Best Brokers With ZAR Accounts 2026
Dig into our top brokers offering ZAR accounts, based on thorough tests, reducing conversion fees and optimizing the experience for traders in South Africa.
Written ByJames Barra
Fact Checked ByTobias Robinson
Brokers With:
South African Rand (ZAR)
Showing 5 of 9 matching brokers
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1Crypto.com is a major name in cryptocurrency trading, designed to speed up the global shift to DeFi technologies. The exchange provides token lending, prepaid cards, NFTs, and more. Founded in Germany in 2016, it serves 150 million users.
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2Established in 2008, Exness is a respected broker known for offering over 40 account currencies, a wide choice of CFD instruments, and an intuitive web platform with features like currency converters and trading calculators.
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3Trade Nation is a leading foreign exchange and contract for difference broker regulated in various areas including the UK and Australia. This company provides affordable fixed and variable spreads on over 1000 assets and strong trading platforms and educational resources. Traders could use the Signal Centre for trading ideas.
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4BlackBull, based in New Zealand, is a CFD broker offering trading on over 26,000 instruments. After a 2023 rebrand, it now features a modern design with advanced trading tools and execution speeds averaging 20ms.
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5Plus500, founded in 2008 and based in Israel, is a leading brokerage with more than 25 million registered traders across 50+ countries. The company specializes in CFD trading, provides a user-friendly platform and mobile app, and offers competitive spreads. It does not impose commission, deposit, or withdrawal fees. Plus500 holds the trust of its traders by being licensed by well-known regulators such as FCA, ASIC, and CySEC.
Compare Brokers With ZAR Accounts
| Broker |  |
Payment Methods |
|---|---|---|
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Bitcoin Payments, Credit Card, Debit Card, Ethereum Payments, Visa, Wire Transfer | |
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Bitcoin Payments, JCB Card, Mastercard, Neteller, Perfect Money, Skrill, Sticpay, Visa, WebMoney, Wire Transfer | |
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Credit Card, Debit Card, Mastercard, PayPal, Skrill, Visa, Wire Transfer | |
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Airtm, Bitcoin Payments, Boleto, Credit Card, Debit Card, Ethereum Payments, FasaPay, Mastercard, Neteller, Skrill, UnionPay, Visa, Wire Transfer | |
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Apple Pay, Credit Card, Debit Card, Mastercard, PayNow, PayPal, Skrill, Trustly, Visa, Wire Transfer | |
| Broker | |
Payment Methods |
Broker Details Comparison
| Broker | Demo Account |
Minimum Deposit |
Minimum Trade |
Leverage |
Assets |
Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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✓ | Varies by payment method | $1 | ✗ | Crypto, Stocks, ETFs, Prediction Markets and Strike Options (US only) | Own |
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✓ | Varies based on the payment system | 0.01 Lots | 1:Unlimited | CFDs on Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, Crypto | Exness Trade App, Exness Terminal, MT4, MT5, TradingCentral |
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✓ | $0 | 0.1 Lots | 1:500 (entity dependent) | Forex, CFDs, Indices, Shares, Commodities, Futures, Bonds, Spread Betting, Cryptos (Bahamas Entity Only) | MT4 |
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✓ | $0 | 0.01 Lots | 1:500 | CFDs, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, Futures, Crypto | BlackBull Invest, BlackBull CopyTrader, MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView, AutoChartist |
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✓ | $100 | Variable | ✓ | CFDs on Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, ETFs, Options, Crypto | WebTrader, App |
| Broker | Demo Account |
Minimum Deposit |
Minimum Trade |
Leverage |
Assets |
Platforms |
Safety Comparison
Compare how safe the Best Brokers With ZAR Accounts 2026 are.
| Broker | Trust Rating |
Guaranteed Stop Loss |
Negative Balance Protection |
Segregated Accounts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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✗ | ✗ | ✓ | |
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✗ | ✓ | ✓ | |
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✗ | ✓ | ✓ | |
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✗ | ✓ | ✓ | |
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✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Broker | Trust Rating |
Guaranteed Stop Loss |
Negative Balance Protection |
Segregated Accounts |
Mobile Trading Comparison
Compare the mobile trading features of the Best Brokers With ZAR Accounts 2026.
| Broker | Mobile Apps |
iOS Rating |
Android Rating |
Smart Watch App |
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iOS & Android | ✗ | ||
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iOS & Android | ✗ | ||
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iOS & Android | ✗ | ||
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iOS & Android | ✗ | ||
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iOS, Android & Windows | ✗ | ||
| Broker | Mobile Apps |
iOS Rating |
Android Rating |
Smart Watch App |
Comparison for Beginners
Compare how suitable the Best Brokers With ZAR Accounts 2026 are for beginners.
| Broker | Demo Account |
Minimum Deposit |
Minimum Trade |
Education Rating |
Support Rating |
Fractional Shares |
Demo Competitions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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✓ | Varies by payment method | $1 | ✗ | ✗ | ||
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✓ | Varies based on the payment system | 0.01 Lots | ✗ | ✗ | ||
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✓ | $0 | 0.1 Lots | ✗ | ✗ | ||
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✓ | $0 | 0.01 Lots | ✗ | ✗ | ||
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✓ | $100 | Variable | ✗ | ✗ | ||
| Broker | Demo Account |
Minimum Deposit |
Minimum Trade |
Education Rating |
Support Rating |
Fractional Shares |
Demo Competitions |
Comparison for Advanced Traders
Compare how suitable the Best Brokers With ZAR Accounts 2026 are for advanced or professional traders.
| Broker | Automated Trading |
VPS |
API |
AI |
Pro Account |
Leverage |
Low Latency |
Extended Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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DCA Auto-Staking | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
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Expert Advisors (EAs) on MetaTrader | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | 1:Unlimited | ✓ | ✗ |
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Expert Advisors (EAs) on MetaTrader | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | 1:500 (entity dependent) | ✗ | ✗ |
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Expert Advisors (EAs) on MetaTrader, cTrader Automate | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | 1:500 | ✓ | ✗ |
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✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Broker | Automated Trading |
VPS |
API |
AI |
Pro Account |
Leverage |
Low Latency |
Extended Hours |
Accounts Comparison
Compare the trading accounts offered by Best Brokers With ZAR Accounts 2026.
| Broker | Demo Account |
Interest on Cash |
Islamic Account |
Joint Account |
Managed Account |
PAMM |
MAM |
LAMM |
Pro Account |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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✓ | USD: 5% | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
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✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
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✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
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✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
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✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Broker | Demo Account |
Interest on Cash |
Islamic Account |
Joint Account |
Managed Account |
PAMM |
MAM |
LAMM |
Pro Account |
Detailed Rating Comparison
Compare how we rated the Best Brokers With ZAR Accounts 2026 in key areas.
| Broker | Trust |
Platforms |
Assets |
Mobile |
Fees |
Accounts |
Research |
Education |
Support |
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| Broker | Trust |
Platforms |
Assets |
Mobile |
Fees |
Accounts |
Research |
Education |
Support |
Fee and Cost Comparison
Compare the cost of trading with the Best Brokers With ZAR Accounts 2026.
| Broker | Cost Rating |
Fixed Spreads |
Inactivity Fee |
CFD Stocks Spread |
EUR/USD Spread |
Crypto Spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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✗ | $5 | ✗ | ✗ | 0.075% (spot), 0.034% (derivatives) | |
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✗ | $0 | 0.5 (Apple Inc.) | 0.0 | Floating | |
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✓ | $0 | Variable | Variable | Fixed | |
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✗ | $0 | Variable | 0.16 | 245 | |
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✗ | $10 | Dynamic | Dynamic | Variable | |
| Broker | Cost Rating |
Fixed Spreads |
Inactivity Fee |
CFD Stocks Spread |
EUR/USD Spread |
Crypto Spread |
Broker Popularity
See how popular the Best Brokers With ZAR Accounts [year] are in terms of number of clients.
| Broker | Popularity |
|---|---|
| Crypto.com |
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| Plus500 |
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| Exness |
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Why Trade With Crypto.com?
Crypto.com is ideal for new crypto traders looking to buy, sell, and trade over 400 digital tokens. Its strike options and prediction markets cover financial, economic, election, sport, and cultural events. As a CFTC-regulated platform, it provides a secure choice for US traders interested in binary-style contracts using an easy-to-use app.
Pros
- Crypto.com uses a cold wallet system with multi-signature technology and geographic distribution to improve security. This method ensures strong protection of user assets with secure offline storage.
- The Crypto.com Exchange platform provides advanced bots like Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA), Time-Weighted Average Price (TWAP), and Grid Trading bots. Traders can automate strategies, including leveraged perpetual trades, reducing manual work and slippage.
- The platform offers unified tracking for cryptocurrencies, stocks, ETFs, and prediction markets within one interface, making multi-asset management simpler and providing combined insights.
Cons
- Customer support mainly uses chatbots and email, with limited reliable phone support from our testing. This may cause delays in solving urgent issues like account access or transaction problems, which can be frustrating for crypto traders needing quick help.
- Fees apply to crypto and fiat withdrawals, which can be significant for active traders making smaller transfers. The minimum withdrawal limits are also high, limiting flexibility in managing smaller portfolios or immediate liquidity needs.
- The app has high bid-ask spreads on many coins, which can be expensive for traders using market orders. Wide spreads mean the buying price is significantly higher than the selling price, reducing profits, especially in low-volume trades.
Why Trade With Exness?
Exness is an excellent choice for active forex traders aiming to reduce costs after lowering spreads, enhancing execution speeds, and offering trading on over 100 currency pairs with more than 40 account currencies.
Pros
- Wide variety of account types for all experience levels, including Cent, Pro, and the new Raw Spread, ideal for traders.
- Execution speeds now average under 25ms, providing ideal conditions for short-term traders.
- Fast and reliable 24/7 multilingual customer support through phone, email, and live chat, validated by practical tests.
Cons
- Besides a mediocre blog, educational resources are lacking, especially compared to category leaders like IG, which offer a more comprehensive trading journey for new traders.
- Exness has increased its variety of CFDs and introduced a copy trading feature, but it still lacks real assets like ETFs, cryptocurrencies, or bonds.
- MetaTrader 4 and 5 are supported, but TradingView and cTrader are not available yet, despite increasing demand from traders and their integration with other platforms like Pepperstone.
Why Trade With Trade Nation?
Trade Nation is a suitable platform for new traders, offering diverse financial markets in a user-friendly environment. It has no minimum deposit requirement, provides free funding options, and robust educational resources.
Pros
- Beginners can start trading with a small initial deposit.
- Trade Nation, a widely recognized and regulated broker, formerly functioned as Core Spreads.
- The brand offers a variety of trading platforms and apps, like MT4, suitable for skilled traders.
Cons
- Lower legal safeguards with overseas businesses.
Go to Trade Nation
67.3% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. 84% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
Why Trade With BlackBull?
After upgrading its trading infrastructure with Equinix servers in New York, London, and Tokyo to reduce latency for traders, BlackBull is a top choice for trading stock CFDs with ECN pricing.
Pros
- BlackBull's updated ECN Prime account is now better suited for new traders. It offers improved spreads averaging 0.16 on EUR/USD and has removed the previous $2,000 minimum deposit, making it more accessible with a $0 deposit.
- BlackBull offers three ECN-powered accounts—Standard, Prime, and Institutional—catering to beginners, experienced traders, and professionals with flexibility for trading needs and capital requirements.
- BlackBulls’s research is excellent, particularly the daily ‘Trading Opportunities’ articles, which make complex market movements easy to understand and help traders capitalize on new trends.
Cons
- Despite having over 26,000 assets, including new Asia Pacific indices, the selection primarily consists of stocks, with an average range of currency pairs and indices.
- The Education Hub now includes webinars and tutorials, but the courses still need to better explain the broader economic factors that affect prices.
- BlackBull doesn't have its own platform and uses MetaTrader, cTrader, and TradingView. Though these are excellent, other brokers' platforms, like eToro’s, often offer unique features for beginner traders.
Why Trade With Plus500?
Plus500 provides a streamlined experience for traders through a modern and dynamic CFD trading platform. However, its research tools are limited, it charges higher fees compared to some brokers, and its educational resources can be improved.
Pros
- The broker provides low-commission trading across various markets, reducing extra fees and attracting experienced traders.
- The customer support team reliably offers 24/7 assistance through email, live chat, and WhatsApp.
- Plus500 recently expanded its trading products. This includes offering VIX options with increased volatility and extended trading hours for 7 stock CFDs.
Cons
- Algorithmic trading and scalping are not permitted, potentially discouraging some traders.
- The absence of MetaTrader or cTrader charting tools in Plus500 might deter experienced traders who value familiarity.
- Compared to competitors like IG, Plus500's research and analysis tools are somewhat limited.
Go to Plus500
CFD Service. Your capital is at risk79% of retail CFD accounts lose money.
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Methodology
To identify the best brokers offering ZAR-denominated accounts, we analyzed our extensive database of hundreds of online brokers worldwide.
We focused on platforms that allow clients to deposit, withdraw, and trade in South African Rand (ZAR).
Rankings were then based on an evaluation of over 200 factors, including fees, ease of use, platform features, market access, and regulatory compliance. Feedback from our hands-on testers further informed our ratings.
What Is a ZAR Account?
A ZAR account is a trading account where all transactions, profits, and losses are recorded in South African Rand.
These are the best trading accounts for South African residents or traders whose financial operations revolve around ZAR.
By eliminating the need to convert currencies, ZAR accounts streamline the trading process for those focused on local markets or ZAR-denominated assets.
Benefits of a ZAR account:
- Eliminates Currency Conversion Costs: A ZAR account can spare traders the expenses of converting deposits or withdrawals into foreign currencies like USD or EUR, which is especially useful when funding accounts or repatriating profits.
- Localized Transactions: South African traders can often use familiar payment methods like debit cards, or services such as Ozow and PayFast for seamless deposits and withdrawals in ZAR.
- Hedging Against Currency Volatility: For traders whose income, expenses, or investments are denominated in ZAR, this account reduces exposure to the risks associated with fluctuating exchange rates.
- Access to Local Markets: In our experience, ZAR accounts often provide a direct path to trade on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) or invest in South African ETFs or local commodities.
- Regulatory Alignment: Some brokers offering ZAR accounts are also regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), ensuring greater security and trust for South African traders.
How Do I Open a ZAR Account?
Opening a ZAR trading account is straightforward and typically follows these steps:
- Select a Broker: Opt for a brokerage that supports ZAR as a base currency and is regulated by the FSCA for added security if you’re in South Africa. For South African traders looking to diversify into global markets while maintaining a ZAR-denominated account, it’s important to choose brokers that offer competitive forex spreads for ZAR pairs (e.g., USD/ZAR or EUR/ZAR) and low fees for cross-border transactions.
- Register an Account: Complete the broker’s registration process, which requires identification (such as a South African ID or passport) and proof of residence (like a utility bill or bank statement).
- Select ZAR as Your Base Currency: During the account setup, choose ZAR as the primary currency for transactions and balances.
- Fund Your Account: Deposit funds in ZAR using local payment methods such as bank transfers, mobile payments, or online payment gateways.
- Start Trading: Once your account is funded, you can trade ZAR-denominated assets or explore global markets with fewer conversion-related costs.
To show you how easy it is, below is a ZAR trading account I opened at BlackBull in five minutes.
Configuring a ZAR trading account at BlackBull Markets
Should I Use a ZAR Trading Account?
A ZAR trading account is ideal if any of the following applies to you:
- You Live in South Africa: Trading in ZAR simplifies your financial operations, from deposits and withdrawals to tax reporting, aligning seamlessly with your local currency.
- You Trade ZAR-Denominated Assets: If you focus on JSE-listed stocks, South African government bonds, or ZAR-based ETFs, a ZAR account could help avoid conversion fees and delays.
- You Want to Avoid Currency Volatility: If your income or expenses are tied to ZAR, a ZAR account protects you from unfavorable exchange rate fluctuations.
- You Operate Within South Africa’s Economy: A ZAR account is well-suited for those investing locally or conducting business within South Africa’s borders.
What Are the Limitations of a ZAR Account?
- Exposure to ZAR-Related Risks: The South African Rand is a volatile currency, particularly during periods of political or economic instability. This can affect the value of holdings and trades when dealing internationally.
- Restricted Global Availability: ZAR accounts are primarily offered by brokers targeting South African clients. This limited availability may reduce options for traders seeking advanced platforms or niche markets.
- Conversion Costs for Foreign Trades: While ZAR accounts avoid local currency conversion fees, trading global assets priced in USD, EUR, or other currencies may still incur exchange rate fees.
- Local Economic Risks: A ZAR account ties your trading more closely to South Africa’s economic environment, which may be impacted by factors such as inflation, commodity prices, or credit rating downgrades.