The safety dossier

Safety first

Exness review

Who regulates Exness, under which licence, and what that means for your money.

Last checked

Exness offers some protection if it fails and not all of it, which is the ordinary offshore trade-off: you gain leverage and lose the safety net. Regulated by Seychelles FSA (SD025); FSCA South Africa; CySEC; FCA; CBCS Curacao (0003LSI); BVI FSC (SIBA/L/20/1133); Mauritius FSC; Kenya CMA; Jordan JSC; UAE CMA; Belize FSC, offering MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, Exness Terminal, Exness Trade.

Our rating

★★★★

One rating, identical across our sites - only the way it is shown changes. It averages six assessments: regulation, trading costs, platforms, markets, support and education.

Regulation and safety

Regulated by
Seychelles FSA (SD025); FSCA South Africa; CySEC; FCA; CBCS Curacao (0003LSI); BVI FSC (SIBA/L/20/1133); Mauritius FSC; Kenya CMA; Jordan JSC; UAE CMA; Belize FSC
Regulator tier
Tier 1
Register entry
Seychelles FSA Securities Dealer Register, licence SD025
Client money segregated
Yes
Held at
Regulated banking institutions
Negative balance protection
Yes
Compensation scheme
No statutory investor compensation scheme for Exness (SC) Ltd retail clients
Audited by
Independent external auditors
Not available to
United States, United Kingdom, European Economic Area retail market and various sanctioned/restricted jurisdictions

The licence is what decides where your money sits and who is obliged to do something about it.

Exness holds tier-one authorisations from FCA and CySEC. That matters more than any headline spread: it determines your leverage cap, whether losses can exceed your deposit, and what happens to your money if the firm fails.

It also operates an offshore entity (FSC and FSA). Which one you are onboarded to depends on where you live, and the two carry very different protections - worth confirming before you deposit.

The FCA caps retail leverage at 1:30, mandates negative balance protection, and covers eligible clients under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

CySEC licences passport across the EU and follow the 1:30 retail leverage cap, with the Investor Compensation Fund covering eligible claims.

The FSCA licenses derivative providers in South Africa without a fixed retail leverage cap, so headline leverage is often higher than an FCA or ASIC entity may offer.

Check the licence yourself: the Seychelles FSA list of regulated entities, the FSCA list of regulated entities, the CySEC register of investment firms, the FCA Register, the Mauritius FSC register of licensees.

The company behind the brand

Legal entity
Exness (SC) Ltd
Company number
8423606-1
Headquarters
Limassol, Cyprus
Founded
2008
Publicly listed
No
Parent company
Exness Group
Employees
2,000+
Also trades as
Exness

What it costs to trade

Spread from
0.0 pips
EUR/USD spread
Approx. 0.9 pips, Standard
GBP/USD spread
Approx. 1.1 pips, Standard
Commission
Up to $3.50 per side / $7 round turn, Raw Spread
All-in cost, EUR/USD
Approx. 0.7 pips, Raw Spread
Spread type
Variable
Overnight swap
Both; overnight swaps can be charged or credited, with swap-free trading available
Deposit fee
Generally none; fees may apply to specific payment methods
Withdrawal fee
Generally none; method-specific charges may apply
Currency conversion
Conversion at applicable exchange rate

Cost is the last thing to weigh here, and never the thing that should decide it.

A quoted spread from 0.0 pips is a raw-spread figure, which almost always means a separate commission per lot. Compare the two together - a "zero spread" account with a high commission can cost more than a wider spread with none.

Quoted spreads are best-case figures on the most liquid pair, in normal conditions. What you actually pay widens around news and at the session open.

Exness lists a minimum deposit of $10. Treat it as the cost of opening an account, not the cost of trading one - position sizing on a small balance is what tends to cause damage.

Platforms and tools

Platforms
MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, Exness Terminal, Exness Trade
Own platform
Yes, Exness Terminal
Mobile app
Both proprietary and third-party
Browser trading
Yes
Automated trading
Yes, MT4/MT5 Expert Advisors and algorithmic trading
Copy trading
Yes, Exness Social Trading
Indicators
100+ through Exness Terminal/TradingView; MT4/MT5 indicators and custom indicators
Third-party tools
MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, TradingView charting, Trading Central, FXStreet
API access
Yes

MetaTrader 4 remains the most widely supported platform for expert advisors. If you rely on an existing EA, this is usually the deciding factor.

MetaTrader 5 handles more asset classes and order types than MT4, but expert advisors are not compatible between the two - an MT4 EA will not run on it.

Markets and execution

Markets
Forex, Metals, Cryptocurrencies, Energies, Stocks, Indices
Currency pairs
100+
Total instruments
250+
Crypto CFDs
Yes
Maximum leverage
1:~
Execution model
Market maker / principal
Execution speed
Millisecond execution
Order types
Market, limit, stop, stop-limit, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop
Servers
Global financial data-centre infrastructure

Exness covers forex, metals, cryptocurrencies, energies, stocks, indices. A wider range matters less than depth in the instruments you actually trade.

Funding options: bank cards, bank transfer, e-wallets, cryptocurrency and extensive regional/local payment systems. Check withdrawal routes as well as deposit ones - they are often not the same, and the difference only becomes apparent when you try to take money out.

Accounts

Minimum deposit
$10
Account types
Standard, Standard Cent, Pro, Zero, Raw Spread, Social Standard, Social Pro, Demo
Account currencies
USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, NZD, CAD, CHF, JPY, SGD, HKD and numerous regional currencies
Islamic account
Yes
Demo account
Yes
Professional account
Yes: Pro, Zero and Raw Spread
Minimum trade size
0.01 lots
Time to open
Approximately 3 minutes

Deposits and withdrawals

Deposit methods
Bank cards, bank transfer, e-wallets, cryptocurrency and extensive regional/local payment systems
Withdrawal methods
Bank cards, bank transfer, e-wallets, cryptocurrency and supported local payment systems
Deposit time
Many methods instant; otherwise generally processed within 24 hours
Withdrawal time
Many withdrawals instant; otherwise generally processed within 24 hours
Minimum withdrawal
From $1, payment-method dependent
Local payment methods
Extensive country-specific bank transfers, mobile money, e-wallets and regional payment systems

Support and education

Support hours
24/7
Contact channels
Live chat, Support Hub/ticket, Help Centre
Languages
14+ languages
Telephone
N/A
Email
support@exness.com
Live chat response
Typically under 2 minutes
Education
Extensive: educational articles, trading guides, platform tutorials, webinars and trading education
Research
Trading Central, FXStreet market news, market analysis, trading calculators and analytical tools

Questions people ask about Exness

What happens to my money if Exness goes bust?

Exness sits behind No statutory investor compensation scheme for Exness (SC) Ltd retail clients. A scheme covers eligible clients of the entity that holds the licence, so the entity you were onboarded to decides whether it covers you.

Is my money kept separate from Exness' own?

Yes. Exness holds client money in accounts kept apart from the firm's own. Segregation is what stops a broker's creditors reaching your balance if the firm fails, which is why it matters more than any headline spread. We do not hold the name of the bank it uses.

Can I lose more than I deposit with Exness?

Exness provides negative balance protection, so a gap through your stop should not leave you owing money. It is usually a rule of the regulator rather than a favour from the broker, which means it can differ between the entities one brand operates.