Octa’s live EUR/USD ticket on octabroker.com sits beside a customer agreement with Versustrategy Inc. Having set that ticket next to clause 1.1, the company named is Versustrategy, which the text says is registered under the law of Saint Lucia. The legal address is the offices of Ace Corporate Services, Ground Floor, Rodney Court Building, Rodney Bay, Gros Islet. At 07:08 UTC on 5 October 2026 the selected tab, OctaTrader, showed a spread column of 1.20 pips, a pip price of 10.00 US dollars, a bid of 1.1192 and an ask of 1.1194.
The legal-documents feed returns one group, saint_lucia_2, described as “Registration number: 2025-00917”. The versustrategy.com footer repeats the number and says that company operates octabroker.com. A warning from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Saint Lucia, dated 16 June 2026, still lists the same URL under Octa Markets Incorporated (OctaFX). The notice is about virtual-asset licences the Authority says it has not started to issue. The contract and the warning use different names for one website.
Key facts
- Global contract: Versustrategy Inc., Saint Lucia law, Rodney Bay address. Registration 2025-00917 is on the legal-documents string and the versustrategy.com footer. Source: customer agreement, legal-documents page and versustrategy.com, 5 October 2026.
- EUR/USD at 07:08 UTC: OctaTrader and MetaTrader 5 at 1.20 pips, MetaTrader 4 at 1.30, pip price $10.00, commission $0. OctaTrader all-in $12.00 per standard lot, round turn. Source: octabroker.com/spreads and the accounts comparison, 5 October 2026.
- Minimum deposit 25 USD on each platform column, recommended $100, base currency USD. The page also says the minimum is about 25 USD, depending on the payment method. Source: accounts comparison, 5 October 2026.
- Inactivity fee 5 USD on OctaTrader, MetaTrader 5 and MetaTrader 4. Clause 3.25 makes it monthly after twelve months without an order or an open position, and caps it at the balance. Source: accounts comparison and customer agreement, 5 October 2026.
- No commission, on the accounts page, for deposits, withdrawals and currency exchange. Margin call / stop out on the comparison table: 25% / 15%. Source: accounts-and-conditions and the accounts comparison, 5 October 2026.
- Cyprus ticket, other website: Octa Markets Cyprus Ltd, registration 359992, CySEC licence 372/18 dated 10 December 2018. EUR/USD current spread 1.0 pip. Source: CySEC register and octaeu.com/spreads, 5 October 2026.
The name on the Rodney Bay agreement
Clause 1.1 of the customer agreement names Versustrategy Inc. as the Company and the client who registered at www.octabroker.com. Clause 1.2 puts the governing law in Saint Lucia and gives the Ace Corporate Services address. Clause 23.1 repeats that law. The digits 2025-00917 are not in those clauses. They are on the legal-documents line for saint_lucia_2 and on the footer, which also places a business address on the top floor of Rodney Court Building.
The service is execution-only. Clause 3.4 says the company deals as principal and sole counterparty, with no duty of best execution and no fiduciary duty. Clause 3.5 says the client is not entitled to investment advice. Clause 2.10 names OctaTrader, MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. Clause 8.1 leaves live spreads and commissions on the website, changeable at once for market conditions, a liquidity provider or force majeure, and on notice otherwise.
A company note of 27 September 2023 says, “From now on, we’re just Octa.” The page source still sets metatrader_whitelabel_name to OctaFX, while brand_name is Octa and legal_name is Versustrategy Inc. The language file also still holds “Octa Markets Incorporated”, registration 2023-00092, and “South Africa licence”, Financial Service Provider licence no. 51913. The documents endpoint returned only saint_lucia_2.
Residence screens differ. The footer excludes residents of Canada, the European Union, Iran, Israel, Japan, Myanmar, New Zealand, North Korea, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States. The risk-consent copy says the site is not intended for residents of places including the UAE, Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore, and asks the visitor to acknowledge that Octa is not licensed or authorised in that visitor’s jurisdiction.
The same pattern, a regulated name in front of a different company on the contract, is the subject of the ATFX review.
Cyprus is a second website
octaeu.com is the other contract. Its footer says the site is operated by Octa Markets Cyprus Ltd, registration HE359992, authorised and regulated by CySEC under licence 372/18. The CySEC register, opened 5 October 2026, lists that firm with licence date 10/12/2018, company number 359992, telephone +357 25 251 973, email info@octaeu.com and the approved trade name Octa. The following register row, OEXN Limited under 423/22, is a different firm. The about page gives correspondence at 1 Agias Zonis and Thessalonikis Corner, Office 201, 3026, Limassol. Belgium residents are outside the offer, as are citizens, residents and taxpayers of the USA, Canada, Spain and the UK, and clients outside the EEA other than Switzerland.
In a Finance Magnates interview published 11 April 2019, Victor Golovtchenko quotes George Pantzis, then CEO of OctaFX: “Competition was much tighter ten years ago than it is now. Big players with reputation and regulation survive, small offshore ones go up in smoke.” Pantzis also said licensing does not happen overnight and can take several years. That piece spells him George.
Arnab Shome, financial editor at Finance Magnates, began his 17 August 2026 article: “Georgios Pantzis is going to step down as the Chief Executive of CFD broker Octa's Cyprus entity after almost nine years.” No successor had been named, he wrote. The company said clients and partners would be unaffected, and that it was “engaging with the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) to proceed with the appointment of new Board members to maintain a high level of corporate governance.” Offshore companies that had shared the brand had left to launch Elev8, the piece reported.
Both articles sit on the Cyprus company. A search that starts at licence 372/18 and finishes on an octabroker.com form has changed firms. The IronFX review is a similar split, an offshore company beside a CySEC firm. The open URL decides which paper applies.
Terms diverge with the entity. At the same 07:08 UTC pass, octaeu.com/spreads capped currency pairs at 1:30. EUR/USD was minimum 0.8 pips, typical 0.9, current 1.0, on 100,000 EUR. Fee and swap columns both showed −18 long and −7 short, in points per 0.01 lot. The EU homepage says there is no trading commission, so 1.0 pip is $10 a standard lot if a pip is $10. The EU table does not print that pip price. The global accounts page heads a block “Negative balance protection”. The Saint Lucia clauses read here do not make that a general promise. They do bar the inactivity fee from creating a negative balance.
What EUR/USD cost this morning
The figure used for the global ticket is the OctaTrader column at 07:08 UTC on octabroker.com/spreads. Spread 1.20 pips, pip price $10.00, commission $0 on the accounts comparison. Round turn on a standard lot is $12.00 before any overnight charge. MetaTrader 5 also printed 1.20. MetaTrader 4 printed 1.30, which is $13.00.
At 06:59 UTC the same URL had shown 1.30 pips on every table found, quote 1.1191 to 1.1192. The chart uses the later pull, the one that splits by platform. The comparison page still says “from 0.6 pips”. That floor was neither print.
All three tabs showed bid 1.1192 and ask 1.1194, a gap of 2 pips at four decimals. The columns were 1.20, 1.30 and 1.20. The page defines a pip on a five-digit price as 0.0001. The rounded quote is not the column labelled “Spread (Pips)”.
The bars are three different statistics in one unit, dollars per standard lot, round turn. Octa is a live column plus zero commission. Pepperstone is a published minimum. IC Markets is a published average plus commission. The labels are there so a 0.6 pip floor is not read as a 0.01 pip average.
Pepperstone’s costs page, retrieved 5 October 2026, prints EUR/USD with a Razor minimum of 0 and a Standard minimum of 1. Razor commission is “from $3.50” per lot per side, a floor, so the bar uses Standard, where the page charges no FX commission and describes a 1 pip markup. At $10 a pip that is $10.00. The firm is Pepperstone Markets Limited, registration 177174 B, licensed in The Bahamas under SIA-F217. Minimum deposit on that page is $10.
The IC Markets Global spreads page prints EUR/USD Raw minimum 0, Raw average 0.01, Standard minimum 0.8, Standard average 0.1. The Standard average sits under its own minimum, and a promo line cites 0.1 pips. The Raw row is the one used. MetaTrader commission is USD 3.50 per side, USD 7.0 round turn, so 0.01 pip plus that commission is $7.10. The page’s cTrader example is priced at 1.30/1.31 and is not this quote. IC Markets Global is a name of Raw Trading Ltd, Seychelles FSA licence SD018. The Equiti review looks at another Seychelles retail book.
| Ticket | What the figure is | EUR/USD | Commission | All-in, standard lot, round turn | Entity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Octa, OctaTrader, 07:08 UTC | Live spread column | 1.20 pips | $0 | $12.00 | Versustrategy Inc. |
| Octa, MetaTrader 5, same pull | Live spread column | 1.20 pips | $0 | $12.00 | Versustrategy Inc. |
| Octa, MetaTrader 4, same pull | Live spread column | 1.30 pips | $0 | $13.00 | Versustrategy Inc. |
| Pepperstone Standard | Published minimum | 1 pip | $0 on Standard FX | $10.00 | Pepperstone Markets Limited, SIA-F217 |
| IC Markets Global Raw, MetaTrader | Published average plus commission | 0.01 pips | $3.50 per side | $7.10 | Raw Trading Ltd, FSA SD018 |
| Octa EU, octaeu.com | Current column; commission from the homepage | 1.0 pip | No trading commission, homepage | $10.00, calculated | Octa Markets Cyprus Ltd, CySEC 372/18 |
The spreads page also says “Zero swaps, no hidden fees”, and the comparison has a row labelled “No swaps, halal trading”. Clause 8.1.3 still allows an extra overnight fee, notified in the Personal Area.
Twelve quiet months, then five dollars
The comparison table prints an inactivity fee of 5 USD on each of the three platforms. It does not say monthly, and it does not give the trigger. Clause 3.25 does both. After twelve consecutive months without an order or an open position, the company may charge a monthly administrative fee in the amount on the website. Notice comes in the Personal Area first. The fee is not retroactive, cannot exceed the balance, cannot create a negative balance, and stops when trading resumes. An open position counts as activity.
Clause 3.22 is a deletion clock, not that fee. Real MetaTrader 4 accounts can be removed after 30 idle days, never-active MetaTrader 5 accounts after 7, MT5 accounts with prior activity after 90, and an MT5 account idle 365 days with under 5 units of currency has the balance moved to the Wallet. OctaTrader’s real-account clock is 28 days. Demos run on shorter clocks, from 3 days to 60. Those passages do not set the five-dollar charge.
The table advertises forex and gold leverage of 1:1000. Clause 7.3 then bands the whole account by personal funds, balance plus credit plus unrealised profit and loss: 1:1000 up to 5,000 USD or EUR, then 1:500 to 35,000, 1:200 to 125,000, 1:100 to 250,000, 1:50 to 500,000, 1:30 to 1,000,000, 1:25 to 1,500,000, 1:15 to 3,000,000 and 1:5 to 5,000,000. The 1:1000 rate is only that first band.
Minimum size is 0.01 lot. Maximum size is 50 lots on OctaTrader, 500 on MetaTrader 5 and 200 on MetaTrader 4. Execution is marked “Market”. Margin call and stop out are 25% and 15%. The accounts page says there is no commission on deposits, withdrawals or currency exchange. The comparison’s own minimum is 25 USD, with $100 recommended, and a separate line says the first deposit is about 25 USD depending on the method.
What the June notice does not decide
The Authority’s notice of 16 June 2026 says the listed entities are not licensed by it for virtual asset business, and that any website claim of such a licence is false. Licensing under the Virtual Asset Business Act, No. 24 of 2022, had not commenced, so nobody held that permission. Versustrategy Inc. is on the list with versustrategy.com. Octa Markets Incorporated (OctaFX) is on it with octabroker.com.
The notice does not issue a forex permission and does not write a CFD rule. It does attach the October URL, four months earlier, to the older company name. The agreement opened on 5 October names Versustrategy Inc., and the footer claims the site under 2025-00917.
The desk score is 2.7, the mean of three equal checks, rounded to one decimal. It is a reading of these files, not a prompt to open or close an account.
RelatedeasyMarkets Review 2026: What the EUR/USD Ticket Costs
A conduct licence on the global contract scores 0. The pages show a Saint Lucia registration and an address. Licence 372/18 belongs to Octa Markets Cyprus Ltd. The June notice supplies neither a virtual-asset permission nor an investment-firm permission for Versustrategy.
The same-day EUR/USD cost scores 3. Spread, platform and a $10.00 pip price are printed, beside a $0 commission, so 1.20 pips is $12.00 without a guessed pip value. The score stays at 3 because “from 0.6 pips” was on the page, the tabs disagreed, and the rounded quote did not match the column.
The second dollar cost scores 5. The table prints 5 USD and clause 3.25 adds the month, the twelve-month wait, the notice and the cap. The mean of 0, 3 and 5 is 2.67, shown as 2.7.
Pros. Name, Rodney Bay address and 2025-00917 agree across the agreement, the legal index and the footer. EUR/USD had a platform, a pip price and a zero commission. The 5 USD inactivity amount is printed, and clause 3.25 caps it.
Cons. The global paper is a registration, while licence 372/18 sits with the Cyprus firm. The live column was not the 0.6 pip floor, and it matched neither the quote nor MetaTrader 4. OctaFX is still on the June notice and in the whitelabel field. In clause 7.3, 1:1000 stops at 5,000 USD or EUR.
Verdict. On octabroker.com, Octa is Versustrategy Inc. at Rodney Bay under 2025-00917. At 07:08 UTC on 5 October 2026 the OctaTrader EUR/USD column was 1.20 pips, commission $0, with a 5 USD inactivity fee whose monthly rule is clause 3.25. The CySEC firm is the other ticket. The score is 2.7.
FAQ
Who signs the octabroker.com agreement?
Versustrategy Inc. signs it. Clause 1.1, read on 5 October 2026, names that company and the client who registers at www.octabroker.com. Clause 1.2 places the firm under Saint Lucia law, at Ace Corporate Services in the Rodney Court Building, Rodney Bay, Gros Islet. Registration 2025-00917 is on the saint_lucia_2 line and on the versustrategy.com footer. The agreement paragraphs do not contain those digits.
Does CySEC licence 372/18 cover that account?
Licence 372/18 is Octa Markets Cyprus Ltd, company number 359992, on the CySEC register, dated 10 December 2018, trade name Octa. That firm operates octaeu.com. The octabroker.com document list opened the same day pointed at the Saint Lucia group. Spreads, swap points and the 1:30 cap on the Cyprus site differ from the global table. The licence is real. It belongs to the other website.
What did EUR/USD cost on 5 October 2026?
At 07:08 UTC the spreads page showed 1.20 pips on OctaTrader and MetaTrader 5, and 1.30 pips on MetaTrader 4. The pip price was $10.00 and commission on the comparison was $0, so the OctaTrader round turn is $12.00 per standard lot before swaps. The quote was 1.1192 to 1.1194. That two-pip gap is not the spread column. At 06:59 UTC the tables found had shown 1.30.
When does the five-dollar fee apply?
The accounts comparison prints 5 USD on OctaTrader, MetaTrader 5 and MetaTrader 4. Clause 3.25 allows a monthly fee after twelve months with no order and no open position, at the amount the website states. Notice comes in the Personal Area first. The fee is not retroactive, cannot pass the balance, and cannot create a negative balance. The table has the dollars. The clause has the clock.
Does the Saint Lucia notice ban the forex ticket?
The 16 June 2026 notice says the listed firms are not licensed by the Authority for virtual asset business, and that licensing under Act No. 24 of 2022 has not started. Versustrategy Inc. and Octa Markets Incorporated (OctaFX) are both named, the latter with octabroker.com. The notice sets no forex or CFD rule. It does file the website under the older name.
Disclaimer
This is analysis of documents and pricing pages opened on 5 October 2026, not a recommendation to open an account, close one, or trade. Spreads moved between two pulls that morning and can move again. Leveraged CFDs put capital at risk, and the money deposited can be lost. Read the company on the agreement before using a licence number found under the same brand.