Which trading app has the lowest fees in the UAE?
Verdict
- Pepperstone's app has the lowest published fees among those we compare for UAE residents: about $7 to $8 per lot of EUR/USD on Razor, no commission on index CFDs, and no inactivity fee.
- XS matches Pepperstone on EUR/USD at about $7 per lot on its Elite account, but needs $500 to open and has no AED account, so dirham deposits are converted.
- Capital.com publishes only live spreads, with no fixed EUR/USD figure in our data, so its trading fees cannot be ranked on the same basis.
- Fees differ by product: on Pepperstone, shares carry a commission ($0.02 per share on US stocks) while indices and crypto CFDs are spread-only.
'Lowest fees' depends on what you trade in the app, so we priced each product separately using the figures brokers publish. Pepperstone comes out lowest overall for a UAE resident, mainly because it publishes average spreads and commissions for every account and platform, and adds no account-level charges.
Pepperstone's fee sheet, product by product
On Razor, forex costs a 0.1-pip EUR/USD average plus $3.50 per side on Pepperstone's own app, MT5 and TradingView, or $3.00 per side on cTrader. Gold averages 0.12 on Razor and 0.19 on Standard. Index CFDs carry no commission on either account; Pepperstone's Australian fee page lists average Razor spreads of 0.4 points on the US500 and 1 point on the NAS100 and GER40. Crypto CFDs are spread-only. Share CFDs are the exception, charged per side: $0.02 per share on US stocks and a percentage on other markets. Account-level fees are absent: no inactivity charge, and no withdrawal fee except on international wires. UAE residents can hold the account in AED, and CFDs are issued by Pepperstone Markets Limited (SCB, Bahamas), with a DFSA-regulated group company in the DIFC.
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Fee comparison for UAE residents
| Fee | Pepperstone | XS | Capital.com |
|---|---|---|---|
| EUR/USD, one lot round turn | About $7 (cTrader) or $8 (MT5, app); $11 on Standard | About $7 on Elite | Live spreads only; no fixed figure |
| Index CFD commission | None | Not in our data | Not in our data |
| US share CFDs | $0.02 per share per side | Not in our data | Not in our data |
| Minimum deposit | $10 | $500 for Elite | $20 |
| AED account (no conversion) | Yes | No | Yes |
| Inactivity fee | None | Up to 3% withdrawal fee if no trading activity | Not in our data |
Apps with fees that are harder to compare
Several apps available in the UAE price trades in the spread and publish only 'from' figures or examples, which cannot be ranked against averages. Plus500 earns through the spread and charges no commission, but lists an inactivity fee of up to $10 a month after three months without a login. Equiti's UAE Standard account quotes a typical 1.4 pips on EUR/USD with no commission, and its Premier account 0.0 pips typical plus $3.50 per side, from $3,000. ADSS, licensed by the UAE CMA, quotes EUR/USD 'from' 0.7 pips on its Elite+ market sheet with no commission. eToro quotes EUR/USD from 1 pip.
Working out your own fee bill
- List the products you traded last month and the number of lots or shares.
- Price each one with the broker's published average spread plus commission.
- Add overnight swaps for any position held past the rollover.
- Add currency conversion if your account currency differs from your bank's.
- Compare the total, not the headline spread.
Sources
Published fee pages.
Which app is cheapest for trading indices in the UAE?
Pepperstone in our data: index CFDs carry no commission, and it publishes average spreads such as 0.4 points on the US500 on its Australian fee page.
Is Pepperstone's app cheaper than MetaTrader?
It costs the same as MT5 and TradingView on Razor ($3.50 per side). cTrader is cheaper for forex at $3.00 per side.
Do I pay more on Pepperstone's Standard account?
Per lot, yes: about $11 per EUR/USD round turn against about $7 to $8 on Razor, because Standard includes a 1-point mark-up in the spread.
CFDs are complex, leveraged products, and low fees do not reduce the high risk of losing money quickly. All fees are as published by the brokers and can change. This page is information, not investment advice.