An Islamic Forex account is a halal Forex account which complies with the Shari’ah prohibition on Riba or the accumulation of interest. Islamic Forex accounts will not charge interest on open positions held overnight, but because they will not charge interest, some Islamic accounts will charge commission or offer wider spreads than a traditional Forex account.
To test these brokers, we opened a live trading account, and contacted customer service to evaluate the process of removing interest related adjustments. While Islamic Forex accounts ordinarily have the same trading terms as a regular Forex account, our test looked for limitations on trading opportunities, charging additional fees, as well as widened spreads to compensate for the missed revenue that would otherwise have been generated by collecting interest. Each of these brokers are FCA regulated. These are the best Islamic Forex accounts for 2021, according to our testing and our research.
Accepts UK Clients. Average spread EUR/USD 0.09 pips with 7 USD commission round turn on the trading account with lowest minimum deposit. Max leverage 30:1. Islamic account available. MT4, MT5 & cTrader platforms supported. Pepperstone is regulated by the FCA, ASIC, and the DFSA. 79.3% of traders lose money with this provider.
Founded in 2010, Pepperstone is an Australian ECN broker known for tight spreads, ultra-fast trade execution and broad platform support. Pepperstone’s award-winning, 24-hour support provides the foundation for its excellent customer service, where personalised assistance is available via several methods.
As our highest rated pure ECN broker, if you want to pay a small commission for tighter spreads, you won’t find a better broker than Pepperstone.
Accepts UK Clients. Average spread EUR/USD 1.50 pips on trading account with lowest minimum deposit. Max leverage 30:1. Islamic account available. MT4, MT5, cTrader and FxPro proprietary trading platform supported. FxPro Group is regulated by FCA, CySEC, FSCA, and the DFSA. 77% of traders lose money with this provider.
FxPro is one of the most respected Forex brokers in the industry. Regulated by the FCA and CySEC and with over 870,000 client accounts in 173 countries, FxPro is a truly global powerhouse.
FxPro offers a no dealing desk execution model on MT4, MT5, cTrader and a browser-based platform. A reasonable 100 USD opening deposit and outstanding customer service are combined with competitive spreads – often as low as 0.6 pips – to match profitability with security.
Accepts UK Clients. Average spread EUR/USD 1.60 pips on trading account with lowest minimum deposit. Max leverage 30:1. Islamic account available. MT4 & MT5 platforms supported. XM Group regulated by CySEC, ASIC, and the IFSC. 77.19% of traders lose money with this provider.
XM Group has achieved substantial growth since opening in 2009, earning 1.5 million clients in 196 countries. XM’s operational philosophy is aimed at client satisfaction and low client turnover; they earn client loyalty through award-winning 24/5 personal customer service, varied account types and competitive trading conditions.
Regulated the FCA, CySEC and ASIC and the recipient of many industry awards, XM Group stands out from a crowded field of market maker brokers for their customer service and educational support.
Accepts UK Clients. Average spread EUR/USD 1.20 pips on trading account with lowest minimum deposit. Max leverage 500:1. Islamic account available. MT4 & MT5 platforms supported. Axi Group is regulated by the FCA, ASIC and the DFSA. 75.6% of traders lose money with this provider.
AxiTrader is an ASIC and FCA regulated ECN broker for serious traders. While the trading platform choice is limited to MT4, Axitrader has received industry recognition for their setup including Best MT4 Broker 2018 (Compare Forex Brokers Australia) and Best MT4 Provider 2018 (UK Forex Awards).
Both accounts at AxiTrader require no minimum deposit, though a minimum of 200 USD is recommended. Spreads are tight, commission on the Pro Account is competitive, and educational and analytical support is good for beginners.
Accepts UK Clients. Average spread EUR/USD 0.50 pips with 0.0 USD commission round turn on the trading account with lowest minimum deposit. Max leverage 500:1. Islamic account available. MT4, MT5 & MT4 Supreme Edition platforms supported. Admiral Markets is regulated by ASIC, CySEC, and the FCA. 76% of traders lose money with this provider.
Founded in 2001, Admiral Markets offers reliability, market leadership and simple modern trading. A global presence, a large Australian and international client base, flexible trading accounts, competitive trading conditions, and peerless educational material have attracted both beginner and experienced traders to the brand.
Admiral Markets offers their own custom version of the MetaTrader trading platforms, the MetaTrader Supreme Edition, compatible with both MT4 and MT5. Additionally, most Admiral Markets accounts have free access to Trading Central – providing independent market insight and technical analysis – and the company offers one of the best cryptocurrency offerings on the market by a Forex broker.
Accepts UK Clients. Average spread EUR/USD 0.50 pips on trading account with lowest minimum deposit. Max leverage 30:1. Islamic account available. MT4 & xStation platforms supported. XTB Group is regulated by CySEC CySEC, FCA and the IFSC. 82% of traders lose money with this provider.
Founded in 2002, XTB is a Polish market-maker with tight spreads on a single account and a focus on providing top-class education and market analysis for its clients. Regulated by the FCA, CySEC and the Belize IFSC, XTB offers negative balance protection for all clients and high-speed trading on over 4000 instruments.
XTB recently dropped support for MT4 to focus on its award-winning proprietary platform, xStation 5, which features more modern elements and a more intuitive design than the MetaTrader platforms.
Accepts UK Clients. Average spread EUR/USD 1 pips on trading account with lowest minimum deposit. Max leverage 30:1. Islamic account available. Only eToro proprietary trading platform supported. eToro is regulated by CySEC, FCA, and ASIC. 67% of traders lose money with this provider.
eToro pioneered social trading in 2012 and has been widely recognised for making the social trading experience as smooth and engaging as possible. Regulated by the UK’s FCA and offices in Canary Wharf (London), eToro has grown to become one of the largest Forex brokers in the world, along with raking in multiple UK-based awards for innovation.
eToro’s trading platform is slightly different to most brokers, offering a more user friendly for beginners, and an active and helpful community supporting with trading ideas and a helping hand. If you are looking for a fun, simple and reliable social trading experience, then eToro is worth investigating.
Accepts UK Clients. Average spread EUR/USD 0.20 pips with 4 USD commission round turn on the trading account with lowest minimum deposit. Max leverage 30:1. Islamic account available. MT4 platform support. Tickmill is regulated by CySEC, FCA, FSCA, and the FSA-Seychelles. 73% of traders lose money with this provider.
Tickmill offers low spreads and commission, fast STP execution on the MT4 platform and has an excellent reputation in the CFD trading industry.
Regulated by the FCA in the UK, CySEC in Europe, and the Seychelles FSA internationally – and a regular winner of trade execution and trading conditions awards – Tickmill has the reputation, and the performance, traders should look for in a broker.
Accepts UK Clients. Average spread EUR/USD 1.40 pips on trading account with lowest minimum deposit. Max leverage 500:1. Islamic account available. MT4 & MT5 platforms supported. Amana Capital Group is regulated by the CySEC, FCA, and the DFSA.
Amana Capital is a very well-regulated broker with a strong focus on new traders; beginners will find a helpful and well-structured education section and relatively tight spreads on its cheapest account – though trading conditions do improve substantially on the more expensive accounts.
We also like that both MT4 and MT5 are supported and that traders have free access to both AutoChartist and Trade Captain – two excellent third-party analysis applications.
Accepts UK Clients. Average spread EUR/USD 1.10 pips on trading account with lowest minimum deposit. Max leverage 1000:1. Islamic account available. Only MT4 platform supported. IronFX is regulated by CySEC, FCA, ASIC, and the FSCA. 75.35% of traders lose money with this provider.
With a huge range of account types, a good micro account and over 80 tradeable currency pairs, IronFX has something for everyone. A globally recognised Forex broker with award-winning education and market analysis, IronFX has also recently introduced market execution accounts with ultra-low spreads.
For beginners who want to learn to trade on the MT4 platform, and experienced traders looking for strong international regulation, IronFX is an excellent choice in a broker.
Accepts UK Clients. Average spread EUR/USD 1.30 pips on trading account with lowest minimum deposit. Max leverage 400:1. Islamic account available. MT4 & Ninja Trader platforms supported. FXCM is regulated by FCA, ASIC, and the FSCA. 74.74% of traders lose money with this provider.
Founded in 1999, FXCM is an FCA-regulated market marker with tight spreads and support for the MT4 platform.
Though it has a strong focus on educating new traders, FXCM also offers innovative trading tools and a wide range of specialty platforms for experienced traders. Customer support is excellent and FXCM’s flagship platform, Trading Station, has won multiple awards for its intuitive layout and customisability. Traders will also benefit from FXCM’s enhanced execution model across all popular currency pairs and CFDs.
Accepts UK Clients. Average spread EUR/USD 1.20 pips on trading account with lowest minimum deposit. Max leverage 30:1. Islamic account available. MT4 platform supported. HYCM is regulated by CySEC, FCA, and the DFSA. 74% of traders lose money with this provider.
HYCM’s parent company has been involved in asset trading for over 40 years and its various subsidiaries are regulated by the FCA, CySEC and the DFIC. Primarily a market-maker broker, HYCM still offers attractive trading conditions, and has a market-execution account for those who prefer commission over wider spreads. Support for both MT4 and MT5 is offered alongside a comprehensive market education suite that will be beneficial for all traders.
HYCM offers its clients an opportunity to trade on more than 300 financial instruments including a number of currency pairs, commodities, stocks and cryptocurrencies.
Accepts UK Clients. Average spread EUR/USD 1.90 pips on trading account with lowest minimum deposit. MT4 & MT5 platforms supported. FXTM Group regulated by CySEC, FCA, FSCA and FSC. 81% of traders lose money with this provider.
By keeping the focus on beginners looking for reasonable trading conditions, the FXTM team of educators and analysts have succeeded in creating a welcoming environment for new traders. Additionally, FXTM is one of the few brokers with 24/7 support, allowing new traders to get set up on weekends or holidays.
All five FXTM accounts are available as demo accounts and, for the absolute beginner, FXTM has a great deal of training material to help new traders get started. Once you are ready to trade, the Standard Account has a minimum deposit of 100 USD and spreads start at 1.3 pips. FXTM also offers a Cent Account where the minimum deposit if only 10 USD but the spreads will be wider.
There are three articles of the Islamic Mua’malat that are relevant to Forex trading:
Riba: Prohibition of payment and receipt of interest
Gharar: Prohibition on gambling
Shared Risk: Both profit and losses
The key element here is the elimination of Riba – or interest on loans or assets.
Riba is central to conventional Forex trading, but according to Islamic law, or Shari’ah law, Muslims are banned from earning interest on loans. Some scholars believe that the practice of removing Riba, as brokers do on their Islamic Forex accounts, legitimises Forex trading under Shariʻah.
Islam also emphasises that when conducting business transactions, elements of uncertainty, excessive speculation and gambling should also be avoided, so it could be argued that hedging trades with Forex is also legitimate under Shari’ah. It is also widely agreed that conventional Forex transactions – if used carefully – are a very effective means of protecting banks from exposure to international risk.
Shared Risk
Another concern about the Islamic nature of Forex trading is the element of shared risk. Luckily, with Forex trading, when you trade, you are investing in an asset – the currency purchased. If this asset increases in value, you will make a profit and if the asset loses value, you will make a loss. The result is a sharing of the benefits and losses of the currency exchange with your counterparty. From this point of view, Forex trading and Islam are compatible in terms of shared risk.
What is an Islamic Forex Account?
Across the Islamic world, many brokers offer Shari’ah compliant accounts to make sure that your trading is not haram – though this does mean that there are a few differences when compared to traditional Forex accounts.
Islamic Forex accounts have two underlying attributes:
Other than the above, Islamic Forex accounts usually have the same trading terms and conditions as a regular Forex account. However, some most Forex brokers change the commercial terms of trading with them and might limit the trader from trading cryptocurrencies.
Some Forex brokers will widen their spreads on Islamic accounts to compensate for the missed revenue that would otherwise have been generated by collecting interest. Another practice, but is far rarer, is that some Forex brokers charge an up-front commission on trades instead of widening the spreads.
Forex Brokers with Islamic Swap-free Accounts
There are a variety of brokers that offer Islamic accounts tailored for Muslim traders. There are usually no limitations on this account type – this means you can trade Forex, commodities, CFDs contracts and every financial instrument that complies with the Islamic financial regulations.
An important note: With most Forex brokers, you will need to open a real trading account which can then be converted into an Islamic account. Few brokers have a registration page specifically for Islamic accounts, and even fewer have Islamic demo accounts, but some brokers with clients from predominantly Muslim countries automatically create accounts as Islamic accounts.
If you are in doubt, make sure you discuss your concerns with your account manager or broker representative before you make a deposit.
Forex Rollovers and Swap Rates Explained
In the Forex market, any position held overnight generates a rollover which will be earned or paid out depending on the currency you are trading and the direction of the market. Rollover interest is a form of interest that can be credited or debited from your Forex trading account, and thus it is prohibited by Islamic financial regulations. In the financial world, this rollover is also known as the swap rate. So, Islamic Forex accounts are swap-free accounts where no overnight interest is credited or debited.
Islamic Financial Regulatory Bodies
The central financial regulatory bodies in the Islamic world are the following:
Forex brokers that are registered in Muslim majority countries often have to comply with many local regulations and are required to follow Shari’ah law, whereas Western Forex brokers have much more flexibility when it comes to the interest charged to their clients. This is why only some of the brokers offer this account type.
Summary
An Islamic Forex account, or swap-free account, is an optional account type that is often selected after signing up with a broker. They are intended for use by traders of the Islamic faith, which prohibits generating income from interest payments. Most Forex brokers can accommodate followers of the Islamic faith by offering swap-free trading accounts that are compliant with Shari’ah law.
Forex Risk Disclaimer
Trading Forex and CFDs is not suitable for all investors as it carries a high degree of risk to your capital: 75-90% of retail investors lose money trading these products.
Forex and CFD transactions involve high risk due to the following factors: Over-leveraging, unpredictable market volatility, slippage arising from a lack of liquidity, inadequate trading knowledge or experience, and a lack of regulatory protection for clients.
Traders should not deposit any money that is not disposable. Regardless of how much research you have done, or how confident you are in your trade, there is always a substantial risk of loss. (Learn more from the FCA or from ASIC)
Our Methodology
Our State of the Market Report and Broker Directory are the result of extensive research on over 100 Forex brokers. The explicit goal of these resources is to help traders find the best Forex brokers – and steer them away from the worst ones – with the benefit of accurate and up-to-date information.
With over 150 data points on each broker and over 3000 hours of research and review writing, we believe we have succeeded in our goal.
In a world where trading conditions and customer support can vary based on where you live, our broker reviews focus on the local trader and give you information about these brokers from your perspective.
All research has been conducted by our in-house team of researchers and writers, gathering information from various company representatives, websites and by sifting through the fine print. Learn more about how we rank brokers.
Trading Forex and CFDs is not suitable for all investors and comes with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 75-90% of retail investors lose money trading these products. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
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Accepts UK Clients. Average spread EUR/USD 0.09 pips with 7 USD commission round turn on the trading account with lowest minimum deposit. Max leverage 30:1. Islamic account available. MT4, MT5 & cTrader platforms supported. Pepperstone is regulated by the FCA, ASIC, and the DFSA. 79.3% of traders lose money with this provider.
