A complete guide to finding top Forex brokers in Zambia

The Republic of Zambia is a landlocked country in the region of Central Africa. The country’s overall territory reaches 752, 618 square kilometers, and borders Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola.

Zambia has a population of around 20 million people. Although the country still has a lot of challenges to overcome, it is already on the way to becoming one of the region’s fastest developing markets.

The country used to heavily rely on copper mining and export, and after a 30-year decline in the production of exports, authorities have taken steps to privatize the industry and increase the production of the commodity. In an attempt to diversify the country’s economy, Zambian authorities have also welcomed international companies to prospect for minerals like tin, copper, uranium, and nickel.

Agriculture plays a vital role in Zambian economy. The sector provides numerous jobs for the local population. The country has favorable conditions for growing crops such as maize, tobacco, cotton, sugar, and coffee. It should be mentioned that the tourism sector is developing rapidly in Zambia, as the local wildlife and unique traditions of 73 ethnic groups offer great attraction to tourists from around the world.

With the amount of foreign investment inflow and the rapid expansion of the local financial market, it is no surprise that the field of Forex trading is gaining popularity among the local population. Furthermore, Forex trading is becoming easily accessible globally due to advancements in technology.

In this guide, we will take a closer look at some of the best Forex brokers in Zambia and discuss how to become a trader in the country. Moreover, we will examine the most popular trading platforms, and payment options in Zambia.

A full list of top Forex brokers in Zambia

Finding a reliable brokerage to join is already a hard task, let alone finding one in a country where the Forex market is not fully regulated. Some of the factors that you need to pay attention to are whether the broker is officially licensed, trading fees, trading platforms, customer service availability, and number of tradable assets. In order to spare you hours upon hours of research, we have reviewed a multiple number of brokers and came up with our lists of top Forex and CFD (Contracts for Difference) brokers operating in Zambia.

FX market regulations in Zambia

Financial trading including foreign exchange trading in Zambia is regulated by the Bank of Zambia (BoZ), which is the central bank of the country. The BoZ is responsible for overseeing the markets to make sure that the regulations are being followed. The main aim of BoZ is creating a transparent and fair financial environment that protects the interests of traders.

When it comes to trading Forex and CFDs, the main duties of BoZ include: licensing of Forex Brokers, creating a regulatory framework, having investor protection policies in place, and supervising the brokers to make sure the rules are followed.

It should be mentioned that BoZ is not an experienced regulator and this institution has a lot of other responsibilities too, such as carrying out Zambian monetary policy, and keeping inflation at stable, low level. In addition, there are very few number of local brokers that have BoZ’s license. On the upside, the residents of Zambia can open trading accounts with internationally regulated, reputable brokers that offer better trading conditions. In fact, all the brokers in our top list are operating globally.

How to become a Forex trader in Zambia

Becoming a Forex trader is very easy nowadays. There are lots of international brokers that accept traders from Zambia.  Educational material on how to trade is freely available on the internet, minimum deposit requirements are very low, and the account opening process typically takes less than a day. In addition, having personal computers is no longer a luxury.

It should be mentioned that while it’s technically super easy to become a trader, becoming a trader that sustainably makes money is very difficult, however, achievable. There are a lot of professional traders that consistently make money, and they all have one thing in common, they are hard-workers.

In order, beginners to trade consistently profitably, they need to learn trading terminology, learn how to use trading platforms, learn how to analyze and make predictions on the market, create trading strategies, test them and trade with discipline. Moreover, it should be mentioned that market conditions often change and traders need to keep developing their strategies to remain ahead of their competitors.

There are many career opportunities in the financial world, such as:

• Retail trading from the comfort of your home,
• institutional trading (making deals for institutions),
• selling signals, and educational courses,
• becoming an analyst, or a risk manager.

Popular payment methods and trading software in Zambia

The most popular platforms for trading Forex and CFDs are MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). The MT4 was first introduced in 2005 by the Russia-based company MetaQuotes, it has since been gaining extreme popularity all over the world, both due to its reliability and efficiency.  Moreover, if you are a beginner, you will be sure to appreciate the fact that there are plenty of educational material to refer to and learn from when it comes to using MT4 or MT5. It’s worth mentioning that while MT4 was built for trading currency pairs, MT5 is used for trading various asset classes. The MT5 was introduced in 2010 by the same company and the platform offers enhanced capabilities from its predecessor such as: more timeframes, more preinstalled indicators, the Depth of Market feature (DoM), and built in economic calendar.

cTrader is another popular platform, however, not as popular as the MetaTrader software. cTrader was released in 2010, however, developers keep upgrading it will to this day, and as a result, the platform looks very slick and user-friendly. The platform supports algorithmic trading using cBots and is a proffered choice for ECN (Electronic Communications Network) traders.

As for the payment methods, the most popular ones include payments by credit/ debit cards (Visa, MasterCard), as well as e-Wallets and direct wire transfers. Moreover, in recent years mobile payments have been gaining popularity, as they are both easy to execute and charged with a lesser commission fee.

What is the national currency of Zambia?

The national currency of Zambia is the Zambian Kwacha, coded as ZMW. The currency has been in use since 1966, however, its history is one of serious turmoil. In an attempt to strengthen the ZMW, government authorities have undertaken a number of measures, such as making sure that the international companies investing in the countries would use the local currency instead of the US dollar. Be noted that ZMW is not available in the Forex market for trading.

Should you start trading Forex in Zambia?

Regardless of the number of benefits that one can find in building a career as a Forex trader, it is important to remember that it can also be quite dangerous. Most traders that fail to learn from other traders and their own mistakes lose money. In fact, it is estimated that 60-90% of traders lose their trading accounts, depending on a broker. We have created a shortlist of the main advantages and disadvantages of trading Forex in Zambia.

Pros: 

• Zambian national economy is recovering rapidly and has the potential to become one of the largest in the region, which may create new career opportunities for traders.
• In the absence of a regulatory mechanism, you can trade with very high leverage, which also can be counted as a con when beginners use it without caution.

Cons: 

• Since the local Forex market is not regulated, there is a high chance that you might come across a scam, which is why we recommend internationally regulated brokers.
• High leverage can be dangerous when used without caution.
• Trading requires an initial capital. Traders need to pay for their computers, and make money deposits to their trading accounts.

Summary

Financial trading is still in its development phase in Zambia. Forex and CFD brokers are supervised and licensed by the Bank of Zambia (BoZ), which is the central bank of the country. There are not many local brokers that hold the BoZ license, and the regulator is not highly experienced in this field. Which is why we recommend considering international brokers such as: XM, AvaTrade, exness, and more in our guide to top brokers.

FAQs on finding top Forex brokers in Zambia