Discover our curated list of regulated and reliable brokers for traders from the United Arab Emirates that we tested on a live account with a real deposit. The aim of this article is to help you find the right online broker from more than 76 local and offshore providers who operate in the financial market in the Emirates.
List of the best forex brokers available in the UAE:
- Pepperstone – Overall Winner of 2024
- XTB – Excellent Forex Trading Apps
- XM – Top MT4/MT5 FX Broker for Dubai Traders
- Skilling ⇒ Best for EA Expert Advisor
- HFM Markets ⇒ Best Market Research
- eToro ⇒ Best for Copy Trading Popular Investors
Overview
#1. Pepperstone – Great Choice for Beginners
Pepperstone is an award winning forex broker in UAE. Overall Pepperstone is one of the cheapest when it comes to forex spreads and non trading fees.
This broker comes with one of the lowest forex spreads on the market. If you want to be profitable trader, you need to keep trading costs at minimum.
Pepperstone is a regulated UAE broker holding the DFSA license and offering a local customer support from Dubai office.
With a minimum deposit of $1 (though we recommend to start with at least $200). Whether you are a scalper, swing or even a daytrader, you can choose from following forex trading apps: Metatrader MT4, MT5, cTrader or TradingView.
- Competitive spreads starting from 0.0 Pips
- 70+ currency pairs available
- Perfect for both beginners and advanced traders
- UAE Forex Broker (DFSA license)
- Metatrader4 (MT4 / MT5), cTrader, TradingView
- Best Islamic forex account
- 24/5 Monday-Friday Arabic language customer support
- $0 Minimum deposit
- Safe deposits in segregated accounts + fast withdrawals
- No Bonuses as per regulation
#2. XTB – User Friendly Mobile Trading App
Even if you are just starting out with trading forex, you have probably already heard of XTB. This online CFD forex brokerage has a very good reputation among forex traders in the United Arab Emirates.
With low minimum deposits of $1, high quality forex trading platforms xStation, online trading broker XTB is one of the best choices for beginners from Dubai and Emirates.
When it comes to safety, XTB is probably the safest forex broker with regulation in USA, Canada, Europe and BVI you can rest assured your money is safe.
- High Quality non-dealing desk broker
- Fast trade execution
- Mobile forex trading platform xStation
- Leverage up to 1:30 (under DFSA license)
- Minimum deposit $10
- 56 currency pairs available
- Low spreads from 0.9 Pips
- Scalping/Hedging is allowed
- Inactive fees
Expert advice for selecting the ideal regulated forex broker
Booming popularity of forex trading in UAE is unfortunately attracting not only big and serious forex brokerages but also a lot of scammers located in offshore countries without a license!
We recommend you to check the following criteria before you sign up:
- LOCAL REGULATION in DUBAI or ABU DHABI- Regulation is a huge factor. Our primary goal is to list fully regulated forex companies in UAE that are safe to trade with! You can rest assured all brokerages that you will find in this comparison are regulated by TIER 1 financial regulators.
- BONUSES – remember that huge forex bonuses for new clients are suspicious and offered by fake scammers. These days with strict forex regulation, solid regulated forex brokers are reluctant to provide huge welcome bonuses.
- ISLAMIC ACCOUNT – majority of UAE traders are muslims. As a muslim your trading on the forex markets must be compliant with the Sharia Law. Always look for an islamic account. All forex brokers that we feature in this article have the option for islamic account, which means that will not be charged you with swap fees.
- LOCAL DEPOSITING METHODS
- SAFETY OF YOUR FUNDS – Segregated bank accounts, encrypted servers, security audits, two factor authentication etc. Do not loose your hard earned cash! Always require the highest level of safety.
- SPREADS & FEES – Thanks to competition, forex companies have been lowering spreads in the recent years. We think average spreads should be below 1 pip. Anything above this level is way too expensive.
- ENGLISH AND ARABIC LANGUAGE SUPPORT – As a citizen of United Arab Emirates you require local office with Arabic support.
- TRADING PLATFORMS – We have covered this in a separate guide about best trading platforms in UAE
UAE Forex Trading Regulation
The main regulatory authority with finance market oversight in UAE is Central Bank of United Arab Emirates or shortly just CBUAE. The Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) is another financial regulatory agency in the UAE.
In Dubai emirate of UAE there is Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) state regulatory body which is responsible to regulate all forex trading platforms and companies located in Dubai.
How to Check if a Broker is Regulated by DFSA Dubai
- Visit DFSA site using this link: www.dfsa.ae/register
- Into “Enter a keyword” field write some Dubai or UAE forex trading company name for example Henyep Capital Markets
- Click SEARCH
- You will get listed the company with their DFSA License number and all details.
- In case you get no results, it means either that brokerage has no DFSA license OR you searched for a wrong company name. Most companies have different company name and brand name..
- It is important to focus your attention on: Trading Name, Date of License, Address.
Here is the full list of DFSA regulated brokers .
Frequently Asked Questi (FAQ)
Q: Is forex trading legal in Dubai ?
Yes currency trading is perfectly 100% legal in the UAE! Actually since forex trading became completely legal in Emirates, more and more retail investors living in this country invest their money in this very lucrative and dynamic field.
Q: What is the minimum capital to start forex with?
Many novice fx traders ask us, how much capital to start trading on Forex. In general, an absolute minimum capital $500 is more than recommended.
I will explain you why $500….
This minimum capital depends on the minimum size of the position that you want to trade (lot, mini lot or micro lot) and financial leverage that is available, so that even with such a small capital, you could risk only 1-3% of your account per trade, as many professional traders do.
However the optimum start-up capital is $10,000 and more. With $10k you can allocate 1% on a single trade which is $100 per trade, use leverage say 1:200 and open $20.000 position which is 0.2 Standard Lot. That way 1 Pip up/down will make you $2 Profit/Loss.
Based on your financial situation you decide how much you can afford to deposit. We strongly recommend to first deposit small amount, and when you are happy with the service, then go and despoit more.
Q: What is forex demo account?
Forex Demo account is a practice trading account, you have real prices, real charts but virtual money. You can test your forex strategies and play with it.
Q: What are forex platforms
Forex trading platform is an online software that connects a trader with counter party on the foreign exchange market. It allows forex traders to deposit real money into trading account and place trades.
Q: How can I open real trading account ?
The process of opening a forex trading account is quite straightforward. First of all you will need to open an account with a UAE regulated broker via Internet. This is quite simply and it takes just a few clicks. Then you will need to verify the account identity. This may take longer, a trader needs to provide at least two documents. One that verifies your identity (passport or drivers license, identity card etc.) and secondly Utility Bill that verifies your address of residence.
Q: Is forex halal?
Forex is halal for traders who trade on Islamic Accounts are buying and selling currencies without paying interest to broker.
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