New Zealand Forex Trading Brokers

Written by Miro Nikolov

Miro Nikolov

Miro Nikolov is the co-founder of TradingPedia.com and BestBrokers.com. His mission is to help people make profitable investments by giving them access to educational resources and analytics tools.

, | Updated: September 15, 2025

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• Jump to:
• Main features of the best New Zealand Forex brokers
• Forex Legislation
• Financial Regulators
• Payment Methods
• Trading Software
• Mobile Trading
• FAQ
›

Our team of expert traders tested many regulated, trustworthy forex brokers that accept traders from New Zealand and compiled a top list of the best among them. Each broker operating in New Zealand received a quality score based on several factors, including its Trustpilot rating, regulation, fees and commissions, available trading platforms, customer service and more.

1. 

   Plus500 US

   Rating: 4

   This content applies only to Plus500 US and clients from the United States. Trading futures involves the risk of loss.

2. 

   eToro

   Rating: 4.2

   61% of retail investor accounts lose money

3. 

   BlackBull Markets

   Rating: 4.8

   Trading leveraged products is risky

4. 

   Axi

   Rating: 4.2

   The vast majority of retail client accounts lose money

5. 

   IG

   Rating: 3.9

   67% of retail client accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this investment provider.

6. 

   Interactive Brokers

   Rating: 3.7

   55.68% of customer accounts are unprofitable (Q4 2024).

Below you can find a comprehensive comparison table of forex brokers for traders in New Zealand. We rank them based on several factors, including regulation, spreads and commissions, Trustpilot rating, trading instruments, trading platforms, and deposit and withdrawal methods.

Our team has thoroughly evaluated all brokers listed below using TradingPedia’s exclusive methodology.

Main features of the best New Zealand forex brokers

New Zealand is a politically and economically stable country, with a current population of 4.8 million people and a gross domestic product (GDP) of US$205 billion in 2018. The country’s economy is based on free-market principles. New Zealand has well-developed manufacturing, tourism and service sectors that complement the leading agricultural sector.

The Land of the Long White Cloud, as the indigenous Maori population dubbed it, is famed for its spectacular landscapes that provided the backdrop for epic movies such as those from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Apart from being the home of Frodo Baggins, the country is a strong player on the foreign exchange markets.

Since its economy relies mostly on the exports of commodities and agricultural products, New Zealand’s overall economic performance is closely dependent on commodity prices. The amount of money paid for exports from this region rises in parallel with the increase in commodity prices, which helps the country generate higher GDP. A higher GDP is a strong indicator of good economic performance and, as such, can lead to appreciation of the local currency, the New Zealand dollar (NZD).

New Zealand currently boasts a thriving and regulated forex trading sector, but this has not always been the case. The local foreign exchange market took a significant hit due to the numerous financial frauds the country witnessed in the early 2000s.

Moreover, the country’s financial regulatory framework was rather inadequate when it came to addressing financial scams. All this changed in May 2011 when New Zealand’s government acted on its shortcomings by introducing a brand-new regulatory body that proved far more effective at overseeing the local foreign exchange market.

New Zealand forex legislation

Forex trading is completely legal in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Brokerages operating in this island country are regulated by the local watchdog, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Brokers need authorisation from this entity before they can start offering legal services to traders from this jurisdiction.

FMA-registered brokerages are under constant scrutiny by the watchdog to make sure they conduct their business legitimately, transparently and responsibly. Those who fall short of the strict regulatory guidelines in the country face various penalties, including fines and licence revocation. Traders can check whether a given brokerage is locally authorised by viewing the official FMA register.

Investors from New Zealand can legally trade a variety of financial instruments, including currency pairs, shares, and soft and hard commodities. Speculating on price movements by purchasing contracts for difference (CFDs) is also permitted under the laws of this jurisdiction. It is possible to buy CFDs for various instruments, including forex, commodities, indices and shares.

There is no need to purchase the underlying assets when trading CFDs. These instruments are leveraged, enabling brokerage customers to trade with more capital than they have initially invested. Leverage can significantly increase gains or losses, which makes the CFD a highly volatile instrument to trade.

Unlike other countries such as Australia and the UK, New Zealand has not yet introduced specific restrictions on the maximum leverage issuers of derivatives can offer to local traders.

After numerous complaints from losing retail traders, the FMA announced in 2017 that businesses must acquire local derivative licences before they can legally offer short-term leveraged products, settled within three days, to customers based in New Zealand.

The new requirement came into effect in December 2017 and applies to all brokers, regardless of whether they are based in the country or abroad. However, the regulatory authority did not mention any restrictions on leverage or bonuses. The FMA specified only that standard spot forex contracts are exempt from compliance with these rules.

Trading binary options is also legal and regulated by the FMA. To obtain a licence, binary options brokers must fulfil specific requirements. For example, they must have physical offices in the country and protect their customers’ funds by storing them in segregated accounts. Licensed brokers must carry out internal assessments of their compliance levels and provide reports to the regulator so that it can conduct its own assessment.

New Zealand financial regulators

There are several financial regulators in New Zealand, starting with the Financial Markets Authority (FMA), responsible for the oversight, licensing and penalisation of foreign exchange brokerages that serve traders from the country.

The FMA was introduced in May 2010 by former Commerce Minister Simon Power after severe public criticism over the failures and incompetence of the now-dissolved regulatory body, the Securities Commission of New Zealand. One of the main objectives of the FMA is to aid the development of transparent, safe and efficient financial markets.

This authority ensures all New Zealand forex brokerages adhere to its strict regulatory guidelines. Those who fail to comply are penalised by the regulator, usually through fines or licence revocation in the more severe cases.

The FMA also acts as an intermediary in disputes and performs regular audits on locally regulated brokerages. One downside of trading in this jurisdiction stems from the absence of investment compensation schemes to protect New Zealand traders against the possible liquidation of brokerages.

All providers of financial services, including brokers and currency exchange dealers, should be registered on the Financial Service Providers Register (FSPR). Finally, there is the Financial Services Complaints organisation, or FSCL, where both brokerages and local traders can submit complaints, claims and suggestions.

This is an independent scheme for dispute resolution that has been given the thumbs-up under the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008. The FSCL deals with all sorts of complaints related to financial services, including foreign exchange, card services, insurance and money transfers.

New Zealand forex payment methods

Many brokers that accept customers from New Zealand allow them to make payments in their local currency, the NZD. As for the supported banking methods, traders from the country can usually fund their live accounts with Visa, Mastercard or Maestro.

International and domestic bank transfers are an alternative for Kiwis who are averse to using their cards for online trading activities. Bank transfers are not suitable for traders who insist on time efficiency because they require several business days to complete.

All major New Zealand-friendly brokers support payments with digital wallets such as Skrill, PayPal and Neteller. Traders must transfer money to the balance of their virtual wallet, usually from their bank account or credit/debit card. This enables them to conduct confidential and highly secure deposits directly through the wallet’s platform.

One method that is particularly popular among traders from New Zealand is POLi. This payment solution enables Kiwis to top up their trading balance directly through the online banking platforms of their banks.

POLi acts only as an intermediary between the parties involved in the transaction. It facilitates quick and completely secure money transfers without traders having to go through a registration process. The transactions take place in real time, which makes POLi an incredibly time-efficient deposit solution.

It is worth mentioning that Kiwis looking to use POLi must hold accounts with one of its associated banks in New Zealand. These include Kiwibank, TSB Bank, Westpac, the Bank of New Zealand, ANZ Bank and ASB Bank.

Before initiating a deposit, New Zealand traders must check their chosen brokerage’s minimum deposit requirements. Opening a live account often requires a deposit of at least $100. Each brokerage has its own recommendations on the minimum capital required to start trading. Most retail traders from the country invest between $1,000 and $100,000 in the foreign exchange markets.

Margin is another important factor to consider. This is the minimum amount a trader must have in their live account before they can open a new position. The difference between the available balance of the account and the trade’s full value is ‘borrowed’ from the brokerage.

If the account’s equity drops below the margin requirement prescribed by the brokerage, the trader is sent a margin call, in which case they must either refill their balance with sufficient funds or liquidate their open positions to restore the account’s equity to an acceptable level.

Popular trading software in New Zealand

New Zealand-friendly brokerages offer their clients a mixture of proprietary and third-party software. A good New Zealand broker will give local traders the option to test its platform in demo mode before they venture to invest real money.

The platform should be intuitive and equipped with various additional features traders can use for technical analysis and strategy testing, such as customisable charts with technical indicators, multiple timeframes and graphical objects that can be imposed on charts.

Some proprietary platforms support copy trading, which enables customers to copy the positions of selected well-versed investors. The entire process is automated. The software links some of the funds of the copying trader to the account of the person they copy.

Thus, the actions of the copied trader are executed in the account of the copying trader, including opening and closing positions and setting stop-loss/take-profit orders. The copied traders usually earn additional profits the more people follow them and copy their trades.

Two of the most popular third-party platforms are those developed by MetaQuotes and Spotware Systems. MetaQuotes is the company behind the development of the world’s most popular trading platform, MetaTrader 4 (MT4).

MT4 was launched in 2005 and quickly became the preferred platform of beginners and seasoned traders worldwide, largely due to its intuitive design. The platform was created specifically for foreign exchange trading.

Many continue to use it to this day despite its slightly outdated interface. MetaTrader 4 also features various useful functionalities that appeal to skilled traders, including 9 timeframes, a built-in email system, a single-thread strategy tester, hedging, 31 graphical objects and 30 technical indicators. The platform also supports hedging for better risk control.

Kiwi traders looking for more functionality and instruments should sign up with brokers that implement the newer version of the MetaQuotes software, MetaTrader 5. It allows trading in forex, stocks, options, commodities, bonds and futures. Here you have unlimited symbols, a multiple-thread strategy tester, 21 timeframes, 44 graphical objects, 38 technical indicators, an email system with attachments, and an economic calendar.

The depth-of-market tool shows you the number of open buy and sell orders for a specific currency or security at various prices. This tool essentially measures the supply and demand for different securities and currencies.

Some ECN brokers that service the New Zealand market prefer to implement the cTrader platform of Spotware Systems. This is a more modern platform that stands out with an appealing design, something very important considering some traders spend hours staring at charts and analysing market trends. The platform comes with various charting tools and supports copy trading.

Mobile trading in New Zealand

With 81% of the country’s population owning a smartphone, New Zealanders seem to use mobile devices for online browsing at least as often as they use desktop computers. Moreover, the country has an average 4G speed of around 18.7 Mbps, ranking in 17th place on a global scale, according to a survey conducted by the mobile analytics company Opensignal.

Kiwis looking to execute their trades on the go should bear in mind that mobile trading requires a reliable and stable connection. Most forex brokers that service the New Zealand market offer applications for the two most commonly used mobile operating systems, Android and iOS.

The app you choose should meet your individual preferences and objectives as a trader. Well-versed traders tend to prefer fast and reliable apps that feature advanced analytical and charting tools. Kiwis new to trading generally lean towards accessible and easy-to-use applications that provide them with hints on how to execute successful trades.

In essence, the apps mirror the experience on desktop. Traders can set up demo accounts where they can practise and improve their knowledge without any risk. Demo accounts are also good for mobile users looking to test new strategies on the fly.

Other important features supported by the apps of most New Zealand-friendly brokers include multiple types of charts, customisable watchlists, drawing tools and numerous indicators for technical analysis. The exact features are app-specific, however.