The LSE Directory / CFD and forex brokers
InstaForex is a retail online forex and CFD broker established in 2007 under the InstaFintech Group. It offers trading in currency pairs, precious metals, commodities, indices, cryptocurrencies and equity CFDs, delivered mainly through MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, alongside its own WebTrader and mobile apps. The broker states it serves more than 7 million retail clients worldwide and offers several account types, Standard, Cent, Pro, Zero and Raw, aimed at different capital sizes and trading styles. Its main differentiators are low entry barriers and high leverage. The Standard and Cent accounts have a $1 minimum deposit, versus $100 on the Pro, Zero and Raw accounts, and leverage is advertised up to 1:5000 for clients booked through its offshore entity, far above the 1:30 retail cap that applies to clients booked through its Cyprus-regulated entity. InstaForex also runs its own PAMM and ForexCopy investment/copy-trading systems, and has used percentage deposit bonuses as a client-acquisition tool, a practice more tightly restricted under EU retail-conduct rules than in its offshore jurisdictions. The group operates through separate legal entities: InstaFinance Ltd, licensed in the British Virgin Islands by the BVI Financial Services Commission (license SIBA/L/14/1082), for clients outside the EU/EEA, and Instant Trading EU Ltd, authorized by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC license 266/15) for EU clients under standard ESMA leverage and marketing limits. CySEC fined Instant Trading EU Ltd a total of 130,000 euros in 2018 for compliance failings related to client bonus practices and client suitability assessments. In November 2024, the Securities Commission Malaysia added InstaForex and its sister platform InstaTrade to its Investor Alert List for carrying on unlicensed capital markets dealing activity in that country. The group also sponsors motorsport, including the InstaForex Loprais Team in the Dakar Rally.
