If you are a newbie entering the financial markets of South Africa and you want to start trading online, the first question that would naturally come to your mind is how safe is online trading in South Africa. Scary stories of virus attacks and fear-mongering about online hacking leave you uncomfortable. Consider for a moment that you want to trade forex in South Africa. Just type the words online forex trading in the legend of your search engine and hundreds of websites pop up peddling a quick course on online trading as a dream road to quick riches. The amount of information that is available is baffling and puts you in a quandary because you don’t know what the right information is. How could you ever miss the pictures of people standing on car tops or in front of a luxurious villa giving vivid accounts of how they became rich overnight? In such a scenario, your concerns on the safety of online trading are not totally unfounded.
Online trading in the ‘Rainbow Nation’
For online trading, South Africa can be seen as a real emerging market. With a financial services sector backed by a robust legal and regulatory framework, South Africa boasts financial institutions and intermediaries that provide the entire spectrum of financial services. The second largest economy in the continent after Nigeria, South Africa is home to a number of major multinational players in the financial services sector. South Africa’s competitive landscape is rapidly changing and the multinational financial companies are bringing along with them the global best practices of risk management and the efficiencies engendered by fintech, which make online trading in South Africa safe.
Choose the best
Online trading, also known as electronic trading, is a method of trading securities electronically. Anyone with a computer or mobile device and enough money to open an account can become an online trader. Online trading has been a successful feature of the financial markets for the past few decades. In fact, online trading is responsible for the democratization of the global financial market, and it has given an opportunity to small retail traders to participate in the financial markets and derive the same benefits as the institutional and high-net-worth investors. Online trading platforms are ubiquitous and with the proliferation of brokerages offering online services, traders can trade online in stocks, bonds, options, futures, and currencies using their laptops or mobile devices. Further, the traders enjoy the benefit of the speed and efficiency associated with online trading since execution and settling happen fast. South Africa is no different from any other country in this regard. Traders whose primary concern is safety could do well to stick to fundamentals and adopt some best practices. A major fundamental factor is the reputation of the service provider whose platform you are using. Stay away from fancy promises, check the track record and choose from among the leaders. Remember, reputation can only be built over time and choosing a leader would be the best way to ensure safe online trading.
How do you know which platform is the best?
All online platforms devote a portion of their website to explain the measures they employ to protect your transactions and the robust risk management practices they have put in place. Choose a platform that has an unflinching focus on the security of your transactions. Also, look at the range of services offered and the technological capabilities of the platform. A platform that allows you to trade in stocks, bonds, CFDs, forex, commodities, and futures would be a better choice over a platform that just offers stocks and futures.
Staff Writer