AvaTrade licence numbers

AvaTrade publishes eight licence numbers across eight entities, and they are all real. The one worth reading closely is South Africa. AvaTrade states that "Ava Capital Markets Pty is regulated by the South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA No.45984)". That number is genuine. It is also not the authorisation South African law requires for issuing contracts for difference as principal.

The numbers, as AvaTrade publishes them

Taken from AvaTrade's own regulation page, then checked against each regulator where a public register exists. Read 24 September 2026.

The South African number is the wrong kind of licence

South Africa runs two separate regimes, and brokers routinely quote the first while doing the business that needs the second.

An FSP licence under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act covers advice and intermediary services. Introducing clients, advising them, arranging deals. FSP 45984 is that kind of licence.

Issuing or writing a contract for difference as principal, which is what happens when the broker is the counterparty to your trade, requires a separate OTC Derivative Provider authorisation under the Financial Markets Act. It is a different register, a different application and a different set of obligations.

We read all 95 entries on the FSCA's OTC Derivative Providers register on 24 September 2026. No Ava entity appears on it.

For comparison, on the same register on the same day: IG Markets South Africa Limited is Approved, and Capital.com South Africa (Pty) Ltd is Approved. This is not a hurdle nobody clears. Two of the brokers we rate alongside AvaTrade have cleared it.

We are describing a licensing gap, not an allegation of fraud. AvaTrade is a substantial, genuinely regulated group with an EU supervisor in the Central Bank of Ireland. The point is narrower and it is the sort of thing this site exists to say: the number on the page does not authorise the product being sold.

What the law says about it

Two provisions carry penalties, and they differ. Under section 109 of the Financial Markets Act, issuing CFDs as principal without an ODP licence carries a fine of up to R10 million or five years. Under section 111(1) of the Financial Sector Regulation Act, acting as an unauthorised person carries up to R15 million or ten years, or both. Both are maximums available to a court on conviction, and no prosecution of any broker in our database is known to us.

The BVI entity is the one with no scheme

Ava Trade Markets Ltd holds SIBA/L/13/1049 from the BVI Financial Services Commission. A British Virgin Islands securities licence is a real licence. It carries no compensation scheme, no ombudsman a retail client can escalate to, and a capital regime well below the Irish or Australian one. If you are onboarded to the BVI entity rather than the Irish one, the brand is the same and the protection is not.

Which number applies to you

The entity you contract with is decided by where you live, and it is written into the client agreement rather than the marketing page. European clients are with AVA Trade EU Ltd, C53877, which brings the Irish Investor Compensation Scheme at 90% of the loss to a maximum of €20,000. Australian clients are with AFSL 406684. Everyone outside the licensed markets is likely to be with the BVI company.

Our guide on compensation schemes sets out why that €20,000 ceiling catches people out, and why "regulated in eight jurisdictions" is a claim about the group rather than a promise about your account.

Check it yourself

The FSCA's two registers are separate and both are public. Search the FSP register for 45984 and you will find the licence. Search the OTC Derivative Providers register for any Ava entity and you will not. Our guide shows the same check on any regulator's site.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

AvaTrade's own regulation page for all eight entities and their numbers, including the verbatim statement that "Ava Capital Markets Pty is regulated by the South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA No.45984)". Read 24 September 2026.

Financial Sector Conduct Authority OTC Derivative Providers register: all 95 entries read through the pagination control on 24 September 2026. No Ava entity appears. IG Markets South Africa Limited (South African Branch) and Capital.com South Africa (Pty) Ltd both appear with status Approved on the same reading.

Penalties: Financial Markets Act section 109 and Financial Sector Regulation Act section 111(1), as summarised by DLA Piper in "The fate of unlicensed trading platforms". Both are maximums available to a court on conviction.