Why does country matter when choosing a broker?

Two things change country-to-country: which brokers will legally accept you as a client, and which regulator stands behind their licence. A broker can be excellent in one jurisdiction and unreachable from another — either because their licence doesn't passport into your country, because local rules prohibit the products they offer, or because their KYC stack rejects residents of certain regions. Tax treatment of trading profits and the practical payment rails (which deposit and withdrawal methods actually work) also vary, and both can change a broker's usability more than any platform feature.

How do you decide which brokers list residents of a country?

Each broker we track publishes — or we infer from their account-opening flow — the list of countries they refuse to onboard. We cross-reference that against the country's regulatory regime and only show brokers that (a) accept residents, (b) hold a licence we recognise for the products they offer, and (c) pass our weekly licence re-check. Country pages then re-rank the in-scope brokers using a fit score that rewards local-regulator licences and tier-1 passports for the user's jurisdiction.

What if my country isn't in the index?

Coverage is built outwards from countries where readers actually search for broker information in the local language. If your country isn't here, it usually means we haven't yet curated an editorial page for it — not that no broker will accept you. The global broker rankings and the regulator index are still the right starting points; check each broker's restricted-country list on its own page before opening an account.

How often is country coverage updated?

The broker-side data — licence status, restricted-country lists, pricing — is re-verified weekly and re-publishes on every ranking update. The editorial layer (regulator notes, tax context, payment methods) is reviewed quarterly and on a rolling basis when a regulator changes guidance or a major broker changes its acceptance policy. The 'updated' date at the top of each country page reflects the latest of those passes.

What's the difference between a country's regulator and a broker's licence?

A country's regulator is the agency that supervises financial services within its borders — the FCA in the UK, BaFin in Germany, ASIC in Australia, and so on. A broker's licence is granted by one of these regulators and may or may not 'passport' (i.e. be valid) into other countries. So a broker can be licensed in Cyprus by CySEC and legally serve clients across the EU under MiFID passporting, but be unable to accept Japanese residents because Japan's FSA requires a separate local licence. The country page shows both — the home regulator(s) of the broker and the regulator(s) of your jurisdiction — so you can see how they line up.

Country index

Browse brokers by country

Tracked byBrokerlist Editorial · Independent review teamUpdated April 22, 2026

243 countries with editorial coverage. Each page lists brokers that accept residents, the regulator overview, common payment methods and the tax and restriction context for retail forex and CFD trading.

Primary trading hubs

Jurisdictions with the deepest broker coverage on this site — strong regulators, broad product access and the highest reader interest.

Europe

EU-27 plus the UK, EEA states and the rest of geographic Europe. MiFID-passported brokers dominate, with the UK's FCA regime sitting alongside the CySEC, BaFin and AMF jurisdictions used most widely across the bloc.

Americas

North, Central and South America plus the Caribbean. The US is a hard-walled market for offshore retail brokers; elsewhere coverage is shaped by IIROC in Canada, CNV/CMVM-style regulators in Latin America and a long tail of Caribbean offshore licences.

Asia

From the Middle East and Central Asia through to East Asia and the Pacific Rim. Local rules vary widely — strict licensing in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong; offshore-friendly regimes across the Gulf and Southeast Asia.

Africa

FSCA-licensed brokers in South Africa anchor the continent; elsewhere most retail trading happens via offshore-licensed firms accepting clients without a local presence. Regulator depth and payment infrastructure vary sharply by country.

Oceania

Australia's ASIC remains one of the strongest retail-broker regulators globally. New Zealand's FMA and a handful of Pacific island regulators round out the region; smaller territories typically rely on ASIC- or FCA-passported firms.

How country coverage works

Why does country matter when choosing a broker?: Two things change country-to-country: which brokers will legally accept you as a client, and which regulator stands behind their licence. A broker can be excellent in one jurisdiction and unreachable from another — either because their licence doesn't passport into your country, because local rules prohibit the products they offer, or because their KYC stack rejects residents of certain regions. Tax treatment of trading profits and the practical payment rails (which deposit and withdrawal methods actually work) also vary, and both can change a broker's usability more than any platform feature.
How do you decide which brokers list residents of a country?: Each broker we track publishes — or we infer from their account-opening flow — the list of countries they refuse to onboard. We cross-reference that against the country's regulatory regime and only show brokers that (a) accept residents, (b) hold a licence we recognise for the products they offer, and (c) pass our weekly licence re-check. Country pages then re-rank the in-scope brokers using a fit score that rewards local-regulator licences and tier-1 passports for the user's jurisdiction.
What if my country isn't in the index?: Coverage is built outwards from countries where readers actually search for broker information in the local language. If your country isn't here, it usually means we haven't yet curated an editorial page for it — not that no broker will accept you. The global broker rankings and the regulator index are still the right starting points; check each broker's restricted-country list on its own page before opening an account.
How often is country coverage updated?: The broker-side data — licence status, restricted-country lists, pricing — is re-verified weekly and re-publishes on every ranking update. The editorial layer (regulator notes, tax context, payment methods) is reviewed quarterly and on a rolling basis when a regulator changes guidance or a major broker changes its acceptance policy. The 'updated' date at the top of each country page reflects the latest of those passes.
What's the difference between a country's regulator and a broker's licence?: A country's regulator is the agency that supervises financial services within its borders — the FCA in the UK, BaFin in Germany, ASIC in Australia, and so on. A broker's licence is granted by one of these regulators and may or may not 'passport' (i.e. be valid) into other countries. So a broker can be licensed in Cyprus by CySEC and legally serve clients across the EU under MiFID passporting, but be unable to accept Japanese residents because Japan's FSA requires a separate local licence. The country page shows both — the home regulator(s) of the broker and the regulator(s) of your jurisdiction — so you can see how they line up.