How we build the extract
Every row on this site traces to a public document. When we cannot trace it, we do not print it.
Sources
| Data | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Licensees and status | FSCA list of authorised financial services providers — fsca.co.za | 2026-09-29 |
| Law and categories | Published by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority | 2026-09-29 |
| Session times | IANA time zone database | On change |
| Exchange rate | open.er-api.com — USD/ZAR | 2026-09-28 |
Step by step against the register
- 1Read the register as the regulator publishes it and record the retrieval date.
- 2Map every row onto four columns: licensee, licence number, activity, status.
- 3Drop anything we could not reconcile rather than print it from memory.
- 4Publish with the check date. Some countries on this network today show a notice and a link to it in place of the table, which happens when the register cannot be read.
What we do not do
We do not rank brokers, score them, or publish reviews. Rather than present a licensee table we have not reconciled, the page shows the gap and links the regulator.
Reading the symbols
Where a licensee publishes its own logo, that is the logo you see, taken from the firm's own website. A large number of the smaller licensed firms publish nothing. Those rows carry a plain symbol we drew ourselves so the table reads evenly; it is our illustration, not the firm's trademark, and it says nothing about the firm. The licence number, along with the status shown next to it, is taken from the register and from no other source.
The FSCA Register Is the First Stop for Any Broker Claim
Any statement about a broker's regulatory status starts at the FSCA list of authorised financial services providers at fsca.co.za. If a firm offers leveraged foreign exchange to South African residents, it needs an FSCA ODP licence, and the licence is only real if the FSP number appears on that public register.
A broker's own website, app store listing or marketing email is not taken as evidence of licensing. A firm can display a logo, quote a licence number, or describe itself as regulated without that number matching an entry on the FSCA list. The register check is the test that matters.
Where this guide would otherwise need a number, such as a minimum deposit or a spread, it instead tells you where to look: the broker's funding page, the product schedule, or your own bank or EFT app. That keeps the page useful even when a firm changes its pricing overnight.
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.
Payment Rails and Session Times Are Verified in Local Terms
South African readers fund accounts mostly by EFT, with instant EFT, Ozow, Capitec Pay, card and ordinary bank transfer also in use. The guide describes these rails in plain terms, because the practical question is whether money leaves your account and reaches the broker, and how long that takes, not what a marketing page calls it.
Session times are given in SAST (UTC+2), not in a foreign timezone that you would have to convert. Sydney runs 23:00 to 08:00 SAST, Tokyo 02:00 to 11:00 SAST, London 10:00 to 19:00 SAST and New York 14:00 to 23:00 SAST. The London and New York overlap, locally 14:00 to 19:00 SAST, is when the two largest sessions run at once.
Those hours are stated as facts about market sessions, not as an argument that any particular hour is more profitable. Liquidity and volatility differ across the day, but neither guarantees an outcome, and no part of this guide should be read as a promise of profit.
| 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.
What Is Excluded, and Why That Protects You
Broker reviews, rankings and comparisons live elsewhere in this guide, and they do not carry a claim that a named firm is licensed, safe or best. That is deliberate. A methodology page that doubled as a recommendation would blur the line between describing a process and endorsing an outcome.
Nothing here estimates returns, win rates or income. Forex trading with leverage carries a real risk of losing more than you deposit, and any page that implies a reliable earnings figure is not a page you should trust with your money.
There are no invented authors, awards, testimonials or statistics. If a claim cannot be traced to the FSCA register, a broker's own published terms, a payment provider, or a published market session schedule, it does not appear on this page.
| Page | The question it answers | What the answer rests on |
|---|---|---|
| Market hours | When is the market open on my clock? | Fixed session windows, converted to SAST |
| Position calculator | How large a position does my stop allow? | Arithmetic in the page, from your own inputs |
| How to start | What is the order of the steps? | Licence first, then funding, then size |
| What forex is | What am I actually trading? | Definitions, with no figures attached |
| Apps and platforms | Which platform will I be using? | What each terminal is and who writes it |
Nothing here ranks brokers or recommends one. A page is only published when it answers a question.
How Corrections and Updates Are Handled
Regulation, payment options and session schedules all move. When the FSCA updates its register, when a broker changes its funding page, or when a payment rail is added or withdrawn, the affected passage is rewritten rather than patched with a footnote.
Because the guide avoids hard numbers it cannot verify, updates are usually about wording and structure rather than correcting a stale figure. That is the point of the approach: point you at the live source instead of freezing a number that will age badly.
If you spot something that contradicts the FSCA register or a broker's own published terms, treat the primary source as correct and this page as due for revision. Check the FSP number yourself at fsca.co.za before you fund any account.
| 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.
A Register Entry Confirms Permission, Not Suitability or Conduct
An FSCA entry tells a South African reader that the firm may render the relevant financial service. It does not tell you whether the product fits your circumstances, and it does not certify fair pricing or clean dealing. Treat the register as a permission check, never as an endorsement of quality.
The distinction matters because two firms can both hold authorisation while behaving very differently towards clients. A licence is a starting filter that removes unlicensed operators from your shortlist, nothing more. Judgements about execution, withdrawals and complaints handling still rest on your own reading.
Practical consequence: after confirming a firm on fsca.co.za, check the licence category against what you actually intend to do. A firm authorised for one activity is not automatically authorised for another. Where the categories do not match your intended use, ask the firm to point to the specific authorisation before funding anything.
The paperwork, and what each piece proves
- Green barcoded ID book or smart ID card, or passport
- Who you are
- Selfie with the ID document
- That the document is in your hands
Brokers usually also ask for proof of address - municipal bill or bank statement; requirements differ per firm. The firm's own sign-up page is the list that counts.
Deposits and Withdrawals Are Separate Journeys With Different Failure Points
Funding a trading account and getting money back are not mirror images. A deposit through instant EFT or Capitec Pay can clear while the trading platform credits your balance, yet the withdrawal route back to your bank account follows the firm's own process. Readers routinely assume speed in one direction implies speed in the other.
The common failure mode is a withdrawal blocked by an unresolved verification step, a mismatched bank account name, or a payment method the firm will not return funds to. These are administrative, not market, problems, and they surface at the worst moment. Confirm the withdrawal route before you deposit, using the broker's own funding page.
Order of operations that protects you: establish the exact withdrawal method, the account name it must match, and which documents the firm requires, all before the first deposit. Keep records of every EFT reference. If the firm's funding page is vague about withdrawals, treat that vagueness as information about how the relationship will run.
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Indicative USD/ZAR | 16.32 | 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 | R | — |
An indicative rate is for sizing a position in your head, not for settling one. That spread between the market rate and the broker's own is a cost worth counting.
Why a South African Clock Changes What You Can Verify
South Africa runs on SAST, UTC+2, with no daylight saving shifts. That stability is useful, but it also means your active hours sit outside the busiest windows of major overseas markets. A broker's live support, funding cut-offs and platform maintenance often follow a foreign business day, not yours.
The failure mode is timing: a query raised on a South African morning may only be answered once the firm's own office opens, and an EFT initiated late in your day may only be processed on the next business day. This is not misconduct, but it feels like it if you expected same-day handling.
Practical consequence: match any time-sensitive action, such as a verification submission or a withdrawal request, to the firm's stated operating hours rather than your own convenience. Where those hours are published in a foreign timezone, convert them to SAST before relying on them. The broker's own support page is the place to confirm this.
| 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. App stores list software. Registers list permissions - and that is the one that matters.
What This Page Will Never Do With a Broker's Marketing Material
Broker websites, app stores and affiliate reviews supply claims that cannot be independently verified by an editorial desk. This guide therefore treats marketing copy as a pointer to where a fact should be checked, not as the fact itself. A statement that a firm is regulated is only useful once it is matched to the public FSCA list.
The distinction readers get wrong is between a claim and its source. A badge on a homepage, a logo, or a phrase such as fully licensed carries no weight on its own. The same words on fsca.co.za, or in a firm's own published funding terms, carry weight because they can be inspected and revisited.
Practical consequence: when a broker's marketing and the public register disagree, the register wins and the discrepancy is itself a finding. Readers who spot such a mismatch should treat it as a reason to pause, not to argue. This guide records the discrepancy rather than resolving it in the firm's favour.
| What you see | What to check |
|---|---|
| A fixed monthly return, promised in advance | Ask which licence permits it, then look the firm up on the FSCA list of authorised financial services providers. |
| A deposit asked for in gift cards or vouchers | Check the broker's own funding page: firms list bank, card and wallet rails, not vouchers. |
| Someone offering to trade the account for you | Managing money for a client is a separate permission. The register says whether a firm holds it. |
| A withdrawal released only after a new payment | Read the withdrawal terms you agreed to. Fees devised at the moment of payout are not among them. |
None of this is a judgement about any firm. Each line is a check you can run yourself, starting at fsca.co.za.
Questions we are asked
Look up the firm on the FSCA list of authorised financial services providers at fsca.co.za and confirm the FSP number matches. Leveraged forex offered to South African residents requires an FSCA ODP licence. A number printed on a broker's website is not proof until it appears on the register.
Those figures change without notice and are specific to each broker and account type. Quoting them here would create a stale number that looks authoritative. Instead, the guide directs you to the broker's funding page and your own EFT or banking app, where the current terms are published.
All session times are given in SAST, UTC+2. London runs 10:00 to 19:00 SAST and New York runs 14:00 to 23:00 SAST, so the overlap is 14:00 to 19:00 SAST. Sydney and Tokyo cover the early hours. These are session facts, not a claim that any hour produces better results.