Dubai’s main financial sectors market regulator is the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). The DFSA is a renowned regulatory body that licenses and authorizes numerous local and international brokerage companies. The DFSA is a separate organization independent from the government and does not officially monitor the whole market of the United Arab Emirates, it is responsible for the Dubai financial markets only.
The regulatory body of Dubai has been existing for quite some time now and all Dubai regulated Forex brokers are obliged to hold a license from DFSA. DFSA is considered to be one of the most liberal authorities in the world and that is why it often cooperates with many different regulatory bodies worldwide under the bi-lateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). DFSA cooperates with famous institutions globally such as the Securities and Exchanges Commission in Cyprus (CySEC), the Securities and Investments Commission in Australia (ASIC), European Securities and Markets Authority in Europe (ESMA), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and many others.
Due to its highly liberal approaches to economic and financial sectors, Dubai has no tax obligations for Forex traders in the region. Apart from the exemption from taxation, Forex traders are not limited in leverage levels offered by the brokers. Furthermore, there are numerous payment methods supported with the best Dubai Forex brokers including e-payment platforms like PayPal and Skrill, as well as traditional solutions of bank wire transfers and credit/debit card payments.
However, the national currency of UAE – the United Arab Emirates dirham (AED) is not available for trading as part of the Forex currency pairs. Since AED is not in high demand and is not present in Forex currency pairs portfolios, Dubai Forex traders go for regional currency pairs such as Japanese yen (JPY) or Singapore Dollar (SGD).
Even though DFSA is the main market regulator in Dubai, many Forex traders of the region trade with international brokerage companies who hold multiple licenses from the regulators within other jurisdictions, as well, such as the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and so on. However, we recommend that you choose your broker from the below list of the top DFSA regulated Forex brokers.
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.
Forex brokers in Dubai are regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), which is the main regulatory body in the region. It is an independent regulator within the financial free zone of Dubai. The regulatory framework of the institution covers asset management, banking services, securities, commodities for futures trading, Islamic trading, derivatives exchange, and international equities exchange. Therefore, the regulatory body monitors almost every aspect of various financial sectors within the region. In addition to these regulations, DFSA also licenses Forex brokers in Dubai UAE and sets out standards that these brokerage companies have to follow.
The DFSA also enforces anti-money laundering (AML) laws and actively investigates all cases of fraud, identity theft, and cybercrime in Forex or other securities markets. In contrast to other regulatory authorities in Asia, DFSA is not a strict regulator and does not incorporate restrictions on the usage of leverage, demand margin requirements, or limit the bonus offerings to Forex traders as found in the European Union trading zone.
Trade with DFSA authorized broker HotForex
The best thing about Forex trading in Dubai is the fact that there are no taxes payable on Forex earnings. Dubai is an economic free zone with the main focus on encouraging foreign and local investments, tax-free business operations, and liberalized legal frameworks. Therefore, all Forex traders and investors in the market are exempt from tax fees. Hence, traders can freely engage in online Forex trading in Dubai and retain all earnings and profits that they generate through trading with the currency pairs. It does not matter whether you are trading with DFSA-regulated brokerages or international broker companies, if you are a resident of the United Arab Emirates you do not have to pay for the taxes.
The local currency of the United Arab Emirates – The United Arab Emirates dirham (AED) is not available as part of the Forex tradable currency pairs. Even though, AED is a free currency and not pegged to any other currency it does not represent an attractive asset for Forex traders for a simple reason. There is not enough AED in circulation on an international scale and therefore the demand is low. That is why you will hardly find any AED currency pairs within the portfolios of the best Forex, or ECN brokers in Dubai.
However, Forex traders in Dubai have an option to trade with Asian currency pairs such as the Japanese yen (JPY) or the Singapore dollar (SGD). While the latter is an exotic currency found with a limited number of Forex brokers, JPY is part of the major currency pairs in the Forex industry. Almost every top Forex broker Dubai will offer Japanese yen against USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, and so on.
Trade USD/JPY with 1.7 pips at HotForex
The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) does not restrict the leverage levels with the Forex brokers. Thanks to its liberal policies the brokers have the freedom to set their own leverage limits. If you go through every Forex brokers in Dubai review you will notice that over 80% of them offer maximum leverage limits between 1:500 to 1:1000, which is quite flexible both for beginner and advanced traders. Often, the leverage amounts will depend on the trading account types of the brokers or the size of the trading capital or equity of the trader. However, we do not recommend trading with sky-high leverages as they impose significant risks to your financial resources.
Since Dubai is one of the most significant international finance centers the brokers operating there offer almost every kind of payment solution ranging from traditional bank transfers to modern e-payment platforms. You can fund your Forex trading account in Dubai through bank wire transfer, or Visa/Mastercard debit and credit cards if you are in favor of the common traditional payment systems. However, if you have switched to online payments and innovative e-wallet options you can choose to process your payments through Skrill, PayPal, AstroPay, M-Pesa, and similar e-payment platforms.
Use Skrill for your payments with HotForex
Dubai had one of the most famous scandals related to Forex scams in recent years. There was a massive fraud that scammed over 6000 investors from Dubai. The combined losses were estimated to exceed 300 million US dollars. The scam brokerage company promised traders to gain more than 120% return on their investment in this Dubai foreign exchange fraud. Obviously, the traders were never able to withdraw their deposits or the profits. The investigation was conducted by the Dubai Financial Services Authority in cooperation with UK-based cybercrime departments.
Even though Dubai is one of the safest places to start trading Forex, there are certain signs where you should try your best to avoid the scam broker. If the broker does not hold any regulation neither from DFSA or any other market regulator that is recognized worldwide you should reject its offer no matter how attractive the promises sound. Furthermore, if you find that the broker reviews are overly negative it is also an alarming sign to leave the broker and look for alternatives.
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