The Forex market in Nigeria is currently regulated by the Security and Exchange Commission, which is the responsible authority for administering financial laws protecting investors. The SEC ensures that the trading market in Nigeria offers fair conditions and all the participants have a safe and positive experience while trading.
Due to the fact that the foreign exchange market is highly volatile in the country, the Nigerian government has set up some measures to regulate the industry through the Central Bank. With the foreign exchange regulations, the Central bank of Nigeria has the ability to control transactions carried out in foreign currencies.
Forex brokers in Nigeria offer plenty of reliable and secure payment methods such as Visa, Mastercard, Skrill, Neteller, and even PayPal, however, M-Pesa remains the favorite option for the majority of traders based in Nigeria.
If you are someone who is looking forward to trading in Nigeria, then you should know that all profits from Forex trading are classified as Capital Gains Tax, which can go up to 10% in total.
Considering the fact that the Forex market is growing in the country and more people are getting involved in trading, the market has more brokers available for traders. When it comes to choosing your favorite Forex trading platform, one might not know where to start – there are so many things that can influence your decision-making process. To make life easier for you, we decided to provide you with a list of the best Forex trading companies in Nigeria. You can check the table below.
5$
CySEC, FCA, ASIC
30$, 50%+20%
1:1000
2009
MT4, MT5, WebTrader
$100
CySEC, CBI, FSA, FFAJ, BVI FSC, FSCA, FSRA
1:400
2006
MT4, MT5, WebTrader, AvaTradeGO
USD 5,000
FINMA, FCA, ASIC, FSA, MAS, AFM
N/A
1:30
1992
SaxoTraderGo, SaxoTraderPro
$5
SVGFSA, FCA, DFSA, FSCA, FSA
From 30% to 100%
1:1000
2010
MT4, MT5
15
CySEC
30%
1:500
2015
MT4, WebTrader
$250
FSCA
1:200
2012
MT4, WebTrader
100$
FCA
N/A
30:1
2008
Custom
$10
Risk Warning: YOUR CAPITAL MIGHT BE AT RISK
N/A
1:1000
2013
Proprietary
10 USD
FCA, CySEC, FSA
N/A
1:Unlimited
2008
MT4, MT5, WebTerminal
$10
N/A
N/A
1:500
2019
MT4, custom
$10
1:500
MT4
250$
FCA, NFA
N/A
200:1
1999
MT4
$25
ASIC, CySEC, FSA, BVI
50%
1:400
2001
WebTrader, MT4, TradingView
100
FCA, CySEC, DIFC, CIMA
N/A
500:1
1977
MT4, MT5
$100 AUD
ASIC
N/A
500:1
2005
WebTrader, MT4, MT5, IRESS
AUD$200
ASIC, SCB, CMA, CySEC, FCA, BaFin and DFSA
N/A
1:400
2010
MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView
250 EUR
FSA (Seychelles)
None
1:200
2023
FXRoad web & mobile platforms
$50
N/A
N/A
1:500
2015
MT4
1 USD
ASIC, FCA
10 USD
1:500
2005
MT4, MT5, WebTrader
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
While the past experience with the scams and crimes undoubtedly cost many people their funds, it also allowed the birth of organizations that fight to protect the rights of the traders and ensure the overall safety of Forex trading in Nigeria. The main regulatory authority of the country – the SEC, restored the lost confidence in the online trading market due to the damage was done by the scams and Ponzi schemes.
The main organization that has the power to make the regulatory framework is the Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.). The authority has been existing for quite some time, established as a Capital Issues Committee in 1862. However, its effectiveness was not apparent till very recent times. Right now, the regulatory body is monitoring and regulating the capital market with the main purpose of protecting investors. At the same time, it actively develops the capital market to enhance the private-sector-led economy. The Investments and Securities Act issued in 2007 encompasses various topics that determine the nature of the financial markets in the country. The Act overviews the procedures related to registration of the capital market operators, or Forex trading companies in Nigeria, as well as applicable regulations. It also introduces the list of the inspections and investigations of the financial market. There are rules applicable to investors’ protection funds and the framework for trading in securities.
Start trading with a regulated broker – AvaTrade
Forex trading in Nigeria is not tax-free, and as in the majority of countries, you will have to pay taxes. Capital gains tax which applies to all your profits made from Forex trading has a flat rate of 10%. For instance, if your revenue through the year was $40000, you will simply have to give up $4000 to the government. Simple as that.
A common misperception among traders in Nigeria is that if you are trading with an international brokerage company, you do not have to pay taxes but this is very far from reality. As long as you are someone who generates profits in an international Forex trading account and stays within the borders of the country, the profit is considered taxable income and you need to declare it.
As we already mentioned earlier in our article, the local currency pair – NGN is available for trading, however, it is not a very major currency.
At the moment of writing this review, we were not able to find brokers offering NGN – Instead, we suggest that you go for top Forex brokers including XM Group, HotForex, AvaTrade, and IQ Option – on these platforms, you can find accounts/currency pairs in USD. All of these mentioned names are quite popular not only in this particular country but across the world due to the fact that they offer a reliable and safe trading process.
The Central Bank of Nigeria is the main authority that issues the currencies and also monitors the financial market to some degree. Nigerian traders in the Forex industry also have a chance to trade Naira against some of the most popular currencies such as the US Dollar, or Euro.
Start trading NGN with AvaTrade
Currently, there is no cap on leverage for Nigeria Forex brokers, meaning that they can go up to very high. However, the industry’s standard is somewhere between 200:1 and 300:1, meaning that if you ever come across something that is more than that, especially with an unlicensed broker, there is a high chance that you are dealing with a scammer.
The good news is that while trading with international brokerage companies, leverage ratios you will come across will mostly be limited, as the majority of financial regulatory bodies impose restrictions on this trading feature. The main reason behind this fact is that high leverages are considered risky – they can not only bring you big profits but can also cause losing all your funds. That’s why we advise you to check leverages before going for a specific platform as they play a big role in your trading experience.
Even though there is a number of options for payments, such as PayPal, Skrill, and Neteller, the favorite choice of payment method remains to be M-Pesa in most of the African countries. Any best Forex broker in Nigeria will essentially include M-Pesa in their list of the available payment methods.
The reason behind the popularity of the M-Pesa payment system is its incredible simplicity in terms of user-friendly platform and extra security for its users. The clients can use their mobile gadgets to control their payments and receipts in a single application. The platform also serves as an e-wallet, convenient to store the funds and to process the transactions.
Nigerian trading community is well-present on the international market of Forex. The Country allows its citizens to use most of the commonly accepted payment methods for their daily transactions. However, many Nigerians doubt the safety of the payment platforms. Especially, since the recent misfortunes within the local trading industry, the residents of Nigeria are looking for reliable payment solutions to use for depositing and withdrawing their funds from the brokers’ trading platforms.
Trade on AvaTrade using Skrill
The first and probably most important thing you should look out for is that company you are dealing with is fully licensed and regulated. Because of the boom in online trading and the highly unregulated market at the time, literally, thousands of Nigerian people were scammed out of their funds online by unregulated brokers who took their funds. And these did not apply to just Nigerian Forex brokers, but others who sought to take advantage of the growing demand for online trading services.
The Nigerian brokers that we should be considering are those that are regulated by international institutions. This includes regulators like the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySec), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), or even the United Kingdom’s Financial Services Authority.
Another thing that can make your trading experience much more enjoyable is currency diversity. The diversity allows us to offset drastic movements in the market due to market noise, observe patterns across currencies and take advantage of unique price patterns that may affect multiple currencies at once. In trading, foreign exchange diversity is your friend.
It is important that you know all the basic features of the Forex trading market before you start your trading journey, as they can help you perform better. We have created multiple guides for beginners, as well as profitable strategies that are not very hard to learn.
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