Best Forex Brokers in Japan 2020

Last Update: Nov 19, 2019 02:30 PM GMT

At FX Empire, we stick to strict standards of a review process. Learn about our review process. FX Empire may receive compensation. Here’s how we make money.

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.

Scroll for more details

Rating	Official Site	Regulations	Min Deposit	Max Leverage	Trading Platforms	Foundation Year	Trading Desk Type	Official Site
4.4 By 58 User Reviews	Visit Broker> Your capital is at risk	CySEC, IFSC	$1	1:3000	MT4, MT5	2009	ECN, No dealing desk, STP	Visit Broker> Your capital is at risk
4.1 By 14 User Reviews	Visit Broker> Your capital is at risk	FSC	$5	1:1000	MT4, MT5	1998	ECN, STP	Visit Broker> Your capital is at risk
3.3 By 8 User Reviews	Visit Broker> Your capital is at risk	ASIC, BVI, CBI, FSCA	$100	1:30	ActTrader, MT4, MT5, Proprietary, Zulutrade	2006	Dealing Desk, Market Maker	Visit Broker> Your capital is at risk

Pro Tip: Most of these brokers offer free demo accounts so you can test the brokers and their platforms with virtual money. Give it a try with some play money before using your own cash.

Here’s a list of The Best Forex Brokers in Japan

FBS
Alpari
AvaTrade
General Regulation & Japan Regulation

Note: Not all Forex brokers accept US clients. For your convenience we specified those that accept US Forex traders as clients.

FBS

4.4

By 58 User Reviews

Regulated By:CySEC, IFSC

Foundation Year:2009

Headquarters:N/A

Min Deposit:$1

Visit Broker

Your capital is at risk

FBS Review

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.

Pros	Cons
Live chat support is super fast and efficient Choose from regulated or non regulated arm Minimum deposit just $1, no need to use demo platform STP and ECN hybrid model mean no conflict of interest and good conditions	1:3000 leverage far too risky for any level of trader Spreads are fairly high in comparison to competitors

Alpari

4.1

By 14 User Reviews

Regulated By:FSC

Foundation Year:1998

Headquarters:Mauritius

Min Deposit:$5

Visit Broker

Your capital is at risk

Alpari Review

Alpari has a rich history dating back to 1998. In 2014, Alpari relaunched as Alpari International which is the business name of Exinity Limited, a company that is regulated by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of the Republic of Mauritius.

Alpari International is the business name of Exinity Ltd who is regulated by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of the Republic of Mauritius.

Pros:	Cons:
Wide range of trading accounts, some offering commission-free trading Access Forex ECN with 1:1000 leverage Trade on MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 across Desktop, Web and Mobile Access the Alpari Copy Trading programme	Limited trader education Non-existent research tools

AvaTrade

3.3

By 8 User Reviews

Regulated By:ASIC, BVI, CBI, FSCA

Foundation Year:2006

Headquarters:Five Lamps Place, 77-80 Amiens Street, Dublin 1, DO1A742, Dublin, Ireland

Min Deposit:$100

Visit Broker

Your capital is at risk

AvaTrade Review

This pioneering broker dates back to 2006. It has a presence in 5 continents across the globe and is regulated in 6 jurisdictions include by the FCA in the UK. The broker offers the trading of CFD’s across stocks, ETF’s, leading cryptocurrencies, FX pairs and indices across a wide selection of trading platforms for web, desktop and mobile. These include MT4, MT5, AVA Trade Go and AVAOptions.

Pros	Cons
Over 1250 assets across stocks, forex, FX options, indices, commodities, bonds, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies via CFDs A wide selectin of trading technology which includes MetaTrader 4 and 5 and proprietary software Regulated in 6 different jurisdictions	You have to pay an inactivity fee if you don’t trade Education limited to beginner level

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.

Top Brokers

Best Brokers

By Country