Best Forex Brokers in Kenya 2021.
We researched 20+ popular forex brokers that accept Kenyan traders to select the best brokers overall in terms of fees, regulations, support & 8 other factors.
Last Updated: October 18, 2021.
Retail Forex Trading & CFDs on Forex are legal & popular trading instruments in Kenya, which are regulated by Kenya’s CMA (Capital Markets Authority). There are estimated to be around 90,000 active forex traders in Kenya and this number is growing.
As the Kenya’s forex trading is getting popular so are the challenges – like security of the traders, oversight on trading conditions is becoming a concern.
As a trader making an investment in Forex market, you must look for a broker that gives you secure environment & proper trading conditions without any conflict of interest. For this, it is very important to choose a broker that is regulated with local Kenyan Regulator (CMA) or reputed international regulators (like FCA, FSCA, CySEC or ASIC).
We have compared and listed brokers that matched our criteria for regulation, reputation, security, fees for Kenyan traders.
Comparison Table of Best Forex Brokers in Kenya.
XM Forex Broker.
7 Best Forex Brokers in Kenya.
Here’s our list of best forex brokers for Kenyan traders:
Now we will explore the detailed features of each broker in our list, one by one, starting from Hotforex.
#1 FXPesa – Best Forex Broker in Kenya.
Regulations: Capital Markets Authority (CMA) of Kenya.
Minimum Deposit: $5.
Available Platforms: Metatrader 4 for desktop, Web & mobile and FXPesa Mobile app.
FXPesa is the brand of EGM securities which is the Kenya’s first non-dealing online forex broker, based in Nairobi. They are authorized by CMA of Kenya (which is the local regulatory body), so we consider them as a safe broker for traders in Kenya.
FXPesa is a non-dealing desk (NDD) broker, which means that there is no conflict of interest. They provide market execution of trades with all their trading account. They offer 2 trading accounts: ‘Executive’ that required $5 deposit, it is a standard account without any commission & spread from 1.4 pips. The other account is Premiere ($100 deposit), which has lower spread from 0 pips, but there is $7 commission per standard lot for FX.
They offer 66 currency pairs, but their other CFD offerings are bit limited though.
FXPesa are a MetaTrader 4 offering broker, and latest MT5 or cTrader is not available with them. But they have their own platform which is available on all devices.
They have an office in Nairobi & local phone number for support. Their live chat is also very friendly & knowledgeable.
They offer funding in USD as well as in Kenyan Shilling (KSh.) via local bank transfer. But the account currency will be in USD. They also accept deposits & offer withdrawals via Mpesa & Airtel money.
#2 Exness – Low Spread Forex Broker.
Regulations: CySEC, FCA & FSA.
Minimum Deposit: $1.
Available Platforms: Metatrader 4 and Metatrader 5 for desktop, WebTrader & mobile app.
Exness is a Cyprus based broker & they are one of the largest forex & CFDs brokers in the world in terms of trading volume. They are well regulated under multiple Top-Tier regulators including FCA, FSCA, CySEC, so we consider them a safe broker.
Exness offers features like excellent support, low spreads, education through tutorials, strategies and free analysis tools.
Exness provides services for two types of accounts – Standard and Professional. While Standard account has a minimum deposit of $1 with minimum spread starting from 0.3 pips on EUR/USD currency pair, and Professional account requires a minimum account balance of $500. The maximum leverage offered for both accounts is 1:2000.
One of the major benefits with Exness is they have very low spread compared to most other competing brokers. Account types available help both newbies and pro traders. Other benefits include readily available support, fast executions, daily market reports, support from Expert advisors and meta trader plugin supports.
#3 XM Forex – Low fees, good support.
Regulations: ASIC of Australia, IFSC of Belize and CySEC of Cyprus.
Minimum Deposit: $5.
Available Platforms: MT4, MT5, XM Web Trader and mobile device platforms.
XM Trading is another broker that offers low cost forex & CFD trading. There are more than 1000 instruments to choose from including forex, CFDs on precious metals, energy and indices.
XM are regulated with 2 top-tier regulators including CySEC & ASIC. XM’s trading fees is quite competitive, and they offer straight standard spread only trading accounts without any extra commissions. Their fees is lowest with their Ultra Low account.
Their trading accounts are quite straightforward. XM provides four account options. For Standard and Micro account, the required minimum deposit amount is 5 USD and gives a maximum leverage of 1:888. For XM Ultra Low account, the required minimum deposit amount is 50 USD with similar leverage. XM also provides a Share account for equity trading, with minimum deposit of $10,000 and no leverage.
Their support is also very good, and available 24/5 during the market trading hours. Plus they have free access to forex market education including their research, forex webinars, video tutorials and free daily technical analysis that is available to all their customers. Plus, they accept M-Pesa for account funding.
#4 Hotforex – Low spread & FCA regulated forex broker.
Regulations: FCA (UK), FSCA, FSA.
Minimum Deposit: $5.
Available Platforms: MT4 & MT5 platforms, WebTrader and Mobile trading.
Hotforex is our recommend forex broker for Kenyan traders. Although Hotforex is not regulated by CMA, but they are regulated by other tier-1 regulators such as FSCA of South Africa, DFSA of UAE, FCA of UK & FSA of Seychelles.
In terms of fees, they charge a low spread i.e. 1.2 pips on average for EURUSD with their Premium account, and no deposit and withdrawal charges. The minimum deposit required to open a Micro account is $5, while the maximum leverage offered on this account is upto 1:1000 (1:500 with Premium account but depends on the trading instrument).
Hotforex have a 100% deposit bonus for new customers in Kenya and great loyalty programs for existing clients. They have a very supportive live chat system for the clients as well.
#5 FXTM – Good ECN Broker with low minimum deposit.
Regulations: CMA (Exinity Group), FSCA, FCA, CySEC.
Minimum Deposit: $10 with Cent Account.
Available Platforms: Metatrader 4 and Metatrader 5 for desktop and mobile and WebTrader.
The parent company of FXTM, Exinity Group (Exinity Capital East Africa) is regulated by CMA, so it is considered a safe forex broker to trade with for Kenyan traders.
FXTM is a Mauritius based both market maker & ECN account broker, which has features such as superfast order execution, regulated and licensed, quick client approval and education and tutorials.
FXTM offers two broad account options – Standard and ECN, both accounts having further sub-account types. The minimum deposit needed for a Standard account is $100 and spread starts from 1.5 pips for EUR/USD but there are no commissions on the standard account. While the ECN Zero MT4 & MT5 requires a deposit of $200 which has commissions of $4 per lot on ECN MT4 and ECN MT5 Accounts. Both accounts come with a maximum leverage of upto 1:2000.
They have real time access data from world’s two largest stock exchanges NYSE & NASDAQ. Additional benefits include in-depth market analysis, tutorials through webinars and seminars. Additionally, FXTM also supports trading in Cryptocurrency.
#6 Scope Markets – Low fees Online Forex broker in Kenya.
Regulations: CMA, FSCA.
Minimum Deposit: Ksh. 2000.
Available Platforms: MT5 for desktop and mobile and WebTrader.
Scope markets (SCFM Limited) was the second forex broker that was granted license by CMA in 2019. It is considered a low risk forex broker for Kenyan traders because of their regulated by CMA.
Scope Markets also operates internation broker & is licensed by FSCA in South Africa since 2016.
Scope markets offer 2 account types – Gold & Silver. The Silver account is a standard account type with no commissions, but their average fees is quite high i.e. 1.7 pips on average for major like EURUSD. Their spread is much lower with Gold account, but there is a commission of $7 per Standard lot for roundturn.
The forex currency pairs & other CFD instruments at Scope Markets Kenya are very limited compared to other brokers like XM, Hotforex etc. Their support is decent.
How to choose the best forex broker in Kenya.
There are some points that you must check in a broker before you choose them. Below is our points checklist that you can use an a guideline:
1) Regulation(s): It is very important to make sure that the forex broker you choose is regulated by CMA or other Top-tier regulations like FCA, FSCA or ASIC.
Regulated brokers can be held accountable for any bad practises like stop hunting, trading againt customers etc. But when you are trading with an unregulated broker there will be no Grievance Redressal in case the broker commits a fraud against you.
There are 4 forex brokers regulated by CMA as of Sep. 2021. You can search for these brokers by checking the “List of Licensees” on CMA’s website. They normally update the list every month.
You can check the list of all the licensed forex brokers on the regulator’s website. Most regulator’s have a public search page, like the CMA have list of updated licensees that can be downloaded from their website.
From this list you can find all the licensed forex brokers & their license number. This list is normally updated every month, so in case a new broker is licensed next month, or an existing broker has it’s licensed revoked, then CMA will update their list too.
For ex. FXPesa is regulated for offering Forex Trading as Non-Dealing FX broker under License no. 107, Pepperstone Kenya is issued license no. 128, Scope Markets has License no. 123 & Exinity East Africa Limited (operates FXTM & Alpari) is 135.
The above example is the Regulation and Client Protection document as FXPesa which highlights their company name, Company Registration No. & other regulatory infomation.
2) Trading & Non-Trading Fees: Another important factor to check is the forex broker’s ‘overall fees’. We say overall fees because you should check both the fees charged for trading activities & also the other fees charged like in case of deposits/withdrawals or other commissions.
Some brokers may tell you that their spread is low, but may not tell the fact that they charge commission per trade or charge fees during withdrawals. Some forex brokers like FXTM charge withdrawal fees with some of their methods.
Let’s take an example of FXPesa . During our tests we found that their overall fees is quite competitive. They have competitive spread from 1.4 pips with Premiere account type, and they don’t charge any extra fees on funding or withdrawals. Also there is no inactivity fees.
Ask your forex broker about their overall fees. Most brokers will have a spread comparison table on their website.
Like this below table shows the example of FXPesa’s spread.
3) Number of Trading Instruments: Also check the number of CFD instruments available on the broker’s platform. Is the instrument that you want to trade available or not?
For example, you might want to trade CFDs on NASDAQ 100. In this case you should check if the broker offers CFD on “US Tech 100”. We checked FXPesa’s comparison table for this too.
Many other forex brokers like Exness, FXTM, Hotforex etc. offer wide range of trading instruments. But if thee is some specific instrument that you want to trade, then always check first if that is available with the broker.
4) Deposit & Withdrawals: Always check if your choice of deposit & withdrawal methods are available at the broker or not.
For example, M-Pesa & local bank transfers are the two deposit & withdrawal popular methods for traders in Kenya. Ensure that these methods are available at the forex broker you are choosing. Also check the time it takes for the broker to process the deposits & withdrawals.
This below comparison table shows the average withdrawal time for different methods available at FxPesa. Similarly all other regulated brokers will have similar page on their website.
Also, always check the exact fees that you will be charged for withdrawals & funding with a method. For ex. FXPesa charges 1% (capped at $30) for withdrawals in E-Wallets like Skrill. But there are no extra charges for withdrawal in Bank account in Kenya, and Mobile Money like MPesa.
5) Customer Support: Availability of 25/5 customer support is really important as you never know when you might need help. It could be related to any issue from withdrawals, to general queries.
It is impossible to know how good a broker’s support is unless you test it. We tested it by contacting different brokers via various support channels. As a general rule, look for forex brokers that have a local office & offer local phone number in Kenya where you can call.
Frequently asked questions.
Which are the CMA licensed forex brokers in Kenya?
There are 4 CMA licensed brokers in Kenya currently. First is EGM securities (operating as FXPesa Kenya) and the others are Pepperstone Kenya, Scope Markets Kenya & Exinity Capital East Africa Limited which operates the brand FXTM.
EGM Securities (FXPesa) is #1 in our list of recommended forex broker for Kenya. Scope Markets is a new Kenyan broker which stated its operations since May 2019.
There are only a handful of forex brokers regulated by CMA, but traders in Kenya should only choose brokers regulated locally with CMA for safety of your funds. Or choose any reputed foreign brokers like Hotforex, XM Forex which are regulated with top-tier regulators like FCA, ASIC, CySEC.
What are the best forex trading platforms in Kenya?
The most popular trading platforms in Kenya are the MT4 & MT5. All the popular brokers like Hotforex, Forextime provide trading on these two platforms with additional support for WebTrader and mobile devices.
MT4 & MT5 are popular and widely used not only in Kenya but around the globe as well. Both these platforms have features of fundamental and technical analysis tools, copy trading and other additional features.
Is online forex trading legal in Kenya?
Online forex trading is legal in Kenya, and is regulated by Kenyan financial regulator CMA i.e. Capital Markets Authority (CMA) of Kenya. It was founded under Capital Markets Act 1989. CMA’s goal is to regulate and improve the safety of Kenya’s capital market for local investors.
As per law, the brokers offering their services in Kenya are required to be regulated under CMA, which was done in order to safeguard the investors from fraudulent schemes and misconducts. In 2017, stricter regulations were passed in which CMA had to strictly oversee online forex business in Kenya. Capital Markets (Online Foreign Exchange Trading) Regulation 2017 required organizations to register under CMA.
Although it is required for brokers offering FX trading & CFDs, to be registered under CMA and have a local office in Kenya for the local citizens to be able to trade in a secure & regulated environment. But currently the market is limited to only 4 local providers i.e. EGM Securities (which operates FXPesa) & Scope Markets, PepperStone Kenya, FXTM (Exinity Group) and foreign brokers like Exness, Hotforex, XM are still very popular among Kenyan traders.
Which Forex Broker in Kenya has the lowest minimum deposit?
All brokers have different minimum deposit, but generally the some forex brokers have as low as $1 minimum deposit to open account. But it is advised to trade with a well funded account of atleast $500 or more & avoid the use of leverage (restrict it to 1:10 max.).
FXPesa has a minimum deposit of $5. Exness has $1 lowest deposit, and most other brokers accept minimum deposit in that range.
Which forex brokers accept MPesa?
The brokers XM, Exness, FXTM & EGM Securities (FXPesa), PepperStone Kenya accept MPesa for funding. M-Pesa is a popular mobile money in Kenya. Most forex brokers that accept MPesa offer instant funding or deposit within few hours, so you should check with the broker first on their deposit time.