South Africa is one of the most upcoming online trading markets in the world with a plethora of trustworthy and reliable brokers available to users. Yet, little is known about the regulation that is in place, and among users, very few are aware of which organizations are overseeing the market.
Trading in South Africa
Today online trading in the form of CFDs (Contract for Difference) as well as forex is completely legal and regulated, although the laws are a bit confusing.
Depending on where you look, sources have different information regarding online trading in South Africa. Some claim that there is, in fact, a strict regulatory system in place that is aimed to protect and serve the users, while others say that the “South African government has no regulations regarding the legality or illegality of Forex Trading platforms.”
Therefore, we decided to turn to the brokers that are offering trading opportunities in the country and see what they said.
You see, many of the world’s leading forex and CFD brokers are actively offering their services in South Africa. And as large internationally recognized brands, they would never risk offering services in a country where trading was banned.
So, what did the brokers say? Let us take a look.
Online Trading Regulations in South Africa
As a forex and CFD broker anywhere in the world, one needs a license and approval from the regulatory bodies in each area where they offer their services. Without a license, the broker should be considered untrustworthy and should therefore be avoided.
Because of this, all of the leading brokers in the world have several of these licenses from different organizations around the world.
Since many of the brokers are based in Europe, they all have a license from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) as well as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) based in the UK.
Together, these two bodies oversee trading in Europe as well as certain other regions of the world, and technically their licenses are also enough to prove their reliability in South Africa.
However, as you might be aware, South Africa also has its own regulatory body which is also working on regulating forex and CFD trading in the country. The body is the Financial Service Board (FSB) whose tasks include regulating forex platforms as well as the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and other services offering non-banking financial services in South Africa.
Our point is that trading in South Africa is regulated by several highly reliable services from Europe and Africa, and there is a long list of regulated brokers operating in the country (see link from BullMarketz above for more information).
Final Thoughts
Although the actual information regarding trading in South Africa is somewhat confusing, there is a solid regulatory system that oversees the market.
Also, the organizations in charge of regulating the market are very trustworthy, and they are also dedicated to protecting users and would never put the brokers’ interest first.
In other words, forex trading in South Africa is not only regulated but secure, and there is a system in place that always puts the safety of traders first.