Forex trading in Hong Kong: market review and top online brokers

Hong Kong’s economy is a highly developed market economy, characterized by low taxation, virtually free port trade, and a well-developed international financial market. An administrative region of the PRC, which has the right to act as an independent state in solving economic issues, is confidently included in the top ten countries with the largest foreign trade turnover. In terms of gross national product per inhabitant, taking into account purchasing power, the country competes with the indicators of such developed countries as Germany, Japan, Great Britain, France, and others.

There are about 50 thousand factories and plants in Hong Kong, although the industrial sector of the economy gives way to the service sector. The main industry is the production of fabrics and clothing (about 30% of exports). The second place is occupied by the production of electronics. About 90% of industrial production is exported. Hong Kong is one of the world’s largest exporters of textiles, clothing, electronic devices and components, watches, toys, etc. 

On the territory of Hong Kong itself, there are about 250 banking institutions. Together with the national ones, there are representative offices of foreign banks in Hong Kong, including those that have the right to issue loans. The local currency, the Hong Kong dollar, is stable since it has been pegged to the US currency for more than 20 years. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is ranked fifth in the world in terms of capitalization, but the most impressive result of the economic policy of the region’s leadership was the popularity of the country as a profitable platform for opening international companies. The Hong Kong gold market is one of the largest in the world as well. The lack of state control in the financial sector made possible a rapid rise of Hong Kong in the global monetary and financial system.

The concept of the territorial source is implemented in the tax legislation and implies a zero tax rate for companies registered in its branches in Hong Kong on income received from operations abroad. This simple solution has attracted entrepreneurs from all over the world to the country. This rule also applies to brokerage companies as they are subject to minimal taxation. Due to this, Forex brokers get the opportunity to charge their clients the lowest commissions, conduct various promotions and successfully provide their services in the financial market. On the other hand, locals are interested in trading and increasing their funds on online markets like Forex, gaining more and more popularity in Hong Kong.

Forex market and its regulations in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of the largest and main trading and financial centers in Asia, playing an important role in the global Forex industry. The average income rate of the local population is quite high, so residents have all the means to deposit part of their disposable funds and participate in international online Forex trading. In recent years, the region has seen a significant increase in the number of brokerage offices opening branches in Hong Kong due to liberal legislation.

The local securities and futures market is regulated by The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) which is an independent statutory body established in 1989. The organization is free of governmental influence and funded primarily by fees from reporting companies. However, it annually submits reports on the results of its work to authorized state bodies. The regulator operates under the Securities and Futures Regulations (SFO).

Hong Kongers can enter the global Forex market freely with the help of internationally licensed brokers that accept clients from the country and ensure safe trading as they are included on the list of 1-tier regulators: the FSA in the United Kingdom, CySEC in Cyprus, the NFA in the United States and the Australian Securities Commission and investment (ASIC). In addition, some brokers get additional trust credit as they are members of markets regulated by the MiFID – Directive on Financial Instruments in the EU Markets. These organizations are recognized by traders around the world for their strict requirements for brokerage companies so that Hong Kong clients can be assured of their fund’s safety.

Moreover, international brokers support a favorable environment for a convenient and smooth trading experience. So, for example, clients can use auxiliary tools in order not to constantly analyze market trends, but use Copy trading, with which both beginners and experienced traders can get their profit. The former can duplicate the transactions of providers, while the latter can earn a nice monetary bonus for their successful trades being copied. This tool has made Forex trading an option for a wider Hong Kong audience.

Popular online trading instruments in Hong Kong

By trading Forex in Hong Kong, residents can discover a variety of assets and participate in all leading financial markets, including ones for stocks, indices, commodities, and, of course, currencies. A wide range of instruments is available to Hong Kong traders 24/7.

Forex is suitable for both professionals and novice traders thanks to a wide selection of underlying assets and relatively low needed capital to enter the market. Advanced analytical tools provided by trusted brokers for Fundamental analysis and Technical analysis allow beginners to quickly adapt to the market. Most professional traders instead of choosing only one category of trading financial assets prefer to diversify their portfolios, so newbies can also follow their lead with this less risky strategy. In this article, we have reviewed the most popular instruments for trading in Hong Kong so that you can choose the most suitable ones for yourself.

Currency pairs trading in Hong Kong

Hong Kong has a very favorable environment for trading all kinds of currency pairs due to the development of the country’s financial market and the open policy of the government. Like all over the world, in Hong Kong, the so-called major pairs like EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/CHF, AUD/USD, USD/JPY, and USD/CAD enjoy great popularity. They are traded 24 hours a day, every business day of the week with tight spreads and high liquidity. 

Other currency pairs are called minors as they don’t include the US dollar, but contain at least one of the other three major world currencies: at least one currency in them has the Japanese yen, the British pound sterling, or the euro. The smallest category of currency pairs is called exotic. These currencies include MXN, TROY, THB, SGD, and Hong Kong’s currency, NCO. These exotic currencies have larger spreads, so you can predict their movement based on the state of the local economy. 

Plus500 is a broker that provides its clients with CFDs for more than 60 currency pairs, as well as a variety for other instruments including indices, commodities, Crypto, stocks, options, and ETFs. You can also set stop loss and stop limit orders. These orders allow you to set a specific rate at which your position will be closed to protect your profit if you close at a profit or minimize your loss if you close at a loss.

After registering an account, the broker gives you the opportunity to trade any instruments and assets, or if you want to practice, a demo account is always available to try unfamiliar instruments and test indicators. The trading terminal is available in the web version and for mobile devices on iOS and Android.

Well-known and prestigious organizations such as FCA, CySEC, MAS, ASIC, and FMA are in charge of the company’s activities, so traders trust the company with their capital with full confidence. In addition, Plus500 is a leader in mobile CFD trading, a trading guide, and all the tools to make trading more effective and secure.

This information is NOT relevant to EU residents who are to be serviced by EU subsidiaries of the Plus500 Group, such as Plus500CY Ltd, authorized by CySEC (Reg. 250/14). Different regulatory requirements apply in Europe such as leverage limitations and bonus restrictions.

Commodities trading in Hong Kong

Commodities are used by many Hong Kong traders on the Forex market as there is no need to physically trade real goods, spending time, money, and effort. Instead, there are many instruments that allow you to use this asset for making a profit on price movements, including commodity futures, shares of manufacturing companies, ETFs, and CFDs. 

Among traders in Hong Kong, gold, silver, copper, and other metals are the most popular. For example, gold is one of the safest instruments of traditional financial markets, which, moreover, protects from inflation and the volatility of the US dollar. Traders can enter both short and long positions and also potentially benefit from price action in both the down and up directions. If you want to try your hand at this segment of the Forex market, consider the most suitable broker with a wide range of offers.

HF Markets – formerly known as HotForex in the region – offers retail services across a wide range of instruments including currency pairs, commodities, Cryptocurrencies, stocks, indices, metals, energies, bonds, and CFDs. In particular, the broker has a leverage of up to 1:200 and low spreads on Forex Gold Trading.

HF Markets has a policy of providing the best possible trading conditions, including a range of flexible account types and trading platforms. So the first includes Micro, Premium, Fixed, VIP and Zero Spread, which are adapted to the needs of clients with different characteristics, depending on the amount of the deposit and the size of the leverage. On all accounts for trading, you can use the MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms, Web Trader and Mobile Trading, as well as the Multi-terminal platform with which you can simultaneously manage multiple trading accounts from one interface.

In addition, the company generously provides clients with various bonuses such as 100% supercharged and 100% credit bonuses, as well as return on free margin, 30% rescue, and 50% welcome.

CFD trading in Hong Kong

Contract for Difference (CFD) is a low-cost dealing method for both beginners and experienced traders in Hong Kong. CFDs can be traded on stocks, commodities, indices, precious metals and even Cryptos as it allows you to trade not the asset itself, but only its price. CFD trading gives the opportunity to profit on the price movements (up or down), also receiving all the benefits that are associated with stock trading. Before the advent of such contracts, only large market players could trade stocks, indices, and other assets, because the cost of opening a deal was quite high. CFDs have expanded the circle of market participants by opening access to traders with different levels of capital.

NAGA Markets is one of the top-rated brokers that provides access to different assets for trading: stocks, currency pairs, ETFs, futures, commodities, and metals in Hong Kong. Clients can enter the market using different platforms such as MetaTrader of both versions 4 and 5, the author’s platform NAGA Webtrader. All platforms support mobile versions. 

Traders can open two types of accounts: a demo one and a live account. Opening a demo account is very simple and takes a couple of minutes. You get a virtual balance of $10000 to try out trading strategies safely as you won’t lose any real money.

The broker has very competitive trading conditions, including tight spreads, low commissions, rapid trade execution speeds, and a variety of flexible account funding options that include Debit/Credit cards (Visa, Mastercard), Maestro, Discover, Paypal, GiroPay, Skrill, Eps, Ideal, etc.

Besides, NAGA is not only about individual trading as it is also a social investing network where clients of all experience levels can trade, share and copy deals of experienced ones with a special auto-copy function – the NAGA auto-copy. 

NAGA aims to make trading simple and accessible for everyone. To make its services available to clients in different jurisdictions, NAGA complies with multiple authoritative regulations around the world such as FCA, CySEC, MiFID II, and MiFIR.

Cryptocurrency trading in Hong Kong

Cryptocurrencies are in high demand in Hong Kong among the locals for several reasons. Firstly, Сryptos are used as a means of protecting capital from inflation and as an alternative means of payment. Also, multiple retail companies accepted Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin as payment for their goods, which increased the popularity of these coins. 

In addition, Cryptocurrencies are a profitable medium for cross-border transfers: Blockchain can reduce transaction costs by 40-80%. Some traditional interbank money transfers can take three to five business days yet on some Blockchains, transactions can be confirmed in seconds.

Hong Kong traders also listed Cryptocurrencies as a profitable financial asset. The first benefit, of course, is the opportunity to earn on the Cryptos’ volatility as some coins move within 30%-50% of their value per day. In addition, when trading through Forex brokers, there is no need to open a wallet to store currency and a variety of educational resources with detailed information on Crypto trading. Another benefit of Forex trading is that it provides clients with brokerage leverage, allowing you to start with a relatively small deposit, so the Forex market opens up more opportunities for beginners. 

AvaTrade provides trading in both the popular Bitcoin and many other digital coins, including Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Litecoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Dash, and EOS. Clients can make transactions in Cryptocurrencies 24 hours a day, with the ability to open long or short positions. Besides, there is no need to get crypto wallets, as it is possible to trade using CFDs.

In addition to Cryptocurrencies, the broker has a wide range of trading instruments such as 55 currency pairs including majors, minors, and many exotic pairs, 612 shares of the largest companies, 27 types of commodities, as well as indices, currency options, exchange-traded funds ETFs and bonds. For each of these financial instruments, the broker has set competitive leverage, margin, and spreads over the market.

Clients can register one type of real account. In addition, a demo account is available to test many trading terminals, namely the familiar MetaTrader 4 and 5, WebTrader available as an online web terminal, AvaOptions for options trading, AvaSocial for copy trading, AvaTradeGo mobile application, and Autotrading.

The company has an impeccable reputation and security of transactions, being licensed by MiFID, ASIC, Japan FSA, FFA, FSB, IIROC, and FSCA.

Trading with VPS server in Hong Kong

For active traders who use additional tools for auto trading, there is a solution as Forex trading with VPS. It is an ordinary computer located in a special data center. The trader sets up remote access and connects to a PC for work to perform all the usual actions, and download and install programs. Remote equipment is always on, provided with power and internet for uninterrupted operation in the Forex market. If the trading strategy uses added custom tools – robots or advisors, then they cannot be launched on a smartphone or a broker’s website. The client can access the platform at any time and in any place, check the actions of robots, make deals, and analyze charts in the usual way in a customized terminal. These are essentials for successful trading decisions, which is why top client-oriented brokers added the service to their list of offerings.

XM Group provides access to a VPS server that allows Forex financial advisors to continuously and around-the-clock trade on your behalf, even if your computer is turned off. As for the terminals themselves, the market is accessed through the MT4 and MT5 platforms. Clients can use them on various devices for PC and Mac, WebTrader, and as a multi-terminal for trading with multiple accounts and for iPad, iPhone, and Android.

The list of XM financial instruments includes more than 1000 items and includes currency pairs, CFDs, stocks, indices, commodities, and Cryptocurrencies. You can register 4 account types: Micro, Standard, Ultra Low, and Shares, and to assess your potential, a novice market participant should initially work on a demo account from XM.

Moreover, XM offers three bonus program types: 100% automatic entry bonus up to $5000, referral (you get $35 for each friend that joins XM as your referral), and occasional (seasonal bonuses and those linked to different calendar events).

Top Forex brokers in Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s integration into the international financial market and its loyal legislation contribute to the rapid growth of Forex trading in particular. To date, there are international Forex brokerage companies, each of which has its own terms and conditions. In order to help you choose a reliable intermediary for successful trading, we have provided a list of time-tested, licensed brokers in Hong Kong.

Plus500 in Hong Kong

Plus500 is one of the best brokers for trading CFDs on financial products like indices, Forex, commodities, Cryptocurrencies, shares, options, and ETFs on a user-friendly platform available both on the web and on iOS and Android mobile devices. This allows you to have access to the market wherever you are, just open the app.

The broker doesn’t charge any fees for opening and closing trades, and Bid/Ask spreads are among the tightest on the market. In addition, clients can use various risk management tools such as stop loss and stop limit.

You can deposit and withdraw funds in one of the most convenient ways, including bank and credit/debit card transfers through Visa & MasterCard, Paypal, BankTransfers, BPay, Skrill, etc. Tech support and chat are available in many jurisdictions around the clock and support more than 30 languages.

The company has established itself in the Forex market as a reliable broker. It has licenses from reputable regulators FCA, CySEC, MAS, ASIC, and FMA, which means it complies with all safety criteria.

This information is NOT relevant to EU residents who are to be serviced by EU subsidiaries of the Plus500 Group, such as Plus500CY Ltd, authorized by CySEC (Reg. 250/14). Different regulatory requirements apply in Europe such as leverage limitations and bonus restrictions.

AvaTrade in Hong Kong

AvaTrade is a well-known and reliable broker with licenses from such regulators as MiFID, ASIC, Japan FSA, and FFA, FSB, IIROC, and FSCA. Broker’s service package allows you to work with all the assets including 55 currency pairs (majors, minors, and many exotics), shares of the largest companies, commodities, as well as indices, options, ETFs, bonds, and Cryptocurrencies.

One of the best features of AvaTrade is the number of trading platforms that the broker provides, namely the familiar MetaTrader 4 and 5, WebTrader available as an online web terminal, AvaOptions for options trading, AvaSocial for copy trading, the AvaTradeGo mobile app, and Autotrading. The client can register a real account, and before that, upgrade his skills on a demo account with a balance of 100 thousand virtual dollars.

Another advantage of the company will be that AvaTrade offers educational materials for beginners. Clients have access to introductory articles on the basics of trading in financial markets, video tutorials, and e-books on its website.

HF Markets in Hong Kong

HF Markets (previously known as HotForex) can pleasantly surprise you not only with the number of financial instruments over 1200 in total but also with special conditions for Forex Gold Trading (the leverage up to 1:200 and low spreads). Clients can choose between different Micro, Premium, Fixed, VIP, and Zero Spread accounts that are tailored to the different needs of traders. In addition, PAMM accounts are available in which the manager conducts trading. The trader makes a profit based on the trading activities of the trustee, for which the manager receives an agreed percentage of the profit.

To access the market, you can use the MetaTrader 4 and 5 platforms, Web Trader and Mobile Trading, as well as the Multi-terminal platform from which you can simultaneously manage multiple trading accounts from one interface.

What is most interesting is that the company generously provides clients with various bonuses: 100% supercharged and 100% credit bonus, as well as return on free margin, 30% rescue, and a welcome bonus of up to $5000.

XM Group in Hong Kong

XM Group is a popular Forex broker in Hong Kong with over 1000 trading instruments including currency pairs, equities, commodities, and other instruments which can be traded on the MT4/MT5 platforms. Clients can use them on various devices for PC and Mac, WebTrader, and as a multi-terminal for trading with multiple accounts and for iPad, iPhone, and Android. 

XM Group is a truly trustworthy broker since it is licensed by such regulators as ASIC, CySEC, IFSC, and DFSA, operating in almost 200 countries. Besides, it offers a multi-level Forex bonus program. Mainly, there are three bonus types complementing each with free VPS including a deposit bonus of up to $5000, referral, and occasional ones.

NAGA Markets in Hong Kong

NAGA Markets is a broker that stands out not only for its social trading with the ability to copy trades of professionals with the NAGA auto-copy but also for its wide selection of trading instruments, more than 950 in total, including stocks, currency pairs, ETFs, futures, commodities, and metals. You can trade on a real and demo account with a virtual balance of $10,000 to test your strategies without losing real money.

As for trading terminals, the broker provides a choice between MetaTrader of both versions 4 and 5 and the author’s platform NAGA Webtrader. In addition, all platforms support mobile versions.

You can deposit and withdraw funds using various methods such as Debit/Credit cards (Visa, Mastercard), Maestro, Discover, Paypal, GiroPay, Skrill, Eps, Ideal, etc. And clients don’t have to worry about their safety, as the broker is licensed by such well-known regulators as FCA, CySEC, MiFID II, and MiFIR.

All top brokers have an excellent reputation, convenient platforms, as well as many instruments for any type of trading so don’t limit your choice to just one company. After all, if you register and verify an account with several brokers, you can not only choose the best conditions for certain assets but also get all possible bonuses, as well as work on different trading terminals and maximize your profits.