The UAE is an active trading market, but the numbers behind it often get blurred together. A count of licensed firms gets reported as a count of brokers; stock-exchange turnover gets treated as forex volume; a single survey's trader estimate gets called a global ranking.
UAE trading at a glance
This page keeps them separate. It covers four distinct things, each with its own source and date: how many people trade forex and CFDs in the UAE, how much moves through the local stock exchanges, how the market is regulated and by whom, and where the UAE sits in the global forex market. USD conversions use the AED peg of 3.6725 to the dollar.
| Figure | What it measures | Period |
|---|---|---|
| About 49,000 retail FX and CFD traders [1] | Retail leveraged-trading participation (a survey estimate, not a census) | 2023 |
| AED 2.21bn a day average trading value [2] | UAE listed-market (stock exchange) activity, not forex turnover | 2025 |
| AED 3.13tn (ADX) and AED 992bn (DFM) market capitalisation [3][4] | Size of the two main stock exchanges | End of 2025 |
| 1,050 (DIFC) and 392 (ADGM) regulated entities [5][6] | Financial firms authorised in the two free zones, not broker counts | 2025–26 |
How many retail FX and CFD traders are there?
A 2023 survey by Investment Trends, reported by Finance Magnates, estimated the UAE's retail forex and CFD trader population at 49,000, up 9% year on year, with 18,500 people placing their first trade during the year. [1]
What stood out was the direction of travel. Among the markets the survey measured, the UAE was the only one growing. Over the same period the UK fell 25% to 205,000 traders, the US fell 24% to 175,000, and Australia fell 19% to 81,000. [1]
A few things to keep in mind about this number. It is a survey estimate covering a selected set of countries, not a full census and not a global ranking. It is also the most recent country-level retail figure we have located for the UAE, and it dates from 2023. We show the year next to it on purpose and will update it if a newer edition is published.
The UAE was the only market growing among those surveyed. Figures are survey estimates, not a census. Source: Investment Trends, reported by Finance Magnates [1].
UAE stock-exchange activity in 2025
These figures describe equity trading on the UAE's stock exchanges. They are a different thing from retail forex or CFD trading and should not be read as a measure of it.
Average daily trading value across the UAE's listed markets rose 24.16% in 2025 to reach AED 2.21 billion (about $602 million), according to the Capital Market Authority's 2025 annual report. [2] That scope is the combined Abu Dhabi and Dubai listed markets. Net foreign investment inflows reached AED 18.7 billion over the year. The value of new equity listings reached about AED 14.53 billion (AED 7.29 billion through IPOs and AED 7.24 billion through direct listings), with a further AED 6.12 billion raised through capital increases. [2]
Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX)
ADX closed 2025 with a market capitalisation above AED 3.13 trillion (about $852 billion), up 4.6% on the year, making it the second-largest exchange in the region by market capitalisation and one of the world's top 20. Total trading value exceeded AED 385 billion, up 12.6%, and average daily trading value rose 12.1% to AED 1.52 billion. Institutional investors accounted for 78% of trading value, and listed companies paid out close to AED 74 billion in dividends during the year. [3]
(The CMA's own annual report gives slightly different ADX figures: a market cap of AED 3.14 trillion and growth of 4.7%. [2] The two report marginally different values; we have not found a published reconciliation, so we cite ADX's own figures here and note the CMA's.)
Dubai Financial Market (DFM)
DFM ended 2025 with a market capitalisation of AED 992 billion, with its General Index up 17.2% over the year. Total traded value reached AED 174 billion, up 63%, and average daily traded value was AED 692 million. The exchange reported net profit before tax of AED 1.06 billion, up 158% on 2024, in its 25th anniversary year. Foreign investors accounted for 51% of trading value and institutional investors for 71%. [4]
(The CMA's annual report gives DFM's year-end market cap as AED 980 billion, against DFM's own AED 992 billion. [2][4] We have not found a published reconciliation, and use DFM's own figure as the headline.)
Nasdaq Dubai
Nasdaq Dubai, which operates within the DIFC under DFSA regulation, had its strongest year on record in 2025, with the value of outstanding sukuk listed on the exchange passing USD 100 billion. [9]
The two panels use separate scales. Market cap is a point-in-time measure and traded value a full-year flow, so the two are not directly comparable. ADX's market cap rose 4.6% over the year; DFM's General Index rose 17.2%. Sources: ADX [3], DFM [4].
Who regulates trading in the UAE?
The UAE has a three-regulator structure. Two financial free zones each have their own independent regulator, and a federal authority covers the onshore market.
The onshore regulator was renamed from the Securities and Commodities Authority to the Capital Market Authority under Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2025, which came into force on 1 January 2026. [7] It oversees the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, the Dubai Financial Market and the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange. Many brokers still hold licences issued under the SCA name. Our CMA guide covers what the change means and which brokers hold a CMA licence.
| Regulator | Jurisdiction |
|---|---|
| DFSA: Dubai Financial Services Authority | Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) free zone |
| FSRA: Financial Services Regulatory Authority | Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) free zone |
| CMA: Capital Market Authority (formerly the Securities and Commodities Authority, SCA) | Onshore UAE (federal) |
How many firms are licensed
It is worth being precise here, because these counts are often misquoted as broker numbers. They are not. They count all authorised financial firms, the large majority of which are banks, fund managers, insurers and advisers rather than trading brokers.
In the DIFC, the DFSA licensed and registered 182 new firms during 2025, bringing the total number of regulated entities to 1,050, 16% more than in 2024 and a third consecutive year of double-digit growth. Fund-management firms in the DIFC rose to 121. [5]
In the ADGM, there were 392 financial-services entities as of mid-2026, up 27% from 308 a year earlier. Separately, the FSRA granted 45 new Financial Services Permissions during the first half of 2026. [6]
The one broker-specific figure we have found is a DFSA count, reported by Finance Magnates: 72 brokerage firms were operating out of the DIFC at the end of March 2026, up from 49 in 2022. [10] There is no equivalent published count for onshore brokers, so the total number of brokers serving UAE clients across all three regulators is not something that can be stated precisely from public data.
What this means for choosing a broker
A broker serving UAE clients may be regulated by the DFSA, the FSRA, the CMA, or by a reputable overseas regulator such as the UK's FCA, Cyprus's CySEC or Australia's ASIC. There is no single UAE licence that covers everyone.
An overseas licence, on its own, does not confirm that a broker is permitted to solicit or serve UAE residents, and the protection a client actually has depends on the specific legal entity they contract with and that entity's regulator. Segregation of client funds, which most regulated brokers provide, is not the same thing as an investor-compensation scheme. It is worth checking the exact entity and its local permission in each case. To do that, see our UAE regulation hub and our broker warning list.
The UAE in the global forex market
To frame the UAE against the wider market, the global reference point is the Bank for International Settlements Triennial Central Bank Survey, the most comprehensive measure of the forex market, taken as a snapshot of April 2025.
Global forex turnover reached $9.6 trillion per day in April 2025, up 28% on 2022. The UK remained the single largest trading location, handling 38% of global turnover, with the top four hubs (the UK, US, Singapore and Hong Kong) accounting for 75% between them. The US dollar was on one side of 89% of all trades, followed by the euro at 28.9% and the Japanese yen at 16.8%. [8]
The BIS survey measures trading by location on the dealer side of the market. It does not publish a separate UAE turnover figure, and it is not a count of retail traders. For that reason this page makes no claim about the UAE's share of global turnover or how UAE retail participation compares per head; those numbers are not established by a source we would stand behind.
Sources
- [1] UAE's FX and CFDs Trader Population Reaches Record 49,000, Finance Magnates, July 2023, reporting an Investment Trends survey (the underlying study is not publicly accessible). The 49,000 estimate, first-trade figures and the comparator markets.
- [2] Capital Market Authority, Annual Report 2025 (PDF). Average daily trading value, foreign inflows, new-listing values, and the CMA's ADX and DFM market-cap figures.
- [3] ADX leads listed companies at Global Investors Roadshow in Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, 10 April 2026, as published by Mondo Visione. ADX's 2025 market cap, trading value, institutional share and dividends.
- [4] Dubai Financial Market delivers strong 2025, DFM full-year results via WAM, January 2026. DFM market cap, traded value, profit and investor mix.
- [5] DFSA Annual Report 2025, Dubai Financial Services Authority, 25 June 2026. The DIFC regulated-entity count and its growth.
- [6] ADGM reinforces Abu Dhabi's position as global financial hub, ADGM H1 2026 results via Abu Dhabi Media Office, September 2026. The ADGM financial-services entity count and FSRA permissions.
- [7] The new CMA law, Capital Market Authority. Federal Decree-Laws No. 32 and No. 33 of 2025, in force from 1 January 2026, and the renaming of the SCA.
- [8] Global FX trading hits $9.6 trillion per day in April 2025, BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey, 30 September 2025. Global FX turnover, trading hubs and currency shares.
- [9] Nasdaq Dubai posts strongest year on record with outstanding sukuk value surpassing USD 100 billion, Dubai Media Office, 16 February 2026.
- [10] DIFC brokerage net profit reached $301 million in 2025 as firm growth slowed, Finance Magnates, July 2026, reporting DFSA figures. The count of brokerage firms in the DIFC.
