Pepperstone vs. AvaTrade
Pepperstone or AvaTrade? Which between the two has the best features beneficial to most traders?

Intro

Pepperstone or AvaTrade, which is better? Now, this is a question a lot of online traders are asking. The only way to find out is to thoroughly compare the two by highlighting its highpoints and drawbacks. Remember that as a trader you need to find the best online brokerage that fits your trading strategy and methods. Who knows maybe one of these two: Pepperstone or AvaTrade will be the trading platform that will tick all your trading requirements. Let’s find out.

  Pepperstone AvaTrade
Minimum Deposit $1 $100
Platforms MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 4 Mac, MetaTrader 5, WebTrader, iPhone, Android, iPad/Tablet, cTader, cTrader WebTrader, cTrader cAlgo, cTrader Mobile WebTrader, MT4, MT5, AvaOptions, AvaTradeGO, Avasocial, Duplitrade
Tradable Assets 1200+ 1000+
Payment Methods Credit Card, Debit Card, POLi, Bank Transfer, BPay, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, UnionPay Credit Card, Debit Card, Neteller, Skrill, WebMoney, Wire Transfer, Other Payment Methods
Withdrawal Processing Time 1 to 2 business days 1 to 7 business days
Spreads As low as 0 pip As low as 0.9 pip
Customer Support Phone, Email, Live Chat Phone, Email, Live Chat
Education Learn to Trade, Trading Guides, Webinars Videos, Trading for Beginners, Trading Rules, Technical Analysis Indicators

Demo Account

Both online trading platforms comes with a demo account available for its users. AvaTrade’s demo account does expire after 3 weeks from first using it while Pepperstone’s practice account expiration is at 30 days.

Make sure to maximize the use of the demo feature before it expires depending on which trading platform you choose.

AvaTrade demo account
AvaTrade demo account

Here’s the thing: A demo account is a vital component in the success path of an online trader. By using this feature, you will have the opportunity of testing the waters of the market without the risk of losing real money.

With a demo, users can trade in real-time market situations using virtual money. In short, this feature becomes a “practice account” wherein traders can learn the ropes of online trading before they proceed with trading using real money.

Pepperstone demo account
Pepperstone demo account

So yes, practice to your heart and mind’s content until you reach a point when you feel more confident and knowledgeable about the ins and outs of online trading. As they say, “practice makes perfect”, but with the demo account feature, “practice makes profit”.

Accounts

Pepperstone offers user accounts of varying types as follows:

Just a reminder: To learn more about each of these account types, please read our comprehensive Pepperstone review.

Pepperstone account options during registration
Pepperstone account options during registration

Unlike Pepperstone, AvaTrade only offers one kind of account classification or levels for its users. It has no exclusive membership type of accounts either unlike other trading platforms like eToro.

Take note: Both Pepperstone and AvaTrade provides users the option to sign up for an Islamic Account instead. This account is managed according to the guidelines of the Islamic Sharia Law.

Regulation

Both AvaTrade and Pepperstone are strictly regulated by leading global regulating boards and financial authorities that includes the FSB, ASIC, CBol and ESMA for AvaTrade and the FCA, ASIC, SCB, DFSA, CMA and BaFin for Pepperstone.

Other than these regulating bodies, AvaTrade also has 6 top-tier financial licenses and 2 regular licenses while Pepperstone has 7 financial licenses — 4 of which are top-tier.

Platforms

When it comes to platform availability, both trading platforms brings a high mark.

AvaTrade is available on the following platforms:

  1. AvaSocial
  2. Web trading
  3. AvaTradeGO
  4. MetaTrader 4
  5. MetaTrader 5
  6. AvaOptions
  7. Automated Trading
  8. Mac Trading
AvaTrade WebTrader platform
AvaTrade WebTrader platform

Pepperstone's platforms availability are as follows:

Pepperstone platforms
Pepperstone platforms

Assets

AvaTrade's tradeable financial assets includes CFDs on stocks, commodities, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, bonds, currencies and options.

It has a total tradeable stock of over 600, 55 forex pairs, almost 30 Commodities, more than 30 Indices, 59 ETFs, 17 cryptocurrencies and over 40 options.

List of assets on the AvaTrade platform
List of assets on the AvaTrade platform

Pepperstone's assets available for trading includes CFDs on stocks, ETFs, indices, currencies, cryptocurrencies and commodities.

It has over 1,300 stocks, 60 forex pairs, 25 indices, 31 commodities, 20 cryptocurrencies and more than 100 ETFs.

Pepperstone assets
Pepperstone assets

Deposit

Both trading platforms’ deposit requirement are a little hefty with AvaTrade requiring a $100 deposit as compared to Pepperstone’s $200 deposit minimum. However, the upside to its substantial initial funding condition, is that it instantly gives traders a bigger fund to invest and immediately make a profit on the market — if traded wisely.

AvaTrade deposit page
AvaTrade deposit page

Payment methods accepted when making a deposit for AvaTrade are credit cards, debit cards, e-payment sites and via Wire transfer.

Pepperstone deposit page
Pepperstone deposit page

For Pepperstone, the accepted methods are credit and debit cards, POLi bank transfer, PayPal, Skrill, UnionPay, Neteller, Bpay and traditional Bank transfer.

Withdrawals

AvaTrade and Pepperstone both processes withdrawals at the same time window of 1-2 business days.

A reason to cheer: Both trading platforms does not charge any fees on withdrawal transactions.

Customer Service

AvaTrade and Pepperstone also cancels each other by having the same customer support channels of: phone support, email support and live chat.

AvaTrade chatbot
AvaTrade chatbot

It's good to know that both brokers offer all these most common modes of communication. Quality-wise, however, AvaTrade managed to score higher than it's competition but the difference is not that huge.

Pepperstone chatbot
Pepperstone chatbot

Summary

There's a reason why AvaTrade got the Best in Class rating for trading beginners in 2022. This is due to the trading platform's strength in offering seamless account management, intuitive platform user experience and educational content with detailed analysis indicators to its users. Pepperstone meanwhile, is known for its increasing range of tradeable assets and markets, informative research materials and solid support for copy trading platforms. Overall, as according to user reviews and expert analysis of both trading platforms, AvaTrade gains a slight edge over Pepperstone because of its more advanced research and trading tools and a more enriching user interface experience.