Is forex trading legal in Kenya?
Not legal advice. Below are the regulators’ own words, quoted from their official pages on the dates shown. Laws and rules change: check the regulator’s site before you open an account.
By Wealth.cat editorial team Facts verified on October 14, 2026
In Kenya, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) licenses online foreign exchange brokers and money managers under the Capital Markets (Online Foreign Exchange Trading) Regulations, 2017, and lists them in its register of licensees.
The quotes below come from a CMA cautionary statement on online forex trading by unlicensed entities, published on the CMA’s Resource Centre Portal (the statement is undated and refers to the Covid 19 crisis), and from regulation 3 of the 2017 Regulations. They cover the risks the CMA names for trading through platforms of unlicensed entities, what it says about offshore firms advertising online foreign exchange products in Kenya, and the licence requirement for online foreign exchange brokers and money managers.
Before you open an account, check that the broker is listed under the online foreign exchange broker categories of the CMA’s register of licensees.
What the regulator says
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In line with its investor protection mandate, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has warned Kenyans against engaging in online foreign exchange trading through platforms of unlicensed entities as they risk losing their investments and may not be protected by the law.
Capital Markets Authority (CMA (Kenya)) · October 14, 2026 · Source -
The Authority has also noted that offshore firms are advertising online foreign exchange products during this Covid 19 crisis in Kenya without a license. This is illegal and such firms are directed to cease advertising their services locally unless they are licensed.
Capital Markets Authority (CMA (Kenya)) · October 14, 2026 · Source -
A person shall not carry on or purport to carry on business as a dealing online foreign exchange broker, non-dealing online foreign exchange broker or a money manager unless that person has been granted the relevant licence by the Authority.
Capital Markets Authority (CMA (Kenya)) · October 14, 2026 · Source
Regulators and registers
- Capital Markets Authority (CMA (Kenya)) · Register of licensed firms
What this means on Wealth.cat
- We show offers from forex and CFD brokers to visitors from Kenya only when the broker holds a licence from a local regulator.
- We show prop firm offers to visitors from Kenya.
This is our own advertising policy, not a statement about what the law allows.
Other countries
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