There are three major financial regulators in Qatar: the Central Bank of Qatar (CBQ), the Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA), and the QFC Regulatory Authority (QFCRA). Whereas, the Central Bank of Qatar has been a dominant decision-maker on the market previously, nowadays, almost every regulatory function and responsibility lies on QFMA and QFCRA. The main difference between these two institutions is that QFMA mainly issues regulations and establishes the legal framework in cooperation with the Central Bank of Qatar, whereas QFCRA investigates the financial crimes and seeks protection of the Qatar traders. Both of these bodies authorize and license Forex brokers in Qatar, as well.
Qatar is one of the active players on an international trading scene and that is why most Qatar traders trade with international brokerage companies. Both QFMA and QFCRA support this approach and they do not prohibit trading with offshore or multinational brokers. Mostly, Qatar Forex traders will choose the brokers that hold regional authorization from the regulatory bodies such as the Financial Services Agency in Japan (FSA) or the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
The national currency of the country, the Qatari riyal (QAR) is not a tradeable Forex asset for one main reason. The currency issued by the Central Bank of Qatar is pegged to the United States dollar at a fixed rate of 3.64 QAR for 1 USD. The peg is active since July 2001. In general, pegged currencies are not attractive assets in the Forex trading industry since the price movement of such currencies is highly predictable and will closely follow the path of the currency to which it is pegged. Hence, Qatar traders will instead trade with the most dominant Asian currency – JPY and its major pairs.
The best thing about Forex online trading in Qatar is that there are no taxes applicable to your trading earnings. Furthermore, there are various payment methods available for the traders in the country including PayPal, Skrill, Bank wire transfers, Visa/Mastercard, AstroPay and etc.
Even though QFCRA and QFMA are the main regulatory bodies of the country and they license the existing brokerage companies within Qatar, not many local traders choose to operate with those brokers. The regulatory authorities encourage Qatar traders to trade with international brokers, as well. Therefore, traders prefer to choose multi-regulated Forex brokers in Asia that accept Qatar traders and present the best conditions for Forex. The list of the top Forex brokers in Qatar with multiple industry regulations is provided 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.
As we have mentioned previously, the three main financial regulators of Qatar markets are the Central Bank of Qatar (CBQ), the Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA), and the Qatar Financial Center Regulatory Authority (QFCRA). All three of them participate in monitoring the foreign exchange market in the country, however, they still share different responsibilities and functions, which we will describe in greater detail below. It has to be noted that since these organizations do not license more than 20 local brokerage companies the very best Forex brokers in Qatar would be international brokers with numerous licenses from other Asian market regulators, such as FSA and MAS.
Trade with an FSA authorized broker AvaTrade
The Central Bank of Qatar was officially known as the Qatar Monetary Agency until 1993. At this point, it was a sole market regulator in the country with no other regulatory bodies or institutions existing. It was responsible for monitoring the financial sectors and controlling the exchange rate of the national currency Qatari riyal. Therefore, the Qatari brokers were approved by CBQ before the establishment of QFMA and QFCRA. Today, the main interaction of the Forex market and the CBQ is found in the regulations issued by the bank that dictate the USD peg of QAR and foreign exchange policies.
QFMA was previously a merger of several institutions including the Doha Securities Market (DSM) until 2005. Since 2005, the institution works in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and the Central Bank of Qatar to advance Qatari capital markets to serve as a model for financial services. The main mission of the organization is to protect the investors, maintain Qatari capital markets’ stability and develop the proficiency and knowledge for enhancing the growth and diversity of the national economy. The QFMA regulates brokerage companies who provide the following services:
The Qatar Financial Center Regulatory Authority (QFCRA) is one of the leading regulatory bodies not only in Qatar but in the Middle East. Together with QFMA, it was also established in 2005 under law No. 7 of 2005 of the State of Qatar. The main function of the body is to authorize, monitor, and regulate companies and/or individuals conducting financial services in or from the QFC. One of the major advancements that QFCRA has brought in the region is its excellent work to investigate and punish any money-laundering activities, identity theft, and related crimes in the Forex industry of Qatar.
Qatar is another financial haven for investors as there are no income taxes or capital gain taxes applicable to individual earnings from trading. The Capital Gains Tax (CGT) that operates by the law of the State of Qatar is 10% of the net income. However, this tax rate only applies to corporate earnings and is taxed together with a corporate tax. If you are trading as an individual and not a legal person (a company), then you are exempt from all taxes in the country. However, corporations have to file their taxes at the end of the fiscal year otherwise they will face severe legal consequences under the Anti-avoidance law on taxes.
Qatari riyal (QAR), the national currency of the country cannot be found among the tradable Forex currency pairs. First of all, there is not enough circulation of Qatari riyal on international exchanges, making it a less attractive option to trade with QAR. However, more importantly, the currency is pegged against the US dollar at a fixed rate of 3.64 QAR for 1 US dollar. The peg is in force since 2005 and there are no future plans to remove it as per the Central Bank of Qatar’s statement. Pegged currencies are rarely found on Forex currency pairs portfolios since they do not make profitable assets. You can always predict the movement of QAR prices by following the path of the US dollar since the peg will always force QAR to resemble the fluctuations of the USD.
Alternatively, many Qatari Forex traders choose to trade with regional currency pairs notably the Japanese yen. The JPY is one of the major currencies in the Forex industry representing a dominant part of the seven major currency pairs available on the market. JPY can be traded in the following currency pairs for Qatari traders:
Trade JPY currency pairs with AvaTrade
There is no restriction on leverage and margin requirements for Forex brokers in Qatar. Qatar runs one of the most liberal frameworks for trading Forex in the country. The regulatory authorities of Qatar do not limit the offerings of the brokerage companies nor the usage of the brokerage services for the traders. However, there are certain guidelines that they issue regularly and they serve more like recommendations than the strict rules. As per the recommendations of QFMA and QFCRA, the traders are recommended to avoid using alarmingly high leverage levels such as 1:2000 and above. The leverage serves as a burrowed fund from the broker which undoubtedly boosts the profits generated by the trader but also puts the financial resources at significant risks.
Qatari Forex traders have the most diverse options for payment systems that vary from traditional banking and debit/credit cards to modern e-payment solutions. The best Forex brokers Qatar will offer the following payment methods: bank wire transfers, Mastercard/Visa credit, and debit cards, Skrill and PayPal payment platforms, M-Pesa mobile wallet, and AstroPay cards. The traders can choose from any of these options and enjoy commissionless deposits and withdrawals. The brokers will not charge for deposits or withdrawals in most cases. However, the payment solution provider companies have fixed or proportionate fees ranging from 1% to fixed rates of 1-3 US dollars per transaction.
Fund your AvaTrade account with PayPal
In 2016, there was a massive scamming attack on Forex traders in Qatar. The investigations have revealed a network of 150-odd scams that targeted several countries apart from Qatar including UAE, India, Pakistan, and Far East Asia. The individual traders have lost around 500,000 QAR to these scams until the QFCRA has caught the criminals and closed their operations. Even though nowadays there are not many scam companies operating in the Qatar trading market, international online scammers are still present worldwide. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that Qatari Forex traders take precautionary measures and read individual reviews for each Forex broker before they decide to sign up with them. One of the pure guarantees on how to avoid scams in Forex is to trade with regulated Forex brokers only that are listed within the databases of the top Forex market regulators.
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