An Islamic trading account is a halal account that allows individuals to trade forex and CFDs on multiple assets while respecting the teachings of the Quran and following the tenets of Shari’a Law. Known as swap-free accounts, traders do not pay or receive interest on trading positions.
Traders using an Islamic account can keep positions open overnight and for as long as they wish and are not charged a rollover fee, known as a swap. Instead, traders are charged a flat administration fee.
In this in-depth guide you’ll learn:
- The best Islamic account brokers
- How do Islamic trading accounts work?
- Key features of Islamic trading accounts
- What are the benefits of an Islamic trading account?
- How much does it cost to trade with an Islamic account?
And lots more…
Let’s dive right in…
| 🌐 Broker | ⚖️ Regulation | ☪️ Islamic Account | 👉 Open an account |
| AvaTrade | ASIC, BVI, CBI, CySEC, FSA(JP), FSC, FSCA | Yes✔️ | 👉 Open Account |
| Blackstone Futures | FSCA, FCA, ASIC, SCB | Yes✔️ | 👉 Open Account |
| CM Trading | FSCA, FSP | Yes✔️ | 👉 Open Account |
| ETX Capital / OvalX | CySEC, FCA | Yes✔️ | 👉 Open Account |
| Exness | CySEC, FCA, FSA(SC), FSCA | Yes✔️ | 👉 Open Account |
| FxPro | CySEC, FCA, FSCA, SCB | Yes✔️ | 👉 Open Account |
| HFM / HotForex | CySEC, DFSA, FCA, FSA(SC), FSCA | Yes✔️ | 👉 Open Account |
| Tickmill | CySEC, FCA, FSA(SC), FSCA, Labuan FSA | Yes✔️ | 👉 Open Account |
8 FSCA-regulated brokers for Islamic trading accounts
AvaTrade
Overall Rating
4.8/5
Rated #1 of
Recommended FX Brokers
Minimum Deposit
USD 100
Regulators
ASIC, FSA
📱 Trading Desk
MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5
₿ Crypto
Yes
📈 Total Pairs
60
Islamic Account
Yes
Trading Fees
Low
🕒 Account Activation Time
24 Hours
🏛️ Visit Broker
AvaTrade is an award-winning global forex and CFDs broker who accepts traders in Africa. Established in 2006, the brokerage is one of the oldest and most well-established online brokers in the forex market. The brokerage is licensed and regulated across all six continents, including the CBI, BVI FSC, ASIC, FSCA, FSA and ADGM. AvaTrade clients trade currency pairs, commodities, stocks, indices, futures and cryptocurrency on the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms and AvaTrade’s proprietary trading platforms. AvaTradeGo is a user-friendly and intuitive mobile trading app. It provides step-by-step guidance on opening and closing trades, feedback on your activity and support anytime and anywhere you need it.
Blackstone Futures
Overall Rating
4.6/5
Rated #4 of
Recommended FX Brokers
Minimum Deposit
1000 ZAR
Regulators
FSA
📱 Trading Desk
MetaTrader 4
₿ Crypto
Yes
📈 Total Pairs
32
Islamic Account
Yes
Trading Fees
Low
🕒 Account Activation Time
24 Hours
🏛️ Visit Broker
Blackstone Futures is a multi-asset South African-based forex and CFDs broker founded in 2009. Clients trade forex and CFDs on commodities, cryptocurrencies, equities, energies, precious metals, futures and indices using the MetaTrader 4 platform and a proprietary trading platform called CloudTrade. Blackstone Futures is a duly-appointed representative of Trade National Financial (Pty) Limited. Trade National Financial is the trading name of Finsa Europe Ltd, licensed and regulated by the FSCA in South Africa, FCA in the United Kingdom, ASIC in Australia, and SCB in the Bahamas.
CM Trading
Overall Rating
4.8/5
Rated #7 of
Recommended FX Brokers
Minimum Deposit
USD 100
Regulators
FSA
📱 Trading Desk
MetaTrader 4
₿ Crypto
Yes
📈 Total Pairs
154
Islamic Account
Yes
Trading Fees
Low
🕒 Account Activation Time
24 Hours
🏛️ Visit Broker
CM Trading is a South African-based forex and CFDs broker that was founded in 2012. CM Trading is the trading name of Global Capital Markets Trading (GCMT). The brokerage offers access to multiple financial assets on the global markets on the MT4 trading platform. CM Trading is an award-winning company licensed and regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). CM Trading recently received the Best Financial Broker Africa 2020 and the Fastest Growing Online Broker Middle East 2019.
ETX Capital
Overall Rating
4.7/5
Rated #– of
Recommended FX Brokers
Minimum Deposit USD 100
Regulators CSEC
–
Yes
📈 Total Pairs
79
Islamic Account No
Trading Fees Low
24 Hours
ETX Capital is a global CFD and FX broker. Its parent company Monecor (London) Ltd. was established in 1965 and is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Monecor (Europe) Ltd., the entity that handles EU accounts, is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
Exness
Overall Rating
4.9/5
Rated #2 of
Recommended FX Brokers
Minimum Deposit
USD 10.00
Regulators
FSCA, FSA, CySEC, FCA, CBCS, FSC (BVI), FSC (Mauritius)
📱 Trading Desk
MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5
₿ Crypto
Yes
📈 Total Pairs
107
Islamic Account
Yes
Trading Fees
Low
🕒 Account Activation Time
24 Hours
Exness is a leading forex and CFDs broker that accepts traders in Africa. The award-winning fintech company was founded in 2008 and is licensed and regulated by top-tier authorities, including the FCA, CySEC, FSCA and FSA. Exness is a Market Maker and NDD forex broker and provides online to multiple asset classes on the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms and a proprietary Web Terminal.
FxPro
Overall Rating
4.7/5
Rated #202 of
Recommended FX Brokers
Minimum Deposit
–
Regulators
–
📱 Trading Desk
–
₿ Crypto
Yes
📈 Total Pairs
–
Islamic Account
Yes
Trading Fees
Low
🕒 Account Activation Time
24 Hours
FxPro is a global, multi-regulated forex and CFDs broker that accepts traders in Africa. FxPro is a No Dealer Desk (NDD) broker and offers access to many asset classes on the MT4, MT5 and cTrader platforms. FxPro also has its own award-winning proprietary trading platform. FxPro offers the Micro, Premium, VIP and No Commission account, which supports commission-free trading. The FxPro Zero Fixed and Zero Spread accounts support commission-based trading. FxPro offers a mixture of live floating spread accounts and real-time fixed spread accounts.
HotForex
Overall Rating
4.8/5
Rated #6 of
Recommended FX Brokers
Minimum Deposit
USD 0
Regulators
CySEC, FSC, FSCA
📱 Trading Desk
₿ Crypto
No
📈 Total Pairs
50+
Islamic Account
Yes
Trading Fees
Low
🕒 Account Activation Time
24 Hours
🏛️ Visit Broker
HotForex is a global, multi-regulated forex and CFDs broker that accepts traders in Africa. Founded in 2010, HotForex and HF Markets fall under the HF Markets Groups, which operates in multiple jurisdictions. The brokerage offers access to a wide range of asset classes on the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms with six trading accounts.
Tickmill
Overall Rating
4.7/5
Rated #3 of
Recommended FX Brokers
Minimum Deposit
USD 100
Regulators
FSA
📱 Trading Desk
MetaTrader 4
₿ Crypto
Yes
📈 Total Pairs
62
Islamic Account
Yes
Trading Fees
Low
🕒 Account Activation Time
24 Hours
Tickmill is a global, multi-asset forex and CFDs broker that accepts traders in Africa. Tickmill was founded in 2014 and offers access to a wide range of asset classes on the MT4 trading platform. Tickmill is regulated by several Top-tier authorities, including the FCA, CySEC, FSCA and FSA. Tickmill is a No Dealer Desk (NDD) broker and offers four core trading accounts. Tickmill publishes a wide range of research and educational material, including video tutorials, eBooks and news articles. It also hosts regular webinars and seminars for forex training for beginner and advanced traders.
How do Islamic trading accounts work?
👉 Islamic trading accounts are also known as swap-free accounts because they do not incur swaps, a rollover fee or interest that brokers charge when clients hold positions open overnight. Islamic accounts do not offer swap interest, conforming to Shari’a Law and making them ideal for clients of the Muslim faith.
👉 Clients with Islamic trading accounts pay application fees that are taken off their account balance. This payment option does away with rollover fees that incur swap interest costs and makes Islamic accounts halal (meaning ‘permissible’ in Arabic).
👉 Forex and CFDs traders have access to the global markets 24 hours a day, five days a week via electronic trading platforms. Traders can hold short (day trading) or long positions. You are charged a rollover fee for positions held overnight, known as a swap. Forex and CFDs swaps are the interest rate differential between two currency pairs, and earning this type of interest is haram (forbidden) based on the Riba principles of Sharia Law.
What is Riba?
👉 Riba is the Arabic word for ‘increasing or exceeding’. Riba is the Arabic word for ‘increasing or exceeding’. It refers to the disproportionate exchanges, charges and borrowing fees that result in interest payments to traders and investors. Riba has become synonymous with ‘interest’ in the financial markets and refers to exploitative or unequal wealth acquisitions trading assets other than their actual purpose and value.
👉 Riba has become synonymous with ‘interest’ in the financial markets. Islamic Shari’a Law forbids individuals to receive interest payments, including interest due in bank accounts, from borrowing or lending, property purchases and loans for educational purposes.
👉 Riba (interest) is banned as it does not meet the principles of equitable transactions and social justice in Islamic finance because only the people who earn interest will benefit from the money.
What is a swap-free trading account?
👉 A swap-free trading account is another name for an Islamic trading account. This type of account is also known as a Raw Pricing trading account.
👉 A swap-free Islamic account is available to everyone, and you do not need to verify your religious affiliation to open this type of account. Islamic swap-free accounts are usually available on all kinds of retail trading accounts, including Standard, Professional and Raw Accounts.
Key features of Islamic trading accounts
👉 Islamic accounts are similar to regular retail trading accounts and offer comparable leverage and spreads. The main difference is there are no rollover fees, known as swaps. This means no interest (swap) fees are charged to hold overnight positions, which is subtracted from the balance. Brokers charge a small commission to offset what they lose in swap charges.
Features of an Islamic account include:
️ no rollover fees or swap charges on overnight positions
️ no spread widening
️ no upfront commissions
️ no hidden costs
️ no requotes
️ trade via electronic trading platforms (MT4 or MT5)
️ same trading conditions as standard live accounts
️ no limit on how long positions can be held
What are the benefits of an Islamic trading account?
👉 Islamic trading accounts allow people of the Muslim faith to trade and invest in financial assets while respecting and abiding by Islam’s legal system, known as Shari’a Law. The Law is derived from the Quran, Sunnah and Hadith.
👉 Swap-free accounts adhere to the Islamic principles of fairness and transparency and allow traders to buy and sell currency pairs and trade CFDs in commodities, stocks, indices, futures and bonds on the global markets. Profiting from forex and CFD trading is permitted under Shari’a Law because individuals have the right to improve their financial situation.
How to open an Islamic swap-free trading account
👉 Islamic accounts cannot be opened automatically on electronic trading platforms like MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. Most forex and CFDs brokers require you to submit a request to their customer support division to open an Islamic account.
- Choose a reliable brokerage that is regulated by a leading regulatory authority
- Register and open a live trading account
- Provide personal details, contact information and documents required to verify your identity
- Email the broker customer support and request an Islamic account
- Deposit funds into the account when it has been opened
- Start trading
How much does it cost to trade with an Islamic account?
👉 Islamic trading accounts do not earn interest from any trading positions. Trades that are held open overnight are charged a flat rate finance charge. Non-Islamic accounts do not incur a commission fee because the broker makes money on the spreads.
👉 Brokers specify the flat rate charge upfront, and there are no hidden fees following the principle of transparency in Islamic financial law. Charges on Islamic payments are deducted from your balance when you withdraw your funds.
Is cryptocurrency trading allowed on Islamic swap-free accounts?
👉 Cryptocurrency trading is not currently permitted on Islamic accounts because of the speculative nature of the asset. Cryptocurrency is highly volatile and is not viewed in Islamic finance as ‘money’. This issue is under debate by Islamic scholars, and cryptocurrency innovators will shortly launch crypto-type instruments based on physical assets and deemed religiously permissible.
FOREX TRADING AFRICA DISCLAIMER
👉 Forex and CFDs are complex instruments, and trading these instruments come with a high-risk warning. Trading forex and CFDs involves a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage and margin. You need to understand how forex trading works and decide whether you can afford to take the risk of losing money on trade orders that do not go your way.
👉 Forex Trading Africa annually reviews brokers and financial instruments and provides information to help traders and investors make better decisions when trading on global markets. The information is published to help improve your knowledge and understanding of international multi-asset trading and market participants.
