Looking for a forex broker to join in the United Arab Emirates?
In this post, we’ve taken a look at five of the best forex brokers in the UAE at the moment.
For each broker, we’ve assessed them based on their spreads and fees, reputability and trustworthiness, customer service, and more, to see which is best.
If you’re in a rush, make sure to click the links in the description to each of the brokers we’ve reviewed, to learn more about their services, and open an account to test their trading platforms.
CMC Markets
CMC is a large, reputable forex broker, regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority in the UAE. They have very tight spreads across most major pairs, and also have low commissions on their raw spread accounts, in case you prefer to get the lowest spreads possible.
The best thing about CMC though is the breadth and depth of their trading options. They have nearly 350 different currency pairs you can choose to trade at the moment, and allow you to trade international equities, if you want to consolidate all of your trading activity into a single location.
The one downside to CMC is they only allow you to trade using MetaTrader 4 at the moment, instead of MT5 or TradingView. However, they also have quite a good in-house trading platform, which is available on Android and iOS apps, if you don’t want to use MT4.
There’s no minimum account deposit required to get started with CMC Markets, and creating an account as a UAE trader is also quite straightforward, which is good.
IG Markets
IG Markets is another large, well-established forex broker, regulated by the DFSA in the United Arab Emirates. As well as having approval from the UAE market regulator, IG is also licensed by the FCA in the UK, BaFin in Germany, ASIC in Australia, the CFTC in America, and MAS in Singapore, further demonstrating their credentials as a reputable forex broker.
There’s no minimum deposit amount for new accounts, just like with CMC, and IG also has more than 100 different currency pairs to trade – more than enough variety for most forex traders.
You can also trade international equities and CFDs, and IG tends to offer very good customer service compared to other similar large forex brokers. Also, as well as MetaTrader 4, you can also trade using TradingView.com, in case you’re looking for a slightly more modern interface to monitor price action and place orders.
There are inactivity fees though with this broker, and their commissions can be a bit high. However, their spreads are low, and as a market maker, IG tends to offer very fast trade execution, which is useful if you’re a scalper.
Pepperstone
There are quite a few similarities between IG and Pepperstone. They are both available to UAE traders, and both offer a similar number of currency pairs to trade. They also both offer share and commodity CFD trading, and have no minimum deposit to get started.
There are a few advantages to Pepperstone over IG though. For example, they have a larger range of trading platforms available to use, including MT4, MT5, TradingView, and cTrader, which is nice.
Also, they have lower commissions while still offering similarly tight spreads on most pairs, and have a larger range of funding methods to choose from when adding Dirhams to your account.
The only real downside to Pepperstone is they don’t have as many regulatory approvals from tier-1 countries as some other brokers, like IG. While they have approval in the UAE, Cyprus, and UK, IG is also licensed in countries like Australia, South Africa, and Singapore, meaning they have undergone more scrutiny from international regulatory bodies.
AvaTrade
AvaTrade is a bit of a smaller broker compared to the other three we’ve looked at so far. However, they’re still regulated by the ADGM in Abu Dhabi, as well as CIRO in Canada, ASIC in Australia, CBI in Ireland, and the Cypriot and South African national market regulators.
There is a $100 minimum deposit requirement to get started, which is a bit high, but nowhere near as high as some other brokers on the market right now. AvaTrade has a good range of trading platforms you can choose from, including MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, although TradingView isn’t available to use.
The biggest downside to AvaTrade is the number of currency pairs available. There are only about 55 different pairings you can choose to trade at the moment.
FXTM
FXTM is the only broker we’ve looked at that isn’t regulated in the UAE. However, you can still sign up to their Middle East subsidiary, and they do have licensing in the UK, Cyprus, South Africa, Mauritius, and more, making them quite a reputable broker.
The thing that stands out about FXTM is their customer service. Compared to some other bigger brokers, they tend to be more responsive and helpful in case you ever run into any issues with your account.
They have just a $10 minimum deposit to get started, and offer trading on both MT4 and MT5, which is good. However, similar to AvaTrade, the range of currency pairs available on FXTM isn’t amazing compared to the likes of CMC. Also, their spreads and commissions could be a bit lower compared to some other bigger brokers.
Conclusion
Fortunately, you have quite a good range of choices when it comes to picking a forex broker as a resident of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or elsewhere in the UAE. CMC, IG, and Pepperstone are all worth considering, depending on what’s important to you.
For example, you might prefer CMC for the number of currency pairs they have available. On the other hand, you might like to choose Pepperstone because of the larger range of trading platforms they allow you to use.
Remember, click the links in the description to learn more about the five brokers we’ve looked at, and open an account to see what they’re like to begin trading with. And if you have any questions about choosing a forex broker in the United Arab Emirates, leave us a comment, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
About the author
Hi, I’m Mark! I’ve been trading forex for nearly 10 years now, and I started this site to help others navigate the sometimes confusing world of brokers, spreads, and trading platforms. I’ve spent countless hours testing different brokers, comparing fees, and figuring out which companies in this industry actually deliver on their promises.
When I’m not trading, I enjoy hiking, trying out new coffee spots, and tinkering with automated trading strategies (some successful, some… not so much). My goal is to make forex trading less overwhelming and help you find the right broker or platform to fit your trading style.