The best CFD Brokers in the UAE use one of the following 4 regulators, DFSA (Dubai), ADGM (Abu Dhabi), Central Bank of UAE, or the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA). We look at the best-regulated forex brokers in the UAE for Forex and CFD traders.
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Our List Of The Best Brokers Fore CFD Brokers Is:
| Broker Review | Our Rating | Regulation | Standard EUR/USD Spread |
Standard GBP/USD Spread |
Standard AUD/USD Spread |
Raw EUR/USD Spread |
Raw GBP/USD Spread |
Raw AUD/USD Spread |
Commissions (USD Base) |
MetaTrader 4 | MetaTrader 5 | cTrader | Execution Speed | Minimum Deposit | Currency Pairs | Crypto CFDs | Retail Leverage | Prof. Leverage | Visit Broker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Read review ›
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98 |
ASIC,DFSA, FCA,CySEC BaFin,CMA,SCB |
1.12 | 1.69 | 1.22 | 0.17 | 0.59 | 0.24 | $3.50 |
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77ms | $0 | 62+ | 12+ | 30:1 | 500:1 |
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Read review ›
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64 |
ASIC, FSCA CBI, KNF, CIRO ADGM, FSC-BVI |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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160ms | $100 | 55+ | 15+ | 30:1 | 400:1 |
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Read review ›
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71 |
ASIC, FCA, BaFin FINMA, NFA/CFTC, MAS CySEC, DFSA, FMA JFSA, BMA, FSCA |
1.13 | 1.66 | 1.01 | 0.16 | 0.59 | 0.29 | $6.00 |
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174ms | $450 | 100+ | 12+ | 30:1 | 200:1 |
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Read review ›
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54 |
ASIC, FINMA FCA, MAS |
1.20 | 1.8 | 0.9 | - | - | - | - |
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135ms | $2000 | 209+ | 9+ | 50:1 | 50:1 |
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Read review ›
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67 |
ASIC,FCA ,DFSA,FMA |
1.2 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 0.44 | 0.85 | 0.42 | $3.50 |
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90ms | $0 | 72+ | 11+ | 30:1 | 400:1 |
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Read review ›
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55 |
ASIC, FCA CYSEC, DFSA, IFSC |
1.6 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 0.10 | 0.20 | 0.40 | $3.50 |
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148ms | $5-$100 | 57+ | - | 30:1 | 400:1 |
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Read review ›
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46 |
FCA, DFSA, CySEC BaFin, CMNV, KNF |
0.9 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.14 | 0.13 | - |
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160ms | $250 | 49+ | 16+ | 30:1 | 500:1 |
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Forex Panel Score
Average Spread
EUR/USD = 0.1
GBP/USD = 0.4
AUD/USD = 0.2
Trading Platforms
MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView
Minimum Deposit
$0
Why We Recommend Pepperstone
Pepperstone is a no-dealing desk broker that offers lightning-fast execution times (less than 30 ms) and small spreads by working with the finest available liquidity sources. It provides transactions with leverage of up to 30:1. Pepperstone offers 62 currency pairs, including the EUR/USD and other well-known ones, in addition to 20 CFDs on cryptocurrencies, 23 CFDs on indices, 900+ CFDs on equities, and over 30 CFDs on commodities.
Pros & Cons
Broker Details
FAST EXECUTION SPEEDS
Pepperstone stands out with some of the fastest execution speeds out there, based on our testing. When we ran EAs using the popular MT4 trading platform for both limit and market orders, we found Pepperstone had fast execution speeds of 77ms for limit orders and 100ms for market orders.
| Broker | Overall | Limit Order Speed | Limit Order Rank | Market Order Speed | Market Order Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pepperstone | 3 | 77 | 2 | 100 | 5 |
| Axi | 8 | 90 | 4 | 164 | 16 |
| FxPro | 12 | 151 | 16 | 138 | 9 |
| Admiral Markets | 15 | 132 | 9 | 182 | 18 |
| IG Group | 17 | 174 | 19 | 141 | 11 |
| XM | 19 | 148 | 14 | 184 | 19 |
| ThinkMarkets | 20 | 161 | 18 | 248 | 20 |
This put Pepperstone as the third fastest broker overall, just behind BlackBull Markets and Fusion Markets, but amongst the fastest forex brokers in the UAE.
COMPETITIVE RAW SPREADS
Pepperstone has excellent spreads for both accounts, but we found the broker’s Razor Account stands out from our testing, averaging spreads of 0.1 pips for EUR/USD.
To highlight how low Pepperstone’s spreads are, we compared the commissions or ECN-style accounts of different brokers using a range of popular currency pairs. These spreads are taken from the broker’s websites and updated each month.
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ECN Broker Spreads
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0.10 | 0.40 | 0.60 | 0.40 | 0.20 |
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0.30 | 0.50 | 0.60 | 0.50 | 0.50 |
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0.44 | 0.20 | 0.83 | 0.40 | 0.42 |
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0.17 | 0.24 | N/A | 0.54 | 0.30 |
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0.10 | 0.10 | 0.20 | 0.40 | 0.10 |
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0.20 | 0.30 | 0.70 | 0.50 | 0.40 |
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n/a | n/a | 0.30 | 0.60 | 0.50 |
Avg. spreads are taken from each broker's website and updated monthly. Last update on 09/01/2024
ZERO-PIP SPREADS 100% OF THE TIME
Most brokers with RAW spreads advertise “spreads from zero,” so we took this into account when testing Pepperstone’s Razor account. Our results highlighted that only Pepperstone and City Index kept their minimum spreads at zero pips 100% of the time for all major currencies.
You can see how Pepperstone compared to other brokers from our zero-pip testing results below:
| Broker | AUDUSD | EURUSD | GBPUSD | USDCAD | USDCHF | USDJPY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pepperstone | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
| City Index | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
| Fusion Markets | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 91.30% | 100.00% |
| TMGM | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 95.65% | 95.65% | 95.65% |
| IC Markets | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 86.96% | 100.00% |
| FP Markets | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 86.96% | 100.00% |
| Eightcap | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% | 86.96% | 100.00% |
| Admiral Markets | 100.00% | 99.5% | 79.13% | 95.22% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
DIVERSE RANGE OF PLATFORMS
Pepperstone offers 4 diverse trading platforms, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, and TradingView.
Where Pepperstone stands out, however, is in its range of sophisticated tools. We particularly like Smart Trader, an enhancement to the MetaTrader trading platforms that includes 28 trading apps covering everything from strategy to management tools to access to expert advisors.
Of the Smart Trader tools we tested, the highlight for us was the ability to use the Terminal to select all of our open orders and uniformly set take profit and stop loss orders for all of our positions.
Broker Screenshots
Forex Panel Score
Average Spread
EUR/USD = 0.9
GBP/USD = 1.5
AUD/USD = 1.1
Trading Platforms
MT4, MT5, AvaTradeGo, AvaOptions
Minimum Deposit
$100
Why We Recommend AvaTrade
AvaTrade is a top forex broker in the UAE that caters to a diverse group of traders. Unlike Pepperstone and most other brokers, AvaTrade provides fixed-spread trading, which means that the broker sets prices using its own liquidity instead of relying on outside suppliers.
Pros & Cons
Broker Details
COMPETITIVE FIXED SPREADS
We awarded AvaTrade one of the best forex brokers in the UAE because it offers the most competitive fixed-spread trading from our testing. When testing, we found AvaTrade offers stable fixed spreads of 0.9 pips while trading EUR/USD when using MT4, MT5 or AvaTradeGo trading platforms.
In fact, AvaTrade came out on top against 10 fixed spread brokers we tested, offering an average of 1.4 pips across the 7 most traded currency pairs. While you can obtain tighter spreads with an ECN-style account, AvaTrade’s fixed spreads are consistent enough to keep your trading costs low.
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Top Fixed Spread Brokers
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0.90 | 1.10 | 1.50 | 1.50 | 1.00 |
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0.70 | 1.20 | 1.50 | 1.30 | 1.00 |
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4.00 | 4.00 | 3.00 | 5.00 | 4.00 |
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3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 3.00 |
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1.50 | 1.80 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 1.80 |
Avg. spreads are taken from each broker's website and updated monthly. Last update on 09/01/2024
GREAT TRADING PLATFORMS And Social Trading
Scoring AvaTrade an 8/10 for its trading platforms, we liked the broker’s solid combination of third-party and proprietary platforms.
The variety of AvaTrade’s platforms extends beyond the broker’s MT4/MT5 offering. You can also use Avatrade’s own excellent platform, AvaTradeGo, as well as speciality platform AvaOptions to trade options, to diversify your trading portfolio.
AvaTrade offers a range of copy trading options via third-party CFD trading platforms DupliTrade and ZuluTrade, or its own, AvaSocial where you can copy successful trading strategies. Only a few brokers can boast this range of social or copy trading options.
Broker Screenshots
Forex Panel Score
Average Spread
EUR/USD = 0.16
GBP/USD = 0.59
AUD/USD = 0.29
Trading Platforms
MT4, IG Trading Platform, L2 Dealer, ProRealTime
Minimum Deposit
$0
Why We Recommend IG Group
IG is one of the oldest trading firms, having been in business since 1974. It has launched in 15 countries across the globe and expanded to have over 300,000 traders, including those in the UAE. The broker’s standout offering is the low minimum deposit of just $0, which allows beginners and advanced traders alike to test out the platform without having to put in vast amounts of capital upfront.
Pros & Cons
Broker Details
HUGE RANGE OF CFD MARKETS
IG Group stands out in its huge CFD offering with over 17,000 markets available. You can trade forex (100 pairs), shares (over 12,000), indices (130), and cryptocurrencies (15), which no other broker offers from our analysis. We think this makes IG Group a good option if looking for products no other brokers offer.
As a bonus, you can choose from IG Trading platform, ProRealTime and MT4. IG Group offers a variety of platforms to trade on, such as MT4, L2 Dealer, and ProRealTime. The last two options are more advanced platforms, with L2 Dealer offering direct market access and ProRealTime with more sophisticated tools for market analysis.
| Products | Volume |
|---|---|
| Forex Pairs | 80+ |
| CFD Shares | 12,000+ |
| Indices | 130 |
| Energies | 7 |
| Metals | 11 |
| Soft Commodities | 23 |
| Bonds | 14 |
| ETFs | 6000+ |
| Cryptocurrencies | 15 |
| Options | 7000+ |
| Futures | Yes |
| Interest Rates | Yes |
| Spot Trading | Yes |
| Sectors | Yes |
COMPETITIVE NO-COMMISSION SPREADS
While IG Group only gives you one account option for trading CFDs, the broker does offer a direct market access account (which allows you to access market prices without intervention from liquidity providers) although with a steep minimum deposit of $20,000 AED.
Although IG Group is a market maker, we found its spreads to be very reasonable for its CFD account, averaging 1.13 pips for EUR/USD and 1.38 pips across the five major currency pairs.
These no-commission spreads were amongst the lowest in the UAE, with only eToro (1.30 pip average) and XTB (1.36 pip average) offering marginally tighter spreads.
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Standard Account Spreads
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1.10 | 1.20 | 1.40 | 1.40 | 1.40 |
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1.13 | 1.01 | 1.71 | 1.66 | 1.12 |
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0.90 | 1.30 | 1.40 | 1.40 | 1.40 |
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0.70 | 2.20 | 1.10 | 1.10 | 0.60 |
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1.20 | 0.90 | 1.50 | 1.80 | 1.80 |
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1.20 | 1.30 | 1.20 | 1.30 | 1.10 |
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1.70 | 1.60 | 1.70 | 2.00 | 1.60 |
Avg. spreads are taken from each broker's website and updated monthly. Last update on 09/01/2024
Broker Screenshots
Forex Panel Score
Average Spread
EUR/USD = 0.09
GBP/USD = 0.14
AUD/USD = 0.13
Trading Platforms
MT4, xStation 5, xStation Mobile
Minimum Deposit
$0
Why We Recommend XTB
XTB is a broker that admits traders from Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait, in addition to the United Arab Emirates. This makes it an excellent choice for traders from nearby areas that fit the same description.
Pros & Cons
Broker Details
XTB ACCEPTS TRADERS THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST
While all brokers on this list are great options for traders in the UAE, they’re not all as inclusive of neighbouring regions that fall under the same category. XTB is different since it accepts traders from Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait, rather than solely focusing on the UAE.
COMPETITIVE MARKET MAKER SPREADS
As with IG Group, XTB is a market maker and only offers one retail investor account for trading CFDs, but spreads are competitive, averaging 0.9 pips for EUR/USD with no commission fees.
Overall, XTB compares with eToro and IG Group as the lowest spread brokers in the UAE, averaging 1.36 pips across the 5 major currency pairs, from our spread testing.
xStation 5 TRADING PLATFORM
Our testing of XTB’s platforms revealed that xStation 5 offers live data, market commentary and greater transparency than MT4. We particularly liked the additional trading tools that xStation 5 offered, including sentiment data that shows the percentage of XTB clients that are long or short for a given trading symbol.
Broker Screenshots
Forex Panel Score
Average Spread
EUR/USD = 0.44
GBP/USD = 0.85
AUD/USD = 0.42
Trading Platforms
MT4
Minimum Deposit
$0
Why We Recommend AxiTrader
When trading, it’s important to consider the costs for things like inactivity and financing your account, in addition to the spreads and commissions. AxiTrader excels in this regard, as it doesn’t charge any fees for funding your account using any of the 26 available methods, including Bitcoin and Skrill. Additionally, there are no inactivity fees and no deposit requirements.
Pros & Cons
Broker Details
LARGE RANGE OF FUNDING METHODS
With 26 funding methods (including Skrill and Bitcoin) and no funding fees, we are impressed the range of funding choices Axi lets you trade with. Plus, there are no inactivity fee or minimum deposits further saves you on trading costs.
MT4 ENHANCEMENT TOOL
Axi only offers the MetaTrader 4 trading platform so we think it’s a good thing it comes with extra features like their MT4 enhancement tool called MT4 NexGen. Useful expert advisors and indicators with MT4 NexGen include Correlation Trader and Alarm Manager.
You will get the option to use Autochartist (to find trading opportunities across different markets automatically) and PsyQuation (made by Axi and gives tailored advice based on your mistakes).
Fast VPS
Axi offers VPS hosting with ForexVPS, MetaTraderVPS, Commercial Network Services and BeekFX VPS. VPS hosting ensures you never have downtime when trading, which we find is ideal for automated trading when using Expert Advisors.
We tested VPS speeds when using ForexVPS and found Axi has a limit order speed of 107 ms and a market order speed of 154 ms makes placing the 1st of the DFSA brokers we tested.
| Broker | Overall Ranking | Limit Order Speed | Market Order Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Axi | 2 | 107 | 154 |
| Pepperstone | 6 | 158 | 168 |
| IG | 8 | 209 | 182 |
| Admiral Markets | 8 | 172 | 270 |
| IG | 17 | 174 | 19 |
| Tickmill | 14 | 186 | 397 |
Broker Screenshots
Forex Panel Score
Average Spread
EUR/USD = 0.9
GBP/USD = 0.7
AUD/USD = 0.9
Trading Platforms
MT4, TradingView, SaxoTraderGo, SaxoTraderPro
Minimum Deposit
$10,000 USD
Why We Recommend Saxo Markets
Saxo Bank is a significant player in the CFD trading industry, having been in business for more than 25 years and with 660,000 clients on its books. Leveraged products offer spot trading in addition to CFDs, and there are also conventional investment choices available. Powerful trading tools are included with these instruments, such as Saxo’s own trading platforms, trade signals, technical indicators, and risk management tools.
Pros & Cons
Broker Details
TRADING ACCOUNTS + SPREADS
While Saxo Bank’s three accounts, Classic (USD $5,000), Platinum USD 250,000), and VIP (USD 1250,000), have higher minimum funding requirements than other brokers, you will have access to lower spreads and discounts with the Platinum and VIP accounts. The platinum for example has 30% lower spreads than the Classic, as such, we recommend Saxo Bank for high-volume traders.
RANGE OF PLATFORMS
Of Saxo Bank’s 3 trading platforms, SaxoTraderGO is designed for long-term investors and small or medium-volume traders, while SaxoTraderPRO is for high-volume active traders as it contains a wealth of customised features and tools to speed up your trading.
We tested SaxoTradeGo with their free 20 day demo account and found it has 64 technical indicators, 20 drawing tools, 19 timeframes and 9 chart types. With useful features like TradingView (which has over 50 million users for social networking), Autochartist and OpenAPI for Excel to customise your automation we thought the platform has some truly cutting-edge features.
HUGE RANGE OF CFD PRODUCTS
You can trade 9,500 instruments as CFDs in different asset classes, including 8,000+ stocks, 675 ETFs, 29 indices, 35 commodities, five government bonds, and 15 indexes
Broker Screenshots
Forex Panel Score
Average Spread
EUR/USD = 0.1
GBP/USD = 0.2
AUD/USD = 0.4
Trading Platforms
MT4, MT5,
XM App/Tablet
Minimum Deposit
$5
Why We Recommend XM
XM offers a Sharia-compliant swap-free account for Islamic traders, which is different from other brokers in that it does not charge additional fees to make up for the lack of swaps. This means that there are no administrative costs, service fees, commission costs, or artificially widened spreads.
Pros & Cons
Broker Details
NO CHARGES ON ISLAMIC ACCOUNT
XM’s Islamic account is unique compared to other brokers in that it does not use other charges to cover the absence of swaps. This means no administration charges, no service fees, no commission costs, and the spreads themselves are not artificially widened.
As a trader, you are getting exactly the same spreads as a trader using an account with swaps regardless if you use MT4 or MT5 platform.
Best of all, the Islamic account is good for trading with all of XM’s over 1300 different trading instruments, including 57 Forex currency pairs and 1286 shares.
XM RESEARCH AND EDUCATION TOOLSWe love XM’s research and education tools, which include interactive webinars by seasoned traders and leaders in the industry, covering risk management, technical analysis and trading fundamentals. Very few brokers offer anything close to XM’s unique educational resources.
Broker Screenshots
Pepperstone is the best CFD broker in the UAE as it offers a brilliant range of CFDs, lightning-fast execution speeds of 77ms on limit orders and 100ms on market orders, and competitive spreads. It also offers decent leverage of 30:1, a great user interface, and excellent mobile functionality.
CFD Trading, or Contract for Difference trading is a type of derivative that you use to speculate on the future direction of a market’s price. When trading via CFDs, you don’t take ownership of the underlying asset as you do in conventional trading, which means you can take advantage of rising and falling markets by going long or short.
CFD trading appeals for many as it allows you to benefit from price changes in assets without owning the underlying instrument itself.
CFDs however are risky since they are leverage instruments. This means if price movement don’t move in your favour, you could experience large losses.
When choosing a CFD broker in the UAE you should consider the following:
Pepperstone is the broker that has the best RAW spreads in the UAE with average spreads of 0.10 pips on EUR/USD. The EUR/USD is a good measure as it is the most popular currency pair to trade with.
The below table lists the UAE regulated brokers and their average spread for EUR/USD.
| EUR/USD | GBP/USD | AUD/USD | EUR/GBP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tickmill | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| ThinkMarkets | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| HYCM | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| XM | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| HF Markets | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.2 |
| IG | 0.16 | 0.59 | 0.29 | 0.54 |
| City Index | 0.07 | 0.11 | 0.8 | 0.11 |
| MultiBank Group | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| XTB | 0.09 | 0.14 | 0.13 | 0.14 |
| Pepperstone | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| FxPro | 0.32 | 0.37 | 0.51 | 0.57 |
| Admirals | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.6 |
| Axi | 0.44 | 0.85 | 0.42 | 0.4 |
Pepperstone, AxiTrader, and XM have the best commissions in the UAE. All three brokers offer sideways per standard (100,000) lot Commission Fees of $3.50. This means you pay a $7 round-turn per 100k traded.
| Broker | USD (per lot sideways) |
|---|---|
| CMC Markets | 2.5 |
| Pepperstone | 3.5 |
| Axi | 3.5 |
| ThinkMarkets | 3.5 |
| Admirals | 3 |
| Tickmill | 2 |
| HF Markets | 3 |
| MultiBank Group | 3 |
| FxPro | 3.5 |
| XM | 3.5 |
| HYCM | 4 |
| IG | 6 |
| HYCM | 4 |
| IG | 6 |
A Direct Market Access (DMA) CFD allows traders direct access to the interbank markets via CFD derivatives. DMA Forex Brokers enable traders to place trading orders directly with liquidity providers. While DMA CFDs offer many benefits, they are best suited for experienced traders.
Yes, trading CFDs is legal in the UAE and is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). While it is perfectly legal to trade CFDs in the UAE, it is important to mention that the majority of derivative transactions are prohibited in Islamic finance.
The DFSA is short for the Dubai Financial Services Authority and is the regulator that oversees the financial markets in the free zone area of Dubai. DFSA Regulated Brokers are licensed to operate in the United Arab Emirates in areas such as Dubai. Other regulators within the UAE include Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM) for Abu Dhabi and Securities Commodities Authority (SCA).
Yes, you can make money with CFD trading. CFD trading is highly profitable but it is complicated and requires a deep understanding of CFD trading intricacies and strategies. CFD trading is best suited to experienced traders. Check out our Forex Trading Courses to learn more.
Regulation plays an important part in broker trust in the UAE and regulation around CFD trading in the UAE stipulates the following:
XM is the CFD broker that offers the Swap Free Islamic Accounts as it has a Sharia-compliant swap-free account that does not charge additional fees to make up for the swaps.
The main difference of CFDs vs Investing in Stocks is in CFD trading, it is a derivative and you do not own the underlying asset whereas in stock trading, you take ownership of the full underlying asset.
The main difference of CFDs vs Investing in Stocks is in CFD trading, it is a derivative and you do not own the underlying asset whereas in stock trading, you take ownership of the full underlying asset.
Although CFD trading is relatively beginner-friendly, it is important to understand the risks involved and start trading with smaller capital amounts as CFD trading is more risky than other forms of trading.
Yes, automated trading is possible in the UAE, and many reputable CFD brokers offer excellent automated trading software to automate your trades.
Yes, you can use MT4 in the UAE. MT4 is one of the most popular trading platforms and many MT4 brokers in the UAE use it because it offers fast execution speeds, a brilliant user-friendly trading experience, and excellent mobile functionality for traders wanting to trade on the go.
For more info, check out the Best MT4 Brokers in the UAE.
Many brokers are multi-regulated meaning they may also be regulated in other countries such as Australia (Australian Securities and Investment Commission or ASIC), The UK (Financial Conduct Authority or FCA), or Cyprus/Europe (Cyprus Securities Exchange Commissions or CySEC) and South Africa (Financial Sector Conduct Authority or FSCA). As a UAE trader, this won’t mean much, but it emphasises the trustworthiness of these brokers. We suggest you avoid online brokers using offshore regulators such as IFSC (Belize) and FSC (Mauritius) and stick to brokers in our list of best CFD brokers in the UAE.
About Trading with Regulation
About treading cautiously, a quick disclaimer but one which isn’t limited to the UAE. Like other derivatives, when you trade CFDs, you’re trading with leverage, which is also known as trading on margin. This compares to buying the underlying asset such as gold, where you exchange your cash for a gold bar or coins. Part of the attraction of the best CFD brokers in the UAE is that they provide retail investor accounts with access to a wide range of financial instruments and in return for a relatively small deposit, you can get exposure to larger price changes than you would otherwise not have. Of course, this works both on profits and losses and there’s always the risk you can lose all the initial deposit.
The amount of margin you can access is usually advertised as leverage, and it affects the results of your trades. Interestingly, DFSA and ADGM limit leverage for forex to 1:30 (which is in line with regulatory bodies for other jurisdictions such as ASIC, CySEC, FCA) while CBUAE and SCA do not place a limit on leverage. A 1:30 leverage means that with a $1,000 deposit, the broker will allow you to trade with up to $30,000, so keep in mind, a 1% price change of the CFD is $300 and which is 30% of your initial deposit. This can be quite risky, so take baby steps!
Get Started With CFD Trading In The UAE
The brokers outlined above have slightly different strengths, but they’re great places to trade in their own right. We recommend Pepperstone, because of its fast execution and low spreads, but depending on your priorities as a trader, you might prefer a different platform.
Key Considerations For UAE Brokers
The best CFD brokers in the UAE aren’t different from brokers in any other part of the world. Most criteria are the same — you should still look for the brokers with the lowest spreads and commissions to maximise your trading profits.
That said, brokers with the widest access to the financial markets, such as those offering the most currency pairs or multi-exchange stock trading, might be more attractive. However, other considerations might be the minimum deposit required, the customer support offered, and the quality of the platform offered for online trading or via mobile apps. For those with limited trading experience and who aren’t quite ready to trade for real, another question might be whether demo accounts are offered.
One area in which the UAE differs from elsewhere is regarding regulation. The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) regulate the free zone areas of the UAE. These brokerages can be owned by foreign-owned firms.
Outside the free zone, brokerages must be majority-owned in the UAE and can be regulated by either the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) or the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA). Brokers regulated by the CBUAE transitioned to SCA regulation last year. You can learn more about forex trading in the region with our Comparison of UAE Brokers page.
| Regulator | Pepperstone | Avatrade | IG | XTB | Axitrader | CMC Markets | Saxo Bank | XM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DFSA | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| CB UAE | Yes | |||||||
| ADGM |
In the options below, we’ve considered all these options and more, focusing particularly on trading accounts, spreads, products, and regulation.
