Forex Brokers in Israel

Home » Trading Broker Guides » Forex Brokers in Israel

Table of Contents

Forex trading in Israel is popular amongst residents who are looking to buy and sell currencies to speculate on the fluctuating currency market prices. Whilst international forex brokers can accept traders in Israel as clients, forex brokers in Israel are required to become authorised by the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) which is the financial regulatory body in Israel. The ISA’s main responsibilities are to ensure the existence of an efficient capital market that is based on adequate disclosure, fairness and equal opportunity to all investors.

Best forex brokers Israel

To find the best forex brokers in Israel, we created a list of all the forex brokers that accept clients in Israel and then ranked them based on our overall rating. You can see our list of our top forex brokers for Israel below.

ADGM FRSA, ASIC, BVIFSC, CBI, FFAJ, FSCA, IIROC, JFSA

$100

2006

1:400

Review Trade Trade

ASIC, BaFin, CFTC, DFSA, FCA, FINMA, FMA, FSA, FSCA, JFSA, MAFF, MAS, METI, NFA

$250

1974

1:200

Review Trade Trade

ASIC, BaFin, CMA, CySEC, DFSA, FCA, SCB

$200

2010

1:400

Review Trade Trade

ASIC, CySEC, DFSA, IFSC

2009

1:888

Review Trade Trade

ASIC, CySEC, FSA, SCB

$200

2007

1:500

Review Trade Trade

ISA forex brokers in Israel

Israel is located in Western Asia and neighbours Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt. The economic centre of the country is the capital city – Tel Aviv. Back in the 2000s, forex trading in Israel was not very popular and not properly regulated. However, in 2015, the country introduced new rules and regulations, making forex trading legal and safer.

The Israel Securities Authority is the national securities regulator of Israel. Established by law in 1968, the Israel Securities Authority sees its mandate as a way to ensure an efficient capital market based on transparency and fairness.

The Israel Securities Authority is responsible for safeguarding the interests of the public investing in securities, regulating and supervising the activity of the mutual funds sector, monitoring reports of relevant corporations, supervising proper management and more.

The ISA works hard to fight against securities fraud, insider trading, questionable accounting practices and other activities which could harm Israel’s capital marketplace and Israel’s investor community.

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) is the only exchange in Israel, in which Israeli companies and the government rely on for capital and liquidity. TASE serves as the go-to exchange for hundreds of thousands of investors, including Israeli households.

Securities traded on the stock exchange can be bought or sold through “TASE members” only (banks and members who are not banks. Connection between the public and TASE members is through investment advisors or portfolio managers (brokers) licensed by the Israel Securities Authority.

How to verify ISA regulated brokers in Israel

Trading Forex is legal in Israel and the local market is regulated by the Israel Securities Authority (ISA). Prior to the new regulations introduced in 2015, there was an influx of foreign brokers that serviced the Israeli market with licenses from other jurisdictions including the FCA, CySEC and ASIC.

You can find an authorised broker’s license number from the disclosure text at the bottom of their homepage. You can then look up the authorisation number on the ISA website to confirm if the forex broker is regulated in Israel to provide online forex trading products and services.

Some Israel forex brokers are regulated in more than one jurisdiction so that they can offer a different range of trading accounts and conditions depending on the location of the trader and regulated entity that they choose to open a forex trading account with.

Is forex trading legal in Israel?

Israel allows for the trading of foreign exchange, and the Israel Securities Authority oversees the local market (ISA). There was an invasion of foreign brokers servicing the Israeli market with licenses from offshore hubs like Cyprus prior to the new restrictions being enacted in 2015.

The authorities made the decision to strengthen the regulatory environment in order to reduce the likelihood that local retail traders will be harmed by the fraud committed by dishonest offshore businesses. Under Securities Law Amendment 42, the regulations are put into effect.

Before they may lawfully conduct business in the nation, forex brokers must get licenses from the Israel Securities Authority. Different limitations are in effect in accordance with the licensing requirements. Foreign trading firms need sufficient operational capital to manage operating risk and market volatility.

Additionally, the licensed firms are required to provide the ISA with monthly records of their trading operations. Based on their initial investment, brokers who want to apply for a local license are likewise divided into several groups.

A license application requires a minimum capital investment of 800,000, or roughly $200,000. Brokers that satisfy this requirement are only eligible for limited licenses. They are nevertheless closely regulated, despite this.

The enterprises need to have enough initial capital to reach the 1.5 million (or around US$380,000) barrier in order to get what the Israeli regulator refers to as a “full” license. In order to safeguard themselves against market volatility, they must also utilize the services of liquidity providers.

A minimum initial capital requirement of 4 million, or nearly $1 million, is needed to obtain the highest level of licensing. In order to keep its license, the brokerage firm must keep this capital in reserves. But things don’t stop there.

The Israeli regulator conducts annual audits to make sure brokers are still abiding by the terms of their licenses. Those who don’t risk having their classifications changed. In addition, each applicant must pay a fee of 50,000 for a full license or 25,000 for a restricted license. The businesses are required to provide frequent reports on their trading operations.

Brokers must also adhere to specific transparency requirements. Based on each client’s unique means, which the brokerage business itself should study, the spreads should be limited. The business must ascertain the customer’s age (they must be at least 18) and level of trade experience.

The licensed brokers must determine if a person is fully aware of the risks involved with the financial instruments they plan to trade before allowing them to register a live account and make a deposit. The broker must prevent the client from trading on the internet if they don’t meet these conditions.

Some of the ISA’s requirements are designed to safeguard the money of Israeli traders. Always keep customer funds in separate accounts from which transaction amounts are deducted or added.

This guarantees that customers will receive their money back if their broker goes out of business. Requests for withdrawals should be carried out right away. Additionally, all trader transactions need to be disclosed. Trading recommendations and advice must be kept absolutely confidential.

The Israeli regulator has imposed restrictions on the maximum permitted leverage in order to avoid local retail clients from suffering debilitating losses when trading with complicated derivatives. The latter varies according on how volatile the traded instruments are. For high-volatility assets, the leverage ratio is 20:1, for medium-volatility assets, it is 40:1, and for low-risk investments, it can reach 100:1.

Given Israel’s strict licensing requirements, it is not unexpected that numerous brokers continue to provide services to traders from the nation using licenses from important offshore countries like Cyprus.