Capital.com platform overview
Capital.com is a CFD broker with a UAE-licensed company behind it. UAE residents sign up with Capital Com MENA Securities Trading L.L.C., shown as Active on the CMA register under company code CP-0000937. You can hold AED as your account currency from AED 80, there's no commission, deposit or withdrawal fee, and you get MT4, MT5 and TradingView alongside Capital.com's own platform.
The one thing to understand first: everything is a CFD. You trade the price of a share, ETF or coin, but you never own it.
Category scores
Our expert verdict
For CFD trading from the UAE, Capital.com is one of the easier brokers to live with. We opened, funded, traded and withdrew between 15 and 17 September 2026. The account could take money four minutes after verification, and our full balance, USD 53.96, reached our UAE bank 4 hours 34 minutes after we asked for it.
Two things hold it back. Everything is a CFD, so you can't build a portfolio of shares or ETFs you own. And a 0.7% conversion charge applies whenever you trade a market priced in another currency, which is most shares and indices, even from an AED account. Leverage is also yours to set, up to 500:1 on currencies, far above the 30:1 cap in the UK and EU.
Key data at a glance
| Minimum deposit | $20 (20 USD/EUR/GBP) or AED 80 |
|---|---|
| UAE minimum deposit | AED 80 (or $20) |
| US stock fee | No commission: US shares are CFDs, cost is in the spread |
| EUR/USD spread | 0.9 pips measured: that is what crossing it cost on 17 Sep 2026, and the figure to plan around |
| Deposit fee | None |
| Withdrawal fee | None (your bank or card issuer may still charge) |
| Account opening time | Same day; 4 minutes from verification to funding-enabled on our test |
| Base currencies | AED, USD, EUR, GBP |
| Regulated by | CMA (UAE) |
| Investor protection (UAE clients) | None for UAE clients: the CMA operates no investor compensation scheme, and FCA/CySEC/ASIC cover does not extend to the UAE entity |
| Demo account | Yes |
| Islamic account | Yes: swap-free on request, not Sharia-certified |
Pros
- Onshore UAE entity: Capital Com MENA Securities Trading L.L.C. is Active on the CMA's own register, under company code CP-0000937
- AED is a real base currency: dirhams in and out from AED 80, with no Capital.com fee
- No commission, no deposit or withdrawal fee, and no inactivity fee on the published schedule
- Very low entry: AED 80 or $20
- One of the largest crypto-CFD libraries available to UAE clients (450+)
- MT4, MT5 and a TradingView integration alongside a polished own-brand app
- Dubai phone line, Arabic site and WhatsApp support
- Swap-free Islamic status available to UAE and MENA clients
Cons
- CFD-only: no real shares, ETFs, coins, dividends or voting rights, not even on the 1X account
- No route to owning UAE-listed shares: ADX and DFM are offered as CFDs only
- No investor compensation scheme for UAE clients
- 0.7% conversion mark-up on any market not priced in your account currency
- Execution reliability during volatile markets is untested by us
- Leverage can be set as high as 500:1 on a retail account.
How we tested Capital.com
We opened and funded a Capital.com account as a UAE resident, traded it and withdrew the balance in full, between 15 and 17 September 2026. The account was verified at 16:52 on 15 September and could accept money four minutes later. We funded it with AED 200 over the Wio open-banking link: it reached Capital.com's bank in five seconds, but did not become tradeable until the platform marked the deposit processed at 15:30 the following afternoon, and it arrived as USD 54.24, so roughly 0.4% went on the dirham-to-dollar conversion into this dollar-denominated account. On 17 September we read the leverage panel, opened and closed a 1,000-unit EUR/USD position on the web terminal and a one-share Apple CFD in the app, then asked for the whole balance back at 15:15. USD 53.96 reached our UAE bank at 19:49 the same evening, complete and unconverted, from a payer named CAPITAL COM MENA SECURITIES TRADING. One caveat on clocks: the platform and the phone were both set to UTC+7, so every time we quote is that zone rather than UAE time. Figures we measured ourselves are labelled as ours; the rest are Capital.com's published numbers. What we also checked: Capital Com MENA Securities Trading L.L.C. on the UAE Capital Market Authority's Licensed Companies register, where it shows as Active, and Capital.com's own UAE charges, pricing, payments and legal pages for fees, minimums, funding routes, the legal entity and the CFD-loss figure. What we still have not done: measured execution reliability during volatile markets, held an AED-denominated account rather than a dollar one, funded by card or Apple Pay, held a position overnight to see funding charged, or tested support response times.
Safety, regulation & UAE legal entity
UAE clients are served by Capital Com MENA Securities Trading L.L.C., Active on the UAE Capital Market Authority's register under company code CP-0000937. Client funds are segregated and negative balance protection is provided, but there is no statutory investor compensation scheme for UAE clients. Protection offered by the UK's FSCS or Cyprus's ICF applies only to customers of those respective Capital.com entities. The UAE entity is also execution-only and does not provide custody or asset-management services.
| Entity | Regulator | Tier | Protection | UAE clients |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Com MENA Securities Trading L.L.C. CMA · United Arab Emirates | Capital Market Authority (#CP-0000937 (register company code)) | Tier-2 | None: the CMA operates no investor compensation scheme | Yes |
| Capital Com (UK) Ltd FCA · United Kingdom | Financial Conduct Authority (#793714) | Tier-1 | £85,000 | No |
| Capital Com SV Investments Ltd CySEC · Cyprus | Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (#319/17) | Tier-1 | €20,000 | No |
| Capital Com Australia Pty Ltd ASIC · Australia | Australian Securities & Investments Commission (#513393) | Tier-1 | None: no statutory compensation scheme | No |
| Capital Com Online Investments Ltd SCB · Bahamas | Securities Commission of The Bahamas (#SIA-F245) | Tier-3 | None | No |
What you actually sign
- Terms and Conditions
The UAE client agreement, in English and Arabic; the Arabic text prevails (cl. 3.2). Governed by UAE law, with the Dubai courts as the forum.
“The interpretation, construction, effect and enforceability of the Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the United Arab Emirates.” (21.1)
- Charges and fees
The fees schedule the terms incorporate (cl. 5.1.1).
- Cost Disclosure Document (pricing page)
- Risk Disclosure Statement
- Order Execution Policy
Acting as principal rather than routing the order to an exchange is the standard market-maker model for CFD providers, not something peculiar to Capital.com.
“The Firm is the Customer’s counterparty to each trade.” (3)
Safety signals
Account opening
Opening is fully online, on the web or in the app. You go through identity and suitability checks with a passport or Emirates ID, plus proof of address. Our account was verified at 16:52 on 15 September and could accept money four minutes later.
The minimum deposit is AED 80, or $20 in another currency.
Account types
| Account | Min. deposit | Swap-free | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard CFD account | AED 80 / $20 | — | The single retail account, in AED, USD, EUR or GBP. No commission; cost is the spread plus overnight funding on leveraged positions. |
| 1X (unleveraged) CFD account | AED 80 / $20 | — | Trades at 1:1 with no overnight funding on share and crypto CFDs. Still a CFD, not a shareholding: no ownership or voting rights, and no dividend as a shareholder, though cl. 5.16 adjusts the account for dividends on the underlying. Nat Gas, US Cocoa, VIX and TRY pairs are excluded from the 0% overnight funding. |
| Islamic (swap-free) | — | Yes | A status applied to the retail account rather than a separate tier, available to UAE and MENA clients. Not available at signup: close any open positions and request it through support. Swap-free is NOT Sharia-certified: no independent board has ruled on it, and the swap is replaced by a flat daily fee or a wider spread on some instruments. Capital.com does not publish which instruments carry the fee rather than the wider spread, so check the terms for the markets you intend to trade. |
| Professional account | — | — | For clients who meet the qualifying criteria. Fewer retail protections apply. |
| Demo account | Free | — | Free virtual account, no deposit required. |
Deposit and withdrawal
Capital.com lets you hold AED as your account currency, which avoids conversion when you deposit and withdraw. Our test account was in US dollars, so we paid for the conversion.
Deposit. We sent AED 200 from Wio over open banking (the deposit screen calls it Express bank transfer, run through Altareq). It left our bank at 21:28:05 and reached Capital.com's bank at 21:28:10, five seconds later. It wasn't tradeable until the platform marked it processed at 15:30 the next afternoon, and it arrived as USD 54.24, so about 0.4% went on conversion. Capital.com charged no fee.
Withdrawal. We asked for the full balance at 15:15 on 17 September. USD 53.96 reached our UAE bank at 19:49 the same day, 4 hours 34 minutes later, in full and unconverted, from a payer named Capital Com MENA Securities Trading. Capital.com's own screen quotes 24 hours to process and up to 7 business days at your bank.
Other methods. Card (Visa, Mastercard and Maestro, AED 80 minimum; profits can't be withdrawn back to a card), bank wire in AED, and Apple Pay. PayPal, Skrill, Neteller and crypto funding are listed globally but weren't on our UAE deposit screen on 15 September. We didn't test card or Apple Pay.
That's one deposit and one withdrawal, not a service level.
| Deposit fee | None |
|---|---|
| Withdrawal fee | None (your bank or card issuer may still charge) |
| Min. withdrawal | AED 80 (or 20 USD/EUR/GBP) by card; varies by method |
| Deposit time | AED via open banking: seconds to reach Capital.com's bank, but tradeable only the next afternoon on our one test (15-16 Sep 2026) |
| Withdrawal time | 4h 34m on our one test: USD 53.96 requested 15:15, credited to a UAE bank 19:49 the same day (17 Sep 2026). Capital.com's own screen quotes 24h to process and up to 7 business days at your bank |
| AED supported | Yes: AED is available as a base currency |
Funding methods
Funding Capital.com, step by step
Product selection & tradable assets
Capital.com's own figures put its market range at more than 5,500 instruments across forex, shares, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, indices, commodities and bonds. But the important qualification is that every one of them is a CFD. You never own the underlying share, ETF or cryptocurrency, including through Capital.com's unleveraged 1X account. It also offers exposure to ADX and DFM companies, but again only through share CFDs, not direct ownership of UAE-listed shares.
Fees and spreads
Capital.com keeps its fee structure relatively simple: there is no trading commission, deposit fee, withdrawal fee or published inactivity fee. Instead, trading costs are built into the spread. Capital.com's own pricing page works its example at 0.6 pips on a 1.05000/1.05006 quote, half paid entering and half exiting; our own reading on 17 September 2026 quoted 0.7 pips, and crossing it actually cost 0.9 pips, which is the figure to plan around. The main extra cost for UAE traders is the 0.7% currency conversion mark-up whenever you trade an instrument denominated in a different currency from your account, so even with an AED account, most international shares and indices will trigger a conversion charge.
| Fee type | Cost |
|---|---|
| US stock fee | No commission: US shares are CFDs, cost is in the spread |
| ETF fee | No commission: ETFs are CFDs, cost is in the spread |
| EUR/USD spread | 0.9 pips measured crossing it, 17 Sep 2026 |
| FX commission | None: spread only |
| Index CFD spread | From 1.8 points (US Tech 100, indicative) |
| Crypto fee | No commission; spread only (BTC/USD 50 points indicative). Long BTC/ETH CFDs pay 0.06164%/day overnight (~22.5%/yr); shorts receive 0.0137%/day |
| Deposit fee | None |
| Withdrawal fee | None (your bank or card issuer may still charge) |
| Inactivity fee | None listed on Capital.com's UAE charges page |
| Currency conversion | 0.7% of the spot FX rate on any market not denominated in your account currency |
| Instrument | Typical spread | Commission |
|---|---|---|
| EUR/USD | 0.9 pips to cross, measured 17 Sep 2026; 0.7 quoted, 0.6 published (0.00006) | None |
| GBP/USD | 1.3 pips (0.00013) | None |
| Gold (spot) | 0.30 points | None |
| US Tech 100 | 1.8 points | None |
| BTC/USD | 50 points | None |
Web & desktop platform
We traded on Capital.com's own web terminal, and MT4, MT5 and TradingView are available on the same account. There's no Capital.com desktop app; outside the browser, desktop trading means MT4 or MT5.
On 17 September we opened and closed a 1,000-unit EUR/USD position on the web terminal. EUR/USD was quoted at 0.7 pips, and crossing it cost 0.9 pips. The trade ran one minute, 14:55 to 14:56, and closed two cents up, because the price moved by more than the spread. Gold was showing a 0.50 spread; Capital.com's published table gives 0.30 and notes its prices are indicative.
Leverage is where to be careful. The panel let us pick up to 500:1 on currencies, indices and commodities, 33:1 on shares and 100:1 on crypto, and it arrived set to 200:1 on currencies. At that setting, our $54.24 balance controlled $1,147.10 of EUR/USD on $5.73 of margin. The setting can be changed in the panel without a separate confirmation step.
Mobile app
The app covers what most CFD traders need: search, watchlists, price alerts, a Reuters news feed with an economic calendar, and a "Popular: United Arab Emirates" market list. Login uses Face ID plus a PIN, and two-step login works with an authenticator app.
We bought one Apple share CFD in the app on 17 September at 334.05. The position showed -$0.30 straight away, which is the spread: you start every trade down by it. The app's analytics then rated our win rate "High 100%" off a single trade, which tells you nothing.
Capital.com app
UAE-specific features
You sign up with a CMA-licensed Dubai company. You can hold AED as your account currency, fund and withdraw in dirhams from AED 80, and get support in Arabic and on a Dubai phone line (+971 4 496 8000). A swap-free account is available on request. What you can't do is own UAE-listed shares: ADX and DFM companies are available only as CFDs.
Customer support
Capital.com lists live chat in the app and on the site, WhatsApp from inside the app, email (support@capital.com) and a Dubai line, +971 4 496 8000, with Arabic across the site. It advertises 24/7 support. We haven't contacted support yet, so response times and the quality of Arabic help are untested.
Research & education
The app has a Reuters news feed and an economic calendar, with stories tagged by importance and linked to the markets they may move, plus an Analytics area. TradingView adds more charting. We've used these tools, but we haven't assessed Capital.com's courses or learning material.
Best alternatives to Capital.com in the UAE
| Broker | Best for | Overall score | UAE regulator | Minimum deposit | Swap-free account |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| eToroBuys the actual share or ETF on unleveraged long positions, and offers genuine ADX and DFM listings rather than CFDs on them. | Best for real ownership and UAE shares | 4.4 | FSRA | $100 (≈ AED 367) | Yes |
| Interactive BrokersFar wider asset range including bonds, futures and options, DFSA-regulated in DIFC, AED base currency and real custody. | Best for breadth and real assets | 4.5 | DFSA | $0 | No |
| AvaTradeA longer-standing swap-free offering with MT4 and MT5, also under a local UAE licence, though equally CFD-only. | Best established swap-free alternative | 4.2 | FSRA | $100 (≈ AED 367) by bank transfer | Yes |
Verdict
Capital.com suits you if you want to trade CFDs from the UAE through a locally licensed company, with low costs and a good choice of platforms. Our money went in over open banking and came back to a UAE bank in under five hours, with no Capital.com fee either way. It's the wrong choice if you want to own shares, ETFs or ADX and DFM stocks: eToro or Interactive Brokers fit that better. And set your leverage yourself, and set it low; the platform won't do it for you.
Recent news
New Chief Strategy Officer
Capital.com appointed Mamoon Sbeih as Chief Strategy Officer. No change to the CMA-licensed Dubai company that serves UAE clients.
Capital.com press releasesGold was 42% of client trading volume in Q2
Capital.com said gold accounted for 42% of its Q2 2026 trading volume, with disruption in the Strait of Hormuz and an equity rally shaping client activity. Useful context for a CFD-only platform: its clients were trading short-term price moves, which is what the product is built for.
Capital.com press releases
Frequently asked questions
Is Capital.com regulated in the UAE?
Can I use AED with Capital.com?
Do I own the shares I buy on Capital.com?
Can I trade UAE-listed shares on Capital.com?
Does Capital.com offer an Islamic account?
What is the minimum deposit for UAE clients?
What does Capital.com charge?
Is my money protected as a UAE client?
How much leverage can UAE clients use?
How long do withdrawals take?
Does Capital.com support Arabic?
| Record | What it covers | Status |
|---|---|---|
| UAE Capital Market Authority: Licensed Companies register | Capital Com MENA Securities Trading L.L.C. · captured 18 September 2026 | Verified, capture shown |
| UAE Capital Market Authority: Licensed Companies register | captured 21 September 2026 | Verified, capture shown |
| UAE Capital Market Authority: Violations and Violators | captured 21 September 2026 | Verified, capture shown |
| AED deposit by open banking | Reached Capital.com's bank in seconds and became tradeable the next afternoon, 15 to 16 September 2026 | Measured on our account |
| Withdrawal | USD 53.96 requested at 15:15 and credited to a UAE bank at 19:49 the same evening, 17 September 2026: 4 hours 34 minutes | Measured on our account |
| EUR/USD spread | 0.9 pips measured crossing it on our funded account, 17 September 2026 | Measured on our account |
| Terms and Conditions | Capital Com Mena Securities Trading L.L.C · read 18 September 2026 | Read |
| Charges and fees | Capital Com MENA Securities Trading L.L.C. · read 18 September 2026 | Read |
| Cost Disclosure Document (pricing page) | Capital Com MENA Securities Trading L.L.C. · read 18 September 2026 | Read |
| Risk Disclosure Statement | Capital Com Mena Securities Trading LLC · read 18 September 2026 | Read |
| Order Execution Policy | Capital Com Mena Securities Trading LLC · read 18 September 2026 | Read |
| Instrument counts | Capital.com's own published minimums, not our audit of the platform | Broker-published |
| Item | Why it is open | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Support response times | Not tested, and we have not checked Arabic coverage on the phone line | Not tested |
Giles Thomas
Giles is Executive Director at FOE Global, a UAE family office and private equity advisory firm. He conducts the funded account testing and regulatory verification behind onlinebroker.ae.