10  Best Forex Brokers in Kenya 2024

How To Choose a Kenyan Forex Broker

Although international brokers accept clients from most countries, trading conditions and regulatory supervision may be different for Kenyan traders. To find the best Forex broker for Kenyan residents, we need to understand account conditions for Kenyan clients in detail.

To test each broker’s trading platform, we opened an account, set up the trading software, read through the educational material, and deposited and traded R4000 of our money. We also created all kinds of trouble for the customer service teams, read through the fine print in the client agreements, and tested how long it took to withdraw our money. In our test, we investigated:

Broker Regulation: Regulators keep an eye on Forex brokers to make sure they’re behaving legally and ethically. Some regulators, such as ASIC, the FCA, and CySEC, are better at keeping brokers honest than others. The CMA in Kenya is getting better at regulating brokers all the time and Kenyans should feel safe trading with a CMA regulated broker.

Account Supervision: Most brokers are supervised by multiple international regulators. As a Kenyan resident, it is important to know which regulatory authority will supervise your trading account. It is common for internationally-regulated brokers to open trading accounts for Kenyan residents under their offshore licenses (Mauritius, Seychelles, Vanuatu, etc.) to offer higher leverage or to bypass powerful client protections put in place by the CMA. Traders with accounts registered under offshore licenses are not protected by the CMA and are open to the additional risks of broker bankruptcy, fraudulent activity, or unfavourable trading conditions like a lack of negative balance protection.

Broker Trading Conditions and Costs: Better Forex brokers will often have lower trading costs, meaning that spreads are tight and minimum deposits are low. Trading execution should be lightning-fast and with little or no intervention. Forex brokers should also publish their spreads, execution policy, and a list of all CFDs available to Kenyan traders. We often see that trading conditions and negative balance protection availability change depending on a trader’s country of residence.  

Broker Education and Analysis: Brokers should offer beginner traders a coherent and well-structured trading course alongside a demo account. Brokers should supply detailed market analyses to highlight trading opportunities and provide a complete learning experience. While all material is available in English very few Kenyan brokers will offer the same material in Swahili.

Broker Trading Platform: Brokers will have their own trading platform or provide support for a third-party platform, such as MT4, MT5, or cTrader. Some brokers will do both. Most Forex traders generally have a platform preference, so brokers with multiple platforms are more likely to have the platform a trader wants to use.  Platform availability may vary between countries of residence, so our research notes which platforms are available for Kenyan residents.

What is the Foreign Exchange Market?

The foreign exchange market, also known as the forex (or even more simply, the FX market), is the largest financial market in the world. Every day, trillions of dollars of global currencies are traded in what are called “pairs”, i.e. the exchange of one currency for another, such as rand for dollars, euros for Japanese yen, etc. These transactions are carried out five days a week, 24 hours a day around the globe and determine the value of every currency on the planet second by second, based on supply and demand. So, if the pound is in demand, its value against, for example, the dollar will rise and vice versa.

Given its scale and breadth, forex trading is easily accessible by individual investors, who can open an account with a few hundred pounds and begin trading immediately. But it is easy to lose money, especially if you are a beginner. Trading successfully requires effort, discipline and a determination to learn as much as you can about the market before you start. You also need to understand the regulations governing the market, the costs of trading and which brokers to use. Most importantly, you should understand the risks and disadvantages before deciding whether forex trading is for you.

Why does the Forex Market Exist?

There are many reasons why people trade currencies. Kenyan companies may need to buy dollars to pay for American imports, or they may need euros to pay for the acquisition of a company based in Europe. Central banks, such as the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), can intervene in FX markets, buying and selling currency to manipulate its value for reasons of economic policy. Speculators also drive a very large part of the market, trading with the aim of generating a profit.

Large financial institutions, multinational corporations and hedge funds dominate the forex market, which reached a value of US$6.6 trillion per day in April 2019, according to the latest statistics. That size means it is a hugely liquid market, i.e. it is very easy to buy and sell currencies because there are so many buyers and sellers in the market for most currencies.

What Drives the Forex Market?

The rand is a free-floating currency. In other words, the value of the rand in the FX markets is determined by supply and demand. This is the case for the currencies of most advanced economies. By contrast, some currencies, such as the Chinese renminbi (RMB), have a fixed exchange rate. The Chinese authorities determine the value of the RMB against the dollar and keep the link until they decide to alter the exchange rate. Clearly, there is no potential for individual traders to profit from trading currencies with a fixed exchange rate.

The value of a floating currency such as the Kenyan Shilling, however, is constantly moving up and down against other currencies. Often these movements are relatively small, so the rand may begin the trading day at 115 KSH to the dollar and end a little higher or lower, or even back at its opening level. But dramatic economic or political news can spark much greater volatility. For example, the KSH fell by around 5% at the start of the Covid pandemic, back in March 2020. Traders, fearing a prolonged period of economic uncertainty, sold the KSH as quickly as they could.

Economic developments are also a key influence. New data suggesting the Kenyan economy is growing slower than anticipated might spark concerns that CBK could lower interest rates to stimulate growth. Lower interest rates reduce the appeal of holding a currency since you are getting less return on your money. That outlook consequently dampens demand for the rand and its value falls. Similarly, if Kenya’s economic outlook brightens and traders anticipate CBK will raise interest rates, they will buy the rand, increasing its value against other currencies.

That is why FX traders follow economic, financial and political news so closely, looking for any hint of information that could sway the value of currencies. They are hoping to react before other traders spot the development. Or they may take bets on a likely development, believing they have some insight that other traders lack. 

Why is Forex Trading Popular?

Forex trading is the largest and most easily accessible market in the world. The costs involved are relatively low compared with other markets, there are lots of brokers to choose from in Kenya, and it is relatively easy to understand the ways in which you can trade the market. There are many freely floating currencies and since they can all be traded against each other there are a huge number of currency pairs to trade in. A vast amount of information is available to would-be traders, ranging from how to get started to outlining potentially profitable trading strategies.

You can trade from your living room using a fairly basic computer if you download the appropriate trading software, and it is relatively easy to set up an account with a broker. Unlike other financial markets, you can also exploit the concept of “leverage”, where you make use of borrowed money to increase your potential profits (and your losses). To explain what this means, currency pairs are traded in specific amounts called lots. They tend to be in 100,000 units of a currency, so, for example, if you are trading in the pound sterling against the US dollar, you would buy or sell £100,000 at a time. Since most people don’t have £100,000 available to trade, the broker effectively offers to lend you money. So, they may allow you to trade in a lot of £100,000 by opening an account with £1,000 and lend you the remainder. The initial £1,000 is known as the margin and your leverage, in this case, would amount to 100 to one (100:1).

As we mentioned, as well as increasing potential profits, leverage can dramatically increase risk. There are methods you can use to contain risk, but that is a topic for another article.

The Disadvantages of Forex Trading

Forex trading requires a considerable commitment. It takes time to learn how to trade profitably, and when you start to trade you may have to spend many hours per day on your computer screen following and researching what is happening in the market – and why – in preparation for your trading day. When that day is finished, you will need to analyse what happened and why your trading activities succeeded or failed, so that you can apply the lessons learnt to the next day’s trading. There could be days when you lose money and it is easy to become disheartened. There is certainly no guarantee of success. FX trading can be risky and you can lose money or you may find that it is simply not something you like or have the temperament for. You have to be patient, for example, waiting for opportunities to arise, and the market can experience bouts of extreme volatility that you may find highly stressful.

Is Forex Trading Legal in Kenya?

Yes, Forex trading is legal in Kenya and Kenyan brokers are regulated by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA). Kenyan residents can legally trade with any Forex broker in the world, though many brokers based overseas are not licenced by the CMA.

Overview of Forex Trading in Kenya

Over the last ten years, mobile phone use in Kenya has exploded. Most Kenyans are now connected to the internet everywhere they go and whenever they want. At the same time, employment opportunities for young people have dried up as the economy slowed. Young Kenyans looking for new ways to make money are at the forefront of a boom in Forex trading, made all the easier because:

• All Forex brokers now have mobile apps that allow traders to deposit and withdraw funds, check market news and make trades from their phones. 
• Many brokers in Kenya have very low deposit requirements, some as low as 1 US dollar. 
• Many brokers offer rand trading accounts, so Kenyans do not have to convert their money into dollars first

Because it is so easy to get started Forex trading, the number of Forex scams and bad brokers has also increased as criminals attempt to profit from the boom. Recent media scrutiny and better enforcement by the authorities has led to a healthier local trading environment, but Forex scams are still frequent. Most Forex scams in Kenya start on social media and are conducted by unlicensed individuals.

Forex Regulation in Kenya

Despite its emerging market status, Kenya has a relatively strong regulatory regime when it comes to online retail Forex CFD trading. Unlike many of its peers, Kenya laid out a legal framework for local regulation in 2017 – and placed the traditional financial regulator, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), in charge of enforcement.

As a result, Forex brokers with a physical presence in Kenya are required to hold a licence from the CMA and adhere to strict regulations, similar to those seen in Europe and the United Kingdom.

These regulations are important because they protect traders – operating and reserve capital requirements ensure that in the case of the broker bankruptcy traders can still claim their funds back, and leverage restrictions ensure that beginners traders don’t lose all their money while they are still learning.

The regulatory functions of the CMA as provided by the Capital Markets Act include; licensing and supervising all the capital market intermediaries; ensuring compliance with the legal and regulatory framework by all market participants; regulating public offers of securities, such as equities and bonds & the issuance of other capital market products such as collective investment schemes; promoting market development through research on new products and services; reviewing the legal framework to respond to market dynamics; promoting investor education and public awareness; and protecting investors’ interest.

Unfortunately, there are only three brokers currently regulated by the CMA and none of them has the trading conditions to match the international brokers offering their services in the country. But, by having a regime in place and brokers already licenced, Kenya is far ahead of many of its neighbours and we are optimistic that the Kenyan Forex industry is well-placed for secure and stable growth over the next few years.

It’s important to note that since 2017 a number of disreputable brokers and companies posing as Forex brokers have been operating in Kenya, so if you are going to work with a local broker it is essential that you investigate their regulatory status before opening an account.

According to the Capital Markets Act, section 23 (1),“No person shall carry on business as an online forex broker or hold himself out as carrying on such a business unless he holds a valid license issued under this Act or under the authority of this Act.”

Advantages of Trading with a CMA-regulated Broker

The main advantage of trading with a CMA-regulated broker in Kenya is the local protection of your trading account. While the CMA does not require brokers to sign up to a compensation scheme, local protection from the CMA means:

• Operating Capital Requirements: CMA licenced Forex brokers must maintain an operating balance of at least 50 million KSH, plus 5% of liabilities owed to clients.
• Capital Reserve: In addition, they must also retain a reserve of 40 million KSH (or 80% of their operating capital, whichever is higher) in cash or cash equivalent.
• Leverage Restriction: The CMA requires all Kenyan brokers to restrict leverage, in this case to a maximum of 1:400 for non-finance professionals.

Other common advantages of trading with a CMA-regulated broker are:

• Shilling (KSH) Trading Accounts: Most, but not all, CMA-regulated brokers will offer KSH trading accounts. This means no conversion fees when depositing or withdrawing to/from Kenyan bank accounts.
• Fast and Free Deposits and Withdrawals: Most, but not all, CMA-regulated brokers will offer free same-day deposits and withdrawals to/from Kenyan bank accounts. Most will also offer support for eWallets such as Ozow or PayFast, allowing instant deposits and withdrawals from Kenyan banks.

Disadvantages of Trading with a CMA-regulated Broker

Yes, there are disadvantages when trading with a CMA-regulated broker. The CMA is a good regulator but does not protect traders as well as regulators in the UK, Europe or Australia. The main disadvantages of trading with CMA-regulated brokers are:

• No negative balance protection: CMA-regulated brokers are not required to prevent traders from losing more money than they have in their trading accounts. It’s rare, but this does mean that traders in Kenya may end up owing their broker money.
• No financial compensation scheme: CMA-regulated brokers are not required to provide compensation to traders in the event of bankruptcy or closure.
• Leverage limits: Leverage is an essential part of Forex trading, but high leverage levels are risky. In Kenya, there is a limit to the leverage a broker can offer.

How do I Know that a Broker is Regulated by the CMA?

Some Kenyan traders may want to trade with CMA-regulated brokers, but how do you verify that a broker has a licence? Fortunately, checking if a Kenyan Forex broker is regulated by the CMA is easy. The CMA offers a search tool for all authorised brokers here: https://www.cma.or.ke/

This is what the results window looks like:

Forex Scams and Bad Brokers in Kenya and How to Avoid Them

As part of our work at FxScouts, we ask traders who have been scammed or defrauded by Forex brokers – or people claiming to be Forex “experts” – to let us know about their experience (you can find the details here). 

Forex Scams

According to our latest research, we found that Facebook and Instagram were the sources of more than 50% of Forex scams in South Africa. Both companies have a poor record of stopping criminals, even after official complaints have been made. We also found that many victims paid the people who scammed them in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies and that almost half of the complaints people made were against individual scammers, not brokers.

Both social media and cryptocurrency are great tools for criminals who want to disguise themselves. People can use whatever name they want on social media, and cryptocurrency is almost untraceable. Once someone pays a scammer they met on social media with cryptocurrency, it’s impossible to get their money back. 

Other telltale signs of a Forex scam are promises of guaranteed returns and the use of complex jargon. Forex trading is high-risk speculation and even professional traders cannot guarantee returns. And while there is Forex-specific jargon, trading can be explained in simple terms.

Any individual who offers to perform a financial service without a licence in Kenya is breaking the law. So always ask for a licence number and verify it with the CMA before handing over money.

Bad Brokers

Avoiding individual scammers is relatively easy compared to avoiding bad brokers.  So what can Kenyan traders do to avoid bad brokers? There are a few telltale signs that a broker is not treating its clients fairly:

• Unpublished spreads: The spread is the broker’s fee for connecting traders to the Forex market. If a broker doesn’t want to say how much this fee is, it’s probably charging too much.
• High deposit and withdrawal fees: Deposits should always be free of charge and withdrawals should be low-cost. Be wary of high fees or unexplained charges
• Delayed withdrawals: Withdrawals should take a few days at the most. If a broker ignores withdrawal requests or delays for more than a week it is cheating its customers.
• Missing Deposits: Bad brokers will sometimes claim to have not received a deposit after it has been made. Always request proof of payment when depositing. 
• Unresponsive Customer Service: In many cases, the customer service team at bad brokers will ignore complaints or requests for assistance – especially when dealing with any of the problems listed above. 
• Paywalled/Limited Demo Accounts: Demo accounts are the best educational tool beginner Forex traders have. Brokers that require new traders to open a live account before they can open a demo account, or close demo accounts after a short time period, are trying to force beginners to start trading before they are ready.

If you have experienced any of the issues listed above and the broker has a licence from the CMA, you can always submit a complaint via the CMA’s complaints form here.

How to Compare Forex Brokers in Kenya

Though Forex brokers might appear to be similar, they are quite different once you dig a little deeper, and account conditions will vary for Kenyan residents. These are some of the most common questions traders will have when comparing Forex brokers.

Forex Brokers for Beginners

• Do I need a broker to trade Forex?
• Which is the best broker in Kenya?
• Which is the best broker for beginners?
• Which broker has the best demo trading account?
• Are Forex brokers in Kenya reliable?
• How do I choose a Forex broker?
• How do Forex brokers make money?

Forex Broker Fees and Trading Costs: 

• Which brokers have the lowest trading costs?
• How do I make a deposit with a broker?
• How do I make a withdrawal from a broker?
• Which broker has the lowest minimum deposit?
• How do I calculate trading costs?

Other Trading Options

• Which broker has the highest leverage?
• Which broker has the most CFDs?
• Which broker has the most currency pairs?
• Which broker is the best for professional traders?
• What are managed Forex trading accounts?

Forex Broker Regulation

• How do I know if a Forex broker is regulated?
• How do I check if a Forex broker is licenced by the CMA?

Forex Broker Customer Support:

• Which Forex broker has the best customer support?

Forex Trading Platforms:

• Which forex broker has the best platform?
• Which is the best platform for Forex?

Yes, you will need a broker to trade Forex. Connecting traders to the Forex market is an expensive and technically complex business. It’s important to choose a regulated Forex broker with low costs and a history of treating its clients fairly. 

The best broker in Kenya is AvaTrade. Avatrade’s fees are low, with a 100 USD minimum deposit and tight spreads. AvaTrade clients can trade Forex, cryptocurrencies, commodities, indices, stocks, bonds, vanilla options, and ETFs and have a choice of trading platforms and useful trading tools. Finally, the AvaTradeGo mobile app is one of the best-designed trading apps in the world; it’s easy for beginners to learn but with the functionality required by experienced traders.

IG Markets is the best broker for beginners in Kenya. IG Markets, with no minimum deposit requirement, has very low trading costs and negative balance protection as standard, making it an excellent low-risk option for new traders. Award-winning customer support is available 24/5 via email, live chat, and telephone.  IG Markets also has a great education section, with articles, video tutorials, frequent webinars, advanced trading strategies, and chart analysis.

If you are looking for a reliable regulated broker for beginners, some other good options are:

Scroll for more details

Broker

Broker Score

Beginner Friendly

Beginner Course

Experienced Course

Webinars

Printable Ebook

Unlimited Demo

Support Hours

Min. Deposit

Compare

4.69 ^/5

Read Review

Excellent

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

24/5

USD 0

4.68 ^/5

Read Review

Excellent

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

24/5

USD 100

4.62 ^/5

Read Review

Excellent

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

24/5

USD 100

4.59 ^/5

Read Review

Excellent

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

24/5

USD 100

4.58 ^/5

Read Review

Excellent

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

24/5

USD 100

HotForex also has the best demo trading account in Kenya. The HotForex demo account never expires and comes with 100,000 USD preloaded on either the MT4 or MT5 trading platform. 

Some other brokers with great demo accounts and strong regulation are:

Scroll for more details

Broker

Broker Score

Unlimited Demo

All Regulators

Beginner Friendly

Beginner Course

Experienced Course

Beginner Videos

Advanced Videos

Webinars

No. of FX Pairs

Compare

4.69 ^/5

Read Review

Yes

Excellent

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

80

4.68 ^/5

Read Review

Yes

Excellent

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

56

4.58 ^/5

Read Review

Yes

Excellent

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

62

4.53 ^/5

Read Review

Yes

Excellent

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

55

4.53 ^/5

Read Review

Yes

Excellent

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

53

Yes, most Forex brokers in Kenya are reliable and trustworthy. The most reliable brokers in Kenya are regulated by the CMA and a set of reputable international regulations. They should also have a history of treating Kenyan traders fairly. If you are unsure about the reliability of your Forex broker, you can check our list of brokers to avoid.

When choosing a Forex broker there are three things to consider:

1. Regulation: Make sure you choose a broker regulated by the CMA in Kenya or one of the other major regulators like CySEC (Europe), ASIC (Australia) or the FCA (UK). Regulated brokers have better security and will treat their traders fairly
2. Cost: Look for a broker with a low minimum deposit and low fees. Broker fees will include the spread, commission and deposit and withdrawal fees. 
3. Education: If you’re a beginner you will want a broker with good educational content. All of the brokers on our Best Brokers for Beginners page have high-quality education for beginners.

Some brokers (called market makers) only make money from the spread – the difference between the buying and selling price of the currency pair. These brokers will be the counterparty to any trade, so they make money when clients lose trades. 

Other brokers (called ECNs) have tight spreads but make money from commissions, which are charged every time a trade is opened or closed. This type of broker makes money whether a client wins or loses.

Tickmill is the broker with the lowest fees, with the total trading cost on its Pro Account equalling 0.4 pips on the EUR/USD, this includes a 0 pip minimum spread and a round turn commission of 4 USD per 100,000 traded. 

Other brokers with low trading costs are:

Scroll for more details

Broker

Broker Score

Cost of Trading

Regulators

Min. Deposit

Max. Leverage (Forex)

EUR/USD

USD/JPY

GBP/USD

Account Types

Trading Commission

Compare

4.41 ^/5

Read Review

USD 4.50

AUD 0

30:1

0 pips

0 pips

0 pips

ECN/DMA

4.5 AUD / lot (EUR/USD)

4.69 ^/5

Read Review

USD 6

USD 0

200:1

0.85 pips

0.94 pips

1.40 pips

Market Maker

Fees Included in Spread

4.58 ^/5

Read Review

USD 6

USD 100

500:1

0.10 pips

0.10 pips

0.30 pips

STP

6 USD/lot

4.45 ^/5

Read Review

USD 6

USD 5

1000:1

0.60 pips

0.60 pips

0.60 pips

Market Maker

Fees Included in Spread

4.40 ^/5

Read Review

USD 6

AUD 100

500:1

0 pips

0 pips

0.10 pips

ECN/DMA

6 USD / lot - RAW Accounts

Broker fees are split into the trading costs, which is the total of the spread and commission, and non-trading fees such as deposit and withdrawal fees. 

The spread is the difference between the buy and sell price of a Forex pair and is measured in pips, the smaller or “tighter” the spread the less money you spend when you make a trade. A commission is charged by some brokers every time a trade is opened or closed. 

Making a deposit with a broker is a simple process. Once you have signed up and opened a  live account you will be given a few options. Most brokers in Kenya will accept local bank transfers, credit cards, online payment solutions like Ozow and Payfast, and eWallets like Neteller and Skrill. Bank transfers usually take 1-2 days to process and may have a fee attached but all other deposit methods are usually instant and free. 

To make a withdrawal from a broker you must have enough money in your trading account after deducting the margin needed to keep any trades open. Once you know how much you can withdraw, you can make a withdrawal request via your account dashboard. To prevent money laundering, Kenyan brokers will only let you withdraw the same amount as your initial deposit back to your credit card or eWallet. Anything more than this will have to be withdrawn to a bank account in your name. 

Exness is the broker with the lowest minimum deposit. Exness has three standard accounts which are advertised as having no required minimum deposit. This is not entirely true as the minimum deposit Exness accepts from Kenyan credit cards or bank accounts is 3 US dollars. Other regulated brokers in Kenya with low minimum deposits are:

Scroll for more details

Broker

Broker Score

Min. Deposit

Regulators

Max. Leverage

Cost of Trading

Negative Balance Protection (Default)

EUR/USD

USD/JPY

GBP/USD

Compare

4.69 ^/5

Read Review

USD 0

200:1

USD 6

Yes

0.85 pips

0.94 pips

1.40 pips

4.61 ^/5

Read Review

USD 0

400:1

USD 10

Yes

0.17 pips

0.26 pips

0.59 pips

4.53 ^/5

Read Review

USD 0

400:1

USD 10

Yes

0.10 pips

0.30 pips

0.50 pips

4.44 ^/5

Read Review

USD 0

500:1

USD 10

Yes

0.00 pips

0.10 pips

0.10 pips

4.43 ^/5

Read Review

USD 0

500:1

USD 11

Yes

0.00 pips

0.00 pips

0.00 pips

With most brokers, larger deposits usually unlock lower trading costs and other perks. What level of minimum deposit you are comfortable with depends on your financial situation.  

When trading Forex, the total trading cost is the spread on the currency pair you are trading plus any commission your broker may charge. If you keep a trade open overnight you will also be charged a rollover (or “swap”) fee, which will be deducted automatically from your account. Major pairs, such as the EUR/USD or USD/JPY have tighter spreads and are cheaper to trade.

FBS offers the highest leverage of any Forex broker in Kenya. On three of their five accounts, leverage of 1:3000 is available. Other brokers in Kenya with high levels are leverage are:

Scroll for more details

Broker

Broker Score

Max. Leverage

Min. Deposit

Cost of Trading

EUR/USD

USD/JPY

GBP/USD

Compare

4.33 ^/5

Read Review

3000:1

USD 5

USD 7

0.70 pips

1.00 pips

0.90 pips

4.27 ^/5

Read Review

2000:1

USD 10

USD 15

0.00 pips

0.00 pips

0.20 pips

4.45 ^/5

Read Review

1000:1

USD 5

USD 6

0.60 pips

0.60 pips

0.60 pips

3.68 ^/5

Read Review

1000:1

USD 250

USD 17

0.70 pips

1.60 pips

2.00 pips

3.63 ^/5

Read Review

1000:1

USD 10

USD 20

0.30 pips

0.20 pips

0.40 pips

Leverage is money borrowed from your Forex broker to increase the size of a Forex trade. Leverage is essential in Forex trading because the movements of the market are too small to make a decent profit unless you place thousands of dollars on each trade. Leverage can be used to make large profits with a little of your own money, but you can also quickly lose more than your original investment.

IG Markets is the broker with the most CFDs to trade. IG Markets offers trading on over 17,000 instruments, including Forex, indices, share CFDs, commodities, cryptocurrencies, digital 100s, options, ETFs, bonds, and interest rates.

Other brokers with a wide range of instruments to trade are:

Scroll for more details

Broker

Broker Score

Total # CFDs

# FX Pairs

Regulators

Min. Deposit

Max. Leverage (Forex)

Cost of Trading

Negative Balance Protection (Default)

Trading Commission

Compare

4.28 ^/5

Read Review

26115

70

USD 0

500:1

USD 8

No

Fees Included in Spread

4.33 ^/5

Read Review

20108

50

USD 50

500:1

USD 15

No

3 USD / lot

4.69 ^/5

Read Review

19295

80

USD 0

200:1

USD 6

Yes

Fees Included in Spread

4.40 ^/5

Read Review

10162

70

AUD 100

500:1

USD 6

Yes

6 USD / lot - RAW Accounts

3.60 ^/5

Read Review

8071

43

USD 0

1000:1

USD 6

No

6 USD / lot

Swissquote is the Broker with the most currency pairs, with over 130 currency crosses to trade. As part of a larger banking group, Swissquote is very well regulated and is one of the most secure brokers in the world. Swissquote targets professional traders and minimum deposits are high, starting at 1000 USD on its entry-level account.

Other Forex brokers with a larger than usual selection of currency pairs to trade are:

Scroll for more details

Broker

Broker Score

Forex Pairs

Crypto Pairs

Regulators

Min. Deposit

Max. Forex Leverage

Cost of Trading

EUR/USD

USD/JPY

GBP/USD

Compare

4.32 ^/5

Read Review

100

34

USD 3

Unlimited:1

USD 7

0 pips

0 pips

0.10 pips

4.61 ^/5

Read Review

100

19

USD 0

400:1

USD 10

0.17 pips

0.26 pips

0.59 pips

4.62 ^/5

Read Review

91

8

USD 100

200:1

USD 7

0.70 pips

1.40 pips

1.10 pips

4.00 ^/5

Read Review

84

12

USD 1000

100:1

USD 13

1.30 pips

1.60 pips

2.00 pips

4.28 ^/5

Read Review

82

42

USD 25

500:1

USD 8

0.10 pips

0.30 pips

0.60 pips

Pepperstone is the best broker for professional traders. An ECN broker with extensive liquidity streams, Pepperstone supports all three major trading platforms (MT4, MT5 and cTrader) and has some of the tightest spreads in the industry (0.09 pips EUR/USD spread on its Razor Account). 

Commissions are low and there are no minimum deposit requirements. Commissions can be further reduced by becoming a member of Pepperstone’s Active Trader Program. The Active Trader Program has a number of other advantages for high-volume traders, including a free VPS service and priority customer support.

Some brokers will operate a managed account for you, but this is rare. There are independent money managers who can manage your account while they are trading for themselves. The minimum deposit requirements and additional risks involved when trading CFDs is different than on retail accounts.

If you have any questions after reading through this guide, please get in touch with us in the comments at the bottom of the page.

All regulated brokers are required to display their licence number and the authority they received it from on their website. These licence numbers can be easily verified on the regulatory authority’s website. Some scam brokers will use similar names to legitimate businesses, so make sure the name of the licence holder on the regulator’s website matches the broker’s details.

All Forex brokers that are regulated by the CMA are required to publish their Financial Service Provider (FSP) licence number on their website. Once you have the FSP number of a broker you can go use the CMA’s search page to enter the FSP and verify that the broker is indeed licenced.

How Can I Report Scam brokers?

If you believe you have been scammed by your broker, the first thing to do is warn others and tell your story. You can contact the CMA’s complaints department here and ask them to investigate. We also have a report a scam broker form which we use to gather information so that we get the word out.  If you have been scammed, please complete the form.

KhweziTrade is the South Africa broker with the Best Customer Support. KhweziTrade’s client support team is knowledgeable and helpful and all requests are answered quickly and efficiently. Kenyan traders are offered a personalised experience, with all traders receiving a personal account manager. 

Marketsx is a trading platform from Markets.com, offers trading accounts on the Marketsx platform to trade over 2,200 financial instruments. The platform also offers advanced charting, making it easier to spot trends and identify new trading opportunities. Marketsx also allows traders to use five types of indicators once, overlay multiple assets, or compare up to eight instruments side-by-side. Marketsx is available on mobile devices and via the markets.com website. 

Currently, MetaTrader 4 (MT4) is the best platform for trading Forex. MT4 has been around since 2005 but is supported by most Forex brokers and used by millions of traders around the world. MT4 is resource-efficient, fast, and can run on older hardware without any issue. It’s also fully customisable and can handle multiple trading accounts from different brokers with a single installation.

MT4 is particularly valued for its automated trading facilities. Traders can create or buy algorithmic trading robots and install them on their version of MT4 to automate trading or assist in decision making. It’s also possible to copy other traders through the MT4 trading signals facility. 

Trading with Regulated Offshore Brokers in Kenya

As mentioned, there are several scam brokers currently operating in Kenya, and the few CMA licenced brokers are greatly restricted in the trading conditions they can offer. The safest and most profitable way to trade Forex CFDs in Kenya is to trade with a well-regulated offshore broker.

Most of the larger international brokers are regulated by one of three trusted government authorities, the most trusted authorities in the world are:

• The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
• The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC)

It is crucial to choose a broker that is regulated by at least one of these authorities, and you will find that some are regulated by more than one. The FCA is seen as the most rigorous of these authorities, as they charge a much higher licencing fee and require brokers to have more operating capital than ASIC or CySEC.

All of these regulators have much higher operating capital requirements than the Kenyan CMA and impose much stricter oversight and auditing of the brokers under their supervision, thereby ensuring a fair and secure trading environment.

Brokers with regulation from one of these authorities often have regulatory oversight from smaller, more lenient, regulators too. This allows them to offer a different range of products to overseas clients. For instance, the UK’s FCA requires that maximum leverage is set at 30:1, but an FCA-regulated broker with a subsidiary company regulated by the Mauritius Financial Services Commission (FSC) would be able to offer leverage of 400:1 to clients outside the UK and Europe.

While regulators like the Mauritian FSC are not as well regarded as the FCA, ASIC or CySEC, most of the brokers we recommend for Kenyan traders are regulated by at least one of the major regulators alongside any more lenient authorities.

Forex Risk Disclaimer

Trading Forex and CFDs is not suitable for all investors as it carries a high degree of risk to your capital: 75-90% of retail investors lose money trading these products. Forex and CFD transactions involve high risk due to the following factors: Leverage, market volatility, slippage arising from a lack of liquidity, inadequate trading knowledge or experience, and a lack of regulatory protection. Traders should not deposit any money that is not considered disposable income. Regardless of how much research you have done or how confident you are in your trade, there is always a substantial risk of loss. (Learn more about these risks from the UK’s regulator, the FCA, or the Australian regulator, ASIC).

Our Rating & Review Methodology

Our State of the Market Report and Directory of CFD Brokers to Avoid are the result of extensive research on over 180 Forex brokers. These resources help traders find the best Forex brokers – and steer them away from the worst ones. These resources have been compiled using over 200 data points on each broker and over 3000 hours of research. Our team conducts all research independently: Testing brokers, gathering information from broker representatives and sifting through legal documents. Learn more about how we rank brokers.

Editorial Team

 

Chris Cammack
Head of Content

Chris joined the company in 2019 after ten years experience in research, editorial and design for political and financial publications. His background has given him a deep knowledge of international financial markets and the geopolitics that affects them. Chris has a keen eye for editing and a voracious appetite for financial and political current affairs. He ensures that our content across all sites meets the standards of quality and transparency that our readers expect.

 

Alison Heyerdahl
Senior Financial Writer

Alison joined the team as a writer in 2021. She has a medical degree with a focus on physiotherapy and a bachelor’s in psychology. However, her interest in forex trading and her love for writing led her to switch careers, and she now has over eight years experience in research and content development. She has tested and reviewed 100+ brokers and has a great understanding of the Forex trading world.

 

Ida Hermansen
Financial Writer

Ida joined our team as a financial writer in 2023. She has a degree in Digital Marketing and a background in content writing and SEO. In addition to her marketing and writing skills, Ida also has an interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks. Her interest in crypto trading led to a wider fascination with Forex technical analysis and price movement. She continues to develop her skills and knowledge in Forex trading and keeps a close eye on which Forex brokers offer the best trading environments for new traders.