Choosing a forex broker in Kenya: what can actually be checked
This page does not rank brokers and does not score them. It shows who is licensed by the CMA, what each licence covers, and the four checks that are possible before you deposit.
We do not publish a ranking, and here is why
A ranking of brokers is an opinion dressed as a measurement. The numbers that would make it honest — real spreads at the hour you trade, real withdrawal times, real rejection rates — are not published by anyone in a form that can be verified, and the sites that rank brokers are usually paid by the firms they rank.
What can be verified is the register: who is allowed to take your money, for which service, and whether that permission is valid today. That is what this page is.
| The measurement | Where it is published | What we use instead |
|---|---|---|
| Real spread at the hour you trade | Nowhere, in a comparable form | Nothing - ask the broker for its own live spread |
| Real withdrawal time | Nowhere; firms publish targets, not outcomes | The broker's own withdrawal terms |
| Order rejection and slippage rates | Nowhere for retail accounts | The licence category: dealing or non-dealing |
| Whether the firm may take your money at all | The regulator's register, publicly | That is the check this page is built on |
A site that ranks brokers is usually paid by the firms it ranks. The register is the one part of the question with a public answer.
What the 16 licensed entities are allowed to do
| Category | Firms | Examples from the register |
|---|---|---|
| Non-dealing online FX broker | 14 | EGM Securities Limited, SCFM Limited, Pepperstone Markets Kenya Limited, Exinity Capital East Africa Limited and 10 more |
| Dealing online FX broker | 2 | Empire FX Trade Limited, CC Kenya Securities Limited |
Dealing and non-dealing are different bargains
A dealing broker may take the other side of your trade: when you lose, the firm can be the counterparty that gains. A non-dealing broker passes the order to someone else and earns from the spread or a commission instead. Both can hold a licence, and the register says which one you are dealing with — that single word changes whose interest sits opposite yours.
Neither category is a quality grade. It tells you where the conflict of interest lives, so you can read the rest of the terms knowing what to look for.
| Category | What the firm does with your order | Where its revenue comes from | Where it says so |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dealing online FX broker | May take the other side of your trade | The firm can gain when you lose | Named on the licence |
| Non-dealing online FX broker | Passes the order on to a liquidity provider | Earns from the spread or a commission | Named on the licence |
Neither is a quality grade. The category tells you where the conflict of interest sits, and the register is where that word is published.
The CMA register settles licensing, not suitability
The first thing to understand is that the Capital Markets Authority of Kenya publishes a list of licensees at cma.or.ke. That register is the only reliable starting point for checking whether a broker is licensed in Kenya. If a broker is not on that list, it is not licensed here, regardless of what its website says.
What the register does not do is rank brokers or tell you which one is best for your situation. It does not compare spreads, execution quality, platform stability, or how easy it is to withdraw via M-Pesa. Those are the differences that matter day to day, and they are not settled by a licence alone.
So the register answers one question: is this broker allowed to operate here? Everything else you have to check yourself, using the four-check list on this page as a guide.
| Field | What it says |
|---|---|
| Regulator | Capital Markets Authority of Kenya (CMA) |
| Register | CMA licensees register |
| Published at | cma.or.ke |
| Covers retail forex | Yes — the register has a category for it |
| Last read by us | 2026-09-29 |
| Entries transcribed here | 16 |
A register says whether a firm holds a licence on the day you look, and nothing about how it treats clients. Search the legal entity from the broker's own footer, not the brand.
Check the funding and withdrawal route before you open an account
Since you will likely fund your account from a phone, the payment route is a practical difference between brokers. M-Pesa is the main rail in Kenya, but some brokers also support Airtel Money, bank transfer, or card. The broker's funding page should state clearly which methods it accepts and how long withdrawals take.
Do not rely on what a broker claims about speed. Instead, check the funding page for the specific steps and any conditions attached to M-Pesa deposits or withdrawals. If the page is vague, that is a signal to look elsewhere.
Remember that the CMA register does not cover payment processing. A licensed broker can still have a clumsy withdrawal process, so this is one of the checkable differences you should verify before committing funds.
| Rail | What it is | Who sets the limit and the fee |
|---|---|---|
| M-Pesa · used most | Mobile wallet | The wallet provider and the broker |
| Airtel Money | Mobile wallet | The wallet provider and the broker |
| Bank transfer | Bank transfer | Your bank and the broker |
| Card | Card payment | Your card issuer and the broker |
Limits and fees are set by the provider and the broker and change without notice, so they are not printed here. Confirm both in the provider's app and on the broker's funding page, and withdraw to the same account you paid from.
Compare platforms by what you can test, not by ratings
Many traders search for the best forex trading app or the best trading platform in Kenya, but ratings and awards are not reliable. What you can test is whether the platform offers a demo account, how it performs during the hours you trade, and whether it supports the order types you need.
Session hours matter for day trading. In EAT, the London session runs 10:00-19:00, New York runs 15:00-00:00, and the overlap is 15:00-19:00. If you trade during those hours, check that the platform is stable and that customer support is available when you need it.
The best app for you is the one that works on your phone, with your internet connection, at the times you actually trade. That is a personal check, not something a ranking can decide.
| 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.
Use the four-check list to compare what the register cannot
The four-check list on this page is designed to help you compare brokers on the things that are checkable rather than claimed. First, confirm the broker is on the CMA register. Second, read the funding page to see which payment methods are supported and what the withdrawal process involves.
Third, test the platform with a demo account if available, focusing on the hours you trade. Fourth, check the broker's own legal documents for the terms that apply to you, such as how disputes are handled and what happens if you want to close your account.
None of these checks will tell you which broker is best in a ranking sense, because that depends on your needs. They will tell you which brokers are transparent about the things that affect your money and your trading.
| Figure | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Licensee names and status | CMA licensees register — cma.or.ke | 2026-09-29 |
| Session windows | Fixed UTC windows; London and New York shift in their DST | On change |
| USD/KES | open.er-api.com | 2026-09-28 |
| Funding limits and fees | Set by the provider and the broker — not published here | Changes without notice |
A figure with no source and no date is a guess with good manners. Anything we could not trace is left out rather than printed from memory.
What the CMA register cannot tell you about the account you actually open
A licence confirms a firm may operate in Kenya. It says nothing about whether the account type you are offered is the one the licence covers. Some firms hold a licence for one activity and route retail forex clients through an offshore entity. The register entry is the starting point, not the account you sign up for.
Ask which legal entity appears on your client agreement, then check that name against the register. If the paperwork names a company you cannot find there, stop and ask why in writing. The reply, or its absence, tells you more than any review site. Keep the answer before you send money.
This distinction matters most when something goes wrong. A complaint to the CMA only reaches firms it regulates. If your contract sits with an unlisted entity, the local route may be closed to you. That is a practical consequence of a paperwork detail most people skip while funding from a phone.
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Indicative USD/KES | 129.62 | 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 | KSh | — |
An indicative rate is for sizing a position in your head, not for settling one. The gap between it and your broker's conversion is part of what a trade costs you.
Four checks that are possible
All four take one browser tab and about five minutes. None of them requires trusting a review site, including this one.
Open the CMA register- 1The licence covers the service you are about to useA licence names activities. A firm licensed for one of them is not supervised for another, and the register is where that is written down - not the broker's own page.
- 2The entity in your agreement is the entity on the registerGroups onboard clients through several companies. The name in the client agreement and on the payment details is the one that has to appear here, letter for letter.
- 3The status is current on the day you depositA register is a snapshot. Suspended, lapsed or revoked means stop, and a name you cannot find at all means there is no local supervision behind your money.
- 4What is not in the register cannot be verifiedSpreads, execution speed, bonuses and awards are claims. Nothing on this page repeats them, because there is no public document to check them against.
CMA-licensed brokers in Kenya
- Checked
- 2026-09-29
- Source
- cma.or.ke
- Entries
- 16
| Licensee | Licence no. | Activity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| EGM Securities Limited | 107 | Non-dealing online FX broker · trades as FX Pesa | Licensed |
| SCFM Limited | 123 | Non-dealing online FX broker · trades as Scope Markets | Licensed |
| Pepperstone Markets Kenya Limited | 128 | Non-dealing online FX broker · trades as Pepperstone | Licensed |
| Exinity Capital East Africa Limited | 135 | Non-dealing online FX broker · trades as Exinity | Licensed |
| HFM Investments Limited | 155 | Non-dealing online FX broker · trades as HF Markets | Licensed |
| Windsor Markets Kenya Limited | 156 | Non-dealing online FX broker · trades as Windsor Brokers | Licensed |
| Exness KE Limited | 162 | Non-dealing online FX broker · trades as Exness | Licensed |
| Ingot Ke Limited | 173 | Non-dealing online FX broker · trades as Ingot Brokers | Licensed |
| Admirals KE Limited | 178 | Non-dealing online FX broker · trades as Admiral Markets | Licensed |
| FP Markets Limited | 193 | Non-dealing online FX broker · trades as FP Markets | Licensed |
| IC Markets (KE) Limited | 199 | Non-dealing online FX broker · trades as IC Markets | Licensed |
| Anzo Capital Limited | 219 | Non-dealing online FX broker · trades as Anzo Capital | Licensed |
| TPXMGlobal Kenya Limited | 233 | Non-dealing online FX broker · trades as TPXM | Licensed |
| Ava Trade Kenya Limited | 262 | Non-dealing online FX broker · trades as AvaTrade | Licensed |
| Empire FX Trade Limited | 203 | Dealing online FX broker · trades as Empire FX | Licensed |
| CC Kenya Securities Limited | 244 | Dealing online FX broker · trades as Capital.com | Licensed |
