The Cost of One Round-Turn
On FP Markets Raw, a standard-lot US30 round-turn costs the raw spread plus roughly USD 6 commission. If the raw spread sits at 0.1 pips, that's about USD 1 on a standard lot, so call it USD 7 all-in. On the Standard account there is no commission, but the spread runs around 1.0-1.2 pips, and at 1.2 that's roughly USD 12 per round-turn on the same trade.
Same instrument, same lot size. One account nearly doubles your cost.
That gap is the whole reason this review exists. FP Markets offers Standard (commission-free) and Raw (0.0 pip + commission) accounts on MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView, with a minimum deposit of USD 100. If you're trading a few times a week, the account type you pick matters more than any bonus.
Where FP Markets Actually Stands
FP Markets holds a genuine Kenyan licence. FP Markets Ltd (FP Markets Limited) is authorised by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) as a Non-Dealing Online Foreign Exchange Broker, licence No. 103, granted in late 2023.
A non-dealing licence means the local entity acts as an STP/agency broker rather than a market maker on the other side of your trade. It's a real authorisation, and it puts FP Markets in a small group - CMA had roughly 10 non-dealing forex brokers licensed as of our review, a list that includes names like TPXM Global Kenya Limited, licensed in September 2025.
FP Markets was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia. It's a multi-regulated global forex and CFD broker, and Kenyan clients can be onboarded either under the locally licensed subsidiary or via the offshore arm. Which entity you land in depends on how you sign up.
CMA Rules That Shape Your Account
Licensed brokers have to meet a minimum paid-up capital of KES 50 million, segregate client funds, cap leverage, and submit to audits. Those are conditions of holding the licence.
The leverage cap is the one most traders bump into. CMA-licensed brokers are capped at around 1:400 for major FX pairs on retail accounts. FP Markets advertises up to 1:500 available via the group, but CMA-regulated conditions apply to the local entity, so expect the lower number if you're onboarded locally.
| Item | CMA-licensed entity | Offshore arm |
|---|---|---|
| Leverage (majors) | ~1:400 cap | Up to 1:500 via group |
| Client funds | Segregated, audited | Varies by jurisdiction |
| Local recourse | Yes, CMA oversight | No local recourse |
| Licence reference | CMA No. 103 | Non-Kenyan regulators |
Negative-balance protection isn't confirmed as an explicit blanket statutory mandate in Kenya, so if that matters to you, ask CMA or the broker directly rather than assuming.
The Real Cost of a USD Account
FP Markets offers account base currencies in USD, EUR, GBP, AUD and others. Local KES account availability was not verified at review. If you're funding from M-Pesa in shillings and your account is denominated in USD, you pay a conversion cost every time money moves in or out. That cost is invisible on a pips chart but very real on your statement.
Minimum deposit is USD 100, and there are no broker-side deposit fees. Funding channels are cards, bank wire and e-wallets. Local M-Pesa and KES rails are likely given the Kenyan licence, but we couldn't verify them at review - so ask support before you assume.
A USD 100 deposit converted from KES, traded for a month, then withdrawn back to KES means two conversion hits. On a small account that can outweigh a month of commissions.
What Your Money Costs to Hold
Spreads get all the attention. Swaps quietly do the damage, especially for anyone holding positions overnight.
FP Markets offers a swap-free Islamic account. Kenya's population is roughly 10-11% Muslim, concentrated in coastal and north-eastern regions, and swap-free accounts are offered by most brokers active in the country. We counted 31 of 51 brokers covered in Kenya offering one, FP Markets included.
For everyone else, swap rates on held positions are the cost that rarely appears in spread comparisons. A position held for two weeks can pay more in financing than it ever paid in spread. Check the swap table before the bonus page.
On top of that: Raw account costs land at 0.0-0.1 pips plus about USD 6 per round-turn lot, while Standard sits at roughly 1.0-1.2 pips with no commission. Break-even pips, not spread headlines, is the comparison that matters.
Points to Weigh
Nothing here is a dealbreaker, but walk in with your eyes open.
- Entity ambiguity. You can be onboarded locally or offshore. Confirm which one before funding.
- Currency conversion. USD-denominated accounts mean conversion costs on KES funding, in and out.
- Local rails unverified. M-Pesa and KES deposits are likely but weren't confirmed at review.
- No verified promotion. No Kenya-specific promotion at review. Don't sign up expecting one.
- Leverage ceiling. The local entity is capped near 1:400; the offshore arm may offer more, with less recourse.
Retail forex and CFD trading is legal and regulated in Kenya. Any entity offering online forex to Kenyan residents must hold a valid CMA licence. Offshore brokers serving residents without one operate outside the law with no client protection, which is why the CMA regularly publishes cautionary statements and points victims to its Capital Markets Fraud Investigation Unit. FP Markets holds the licence, which is exactly the point.
What the Numbers Say
| Account | Spread (US30) | Commission | Cost per round-turn |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw | 0.0-0.1 pips | ~USD 6 per lot | ~USD 7 on a standard lot |
| Standard | ~1.0-1.2 pips | None | ~USD 10-12 on a standard lot |
| Swap-free | Same as base type | None added | No overnight financing |
If you're scalping or trading several times a day, Raw wins on arithmetic. If you place a handful of trades a month and hate line-item fees, Standard's simplicity has value. Running Raw while trading twice a month is paying for an advantage you never use.
Tools matter too. FP Markets runs on MT4, MT5, cTrader and TradingView, with IRESS limited to Australia. The instrument list is deep: 10,000+ CFDs covering 60+ FX pairs, indices, commodities, shares, ETFs, bonds and crypto CFDs. For Kenyan traders, the London-New York overlap, roughly 16:00-19:00 EAT, is where the liquidity sits.
What This Costs You Over a Year
Small per-trade differences compound hard. A trader doing 20 standard-lot US30 round-turns a month pays roughly USD 140 on Raw versus about USD 200-240 on Standard. Over a year, that's a gap of USD 700 to USD 1,200.
That's before currency conversion. Add two conversion hits on monthly KES-to-USD funding and withdrawals, and a small account can hand back a meaningful slice of its edge to the FX desk rather than the market.
Pick the account that matches your trade frequency, not the one with the prettier landing page. Then check whether the entity you're onboarded under is the CMA-licensed one.
Tax and Reporting Basics
For most retail traders, forex and CFD profit is treated as ordinary income rather than capital gains. It's added to taxable income and taxed on graduated bands running roughly from 10% up to a top marginal rate of 35%. Trading through a company changes the picture to a 30% corporate rate.
Tax residents file an annual return between 1 January and 30 June, declaring worldwide income including foreign-sourced trading gains. Installment tax falls due in April, June, September and December. Deductible costs include platform fees, internet and training, so keep receipts.
The Kenya Revenue Authority is the body to confirm specifics with, since bands and treatment can shift. Keep clean records from January rather than reconstructing a year in June.
The Takeaway
FP Markets gives Kenyan traders something many brokers don't: a genuine local CMA licence alongside global infrastructure. That combination is rare, and it's the strongest argument in its favour.
Consider it if you trade regularly enough that Raw spreads pay for themselves, you want a broker with a real Kenyan footprint, or you need a swap-free account. The licence also means segregated funds and audited operations.
Look elsewhere if you need confirmed KES rails before committing, or you're a small-balance trader who can't absorb double currency conversion. And if you do sign up, confirm whether you're onboarding with the CMA-licensed entity or the offshore arm, because those two paths give you different levels of protection, leverage and recourse.
