTime Limited was established in 2011. It is regulated in South Africa by FSCA with FSP number 46614.

Products approved by the FSCA are Shares, Money Market Instruments, Bonds, and derivative instruments.

But FXTM is not an approved ODP.

Trading Fees for NASDAQ (Ticker: NQ100-m Spot Cash)

Spread: Typical spread for NQ100-m is 1 pip on the Advantage account, 2.3 pips on the Advantage Plus account,

Swap: There are 7 swap free days after which 12.0 Swap for short position, and -24.8 swap for long position (in margin currency) will apply

Commission of $0.4 to $2 on Advantage account only.

FXTM Trading Conditions

Account Type: Micro, Advantage and Advantage Plus accounts. All account types support ZAR base currency
Minimum Deposit: $10 or 190 ZAR on Micro account, $500 or 9,500 ZAR on Advantage and Advantage Plus accounts.
5 Asset Classes: Indices (including NQ100-m Spot Cash mini NASDAQ index), Forex, Metals & Commodities, Stocks, and Stock CFDs
Max Leverage: 1:400 when trading NQ100-m Spot Cash mini
Available Platforms: MT4 & MT5 for Mobile, Web, & Desktop

Read more about FXTM's NAS100 CFD trading conditions & open Account

7. FxPro– Good Broker with NAS100 on cTrader

Pros:

FSCA regulated forex broker
cTrader Platform
ZAR base currency accounts

Cons:

Not an approved ODP for derivatives
High Spreads on USNDAQ100
No mini contracts
High minimum deposit
High Leverage

FxPro Financial Services was founded in 2006. It is licenced by FSCA in South with registration number 45052.

Products approved by FSCA are Shares, and Derivative instruments. They are not an approved ODP.

Trading Fees for NASDAQ (Ticker Symbol: 'USNDAQ100' Spot& Futures)

Swap long is -2.816 points, and swap short is 0.9411 points

Average Spread for USNDAQ100 is 139.16 on MT4, 153.88 on MT5, and 110.11 on C-Trader

Commission is $35 per million USD traded on Raw and Elite accounts only. Other accounts have zero commission.

FxPro Trading Conditions

Account Type: Standard, Pro, raw, and Elite Account options. All account types support ZAR base currency
Minimum Deposit: Standard account: $100 or 1,900 ZAR, Pro account: $1000 or 19,000 ZAR, Raw account: $1000 or 19,000 ZAR, Elite account: $30k or 570,900 ZAR in two months
6 Asset Classes: Indices(including USNDAQ100), Forex, Futures, stocks, Metals, and Energies.
Leverage: fixed at 1:500 for USNDAQ100
Available Platforms: MT4, MT5, C-Trader, Mobile, Web, and Desktop

Read more about FxPro NAS100 CFD trading conditions & open Account

#8. AvaTrade– NAS100 Broker with Fixed Spread

Pros:

FSCA regulated
Low spreads on US_TECH100
Zero commissions
ZAR base currency accounts

Cons:

Not ODP approved
No mini US-TECH100 contracts
Low leverage for US_TECH100 indices trading

Ava Trade Market Ltd was founded in 2006. It is registered by FSCA as Ava Capital Markets (Pty) in South Africa with licence number 45984.

Products approved by FSCA are derivative instruments, and forex investment. But AvaTrade is not an approved ODP.

Trading Fees for NASDAQ (Ticker Symbol: 'US_TECH100' Spot Cash)

Spread on US-TECH100 is 1.00 over market

Overnight Swap Interest is -0.00259% for Buy, and 0.0006% for Sell of US-TECH100 spot cash CFDs.

AvaTrade Trading Conditions

Account Types: Standard, Retail, Islamic and Professional Accounts. All account types support ZAR base currency
Minimum Deposit: 1,900 ZAR or $100
Related Indices Instruments: Indices (including US_TECH 100), Stocks, Forex, Crypto, Bonds & Treasuries, ETFs, and Commodities.
Leverage: 1:200 for US_TECH100
Available Platforms: MT4 &MT5, for Mobile, Web, and Desktop.

Read more about AvaTrade USTech CFD trading conditions & open Account

How to Trade NASDAQ in South Africa?

When you trade NASDAQ via CFDs, you don't own the underlying stocks, as you are only speculating on the price movement I.e., whether NASDAQ 100 would go up or down.

If your speculation goes in your direction, you will profit from the price differences. If the price movement goes against your speculation, you will lose your capital.

You can choose to trade via a CFD broker that offers trading on NASDAQ, and the broker will charge you a commission or spreads and holding costs.

Traders in South Africa can trade NASDAQ as a CFD instrument via a Regulated Forex & CFD broker like Exness broker, which we will use in the following example.

Here are the steps that traders need to follow:

Step1: Choose a Preferred Account

Your purpose of trading and the level of your skill should determine your preferred account.

Some of the account options on Exness Limited include Standard, Zero, Raw Spread and Pro Accounts. The Pro account has the lowest overall fees for NASDAQ trading.

Step 2: Fund Your Account

Most brokers offer several funding options, such as wire transfers, credit/debit cards, electronic payment methods. But you should prefer a broker that offers local bank transfer in ZAR.

You should be aware that each broker has a different minimum deposit amount. For instance, Exness has a minimum deposit amount of 190 ZAR while HF Markets set a minimum deposit amount of 1,900 ZAR.

Step 3: Choose Your Preferred NASDAQ Trading Instrument

The NASDAQ index also has different ticker symbols depending on the broker. It could be referred to as USTECH, USTECH100, NQ100, US100, USNDAQ100 or NAS100.

For instance, Exness refers to NASDAQ as 'USTEC-m' where the 'm' represents a mini contract; while HF Market refers to NASDAQ as 'USA100'.

The following instruments can be used to trade the NASDAQ 100

Instrument #1- 'NASDAQ Spot Cash CFDs': A contract for Difference (CFD) means you are only speculating on the point movement of the NASDAQ index and not owning the stock.

Spot cash CFDs enable you speculate at the present price, and you get tighter spreads, but you also pay overnight swaps. This makes spot cash NASDAQ CFDS suitable for intraday traders.

Instrument #2- 'NASDAQ Futures CFDs':

Here you trade CFDs on actual NASDAQ futures contracts (which is a derivative in itself).You don't pay overnight swaps for futures CFDs, but the spread is wider.

Instrument #3- 'Actual NASDAQ Futures':

These are contracts where you promise to buy or sell a certain quantity of NASAD indices at a certain price and at a given future date. Upon maturity you have to fulfil your contractual obligation and settle the difference in cash. However, futures contracts are less liquid than CFDs and require daily mark to market with high margin requirements.

Instrument #4- 'NASDAQ ETFs': With ETFs you're not trading on the price of the NASDAQ index.

Since ETFs trade daily on an exchange you are going to trade on the current price of the NASDAQ ETF.  In this guide we are not referring any ETF funds, as there are not many regulated ETFs that accept SA clients for NASDAQ.

Instrument #5- 'Actual NASDAQ Stock': here you buy the individual stocks that make up the NASDAQ 100 index.

But this can be costly and technical (as you will have to buy each stock that makes up NASDAQ 100 according to its weightage in NASDAQ 100 Index), so the cheaper option is to trade CFDs on the individual NASDAQ stock.

How to Choose the Best Broker for Trading NAS100 in South Africa?

a. Regulation of NASDAQ CFD Broker with FSCA

To trade the NASDAQ in South Africa, the first thing you will need is to open a brokerage account with an FSCA licensed derivative Financial Service Provider (FSP) or broker.

Get the brokers FSP number and head to the FSCA website to Search Authorized Financial Service Providers

For example, HF markets has FSP no. 46632 and when you conduct a search on the FSCA website the details come out.

Not every broker is authorized by the FSCA to offer CFDs so when you click on 'products approved', the authorized products come out.

For example, for HF Markets the product approved by the FSCA is 'derivative instrument' only so they can offer CFDs which are a form of derivative.

But according to the recent ODP licensing, the brokers need to be approved as Derivative Providers to offer CFDs. Only a few forex brokers like IFX Brokers, Scope Markets etc. have been 'approved' or licensed as ODPs.

b. Check Brokerage Costs of Trading NASDAQ

Checking the fees of a broker is a crucial step when choosing your preferred broker for NAS100 trading. Fees charged by brokers also include swap fees and margin fees.

Depending on your trading instrument of choice such as CFDs, stocks, Futures; the exact fees will vary.

However, it is important to know that when you trade with CFDs you pay an overnight swap fee and tighter spreads. When you trade CFDs on futures, you don't pay overnight swap fees, but you face wider spreads.

Also remember that if you hold a long position on CFDs when dividends are paid, you will be credited and if you hold a short position, you will be debited.

c. Available Platforms

When choosing a broker for NASDAQ trading, one other important factor to consider is the available platform options. You should check if the broker offers access to MT4 & MT5 platforms as well as C-Trader.

For example, we discovered that on IFX brokers you cannot trade NASDAQ on MT5.

The MT5 platform is the newer version of MetaTrader, with more features that suitable for expert traders and algorithmic trading due to MQL5.

MT4 is easier to use and suitable for forex trading as well as beginner traders but has only 9 chart time frames as compared to 21 for MT5.

MT4	MT5	C-Trader
2004 release date	2010 release date	2011 release date
Suitable for forex trading	Suitable for CFD trading	Suitable for scalpers
Beginner traders	Expert traders	Beginner traders
Old design	Modern design	Modern design
9 chart timeframes	21 chart timeframes	26 chart timeframes
No inbuilt economic calendar	Inbuilt economic calendar	No inbuilt economic calendar
Order entry is good	Advanced order entry	Advanced order entry
Modifiable via plugins	Not modification friendly	Not modification friendly

It is also important your broker has mobile, web, & desktop platform options so if one is unreachable, you can switch to the other. You can also login simultaneously to various platforms.

When a broker has various trading platform options, it gives can give you the flexibility to choose a platform that suits your needs and trading style.

Comparison of NASDAQ 100 Brokers in South Africa

Below is the detailed comparison of the trading conditions & features if NASDAQ brokers in South Africa that are in our list.

NAS100 Broker Name	FSCA Regulated	Min. Deposit (ZAR)	NASDAQ 100 fees	Platforms
Exness	Yes	R190	38.3 for standard, 10.4 on Raw spread, 23.9 on Pro	MT4, MT5, mobile app, web, & desktop
HF Markets	Yes	R1800 with Pro Account	2.1 pips for spot CFDs, and 3.13 for futures CFDs	MT4, MT5, mobile app, web, & desktop
XM Broker	Yes	R95	1.1 for spot cash, and 3.0 for futures US100 CFDs	MT4/MT5 for Mobile, Web, and Desktop.
IFX Brokers	Yes	R190	NA	MT4/MT5 for Mobile, and Desktop.
Tickmill	Yes	R1900	1.93 For all account types	MT4, MT5, TickMill mobile app, web, and desktop platforms.
FXTM	Yes	R190	1 pip on advantage, 2.3 pips on advantage plus	MT4 & MT5 for Mobile, Web, & Desktop
FxPro	Yes	R1900	139.16 on MT4, 153.88 on MT5, 110.11 on cTrader	MT4 & MT5, for Mobile, Web, and Desktop.
AvaTrade	Yes	R1900	1 over the market	MT4 & MT5, for Mobile, Web, and Desktop.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is NASDAQ 100 Index?

NASDAQ 100 is one of the world's largest and most popular equity indices. It contains stocks of big Tech corporations such as Google (Alphabet), Tesla, and Apple among others.

Traders who want to trade Big Tech stocks like FAANG, trade NASDAQ 100.

Note that NASDAQ could be interchangeably referred to as USTECH, USTech100, NQ100, US100, USNDAQ100 or NAS100.

Which is the Best South African Broker for NASDAQ?

Exness ZA (PTY) Limited also known as Exness is the overall best NASDAQ trading broker in South Africa. They are FSCA regulated, offer ZAR account base currency, offer NASDAQ mini contracts which are cheaper to buy for beginners. They also offer multiple trading platforms, have a 190 ZAR minimum deposit,

What is the Best Time to Trade Nasdaq in South Africa?

The best time to trade NASDAQ in South Africa is during the US session.

This is the session when US Indices are most active. The US session often witnessed high volatility, particularly during the first and the last hour of trading.

This period typically falls around 3:30 PM to 8:30 PM South Africa Standard Time (SAST). The market typically experiences the most activity, price movements, and trading volume during this period.

Can I Trade the NASDAQ Using Leverage?

Yes, CFD brokers offer leverage for trading the NASDAQ 100 CFD instrument.

All the listed brokers including Exness, HF Markets, and Avatrade offer different leverage with different account types. But it is important to use caution and manage risk when using leverage.

What Are Some Factors That Can Impact NASDAQ 100?

Changes in interest rates, equity risk premium, geopolitical risks, macroeconomic indicators, and company-specific news such as earning reports of companies with major weightage like Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Alphabet & Tesla.

You should watch out for any news that may affect your trade setup.

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