How we build the extract
Every row on this site traces to a public document. When we cannot trace it, we do not print it.
Sources
| Data | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Licensees and status | CMA register of licensed companies — uaecma.gov.ae | 2026-09-29 |
| Law and categories | Published by the Capital Market Authority | 2026-09-29 |
| Session times | IANA time zone database | On change |
| Exchange rate | open.er-api.com — USD/AED | 2026-09-28 |
Reconciliation, step by step
- 1Read the register as the regulator publishes it and record the retrieval date.
- 2Map every row onto four columns: licensee, licence number, activity, status.
- 3Drop anything we could not reconcile rather than print it from memory.
- 4Publish with the check date. A notice and a link to it replace the table if the register cannot be read — the situation some countries on this network show today.
What this site will not do
We do not rank brokers, score them, or publish reviews. The page shows the gap and links the regulator instead of showing a licensee table we have not reconciled.
The table's notation
Where a licensee publishes its own logo, that is the logo you see, taken from the firm's own website. No publication is made by many of the smaller licensed firms. The plain symbol in those rows is one we drew ourselves to keep the table even; it is our illustration, not the firm's trademark, and it makes no statement about the firm. The register is the only source of the licence number and of the status displayed beside it.
The Starting Point Is Always a Primary Source, Not a Summary
This guide is built from documents you can open yourself, not from second-hand summaries. Where a broker's status matters, the only source treated as authoritative is the CMA register of licensed companies at uaecma.gov.ae. Nothing about licensing is inferred from advertising, review sites or a broker's own marketing pages.
Session hours are stated in Gulf Standard Time, UTC+4, because that is the clock your banking app and your trading platform both run on. The hours published here are Sydney 01:00 to 10:00, Tokyo 04:00 to 13:00, London 12:00 to 21:00 and New York 16:00 to 01:00 GST. The London and New York overlap, 16:00 to 21:00 GST, is described as an overlap and nothing more.
Where a figure would be needed, such as a spread, a fee, a minimum deposit or a transfer limit, this guide does not supply one. Those numbers change without notice and vary by account type. Instead you are pointed to the broker's own funding page, the bank transfer app, or the CMA register, so the number you see is current.
The hours that matter, in GST
- Busiest window
- 16:00-21:00 GST — London and New York open together
- Thinnest stretch
- 01:00-10:00 GST — Sydney alone, wider spreads
- European open
- 12:00-21:00 GST
- US open
- 16:00-01:00 GST
- Closed
- Friday New York close until the Sydney open on Monday
Hours are given for the clocks currently in force: London stays on GMT until 28 March, and New York stays on EDT until 1 November. The UAE does not change clocks, so each move shifts these local times by an hour and the page is rebuilt on the day it happens.
Three Regulators Operate in the UAE and the Licence Tells You Which One
The UAE does not have a single forex regulator, and this guide never pretends otherwise. Three regimes coexist: the Capital Market Authority onshore, the DFSA in the DIFC and the FSRA in the ADGM. A broker's licence says which one applies to it.
That distinction is not cosmetic. It determines which body handles a complaint if something goes wrong, and how that complaint proceeds. When this guide discusses disputes or escalation, it names the regime the licence points to rather than offering one generic route.
No broker is described here as licensed, safe or best. That judgement is yours to make against the register, and the guide's job is to tell you where to look and what the licence actually means.
| Field | What it says |
|---|---|
| Regulator | Capital Market Authority (CMA) |
| Register | CMA register of licensed companies |
| Published at | uaecma.gov.ae |
| Covers retail forex | Yes — the register has a category for it |
| Last read by us | 2026-09-29 |
| Entries transcribed here | 27 |
A register says whether a firm holds a licence on the day you look, and nothing about how it treats clients. The brand will not be on the register; the legal entity in the footer should be.
Payment Rails Are Described by Type, Never by Amount
Funding methods are covered in categories: bank transfer as the main rail, alongside local bank transfer, card and international wire. Each behaves differently in timing and in how a reversal would be handled, and that is what the guide explains.
What it does not do is quote a fee, a limit or a processing time as though it were fixed. Those live on the broker's funding page and inside your own bank's transfer screen, where they reflect your account and your bank's current terms.
For an expatriate with a UAE bank account, the practical difference between a local transfer and an international wire is usually visible in the app before you confirm anything. Check there first.
The funding rails, and who sets their limits
- Local bank transfer
- Limits set by your bank and the broker
- Card
- Card payment — limits set by your card issuer and the broker
- International wire
- Bank transfer — limits set by your bank and the broker
Limits and fees are set by the provider and the broker and change without notice, so they are not printed here. Look at the app and the broker's funding page before you send anything, and keep paying in and taking out on one account.
Updates Follow a Fixed Review, Not a Marketing Calendar
Pages are reviewed when a source they depend on changes: the CMA register, the published session hours, or the set of payment rails a broker supports. If none of those move, the page stays as it is rather than being rewritten to look fresh.
Each revision replaces the underlying fact and keeps the structure intact, so a returning reader can see what actually changed. Corrections are made at the source level, not patched in a footnote.
If you spot something here that no longer matches the register or your own platform, treat the register as correct and this page as out of date. That is the honest ordering.
| Figure | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Licensee names and status | CMA register of licensed companies — uaecma.gov.ae | 2026-09-29 |
| Session windows | Fixed UTC windows; London and New York shift in their DST | On change |
| USD/AED | open.er-api.com | 2026-09-28 |
| Funding limits and fees | Set by the provider and the broker — not published here | Changes without notice |
Every figure here has somewhere it came from and a day it was read. The ones we could not trace were left out.
A Methodology Page Is Only as Good as Its Correction Log
Errors in a guide like this are usually quiet ones: a regulator renamed, a payment method retired, a register link moved. The correction log is where those fixes are recorded, so a reader who spotted something odd can check whether it has already been addressed or is still outstanding.
When a correction is made to a page, the change is dated and described in plain terms. The original wording is not silently deleted, because a reader who relied on the earlier version deserves to see what changed and why. This is standard editorial practice, not a concession.
If you believe a statement on this page is wrong, write to the editorial address with the page URL and the specific sentence. Claims that a broker is licensed are not accepted as corrections; only the CMA register at uaecma.gov.ae settles that question, and the register entry is what the guide follows.
Account opening: the documents
- Emirates ID or passport with residence visa
- Who you are
- Selfie with the ID document
- That the document is in your hands
Brokers usually also ask for proof of address - Ejari or utility bill; requirements differ per firm. Brokers publish what they accept on the page where the account is opened.
Sourcing Rules Apply Differently to Regulators and to Brokers
Regulatory facts are sourced only from the CMA and from the public register at uaecma.gov.ae. A broker's own marketing page, an affiliate comparison site or a forum post is not treated as evidence of licensing status, even when the claim is accurate. The register is the single point of verification.
Broker-specific operational facts, such as which funding methods a firm accepts, are sourced from that broker's own funding page or from the bank transfer app itself. The guide does not paraphrase these into general statements, because the details change and a paraphrase ages badly.
This split matters when the two sources disagree. If a broker advertises a licence the register does not show, the guide records the register position and treats the advertising claim as unverified. Readers in the UAE should apply the same test before opening an account.
| Page | The question it answers | What the answer rests on |
|---|---|---|
| Market hours | When is the market open on my clock? | Fixed session windows, converted to GST |
| Position calculator | How large a position does my stop allow? | Arithmetic in the page, from your own inputs |
| How to start | What is the order of the steps? | Licence first, then funding, then size |
| What forex is | What am I actually trading? | Definitions, with no figures attached |
| Apps and platforms | Which platform will I be using? | What each terminal is and who writes it |
Nothing here ranks brokers or recommends one. Pages that fail to answer a question are not published.
The Review Cycle Starts With the Register, Not With the Pages
Each scheduled review begins at uaecma.gov.ae, not at the guide's own text. The register is checked first for additions, removals and status changes, and only then are the affected pages opened. Starting from the pages would mean reviewing what the guide already believes rather than what is currently true.
The order matters because a register change can invalidate several pages at once. A firm leaving the register affects its listing, any country page that names it and any methodology note that cited it. Working outward from the register catches those knock-on edits in one pass instead of several.
Pages that no register change touches are still read, but they are read last. This keeps the review anchored to verifiable facts rather than to the editorial calendar, and it means the most consequential updates are made first.
| Platform | What it is | Who makes it |
|---|---|---|
| MetaTrader 4 | The older standard; expert advisors and a large script ecosystem | MetaQuotes |
| MetaTrader 5 | The newer build; more order types and timeframes | MetaQuotes |
| cTrader | Depth of market and a different order model | Spotware |
| The broker's own app | Usually simpler, and tied to that one firm | The broker |
A platform is software, not a safeguard: the same terminal is offered by licensed and unlicensed firms alike. The licence question is answered on the register, not in the app store.
Timezone Differences Change When You Can Act, Not Just When You Trade
The UAE runs on GST, UTC+4, which is fixed and does not shift with daylight saving. That single fact has consequences beyond session timing. A broker's support hours, a bank's cut-off for processing a transfer and a regulator's published contact window are all stated in somebody else's timezone.
The practical failure mode is a transfer initiated late on a Thursday in Dubai that the sending bank treats as a Friday instruction, or a query sent to a regulator during a public holiday abroad. Neither is a trading problem, but both delay the account funding or the verification a reader is waiting on.
Before acting on any time-sensitive step, convert the stated time into GST rather than assuming the two align. Where a cut-off or a support window is published, read it at the source, because the guide does not restate hours that change without notice.
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Indicative USD/AED | 3.67 | open.er-api.com, pulled 2026-09-28 |
| How often it moves | Every trading day | — |
| The rate your account uses | Your broker's own conversion | The broker's rate card |
| Symbol on this site | AED | — |
An indicative rate is for sizing a position in your head, not for settling one. The conversion your broker applies sits some way from this number, and the gap is yours to pay.
What readers ask
Check the CMA register of licensed companies at uaecma.gov.ae. It is the public list maintained by the Capital Market Authority, and it is the only source this guide treats as authoritative on that question. Remember that the DFSA in the DIFC and the FSRA in the ADGM are separate regimes, so the register entry tells you which one a firm sits under.
Because those figures change and vary by account, and a number printed here would quickly contradict the table beside it. The guide tells you where to check instead: the broker's funding page for costs and deposit terms, and your bank's transfer screen for what your own account will charge. That way the figure you act on is current.
In Gulf Standard Time, London runs 12:00 to 21:00 and New York runs 16:00 to 01:00, so their overlap falls at 16:00 to 21:00 GST. That window sits in the UAE evening, which suits many people working local hours. Sydney and Tokyo run earlier in the day, from 01:00 and 04:00 GST respectively.