Trading is not prohibited, but no binary options product is licensed by the UAE CMA, the DFSA or the FSRA for retail clients.
اقرأ هذه الصفحة بالعربية — this page is also available in Arabic.
Brokers accepting UAE clients
Ranked by our published methodology, which weights licensing at 35% — on an unsupervised counterparty every other quality is contingent. Ratings are derived from the sub-scores, not assigned.
| # | Broker | Rating | Entity holding your funds | Min. deposit | Payout | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deriv | 7.9 | Deriv (BVI) Ltd / Deriv (V) Ltd | $5 | up to ~95% on synthetics | Visit |
| 2 | IQ Option | 5.1 | IQ Option Ltd (international) — unregulated | $10 | up to ~95% | Visit |
| Regulated alternative — does not offer binary options | ||||||
| — | Exness | 8.8 | FSCA (South Africa) — ODP · FSP 51024 | $10 | n/a — CFDs and FX only | Visit |
Advertiser disclosure: buttons marked ad are affiliate links and earn us a commission if you open an account. The others do not. The ranking is derived from the published sub-scores either way, which is why the highest-rated provider here is not the one that pays us.
Why the ranking looks like this
Licensing carries 35% of the score, which is why Deriv leads at 7.9 and why the highest advertised payout does not win. On an unsupervised counterparty every other quality is contingent: the platform, the payout and the support all stop mattering the moment a withdrawal is refused and there is no regulator to escalate to. The full method is at how we rate.
None of these providers holds a CMA (formerly SCA) licence covering binary options, because no such licence is available in United Arab Emirates. That is the honest starting point rather than a footnote, and it is the reason the regulated alternatives below are on the same page.
The regulatory position
The Securities and Commodities Authority was replaced by the Capital Market Authority on 1 January 2026 under Federal Decree-Laws 32 and 33 of 2025. Some brokers do hold UAE licences for other instruments — Deriv holds SCA licence 20200000243 — but a licence covering FX or CFDs is not a licence covering binary options, and the distinction is the whole point.
Funding and withdrawals in dirham
Local rails here are card, local bank transfer and e-wallets; some banks decline speculative-trading merchant codes. The deposit method decides whether money can come back out, which matters considerably more than the advertised payout percentage. Card payments carry a chargeback route with a time limit that is shorter than most people expect; transfers to an offshore entity generally have no route back at all. Local methods routed through a third-party processor add a party that is neither your bank nor your broker — and that party is usually the one that disappears first.
Tax treatment
Profits are generally taxable, with FTA the relevant authority. Whether they are assessed as speculative income or as capital gains depends on how the activity is characterised locally, and that characterisation can change the rate materially. This is general information rather than tax advice.
Regulated alternatives
CMA, DFSA and FSRA registers list the entities actually authorised to deal with retail clients in the Emirates and the two financial free zones.
- Exness — FSCA (South Africa) — ODP (FSP 51024)
Our archive
We have covered this instrument since 2012. Those articles predate the wave of prohibitions and are labelled as archive material — they explain how the product works, not who to trade with today.
- Binary Option Brokers
- Deposit at Binary Option Brokers
- Binary Options Strategy
- Trading with Binary Options online
- Legal status in United Arab Emirates
- Brokers that closed
Frequently asked questions
Are binary options legal in United Arab Emirates?
Trading is not prohibited, but no binary options product is licensed by the UAE CMA, the DFSA or the FSRA for retail clients.
Which broker should I use?
On our methodology, Deriv ranks highest for United Arab Emirates at 7.9/10 — mainly on licensing, which we weight at 35%. That is not the same as a recommendation to trade: none of these providers holds a CMA (formerly SCA) licence for binary options, because no such licence exists here.
How do you make money from this page?
Some broker links are affiliate links and pay us a commission. Links to providers we have no agreement with are plain and earn us nothing — they are in the table because leaving them out would distort the ranking. The ranking is derived from published sub-scores, so the highest-paying broker is not the highest-ranked one.
How do deposits and withdrawals work in United Arab Emirates?
Local rails are card, local bank transfer and e-wallets; some banks decline speculative-trading merchant codes. Card payments carry a chargeback route with a time limit; transfers to an offshore entity generally do not. Confirm the withdrawal method, minimum, fee and processing time in writing before funding an account.
What about tax?
Profits are generally taxable and FTA is the relevant authority. Whether they are assessed as speculative income or capital gains depends on how the activity is characterised locally. General information, not tax advice.
Risk warning: binary options are high-risk speculative instruments and most retail accounts lose money. Nothing on this page is investment advice or a recommendation to trade.