Is forex trading legal in Hong Kong?

In Hong Kong, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) licenses and registers the firms that carry on regulated activities under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO). Its Licensing Handbook lists 13 types of regulated activity; Type 3 is leveraged foreign exchange trading.

Three of the quotes below come from the SFC’s Licensing Handbook (July 2025 edition). The first two are from its foreword: who has to be licensed or registered with the SFC, which includes the non-bank retail leveraged foreign exchange market, and the SFC’s statement that carrying out a regulated activity in Hong Kong, or actively marketing such services to the Hong Kong investing public, without the required licence or registration is a serious offence. The third, from the handbook’s section on exemptions, explains that an authorized financial institution does not need to be registered for Type 3 to carry out leveraged foreign exchange trading. The handbook defines an authorized financial institution as an authorized institution under the Banking Ordinance: a bank, a restricted licence bank or a deposit-taking company.

The fourth quote is the SFC’s description of its Alert List: entities that are unlicensed in Hong Kong and are believed to be, or to have been, targeting Hong Kong investors, or that claim an association with Hong Kong. On the same page, the SFC says that the list is not comprehensive and is no substitute for investors’ own checks on a particular entity.

The quotes are in their original language, English. Before you open an account, check the firm in the SFC’s public register of licensed persons and registered institutions on the SFC website (link below), and search for its name in the Alert List.