Choosing a forex broker in South Africa: what can actually be checked
This page does not rank brokers and does not score them. It shows who is licensed by the FSCA, 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We do not publish a ranking, and here is why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. Real spreads at the hour you trade, real withdrawal times, real rejection rates — the numbers that would make it honest are not published by anyone in a verifiable form, and broker-ranking sites are usually paid by the firms they rank.
The register is what can be verified: who may 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 30 licensed entities are allowed to do
| Category | Firms | Examples from the register |
|---|---|---|
| OTC derivative provider | 30 | Velocity Trade Capital Pty Ltd, Peresec Prime Brokers (Pty) Ltd, IG Markets South Africa Limited (South African Branch), Exness Sc (Ltd) and 26 more |
Why the ODP register is the one that matters
A firm can hold an FSP number and still not be approved to issue leveraged foreign exchange or contracts for difference. Those are over-the-counter derivatives, and the authorisation for them is a separate entry on a separate register. Checking the FSP list alone can leave you satisfied about a firm that is not cleared for the product you are about to trade.
The extract below is that second register, the list of approved ODPs.
| What a firm holds | What it means | Covers leveraged FX and CFDs? |
|---|---|---|
| FSP number | Financial services provider, broadly | Not by itself — advice and intermediary services are a different permission |
| ODP approval | Over-the-counter derivative provider | Yes — leveraged FX and CFDs issued to residents sit here |
| Neither | The firm is outside this regime | No — the FSCA has no powers over it on your behalf |
A firm can hold the first and not the second. Checking only the first leaves you satisfied about a permission that does not cover the product.
The FSCA register settles authorisation, not quality
Start with the FSCA list of authorised financial services providers at fsca.co.za. It answers one question well: is this entity permitted to render the financial service it is offering to you, a South African resident? That is a threshold, not a verdict on pricing, execution or support.
The register cannot tell you whether a platform feels usable during the London and New York overlap, whether withdrawals arrive in your EFT account without friction, or whether support answers at 23:00 SAST when Sydney opens. Those are differences you experience, not differences a licence number resolves.
Because the register is a permission list rather than a scoreboard, two authorised firms can be entirely different products. Treat authorisation as the entry condition, then do your own comparison on the things that actually affect your trading.
What the FSCA register is
- Regulator
- Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA)
- Register
- FSCA list of authorised financial services providers
- Published at
- fsca.co.za
- Covers retail forex
- Yes — the register has a category for it
- Last read by us
- 2026-09-29
- Entries transcribed here
- 30
A register says whether a firm holds a licence on the day you look, and nothing about how it treats clients. Search by the registered company in the footer rather than the name on the homepage.
Leveraged FX and CFDs need a separate ODP authorisation
A firm that issues leveraged FX or CFDs to South African residents needs FSCA authorisation as an OTC derivative provider. That is a separate register from the FSP list, and a firm can hold an FSP number without being an approved ODP.
This is the single most common confusion in South African broker research. An FSP number on a website is not, by itself, evidence that the firm may issue leveraged derivatives to you. Check the ODP position specifically, on the FSCA site, before you fund anything.
If a firm's marketing implies blanket FSCA approval without distinguishing the two registers, that is a reason to slow down, not a reason to assume fraud. Ask which entity holds which authorisation, and confirm it yourself.
| Figure | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Licensee names and status | FSCA list of authorised financial services providers — fsca.co.za | 2026-09-29 |
| Session windows | Fixed UTC windows; London and New York shift in their DST | On change |
| USD/ZAR | open.er-api.com | 2026-09-28 |
| Funding limits and fees | Set by the provider and the broker — not published here | Changes without notice |
Undated figures are opinions in disguise. What we could not trace back to a source was dropped rather than guessed at.
What you can check yourself, and what you cannot
Checkable: the entity name on the register against the entity name on your account opening documents and your EFT beneficiary. If those three do not match, stop and ask why before sending money. Checkable: whether the ODP authorisation exists for the products being offered.
Checkable: the funding page's stated methods. EFT and instant EFT are the local norm, with Ozow, Capitec Pay, card and bank transfer appearing alongside. The broker's own funding page is the only place to confirm what it currently supports.
Not checkable from a register: execution quality, slippage, platform stability, or how quickly a withdrawal is processed. Not checkable: whether the app suits a beginner. These are claims until you test them, and a four-check list on this page exists precisely to separate the two categories.
| Rail | What it is | Who sets the limit and the fee |
|---|---|---|
| EFT / instant EFT | Bank transfer | Your bank and the broker |
| Ozow | Payment service | The provider and the broker |
| Capitec Pay | Payment service | The provider and the broker |
| Card | Card payment | Your card issuer and the broker |
| Bank transfer | Bank transfer | 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. Verify it twice, once in the app and once on the funding page, and never withdraw to an account that did not fund you.
Use the four checks as a filter, not a ranking
The four checks on this page are deliberately about verification rather than preference. They ask whether the authorisation matches the product, whether the entity matches the beneficiary, whether the funding method matches your banking, and whether the platform's session coverage matches when you actually trade.
Session coverage matters in South Africa because the local clock is fixed at SAST, UTC+2. Sydney runs 23:00 to 08:00, Tokyo 02:00 to 11:00, London 09:00 to 18:00, and New York 14:00 to 23:00. The London and New York overlap, 14:00 to 18:00 SAST, is the busiest window for most pairs.
A platform that is thin outside those hours is not unauthorised, just mismatched to a strategy. That is a fit question, and fit is yours to judge. No ranking can answer it for you, and any page that claims to is selling something.
| Part of the day | Local time · SAST |
|---|---|
| Busiest window | 14:00-19:00 SAST — London and New York open together |
| Thinnest stretch | 23:00-08:00 SAST — Sydney alone, wider spreads |
| European open | 10:00-19:00 SAST |
| US open | 14:00-23:00 SAST |
| Closed | Friday New York close until the Sydney open on Monday |
Hours are shown for the clocks in force today: London is on GMT until 28 March, New York is on EDT until 1 November. South Africa does not change clocks, so each move shifts these local times by an hour and the page is rebuilt on the day it happens.
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 FSCA register- 1The licence covers the service you are about to useA licence names activities. A firm that holds a licence for one of them is not supervised for another; the register, not the broker's own page, is where this is recorded.
- 2The entity in your agreement is the entity on the registerGroups onboard clients through several companies. The name you enter here has to correspond letter for letter to the one in the client agreement and on the payment details.
- 3The status is current on the day you depositA register is a snapshot. In cases of suspension, lapse or revocation, stop; if you cannot find the name at all, no local supervision is behind your money.
- 4What is not in the register cannot be verifiedSpreads, execution speed, bonuses and awards are claims. Because there is no public document to verify them against, this page does not restate them.
FSCA-licensed brokers in South Africa
- Checked
- 2026-09-29
- Source
- fsca.co.za
- Entries
- 30
| Licensee | Activity | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Velocity Trade Capital Pty Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Peresec Prime Brokers (Pty) Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| IG Markets South Africa Limited (South African Branch) | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Exness Sc (Ltd) | OTC derivative provider · Foreign | Approved |
| Plus500Au (Pty) Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Foreign | Approved |
| Citi Group Global Markets Pty (Ltd) | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Easytrader Pty Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| First World Trader Pty Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| SCM DMA (Pty) Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Markets South Africa (Pty)Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Exinity Limited | OTC derivative provider · Foreign | Approved |
| TF Global Markets South Africa (Pty) Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Cargill RSA Proprietary Limited | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| AT Global Markets SA (Pty) Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Island Prime 54 (Pty) Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| JP Markets SA (Pty) Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Scope Markets SA (Pty) Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| SA Derivatives (Pty) Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| IFX Brokers Holdings (Pty) Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Rocketx Pty Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Fivewest Global (Pty) Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Ovex FSP (Pty) Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Unum Prime Pty Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Investec Markets Pty Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Flare Fx (Pty) Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Prime Markets Pty Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Parsa Financial Services Pty Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Valr Dam (Pty) Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Radar ATS Pty Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
| Capital.Com South Africa (Pty) Ltd | OTC derivative provider · Local | Approved |
