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ZAR/USD OTC is listed on Pocket Option with the quotation turned around. On the currency market this pair is known as USD/ZAR: how many rand one dollar buys. Pocket Option quotes it the other way, ZAR/USD, as an OTC asset priced by its own feed and open around the clock. Same two currencies, a different way of reading the price, and a direction that is simply the mirror of the market pair. This page explains what you are actually trading when you open ZAR/USD OTC, how the South African rand is managed at home, what moves the price, and what the figures below mean.
What ZAR/USD OTC is
The South African rand does trade on the real market, but always as USD/ZAR: the dollar is the base currency, as it is for most emerging-market currencies. ZAR/USD OTC is that same relationship read upside down. When USD/ZAR rises (the South African rand weakens), ZAR/USD falls; when the South African rand strengthens, ZAR/USD rises. The “OTC” label means the price comes from the platform’s own source rather than from the market, which is why the pair also trades at weekends, when the real USD/ZAR market is closed and the feed has no outside reference. Our guide to Pocket Option OTC assets covers what that changes in practice: no outside chart to check the price against, and no economic calendar that applies.
How the South African rand is managed
The rand floats freely and is one of the most traded emerging-market currencies in the world, liquid around the clock on weekdays. The South African Reserve Bank does not target a level; it sets interest rates to keep inflation inside its 3% to 6% band, and the rand reacts to those decisions like any major currency.
What moves ZAR/USD
Global appetite for risk first of all (the rand is a favourite proxy for emerging markets), then the prices of gold, platinum and coal, the Reserve Bank’s policy rate, electricity supply and public finances at home, and the Federal Reserve’s decisions abroad move USD/ZAR. At weekends the OTC feed keeps quoting while the real rand market is closed.
The South African rand in short
ZAR, the South African rand. The currency of South Africa, issued by the South African Reserve Bank. The rand is the only African currency among the world’s twenty most traded, and USD/ZAR is offered by nearly every forex broker; the ZAR/USD form is simply Pocket Option’s way of quoting it.
USD, the US dollar. The other side of the pair and the world’s reference currency. On ZAR/USD, a stronger dollar pushes the price down and a weaker dollar pushes it up, the opposite of what you would see on USD/ZAR.
How to trade ZAR/USD OTC on Pocket Option
- Start on the demo account. It is free, needs no deposit and shows the same OTC feed as the real account: how the Pocket Option demo works.
- Read the payout before you trade. The figure in the box above is read on our own Pocket Option account and refreshed every 15 minutes; it changes during the day and is often lower on exotic pairs than on EUR/USD. At a 92% payout you need to be right on 52.1% of your trades just to break even: what the payout really means.
- Keep the amount fixed. The same amount on every trade, whatever happened on the previous one. Our lesson on money management explains why this single rule decides whether an account survives.
- Do not trade it on economic news. Reading the calendar makes sense on real-market assets; on an OTC pair, the feed does not react to a central bank decision the way the market does.
- Be suspicious of “ZAR/USD OTC signals” sold online. Since the price comes from a single source nobody else can see, nobody can show you verified long-term results on it.
Frequently asked questions
Does ZAR/USD exist outside Pocket Option?
Yes, but as USD/ZAR: that is how banks, brokers and charts quote the South African rand. The inverted form ZAR/USD is a Pocket Option quotation, priced by the platform’s own OTC feed.
Why is ZAR/USD OTC open at weekends?
Because it is an OTC asset: its price comes from the platform’s own feed, not from the currency market, so it keeps quoting when the real market is closed. At those hours there is no outside reference for the price.
What is the payout on ZAR/USD OTC?
It changes during the day and from one asset to another. The box on this page shows the payout read on our own Pocket Option account, refreshed every 15 minutes, with the highest level the asset reaches.
What really moves ZAR/USD?
The real USD/ZAR market: risk appetite, gold and platinum, the Reserve Bank, electricity and public finances, the Federal Reserve. On the OTC pair, read it upside down: a stronger rand means a higher ZAR/USD.
Which other pairs are only on Pocket Option?
Eight other currencies quoted against the dollar in the same inverted way, and six Gulf and Middle East currencies against the yuan, all listed in the box above.
Binary options and leveraged products are high-risk: you can lose all the money you invest. Read our binary options guide and our risk disclosure before trading. The figures on this page are read on the Optencis account and can differ from yours. Signed: the Optencis team.
