Best Forex Brokers in Japan 2020

If you are a trader based in Japan then you will need to trade with locally based or regulated brokers. Finding a good broker isn’t easy, so we have compiled a list of the best Japan brokers for you, based on our research and user feedback.

The brokers below represent the best forex brokers in Japan.

FBS

FBS offers a regulated CySEC arm for European traders and regulated Belize arm for traders outside of Europe. Global regulated arm offers bonuses and high leverage of up to 3000 times. MT4 is the only platform available, although it is accessible over web, desktop and mobile.

General Regulation & Japan Regulation

Tokyo is one of the major forex trading hubs in the Asian region. Margin forex trading in Japan is conducted both on the OTC markets as well as on the Tokyo Financial Exchange (TFX). Exchange traded forex on the TFX was pioneered by Click 365 and is the only STP brokerage model available to Japanese forex traders.

Regulation of forex brokers in Japan is conducted by the Japanese Financial Services Authority (JFSA). There is also a second watchdog in the industry, the Financial Futures Association of Japan (FFAJ). The focus of these two agencies is to provide a home-grown forex trading environment which is better suited to the Japanese population. As such, there are some differences in how forex brokerage business is conducted in Japan when compared with the rest of the world.

For instance, retail forex leverage provision was reduced to 25:1 in 2011, one of the lowest in a forex world where leverage of 400:1 is still being provided in some countries. This makes it much more expensive to trade retail forex in Japan than in Europe or the US. Small business and corporate forex accounts are also due to be subjected to lower leverage, and these will be applied differentially across several currency pairs.

Trading Platform & Software

The uniqueness as well as closed nature of Japan’s forex market has forced many Japan forex brokers to adopt proprietary technology in developing their own trading platforms. This is because many of the turnkey platforms solutions available in Europe and other jurisdictions do not meet the regulatory requirements of the JFSA.

Japanese forex traders will therefore see more proprietary trading platforms such as the ST24 platform and the RoboX platform.

Commissions & Spreads

Forex brokers in Japan charge spreads as low as 0.3 pips, but only on the USD/JPY currency pair. Spreads on other currency pairs can be as high as 4.8 pips on the CAD/JPY currency pair. Most Japanese forex brokers do not offer CFD trading. It is unusual to see forex brokers in Japan offering more than 20 currency pairs.

Account Types

There is not much information on the account types traders are allowed to own. However, there are no bonuses provided as this is against JFSA rules. Negative balance protection is also not allowed. Hedging, scalping, arbitrage and trading with robots are all outlawed.

Customer Service

Since most brokers attend to local Japanese traders and not to an international market, most customer service is provided in Japanese. Only a few platforms provide an English Language interface.

Additional Services

Forex trading operates at a limited scope in Japan. Forex brokers do not provide additional services aside from forex trading.

The JFSA is very strict on the regulation of forex brokers. The origin behind this stems from the banking crisis that the country suffered in the 1990s. In order to combat a situation where Japanese investors lose money, the JFSA has internalized forex trading to suit the investors and expects forex brokers to adapt accordingly. This is why the JFSA applies restrictions on marketing of forex to Japanese forex traders by offshore brokers.

Conclusion

We present a list of Japanese forex brokers which are suitable for you as they meet our conditions of reliability, service delivery and which comply with JFSA standards.

• How To Choose the Best Forex and CFD Broker
• Forex Brokers Regulations
• Trading the Economic Calendar
• Finding the Drivers of the Stock Market