Contents
- 1 What are the best Forex brokers in Pakistan?
- 2 What are the Forex regulations in Pakistan?
- 3 How to avoid scam Forex brokers in Pakistan?
- 4 What is the national currency of the country and how often is it traded?
- 5 What are the most popular payment methods among Pakistani Forex traders?
- 6 What trading platforms are available for Forex trading in Pakistan?
- 7 What are the available account types in Pakistan?
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a country in South Asia, with its population exceeding 212 million, the country is very involved in the world of Forex. There are a number of Pakistani Forex brokers offering their services to the citizens of the country and the interest in the field is growing every day.
However, compared to the larger economies, Pakistan is just a little piece of the Forex market, but it still stands to be one of the most interesting ones with its offerings and services. In today’s guide, we will discuss everything that makes Forex trading in Pakistan unique and different from other markets. So, if you are looking for the best Forex brokers in the county, follow our guide carefully!
What are the best Forex brokers in Pakistan?
Because of a big number of Forex brokers in Pakistan, it is not easy to find the best one. To make your job a lot easier, we have come up with a list of one of the best Forex brokers on the market. While working on the list, we made sure to take into consideration everything about the brokers, including regulations, software, available payment methods, etc. Take a look at the list below!
Licences
FCA, CySEC, IFSC, ASIC, DFSA
Min. depo
$5
Leverage
1:888
Platform
MT4, MT5, WebTrader
XM
Licences
ASIC, FSA, FSCA, FFAJ, FSRA, FSC
Min. depo
100 USD
Leverage
400:1
Platform
MT4, MT5
AvaTrade
Licences
FCA, ASIC, CySEC, FSCA, FMA, MAS
Min. depo
$100
Leverage
1:30
Platform
WebTrader, Windows 10 Trader
Plus500
What are the Forex regulations in Pakistan?
There are two main institutions in Pakistan that overlook the world of Folex and the financial sector in general. These are the State bank of Pakistan, SBP, and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, SECP.
SBP is an institution responsible for the whole banking industry, which includes banks, Islamic banking institutions, microfinance organizations, exchange companies, and other financial institutions. Also, the State bank has a special Exchange Policy Department, and this department is responsible for coming up with regulations for Pakistan’s foreign exchange regime. This includes local and foreign investors, however, this does not include Forex brokers.
SECP, on the other hand, issues licenses to all investment companies in the country. If a company wants to register to trade financial instruments in the country, there are several requirements for them, including:
- The company should have a minimum equity capital of 20 million Pakistani Rupee, which is almost 160,000 USD.
- 10 percent of the equity capital should be kept as a reserve with the State Bank of Pakistan
- In addition, the company should not own any other business other than the one they are licensed for
Even though there are so many regulations, none of the mentioned ones affect the Forex or CFD brokers. These companies actually function as subsidiaries of big international brokers, and all they do is that they are supporting versions of the websites of international brokers that are specifically translated into Urdu for Forex traders in Pakistan.
How to avoid scam Forex brokers in Pakistan?
Because of the lack of regulations in Pakistan, there are many companies that scam people and use their funds for illegal business. This can be a huge problem, and that is why most of the traders in the country prefer to trade with international Forex brokers that own international licenses.
Since there are no regulations in the country, many brokers in Pakistan offer traders very high leverage, sometimes as high as 3000:1, this might sound appealing for many, but always keep in mind that risks become even higher when you trade with such high leverage and it certainly is not something for beginners.
Our best advice for you would be to trade with brokers that are regulated by most respected financial companies on the market, such as Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, FCA, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, ASIC, and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission CySEC.
Is trading in Pakistan safe?
Because of the lack of regulations, Forex trading in Pakistan can be very dangerous. However, there are a number of things you could do to stay safe. If you do not want to be one of those horror stories that we have all heard about, always make sure to start trading with Forex brokers that own authorization form one of the intentional regulatory bodies.
In most cases, you can access the information about the licenses that the broker owns directly on their own website, at the end of the page. However, you always need to make sure to double-check the information that was provided to you by the Forex broker. To do so, you will need to contact the regulatory bodies, in most cases, they have a list of brokers that are authorized by them, but if they do not have such a list, you can always ask if a certain broker is regulated or not.
Safety is something that you should think about a lot. The market is full of different scam companies that are trying to violate the rights of every broker. To avoid this, you need to trade with companies that have a good reputation and are authorized and licensed by some of the most trustworthy regulatory agencies on the market. Below, you can see our favorite FX brokers that you should definitely try out.
XM
Min. Depo
$5
Licences
FCA, CySEC, IFSC, ASIC, DFSA
Leverage
1:888
Platforms
MT4, MT5, WebTrader
AvaTrade
Min. Depo
100 USD
Licences
ASIC, FSA, FSCA, FFAJ, FSRA, FSC
Leverage
400:1
Platforms
MT4, MT5
Plus500
Min. Depo
$100
Licences
FCA, ASIC, CySEC, FSCA, FMA, MAS
Leverage
1:30
Platforms
WebTrader, Windows 10 Trader
Exness
Min. Depo
$10
Licences
CySEC, FCA, SFSA
Leverage
1:2000
Platforms
MT4, MT5
Forex.com
Min. Depo
$100
Licences
NFA, CFTC, FCA, FSA, IIROC and CIMA
Leverage
1:50
Platforms
WebTrader, MT4, MT5
CMTrading
Min. Depo
250 USD`
Licences
FSCA
Leverage
1:200
Platforms
MT4, WebTrader, Copykat
What is the national currency of the country and how often is it traded?
The Pakistani rupee is the national currency of the country, which has been in circulation since 1948. Its trading code is PKR, it is mostly traded by Pakistani traders, however, since it is one of the exotic currencies, it is not recommended to trade it. In general, if you are a beginner, it would be easier for you to trade with one of the major currency pairs, such as GBP/USD, EUR/USD, and others.
When looking for a Forex broker in Pakistan, one thing that you need to make sure is that you should be able to make deposits using this currency, to avoid high costs of currency exchanges. There are a bunch of international Forex brokers available for Pakistani traders that offer payments in Pakistani rupee.
What are the most popular payment methods among Pakistani Forex traders?
In Pakistan, there has been a boom of new payment methods coming into play in recent years. However, citizens of the country still prefer to use more conventional methods like credit/debit cards for example. There are many international payment methods, however, available for the Forex traders in Pakistan, such as Payoneer, MoneyGram, Western Union, and many others.
In addition, there are some local payment methods that are very actively used by traders in the country, it is always a great idea to use those if the broker offers them, since most of the people are already using them for day-to-day activities.
What trading platforms are available for Forex trading in Pakistan?
Trading software is one of the most important parts of Forex trading since it lets you have access to the trading world. There are many of them available, including big names like MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, and many others. MetaTrader is perhaps the best-known and most used trading software in the world.
MT4 has been around for 15 years now and it has managed to get a huge following, because of it, it is very easy for people to find everything that they might need online. MT4 offers traders access to a huge market, dozens of different available currency pairs. In addition, it is very simple to use and can be used very easily by even those who have never traded Forex before.
MT5 is a newer version of MT4, and it offers some advanced tools, which can be very useful for traders. In Pakistan, many Forex brokers even have special Softwares that were created especially for them.
What are the available account types in Pakistan?
There are many different accounts that you can create while Forex trading, and in most cases, it depends on the Forex broker. Those who offer services in Pakistan mostly have several different options, including demo and Islamic accounts. Demo accounts are very popular among beginners because they can trade without using real-life funds to test their strategies and learn more about Forex trading in general.
Islamic accounts are also known as the swap-free accounts as they have no swap or rollover interest on overnight positions, which is against Islamic faith. Many people use this account is Pakistan because of their faith.