Licensed by the local regulator
0Authorised by the Capital Markets Authority. This is the only status that brings local investor protection.
- None of the brokers in this ranking.
Legal · Kenya · 2026
Which of these brokers can you actually verify?
No broker in this ranking holds a licence from the Capital Markets Authority. It licenses online forex brokers and money managers and treats fixed-time (binary) trading as outside its remit. A different regulator, in Vanuatu, lists BinaryCent in a notice stating it never licensed the broker. The rest hold a foreign licence or none at all, so local investor protection does not cover your account with any of them.
§ 1 · Licence status
Who holds one
Foreign licence or registration
5Registered with a regulator or a dispute body outside this country. What that is worth depends on the body — and on which of the broker's companies holds your account.
- DerivMFSA 70156
- Pocket OptionMISA (Mwali) T2022086
- IQ OptionCySEC 247/14 (EEA)
- Olymp TradeVFSC company No. 40131 (Aollikus Limited)
- Expert OptionFinancial Commission (member)
Nothing found, or a warning
4No register entry matched the broker's name. Some have been named publicly by a regulator.
- QuotexNamed as unauthorised
- ExnovaNo licence found
- BinaryCentNamed in a fraud notice
- BubingaNo licence found
§ 2 · Register
Licences of 9 ranked brokers
No.
Broker
Regulator
Jurisdiction
Check status
02
MISA (Mwali) T2022086
Mwali (Comoros)
Offshore licence · warnings
Light-touch register, and other regulators have warned
04
CySEC 247/14 (EEA)
Cyprus (EEA only)
Confirmed, limited scope
The licensed company does not serve this country
05
VFSC company No. 40131 (Aollikus Limited)
Vanuatu
Confirmed in the register
Entry found, name and number match
06
Financial Commission (member)
International
Dispute body, not a regulator
Membership of a complaints scheme, not supervision
08
None found
—
Named in a fraud notice
The regulator states it never licensed this broker
The register covers the brokers we assess; our partner is shown beside it, labelled, and is not ranked against them. We publish no licence year: the registers we used do not state one for every entry, and a date we cannot source is not a fact.
§ 3 · Consequences
For you
01
Protection of funds
Kenya investor-protection rules do not apply to an offshore broker. Any compensation depends on the foreign body named on the licence — and on which of the broker's companies holds your account.
02
Resolving disputes
A complaint goes to the broker first, then to whoever is named on the licence. The Capital Markets Authority cannot rule on a broker it has never licensed.
03
Country restrictions
Several foreign regulators forbid the company they license from serving clients here. The company on your account agreement is the one that matters, not the brand on the app.
04
Taxes
Profits may be taxable where you live whatever the broker's licence says. Keep your statements; we do not give tax advice.
§ 4 · Method
Verified
What counts as confirmation
An active entry in the regulator's own register where the company name and the number both match what the broker shows clients. A logo, a certificate picture or a membership badge on the broker's site does not count.
- 1
Record what the broker claims
The legal entity, regulator and number shown in the broker's own footer, terms and account agreement.
- 2
Search the regulator's register
That entity is looked up in the regulator's public register directly, never through a link the broker supplies.
- 3
Match name, number and status
The entry must be active and both name and number must match. A partial match is published as “no licence found”, not as a licence.
- 4
Look for public warnings
We search the local regulator's press releases for the brand and its domains.
- 5
Date every line
Each result carries the date it was checked, and the whole register is re-read monthly.
Broker by broker
Profiles
These blocks carry the figures we hold and no others. Where the register has nothing on a broker, that is what the line says.
Deriv
#1- Minimum deposit
- $5
- Minimum trade
- $0.35
- Maximum payout
- 100%
- Where it runsAndroid, iOS, Web, MT5 and TradingView
- Own platformDeriv Trader, Deriv X, SmartTrader
- In a registerMFSA 70156, Labuan FSA MB/18/0024 and VFSC company No. 14556
Pocket Option
#2- Minimum deposit
- $5
- Minimum trade
- $1
- Maximum payout
- 92%
- Where it runsAndroid, iOS, Web, MT4 and MT5
- Own platformPocket Option platform
- In a registerMISA (Mwali) T2022086
- Named by a regulatorthe FCA warning list (United Kingdom), a CONSOB order (Italy) and a CFTC warning (United States)
Quotex
#3- Minimum deposit
- $10
- Minimum trade
- $1
- Maximum payout
- 98%
- Where it runsAndroid, iOS and Web
- Own platformQuotex platform
- In a registerNo licence found in a register
IQ Option
#4- Minimum deposit
- $10
- Minimum trade
- $1
- Maximum payout
- 95%
- Where it runsAndroid, iOS and Web
- Own platformIQ Option platform
- In a registerCySEC 247/14 (EEA)
Olymp Trade
#5- Minimum deposit
- $10
- Minimum trade
- $1
- Maximum payout
- 95%
- Where it runsAndroid, iOS and Web
- Own platformOlymp Trade platform
- In a registerVFSC company No. 40131 (Aollikus Limited) and Financial Commission (member)
Expert Option
#6- Minimum deposit
- $10
- Minimum trade
- $1
- Maximum payout
- 95%
- Where it runsAndroid, iOS and Web
- Own platformExpertOption platform
- In a registerFinancial Commission (member)
Exnova
#7- Minimum deposit
- $10
- Minimum trade
- $1
- Maximum payout
- 92%
- Where it runsAndroid, iOS and Web
- Own platformExnova platform
- In a registerNo licence found in a register
- Named by a regulatorwithdrawal complaints on record and no financial regulator oversees it
BinaryCent
#8- Minimum deposit
- $250
- Minimum trade
- $0.10
- Maximum payout
- 92%
- Where it runsAndroid, iOS and Web
- Own platformBinaryCent platform
- In a registerNo licence found in a register
- Named by a regulatora VFSC notice of fraud (Vanuatu), the CFTC RED list (United States), the AMF blacklist (France) and an FMA warning (New Zealand)
Bubinga
#9- Minimum deposit
- $5
- Minimum trade
- $1
- Maximum payout
- 95%
- Where it runsAndroid, Web and TradingView
- Own platformBubinga platform
- In a registerNo licence found in a register
- Named by a regulatorno financial regulator oversees it
Stockity
#10Sponsored- Minimum deposit
- $10
- Minimum trade
- $1
- Maximum payout
- 90%
- Where it runsAndroid, iOS and Web
- Own platformStockity platform
- PlacementWe are paid for this placement. It buys the position, not the figures.
Answers
Trading through a locally licensed broker on the Nairobi Securities Exchange is legal and supervised. The Capital Markets Authority has licensed no offshore platform to offer fixed-time (binary) trading to the public here.
No. Each of the 10 either holds a foreign licence or has none we could confirm. The register above shows which is which.
BinaryCent is listed in the Vanuatu regulator's own notice of fraud, which states the broker is neither incorporated nor licensed there. Reviews that credit it with a Vanuatu licence are repeating a claim the regulator denies.
Only if your account is held by the licensed company. Brokers often run several companies and onboard clients from here through an offshore one. The company name is in your account agreement — read it before you fund.
Open the regulator's own site, find its public register, search the company name, and compare the number and status with what the broker shows. Then search the local regulator's site for a warning about the brand. It takes about ten minutes.
Write to the broker and keep the reply. If it is licensed, escalate to the body named on the licence. If it is not, the Capital Markets Authority cannot act for you, but suspected fraud can be reported to the police cybercrime unit.
Possibly, wherever the broker is based. We do not give tax advice — ask Kenya Revenue Authority or an adviser, and keep your account statements.