Looking for the top broker in Nigeria? Based on our hands-on analysis, we’ve identified 7 best options tailored to various trading needs. Practical tips from our experts are included.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) serve as the country’s two primary financial market watchdogs, ensuring proper market liquidity. While there are no specific forex trading regulations in Nigeria, the demand for forex trading is enormous, which is why our team of experts has compiled a list of the top forex brokers accepting clients in Nigeria.
Nigeria, the world’s seventh most populous country, boasts the largest economy in Africa, with a GDP exceeding $506 billion. The country has a thriving community of forex traders and a twin-peak regulatory system that oversees its local financial markets.
Our team of experts has identified each broker’s strengths and weaknesses using FX Empire’s comprehensive methodology. Here’s how we test.
This analysis, along with my own personal trading experience has led to the detailed research and findings below, highlighting the best forex brokers in Nigeria.
Exness was created in 2008 and is regulated by international regulators including CySEC, the FCA, FSCA, FSA Seychelles, FSC BVI, FSC Mauritius and the CMA Kenya. The broker provides a diverse selection of asset classes, which can be traded on their own proprietary trading terminal and the popular MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms.
Key Features for Nigerian Forex Traders:
In my personal experience, Exness stands out as the best overall forex broker in Nigeria due to several reasons. One of those reasons is that the broker is regulated in multiple jurisdictions around the world providing a higher level of safety and transparency.
Traders have the option of trading with a Standard Account or a Professional Account. When testing the Standard Account, I found the spread for EUR/USD to be around the industry average of 0.9 pips with no commissions.
If you are a beginner trader, you are likely to find the educational content valuable, with access to a wide range of different articles, videos and courses. As an advanced trader myself, I enjoyed the access to the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms but beginners may find Exness’s own proprietary trading terminal easier to use.
Another feature I found to be useful is the availability of customer support during Nigerian working hours. After testing this, I found the agents to be very helpful. Overall, Exness provides a sound offering to emerging Nigerian forex traders that are worth considering.
Cyprus-based broker FXTM was founded in 2011. It offers trading on a range of asset classes from multiple platforms, including its own feature-rich and simple-to-use mobile trading app. FXTM is a global company with offices around the world – including Nigeria – regulated by the UK FCA, CySEC and FSC Mauritius.
Key Features for Nigerian Forex Traders:
One of the key features of FXTM as a forex broker in Nigeria is that they offer a Nigerian version of the website, including a trading account where you can use Naira (NGN) to deposit, trade and withdraw funds. FXTM was one of the first forex brokers with a physical presence in Nigeria and has offices in Abuja and Port Harcourt.
From our live broker review tests, our experts found the FXTM Trader App to offer a good trading experience. After testing the app myself, I found it simple to use and easy to navigate. You can trade more than 250 financial instruments from the app with a 1-click trading feature, and the charts come with 9 timeframes, 3 indicators, and the ability to create watchlists.
Another impressive feature I discovered is the fact you can trade across multiple devices. For example, you can open a trade on the desktop platform and then manage or close the trade through the app. There is a range of different account types to choose from, including Islamic swap-free accounts.
Founded in 2009, FBS stands as a highly regulated broker with oversight from esteemed bodies like IFSC Belize, FSCA, ASIC, and CySEC. The broker offers three low-minimum deposit accounts, giving traders access to a wide array of 578 tradable instruments. FBS enriches its clients through a robust educational framework that includes the FBS Trading School, live seminars, and free daily market research.
Key Features for Nigerian Forex Traders:
At FBS, novice traders have access to a wealth of educational content, including a comprehensive curriculum at the FBS Trading School tailored to various skill levels. The course material is insightful and well-articulated. Moreover, I found the broker conducts live trading seminars in Lagos, Nigeria, providing a localized learning experience for traders in that region.
FBS’s free daily market analysis spans multiple asset classes – forex, stocks, indices, commodities, and cryptocurrencies – all of which can be traded across their three account types. During our real-time fee assessment of FBS’s Standard Account, we discovered that the spread for EUR/USD averaged 0.8 pips during peak trading hours in the London and New York sessions, outperforming the industry standard of 1.0 pips for commission-free accounts.
OCTA is a multi-regulated forex and CFD broker founded in 2011 and headquartered in the Comoros. It offers over 250 tradable instruments across currency pairs, commodities, share CFDs, and indices.
Key Features for Nigerian Forex Traders:
OCTA clients can choose between the broker’s proprietary OctaTrader platform and the renowned MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5.
The standout feature of OCTA’s offering is its robust research content, which helps traders stay on top of current market developments. The actionable trading signals provided by Autochartist are especially helpful because they accommodate instant trade execution.
I conducted my tests on a Live trading account featuring commission-free trading and floating spreads from 0.6 pips. This combination is better than the industry average and is suitable for most trading styles. The broker has a minimum deposit requirement of $25, making its accounts quite accessible.
FP Markets, established in 2005 and headquartered in Sydney, Australia, is a regulated broker authorized by both ASIC and CySEC. However, it does have one unregulated entity located in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. You can trade on more than 850 financial instruments, from a wide range of platforms and professional trading accounts.
Key Features for Nigerian Forex Traders:
FP Markets offers a range of professional trading features. You can access MT4, MT5 and cTrader to trade on more than 850 financial CFD instruments and more than 15,000 global shares from the IRESS trading platform which offers direct market access (DMA) trading with the broker’s liquidity providers.
On top of this, we found that you can open professional money manager accounts such as MAM (multi-account manager) and PAMM (percentage asset management module) accounts. With these accounts, you can open sub-accounts to trade investor capital.
The broker also offers raw spread trading accounts and Islamic swap-free account options. In the course of our live fee test, the spread on EUR/USD during the London session was 1.0 pip which is around the industry average for a commission-free trading account.
Nigerian traders can also access customer support 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. I find accessing customer support to be particularly useful when encountering issues with platforms or trade execution.
IC Markets was established in 2007 and is regulated by CySEC, ASIC, SCB and the FSA Seychelles. The broker offers more than 1,700 instruments to trade on covering forex, stocks, indices, cryptos, and commodities from the MT4, MT5 and cTrader platforms. With ultra-low fees and zero requotes, it represents a solid option for serious forex traders.
Key Features for Nigerian Forex Traders:
One of the standout features of IC Markets is their low spreads and commissions which help Nigerian forex traders to minimize trading costs. In the course of our fee test, I opened a live commission-free Standard Account and found the spread for EUR/USD during the London and New York session to be 0.6 pips.
In my years of trading, I have found this to be very competitive, especially on a zero-commission trading account where the industry average is around 1.0 pips for EUR/USD. There are also swap fees to take into consideration when using CFDs as you are ‘borrowing’ money from the broker to control a larger position. However, there is an Islamic swap-free account option that abides with Shariah Law.
There are three different trading platforms available: MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5 and cTrader. You can also integrate third-party plugins like Autochartist into the trading platforms to get access to even more financial market analysis tools and insights.
Overall, the number of tradable assets, good regulation, and ultra-low fees make IC Markets a choice worth considering for serious Nigerian forex traders.
AvaTrade was founded in 2006 and is currently active in more than 150 countries authorized and regulated by multiple regulatory authorities including the CBI, FSC BVI, ASIC, FSCA, FSA Japan, FSRA, ISA and CySEC. It provides access tomore than 1,250 financial instruments and offers a great range of social and copy trading tools for Nigerian traders.
Key Features for Nigerian Forex Traders:
The popularity of social and copy trading has grown exponentially in recent years. The ability to follow and copy other successful traders, or have other people copy you to earn an income has attracted many Nigerian traders to this way of trading the forex market.
With AvaTrade you can access several social trading and copy trading platforms including DupliTrade and ZuluTrade. When copying traders from these platforms they can be linked to your MT4 or MT5 trading account. However, the minimum deposit for DupliTrade is $2,000 so beginner traders may be better off starting with ZuluTrade which requires a minimum deposit of $200.
From my own personal experience, I recommend testing a broker’s copy trading service using a demo trading account. This way you can understand how it all works in a risk-free environment giving your more confidence when trading with real money.
AvaTrade also provides webinars, video tutorials, eBooks and daily market analysis for beginner traders. If you’re an advanced trader in Nigeria you may also appreciate the AvaOptions trading app to trade vanilla options on major currency pairs.
When choosing a forex broker to trade with in Nigeria, you should consider the following factors:
Choosing a regulated broker is essential as they are responsible for holding your funds and executing your trades. If the broker is not supervised by a financial regulator, your funds could be at risk, and your trade execution price may not adhere to best practices.
Opting for a broker regulated by a governmental financial body offers increased safety and security and peace of mind. However, it’s important to note that not all financial regulators are equal. In our evaluations, we categorize financial regulators into three tiers:
While the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria has not yet established forex-specific regulations, there has been a strong demand for forex trading in Nigeria.
Nigerian residents are allowed to open brokerage accounts with forex brokers that are regulated outside of Nigeria. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the SEC of Nigeria operate as the country’s primary regulatory watchdogs, ensuring the stability and safety of the local financial markets.
Read more about Best regulated forex brokers.
When selecting a forex broker, understanding the fees involved is crucial as they affect your profits. These fees are categorized into trading fees and non-trading fees.
Trading Fees:
For EUR/USD, a spread of 1.0 pips is the industry average on commission-free accounts. For cross-currency pairs like GBP/JPY, spreads above 5 pips are high, while below 3 pips are considered low.
Commission-based accounts typically have EUR/USD spreads around 0.1 pips. Commission fees over $5 per 100,000 units traded are high; the standard is about $3.50.
Non-Trading Fees:
Forex brokers often provide a range of trading account options for their clients. The types of accounts usually differ in terms of the fee structure, execution model employed, minimum deposit, and access to extra products and tools.
The majority of retail forex brokers employ the STP (straight-through processing) model, where trades are directly sent to the broker’s liquidity provider. Some brokers might also offer ECN (electronic communication network) accounts, which match your trades with prices from various liquidity sources within an anonymous network.
Read more about Best STP forex brokers and Best ECN forex brokers.
For professional traders, a broker may provide DMA (direct market access) accounts, allowing you to trade directly with participants in the interbank market.
When deciding on the most suitable account type, it’s important to first understand your trading style and requirements, as different accounts come with different features. Keep in mind that the account with the best features may also require a higher minimum deposit.
Read more about Best forex demo accounts.
Leverage trading has gained significant popularity in recent years. Leverage enables you to trade larger positions with a small amount of funds, using borrowed money from the broker. This has the effect of amplifying gains but also losses.
The amount of leverage offered by forex brokers varies depending on the broker’s regulation and the account type being used. Retail trading accounts regulated by tier 1 regulators such as the FCA and CySEC, usually have a maximum leverage of 30:1 on the forex market. This means you can trade a position size 30 times the capital you put up.
Check out our guides on Best CySEC-regulated forex brokers and Best FCA-regulated forex brokers.
However, tier 1 regulators also require the brokers they regulate to offer a negative balance protection policy and hold funds in a segregated account. This is important to protect your capital from adverse moves in the market or broker negligence.
Professional trading accounts offer higher leverage options, sometimes reaching up to 200:1. While negative balance protection is not legally required for these accounts, some brokers may still provide it.
Explore Best high leverage forex brokers.
Unregulated brokers and some offshore brokers may promote very high amounts of leverage as they operate in lower-tier jurisdictions which have fewer protections for investors. You should exercise caution when trading with such brokers.
Most trading brokers offer popular trading platforms such as MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and cTrader, which can be accessed through desktop, web, or mobile devices. While desktop platforms typically provide the most features, such as algorithmic trading capabilities, it’s important to consider all of the options the broker provides including its own proprietary trading platform if available.
The broker’s in-house platform may include additional features like real-time news and trading ideas. It is essential to evaluate your trading needs and select the appropriate platform. Helpful information is abundant online about MT4, MT5, and cTrader, which may not be as user-friendly as a broker’s proprietary platform.
See our guides on the best MT4 brokers, best MT5 brokers, and best cTrader brokers.
Other platforms in use include TradingView, ProRealTime, and CQG. TradingView is a reliable, web-based, user-friendly option, which is great for beginner traders.
Read more about Best TradingView forex brokers.
From my own personal experience, I would advise having access to multiple platforms or devices for accessing your trading account. If one goes down then the other is there to still manage any open positions.
When selecting a forex broker in Nigeria, it is important to be cautious and pay attention to certain warning signs that may indicate a broker is not trustworthy or reliable. Here are some key points to keep in mind:
By being aware of these, you can identify a forex broker in Nigeria that meets your needs and provides a secure, reliable trading environment.
Forex and CFD scams are unfortunately prevalent in the trading world, especially in countries like Nigeria where the forex market is rapidly growing. To safeguard yourself against scams, consider the following tips:
1. Verify the broker’s regulation: Ensure that the broker is regulated by a reputable financial authority. A regulated broker is required to follow specific rules and guidelines to protect your interests. You can check the regulator’s online database to verify they are licensed and regulated.
2. Be cautious of high-pressure tactics: Scammers may try to pressure you into making quick decisions or investing large sums of money. Legitimate brokers will allow you the time to make informed decisions and will not force you into anything.
3. Use a demo trading account. This is a great way to test the products, services and customer support of a broker before you start trading live with them. Don’t miss our expert guide on the best forex demo account.
4. Beware of too-good-to-be-true offers: Scammers often entice potential victims with promises of high returns and low risks. Remember that trading forex and CFDs always carries inherent risks, and no broker can guarantee consistent profits.
By taking these precautions, you can significantly reduce your chances of falling victim to forex and CFD scams in Nigeria and ensure a safe trading experience.
FX Empire has been the leader trailblazer in the field of broker reviews. Our methodology for assessing brokers has evolved over time, expanding in scope and incorporating additional criteria to adapt to changes in the financial industry.
Our rating system evaluates brokers across nine key categories: trust, fees, platforms and tools, tradable instruments, customer service, deposit and withdrawals, account types, research, and education.
Within each category, we examine over 250 data points, comparing them against those of other brokers to determine how competitive a broker’s offering is relative to the industry average.
Our rigorous evaluations provide our readers with greater confidence in selecting the broker that best meets their needs.
To identify the best forex brokers in Nigeria, I have analyzed the research findings of our team and further refined the selection based on the following factors:
By researching and analyzing these factors, I have presented you with the best options for the best forex brokers in Nigeria for you to consider and research further. A good way to get started is to test the features of a broker using a demo trading account first.
The team of forex and CFD analysts and editors at FXEmpire is composed of trading industry professionals and seasoned financial journalists. Our experts have been published on leading financial websites such as Investopedia and Forbes. In addition, they all have extensive trading experience.
Dan Blystone began his career in the trading industry in 1998 on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Later Dan gained insight into the forex industry during his time as a Series 3 licenced futures and forex broker. He also traded at a couple of different prop trading firms in Chicago. Dan is well-equipped to recommend the best forex brokers due to his extensive experience and understanding of the brokerage industry.
Jitan Solanki is a professional trader, market analyst, and educator. He day trades major currency and index markets and focuses on swing trading US equities and commodities. A qualified Market Technician, Jitan also works with trader education and brokerage companies on various projects. These include market analysis, live trading events, and broker reviews. As an experienced trader and educator, Jitan brings all his qualities in action when reviewing and recommending brokers.
Having been a retail trader since 2013, Plamen has gained an in-depth understanding of the challenges that novice traders face today. His expertise is swing trading and day trading with a heavy emphasis on psychological and fundamental analysis. Plamen’s favourite trading instruments include FX majors and gold. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics and International Relations. Plamen's broad experience has equipped him with the expertise to recommend the best forex brokers.
In more than 15 years of trading in the financial markets, Vladimir dealt with a wide range of brokers and financial instruments. His career as a day-trader at a proprietary trading firm goes back to 2007. Later, Vladimir turned to longer time frames and became an independent trader and analyst managing his own portfolio. Using his experience, he helps traders find the best broker in his reviews.
Jitan Solanki is a professional trader, market analyst, and educator. He day trades major currency and index markets and focuses on swing trading US equities and commodities. A qualified Market Technician, Jitan also works with trader education and brokerage companies on various projects. These include market analysis, live trading events, and broker reviews. As an experienced trader and educator, Jitan brings all his qualities in action when reviewing and recommending brokers.
At FXEmpire, we strive to provide unbiased, thorough and accurate broker reviews by industry experts to help our users make smarter financial decisions.