As summed up in the title, I wanna open an Oanda demo account for playing around and learning.
Now I don’t wanna necessarily give them my real data, so is it okay to use a fake name and mobile number or is there anyhting important that could come to me that way (Keep in mind, a demo acount, not a real one)
There’s no need to do so, with Oanda: they don’t send spam and won’t disclose your email address to anyone else.
Brokers are really providing demo account facilities in exchange for your contact details, in the hope that their demo facilities will gradually/eventually turn you into a customer. I see that in the case of some unpleasant brokerages, this might be an issue, but it really shouldn’t be, with Oanda.
Still, is it necessary? I am generally very reluctant to give out my contact info, no matter how well it is dealt with.
My guess is that it is. It’s [I]years[/I] since I read all of Oanda’s terms of service with a fine-toothed comb, and they’ve changed since then anyway … but my guess is that you’re required to provide your real name, to open even a demo account.
You’ll need to in future, to trade with real money anyway (and not only because of their terms of service), and given that you should do your demo trading and real-money trading in the same place anyway, for all the obvious reasons, I suggest there’s no additional harm/risk in doing so when you start a demo account.
I agreed with what Lexys say. I’m with oanda for 4 yrs. 3 year demo n 1 yrs real account. So far so gd. Their service was awesome in sg. There no need for u to put fake accounts name or particular . In the end when u open real account they will telly with your name cos need real particular to input n withdrawal of money.
I never doubted that when I trade with real money the need my name. But okay, from the looks of it I’ll be genuine from the beginning ^^
Hello again! This is somewhat related, so I’ll just put it here:
I signed up to Oanda yesterday (around 6o’clock GMT I think).
Now I just saw I was called by an unknown phone number, which I googled. It’s the Oanda phone number (think it’s customer service).
I won’t be able to call back ATM, so I’ll just ask: is there any normal reason (for example a standardised system to check if my phone number is real, or is it something specific and should I therefore call back? It isn’t a specific number, so I’ll probably just into the normal customer service line. (That’s why I want to know if I even should call back)
I can only speak for myself, but I can tell you that I don’t actually give out true personal information when I am opening a [B]demo[/B] account. I don’t feel comfortable doing it because you never know when and how your information will be passed along to people who will use it to advertise things to you, at the very least. Maybe it’s unjustified and I am paranoid, who knows.
Why would anyone even worry about this? Mlawson71, I am not sure what personal information is going to be passed to anyone? I could obviously be wrong here, but the long requirement often is Name, Email, and Phone and perhaps few other minor things, so what is to lose on that? Although, I feel extremely lazy to put all real info, so often type random details but that is more out of laziness than fear or being uncomfortable.
Brokers would gladly go without your personal data on live accounts too if not strict regulator rules and accounting. But on demo it is not necessary to share your credentials unless you are not going to open there live account. Although different email and new account will do the trick then.
I’d like for someone to answer this. 'Caus I heard they’ll just keep calling at times where I can’t pick up and I still don’t know if calling back is of any use.
I think that it depends on the broker. It is ok to put your real details if you think you can trust the broker (if it’s reputable, serious, without any aggressive marketing and sales policy). If you do not want to provide your phone number, that is ok, but it’s important to sign up with an e-mail that you have access all the time because if something happens the customer service needs to reach you. Besides most brokers do not require that much of personal info rather than name, e-mail and phone.
You’d be surprised how that sort of information is bought by and sold to people who use it for advertising to you. It happens.
And even if it’s not passed along, I can tell you that when I was a total newbie and I was trying all sorts of brokers I used to leave real personal details when I was signing up for demo accounts. Cue some of these brokers starting to call me to advertise their services and to try and convince me to open a live account with them. They’d call me at all hours of the day, sometimes several times a day. It was really annoying.
For sure it is not really necessary, I have used other names for demo accounts with different brokers. However, my point of view is that it is better for you to leave at least a real number just in case your broker needs to contact you for anything urgent. I know it is just a demo but still…
My perspective is that “all the above” is true.
There are certainly some horrible, scammy “brokers” who will plague you with phone-calls and sell your details to others.
None of this, however, will happen with Oanda. For myself, I’d prefer to be honest with them than to deceive them.
I was talking more in general than about any particular broker. If you know the broker you’re about to give your information to, you know they’re trustworthy, by all means, go ahead.
But if you don’t, I’d always advise caution.