Comparing Forex Brokers in Singapore

Although Forex brokers accept clients from most countries, their trading conditions and regulatory supervision may be different for Singapore residents. This is especially true for brokers who hold a MAS license. To find the best Forex broker for Singapore residents, we need to explain what the differences are and how they affect traders in Singapore.

MAS Regulation: Regulators supervise Forex brokers and other financial services companies to make sure they’re behaving ethically and within the law. Tier 1 regulators, like MAS, have the best legal structure and enforcement mechanisms in the world, ensuring a clean market and the protection of participants. The advantages of registering with a MAS regulated broker include:

• Segregated trading accounts which protect client funds from broker mismanagement or default
• Negative balance protection ensures that client losses can not exceed the amount in the trading account.
• Client fund protection that includes higher margin close-out percentages designed to limit client losses.
• Effective fraud investigation processes and frequently published investment scam reports.

Broker Trading Conditions and Costs: Better Forex brokers will often have lower trading costs, meaning that spreads are tight and minimum deposits are low. Trading execution should be lightning-fast and with little or no intervention. Forex brokers should also publish their spreads, execution policy, maximum leverage available, and a list of all CFDs available to traders in Singapore. Note that trading conditions and negative balance protection availability change depending on a trader’s country of residence, and some MAS brokers will encourage traders to register their account under their offshore license in order to circumvent leverage restrictions.  

Broker Education and Analysis: Brokers should offer beginner traders a coherent and well-structured trading course alongside a demo account. Brokers should supply detailed market analyses to highlight trading opportunities and provide a complete learning experience.

Broker Trading Platform: Brokers will have their own trading platform or provide support for a third-party platform, such as MT4, MT5, or cTrader. Some brokers will do both. Most Forex traders generally have a platform preference, so brokers with multiple platforms are more likely to have the platform a trader wants to use.

To test these Forex brokers, we opened both demo accounts and real accounts, set up the trading software, read the educational material, deposited and traded 350 USD of our money, and created all kinds of trouble for the customer service teams. Plus we put the withdrawal procedures to the test to see how long it took to process and receive our money. While experimenting with these brokers, we rate the quality of their financial regulation, trading platform choice and read the fine print to get a grasp of the trading conditions and how transparent the broker is with sharing them.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)

Singapore is one of the largest financial centres in the world and has a well-regulated financial trading sector. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) oversees all regulated brokers in the country and is increasingly seen as a responsible and reputable regulator.

A Forex broker who wants to set up a base of operations in Singapore is required to have a Capital Markets Service Licence issued by MAS. Though internationally-based brokers are still allowed to operate unregulated in Singapore, it is highly recommended that you use a MAS regulated broker for the protection they offer consumers:

• MAS regulated brokers are required to segregate broker and client funds – so if a broker falls into bankruptcy, all customers will be refunded.
• The management of MAS compliant brokers are required to pass a fit and proper test – they must have qualifications commensurate with the financial services industry and have an unblemished professional background.
• MAS requires brokers to deal with all customer complaints via a legal framework, overseen by the regulator. If you do have an issue with a MAS regulated broker you can apply for the Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre (FIDReC) to intervene and investigate your complaint.
• As part of a recent raft of regulatory tightening, MAS has limited the amount of leverage that can be offered by brokers at 20:1, though this can be increased if you are an accredited investor (requiring personal assets of more than 1.5 million USD). Though this low level of leverage does limit potential profits it also limits the losses traders can be exposed to.

MAS is not only responsible for regulating Forex brokers but for all aspects of finance in Singapore. MAS also acts as the country’s central bank and enforces compliance with legislation on insurance, banking, equities, and currency. All regulated entities will have a profile (example: Plus500) on the MAS website.

MAS is increasingly being viewed as a world-class regulator, with a strict code of conduct. This was further underlined by the recent announcement by MAS and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) that they plan to deepen cooperation across a range of sectors. Though the focus of the partnership is on preventing cybercrime, the collaboration also includes sharing best practices and innovations in the development and delivery of training programmes and facilitating mutual recognition of professional standards and certifications.

MAS has also recently announced a campaign to incentivise major members of the foreign-exchange industry to set up systems in Singapore, removing the delay caused by routing trades via Tokyo or London. UBS and CitiGroup have already set up local pricing engines and MAS hopes to bring in at least six more major companies. Though this won’t have a direct effect on CFD Forex trading, we expect the sector to expand further over the coming years as Singapore becomes a major Forex trading hub.

All MAS regulated brokers

Here is our curated list of all of the MAS-regulated brokers we have reviewed, ordered by overall score. The broker with the highest score is at the top of the list.

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Broker	Broker Score	CMS License	Regulators	Min. Deposit	Cost of Trading	Trading Commission	No. of FX Pairs	Compare
	4.69 /5 Read Review			AUD 0	USD 6	Fees Included in Spread	80
	4.25 /5 Read Review	CMS100122-4		USD 0	USD 10	4 USD / lot	45
	3.87 /5 Read Review			AUD 50	USD 14	3 USD / lot	50

Prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price. Prices on the website are indicative and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice

MoneySense

MoneySense was founded in 2003 and is Singapore’s national financial education programme. All MoneySense programmes are overseen by the MoneySense Council, which is co-chaired by MAS and comprises representatives from various government agencies.

It is focussed on educating the public and providing them with the information to make more informed financial decisions.

MoneySense can be useful for traders as they regularly post alerts regarding various financial scams, including unregulated brokers and people fraudulently claiming to represent regulated brokers.

MoneySense is a good example of how seriously MAS takes its role as an educator. A financially educated populace is more likely to make intelligent investment decisions and will be better customers for responsible brokers.

Conclusion

The Singapore financial sector is tightly regulated and has one of the lowest rates of malpractice in the world. As MAS takes further steps to enhance the country’s reputation as a secure place to trade we expect the CFD Forex trading industry to grow. By using a MAS regulated Forex broker you can guarantee the security of your funds and know that your rights are protected.

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: Leverage, market volatility, slippage arising from a lack of liquidity, inadequate trading knowledge or experience, and a lack of regulatory protection. Traders should not deposit any money that is not considered disposable income. 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 about these risks from the Australian regulator, ASIC or the UK’s regulator, the FCA).

Our Rating & Review Methodology

Our overall Forex Rankings report and Directory of CFD Brokers to Avoid are the result of extensive research on over 180 Forex brokers. These resources help traders find the best Forex brokers – and steer them away from the worst ones. These resources have been compiled using over 200 data points on each broker and over 3000 hours of research. Our team conducts all research independently: Testing brokers, gathering information from broker representatives and sifting through legal documents. Learn more about how we rank brokers. 

Editorial Team

 

Chris Cammack
Head of Content

Chris joined the company in 2019 after ten years experience in research, editorial and design for political and financial publications. His background has given him a deep knowledge of international financial markets and the geopolitics that affects them. Chris has a keen eye for editing and a voracious appetite for financial and political current affairs. He ensures that our content across all sites meets the standards of quality and transparency that our readers expect.

 

Alison Heyerdahl
Senior Financial Writer

Alison joined the team as a writer in 2021. She has a medical degree with a focus on physiotherapy and a bachelor’s in psychology. However, her interest in forex trading and her love for writing led her to switch careers, and she now has over eight years experience in research and content development. She has tested and reviewed 100+ brokers and has a great understanding of the Forex trading world.

 

Ida Hermansen
Financial Writer

Ida joined our team as a financial writer in 2023. She has a degree in Digital Marketing and a background in content writing and SEO. In addition to her marketing and writing skills, Ida also has an interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks. Her interest in crypto trading led to a wider fascination with Forex technical analysis and price movement. She continues to develop her skills and knowledge in Forex trading and keeps a close eye on which Forex brokers offer the best trading environments for new traders.

 

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