Best Forex Brokers in Dubai, UAE 2022

To come up with this list, we have tested several Forex brokers Dubai holding DFSA licenses in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

We opened a real account and deposited between €4,000 and €6,000 with each broker. We placed real trades in each popular market to get the real spreads.

We also reached out to customer support to solve issues that we had encountered. Finally, we withdrew our funds to see if there is any issue with the withdrawal process.

We handpick the best forex brokers based on our trading data and experience as a trader.

UAE DFSA Regulations for Forex Brokers

The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) license is the most desired operating license for operating forex brokerage businesses based in Dubai, UAE. The DFSA license was launched by the similarly named regulator in 2004 and was targeted to the foreign companies willing to establish companies in Dubai. It is awarded to the financial firms, including forex brokers, based in the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC).

DFSA’s official website is www.dfsa.ae. Though DFSA does not have a Twitter handle, we recommend investors and traders follow DIFC on Twitter, @DIFC, for important updates.

There are multiple regulated forex broker regulators in the UAE (in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi). Apart from the DFSA, all the UAE regulators need the brokerages to have a UAE citizen as the majority shareholder. The DFSA was created to open up Dubai to global financial companies.

DFSA is a reputed financial market regulator and imposes strict regulations on the companies overseen by it. It actively supervises the regulated companies and needs them to regularly report on the business activities.

Retail forex brokers holding the DFSA license can oper maximum leverage of 50:1. These brokers should offer swap-free accounts to Islamic traders and have to show a standard risk disclosure statement to their traders.

On the negative side, DFSA does not offer any compensation scheme and negative balance protection.

DFSA imported most of its regulations from the United Kingdom’s financial market regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, which is deemed as one of the top regulators.

Some of the key highlights of trading with DFSA-regulated brokers:

🏦Regulator	Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA)
📊Max. Leverage	50:1
🛡️Is It safe to trade	Yes
🔒Negative Balance Protection	No
💰Compensation Scheme	No

Best Forex Trading Brokers in UAE

To select the best DFSA-regulated forex brokers, we have tested and reviewed several forex brokers. We opened a live account, deposited real money, and placed real trades with each broker. With our test, we got a picture of the real spreads and commissions, trading platforms, deposit and withdrawal conditions, educational resources, and customer services.

• HYCM – Best Overall Forex Broker in UAE
• XM – Best Forex Broker for Beginners in UAE
• AxiTrader – Best MT4 Broker in UAE
• CMC Markets – Best Forex Trading Platform in UAE
• AvaTrade – Best Forex Broker with Lowest Spread & Trading Fees in UAE

Best Overall Forex Broker in UAE

We picked HYCM as the overall best forex broker in UAE. 

HYCM is one of the industry-leading brokers with over 40 years of operation. It is the overall best forex broker operating in Dubai with its extended and versatile services. It is headquartered in London, UK but holds multiple global regulatory licenses, including DFSA.

HYCM offers trading services with forex and CFDs of forex, indices, stocks, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. It also provides trading on industry-standard platforms: MT4 and MT5. The broker offers competitive low spreads starting from 0.1 pips for its Raw account.

HYCM also allows high leverage of 500:1 to its clients from Dubai.

Best Forex Broker for Beginners in UAE

We picked XM as the best forex broker for beginners in UAE. 

XM offers some of the best educational resources on forex trading, which is very essential for beginner traders. It offers forex guides to platform tutorials and also conducts webinars and seminars.

XM offers a vast arsenal of indicators and tools for market research and analysis. Beginner traders can also execute trades on a demo account without risking it with real money. It also has an excellent customer support desk.

Best MT4 Broker in UAE

We picked AxiTrader as the best MT4 broker in UAE. 

AxiTrader (formerly Axi) aces as the best MT4 forex trading platform. It offers trading services only on the industry-standard MT4, which was developed by MetaQuotes Software. Its market search tools are inbuilt into the MT4 platform.

AxiTrader offers MT4 clients on all platforms: web, desktop, and mobile.

Best Forex Trading Platform in UAE

We picked CMC Markets as the best forex trading platform in UAE.

CMC Markets remains the best forex trading platform for many reasons. It offers 339 currency pairs for trading, which is one of the highest in the industry. It also offers trading services with forex options products.

The broker also aces when it comes to trading fees as it charges some of the lowest industry spreads. It offers trading on MT4 and its proprietary platform and offers trading with a wide range of instruments.

Lowest Spread & Trading Fee Forex Broker in UAE

We picked AvaTrade as the best forex broker with the lowest spread and trading fees in UAE.

AvaTrade offers very competitive spreads on currency pairs. Based on our testing, the broker offers an average spread of 0.87 pips on the EUR/USD pair, which is much lower than the industry average of 1.6 pips. Its spreads are also attractive for CFD trading instruments, other than forex.

AvaTrade does not charge any commission on trades and does not have any deposit and withdrawal fees.

DFSA-Regulated Forex Brokers List & Review

Here is a list of some of the major DFSA-regulated forex brokers:

UAE Forex Broker	DFSA Regulated	Visit Broker
Pepperstone	Yes	Visit Pepperstone
IG Markets	Yes	Visit IG Markets
CMC Markets	Yes	Visit CMC Markets
AvaTrade	Yes	Visit AvaTrade
XM	Yes	Visit XM
AxiTrader	Yes	Visit AxiTrader
Amana Capital	Yes	Visit Amana Capital
HYCM	Yes	Visit HYCM
Swissquote	Yes	Visit Swissquote

FAQ & More on UAE Brokers

Traders usually have many questions related to trading generic trading-related queries. We tried to pick and answer some of the most important queries related to DFSA-regulated brokers.

How to Verify DFSA-Regulated Brokers?

All DFSA-regulated forex brokers are listed on the public registry maintained by the regulator, which is the most reliable and legitimate source to check license details.

Go to www.dfsa.ae/public-register/firms and search for the forex broker’s name on the search box. The incorporated name of the broker will then appear and licensing details of it can be seen just by clicking on the name.

Forex Trading Brokers in Dubai

Foreign retail forex brokers are mostly based in Dubai, within the economic zone of Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC). Many reputed forex brokers have started operating from Dubai due to the potential in the region.

Some of the forex brokers in Dubai are:

• Pepperstone
• Amana Capital
• CMC Markets
• XM

MT4 Forex Company Dubai

Many forex brokers still prefer to provide trading services on MT4 trading platform due to its popularity.

Some of the top DFSA-regulated forex brokers offering trading on MT4 are:

• Amana Capital
• Swissquote
• Pepperstone

Low Spread Forex Brokers in Dubai

Spreads charged on currency pairs can make or break the business of a forex broker. It is one of the primary sources of earning for the brokers, but higher spreads will push traders away.

Some DFSA-regulated low spread forex brokers are:

• CMC Markets
• Swissquote
• AvaTrade

CFD Trading Dubai UAE

Contract for Difference or CFDs are agreements between buyers and sellers of financial derivatives, settled in cash upon closing. These are complex financial instruments.
The advantages of CFD trading Dubai UAE are that CFDs are leveraged products, thus traders are able to take big positions with small margins. There is also an opportunity to hedge instruments.

Some of the CFD brokers in Dubai UAE are:

• Pepperstone
• AvaTrade
• IG
• XM

Tax in Dubai UAE for Forex Trading

Forex trading in Dubai is tax-free.

Generally, Dubai is known for its lowest rates of taxes. Commonly, there is no income tax or capital tax in Dubai UAE.