
Eleven brokers in the WIKILIX records hold a licence from the Capital Markets Authority, the regulator that oversees securities and licensed online forex trading in Kenya. This page lists all eleven, ordered by overall WIKILIX score, and sets each firm's CMA licence beside the other authorities it answers to. Ten carry a clean regulatory status on record. One, a Pepperstone lookalike trading as RMS TRADE, is flagged as a suspected clone and scores zero, so it sits at the bottom.
Most pages with this title are really shortlists of brokers that accept Kenyan clients, which is a separate question with a separate answer. This one is literal. A firm is here only because its record carries a CMA entry, whatever country it operates from. That is why Kenyan names such as FXPesa and EGM Securities appear next to international firms like Plus500 and HotForex, and next to KCB, the Kenyan bank whose corporate history runs back to 1896.
| Broker | Score | Based in | Other licences on record | Max leverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EFG Holding | 68.6 | Not recorded | FCA, FINRA, MAS, DFSA, ISA, SEC | 1:1 |
| HotForex | 58.0 | Mauritius | FCA, FSCA, FSA | 1:1000 |
| Plus500 | 57.2 | Israel | FCA, CySEC, MAS, CIRO, FMA, and five more | 1:30 |
| FXPesa | 51.6 | Kenya | FCA, FSA | 1:400 |
| LIVE FXTM | 48.7 | Australia | FCA, FSCA, FSC | 1:1000 |
| EGM Securities | 27.5 | Kenya | CMA only | 1:400 |
EFG Holding tops the table on score, but its record shows a 1:1 maximum, which means no trading leverage, and a 2025 opening date, so it reads more like a recent addition than an established retail forex name. The firms doing recognisable retail forex here sit lower down: HotForex, FXPesa and EGM Securities.
What a CMA licence tells you, and what it leaves out
The Capital Markets Authority licenses and supervises online forex brokers in Kenya, and WIKILIX rates it a tier-3 onshore regulator. Tier three means a real national licensing regime with named, accountable supervision, but lighter capital and client-money arrangements than a tier-1 authority such as the FCA in Britain or the Monetary Authority of Singapore. A CMA licence is a genuine credential in its home market. It says nothing about spreads, and nothing about whether a firm will open an account for someone in your country.
How the eleven break down
- Five of the ten clean brokers also hold a tier-1 licence, from bodies such as the FCA, FINRA or the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The other five do not, and four of those hold a CMA licence and nothing else on record.
- Seven of the eleven answer to two or more regulators. The widest, Plus500, carries ten separate authorities.
- Five firms opened before 2010. The oldest entry by a wide margin is KCB, dated 1896, while the newest of the genuine forex names are FXPesa (2019) and EGM Securities (2016).
- Leverage is recorded for seven firms and reaches 1:1000 at HotForex and LIVE FXTM, while Plus500 caps out at 1:30.
- The median score across the eleven is 32.5, and scores run from 0 at the flagged clone up to 68.6 at the top.
Before you open a CMA account
- Search the firm's name or licence number on the CMA's own register of licensed online forex brokers. A licence held by a parent company does not always cover the entity you sign with.
- More than one country runs a Capital Markets Authority, so confirm a firm is licensed by the Kenyan CMA specifically if that is the protection you are counting on.
- Check which of a multi-licensed broker's authorities covers your account. A firm holding both an FCA and a CMA licence usually places clients under different entities, with different leverage caps and different protection.
- Read the recorded status before anything else. RMS TRADE on this list is flagged as a suspected clone of Pepperstone, so make sure you are dealing with the genuine business.
A few names sit well outside Kenya, including Derayah in Saudi Arabia and ALKHAIR CAPITAL in Morocco, both of which appear under the CMA marker. Treat that as a reason to check the specific register rather than an assumption that every entry is a Kenyan authorisation. This list ranks the licences we have on record, not spreads or execution quality, and it cannot tell you who accepts clients from where.
11brokers on this list
Researched & ranked by the Wikilix team
- #1
AustraliaEst. 2010ASICRegulationLicenseSpread79.9Score - #2

EFG Holding
RegulatedEst. 2025DFSARegulationLicenseSpread68.6Score - #3

Hot Forex
RegulatedMauritiusEst. 2009FCARegulationLicenseSpread58.0Score - #4

Plus500 Ltd
RegulatedIsraelEst. 2008CySECRegulationLicenseSpread57.2Score - #5

FXPesa
RegulatedKenyaEst. 2019CMARegulationLicenseSpread51.6Score - #6

Live Forex Time Group
RegulatedAustraliaFCARegulationLicenseSpread48.7Score - #7

Investiciono Društvo Limit Prime Securities AD Podgorica
RegulatedMontenegroEst. 2017SCMNRegulationLicenseSpread32.5Score - #8

EGM Securities Limited
RegulatedKenyaEst. 2016CMARegulationLicenseSpread27.5Score - #9

KCB Group Limited
RegulatedEst. 1896CMARegulationLicenseSpread23.4Score - #10

Derayah
RegulatedSaudi ArabiaEst. 2009CMARegulationLicenseSpread22.2Score - #11

ALKHAIR CAPITAL
RegulatedMoroccoEst. 2009CMARegulationLicenseSpread16.7Score
This list updates itself whenever a broker's licence record changes with us, so a firm that gains or loses a CMA entry moves on or off it without anyone rewriting the page. The status labels, including the clone flag on RMS TRADE, come from the same records and are rechecked as new information arrives.
The Capital Markets Authority keeps its own public register of licensed market players, and that register, not any third party, is the final word on whether a firm is authorised in Kenya today. Confirm any licence there before you deposit, and read the account terms of the specific entity that will hold your money.
If you are comparing regulators, the neighbouring rankings are the natural next step. See FSCA regulated brokers for South Africa's authority, FCA regulated brokers for the tier-1 British regime several of these firms also hold, and CySEC regulated brokers for the Cyprus licence common among internationally active firms.