Asia

Asia has no equivalent of Europe's single rulebook. Each jurisdiction sets its own regime, and the range is wider than anywhere else — from among the strictest retail regimes in the world to markets where residents trade offshore in a legal grey zone.

The tightly regulated markets

• Japan. The FSA caps retail leverage at 25:1 and requires client funds to be held in trust at a third-party trust bank, segregated from the broker entirely. Japan also has the largest retail FX market in the world by volume, which is the standing rebuttal to the claim that retail traders need high leverage.
• Singapore. The MAS licenses firms under the Securities and Futures Act with substantial capital requirements and a small, well-supervised list of holders.
• Hong Kong. The SFC licenses leveraged FX trading under a specific regulated activity, again with few licensees.
• South Korea. Tight leverage limits and a regime centred on domestic institutions.

The restricted markets

Several of the largest populations in the region sit outside conventional access. India permits only exchange-traded currency derivatives on INR pairs through domestic exchanges; trading offshore leveraged FX contravenes foreign-exchange rules, and the RBI publishes a list of unauthorised platforms. China operates an annual foreign-currency conversion quota for residents, and margin FX with offshore brokers occupies an unsettled position. Others, including Indonesia and Malaysia, license domestic futures brokers while residents also use offshore firms.

The Gulf

The UAE has built genuine regulatory capacity, with the SCA onshore and the DFSA and FSRA supervising the DIFC and ADGM financial centres to international standards. Several serious brokers now hold licences there. Elsewhere in the Gulf, frameworks are newer and thinner.

Islamic accounts

Across Muslim-majority markets, swap-free accounts that avoid overnight interest are standard. Check how the broker replaces that revenue — an administration fee is transparent, a widened spread is not — and whether the account is genuinely swap-free or merely defers charges.

What to do

Start with your own jurisdiction's rules, not with the broker's marketing. Whether you may legally hold an offshore account, and how any profit is taxed and reported, is decided where you live. Only then compare licences, and check each one on the issuing regulator's register.