Key finding:
3% of countries (5 of 156) have fewer than 5 brokers available to residents
Our data paints a stark picture. Across the 156 countries in the BrokerDir database, more than half fall into the broker desert category. The global median is just 52.5 brokers per country, compared to the 30 or more available in the world’s most accessible markets. This is not a marginal gap: it is a structural inequality in how the financial services industry allocates access.
156
Total Countries
52.5
Global Median Brokers
per country
North America
Most Underserved Region
France
Best-Covered Country
Category Insights
Crypto has the widest global reach
Median of 46 brokers per country — the highest of any single category
Stocks has the most broker deserts
4% of countries have fewer than 5 stocks brokers available
Broker count per country — hover for details. Scroll or pinch to zoom.. 0 brokers
Broker count per country — hover for details. Scroll or pinch to zoom.
Average number of brokers available per country, grouped by region. Dashed line = global median.
Average number of brokers available per country, grouped by region. Dashed line = global median.
Searchable, sortable table of all countries with broker count, region, trading status, and local regulator. Filter by region to focus on a specific part of the world.
| # | Country | Brokers | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | France | 78 | Open |
| 2 | Czech Republic | 77 | Open |
| 3 | Germany | 77 | Open |
| 4 | Ireland | 77 | Open |
| 5 | Italy | 77 | Open |
| 6 | Netherlands | 77 | Open |
| 7 | Poland | 77 | Open |
| 8 | Portugal | 77 | Open |
| 9 | Sweden | 77 | Open |
| 10 | Denmark | 76 | Open |
| 11 | Spain | 76 | Open |
| 12 | Finland | 75 | Open |
| 13 | Hungary | 75 | Open |
| 14 | Norway | 75 | Open |
| 15 | Romania | 75 | Open |
| 16 | Austria | 74 | Open |
| 17 | Bulgaria | 74 | Open |
| 18 | Croatia | 74 | Open |
| 19 | Greece | 74 | Open |
| 20 | Lithuania | 74 | Open |
| 21 | Luxembourg | 74 | Open |
| 22 | Slovakia | 74 | Open |
| 23 | Slovenia | 74 | Open |
| 24 | United Arab Emirates | 74 | Open |
| 25 | Belgium | 73 | Open |
| 26 | Estonia | 73 | Open |
| 27 | Latvia | 73 | Open |
| 28 | Saudi Arabia | 71 | Open |
| 29 | Cyprus | 70 | Open |
| 30 | Malta | 70 | Open |
| 31 | Qatar | 69 | Open |
| 32 | South Africa | 69 | Open |
| 33 | Australia | 68 | Open |
| 34 | Malaysia | 68 | Open |
| 35 | Mexico | 68 | Open |
| 36 | Oman | 68 | Open |
| 37 | Bahrain | 67 | Open |
| 38 | Brazil | 67 | Open |
| 39 | Egypt | 67 | Open |
| 40 | Indonesia | 67 | Open |
| 41 | Kuwait | 67 | Open |
| 42 | Chile | 66 | Open |
| 43 | United Kingdom | 66 | Open |
| 44 | Argentina | 64 | Open |
| 45 | New Zealand | 64 | Open |
| 46 | Nigeria | 64 | Open |
| 47 | Philippines | 64 | Open |
| 48 | Thailand | 64 | Open |
| 49 | Singapore | 63 | Open |
| 50 | Colombia | 62 | Open |
| 51 | India | 62 | Open |
| 52 | Kenya | 62 | Open |
| 53 | Vietnam | 62 | Open |
| 54 | Jordan | 60 | Open |
| 55 | Peru | 60 | Open |
| 56 | Ukraine | 60 | Open |
| 57 | Kazakhstan | 59 | Open |
| 58 | Pakistan | 59 | Open |
| 59 | Hong Kong | 58 | Open |
| 60 | Montenegro | 58 | Open |
| 61 | Turkey | 58 | Open |
| 62 | Armenia | 56 | Open |
| 63 | Azerbaijan | 56 | Open |
| 64 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 56 | Open |
| 65 | Ghana | 56 | Open |
| 66 | Lebanon | 56 | Restricted |
| 67 | North Macedonia | 56 | Open |
| 68 | Uruguay | 56 | Open |
| 69 | Uzbekistan | 56 | Open |
| 70 | Belarus | 55 | Restricted |
| 71 | Georgia | 55 | Open |
| 72 | Iceland | 55 | Open |
| 73 | Serbia | 55 | Open |
| 74 | Tanzania | 55 | Open |
| 75 | Uganda | 54 | Open |
| 76 | Mauritius | 53 | Open |
| 77 | Moldova | 53 | Open |
| 78 | Tunisia | 53 | Restricted |
| 79 | Albania | 52 | Open |
| 80 | Kyrgyzstan | 52 | Open |
| 81 | Zimbabwe | 52 | Restricted |
| 82 | Algeria | 51 | Restricted |
| 83 | Cambodia | 50 | Open |
| 84 | Ecuador | 50 | Open |
| 85 | Namibia | 50 | Open |
| 86 | Paraguay | 50 | Open |
| 87 | Zambia | 50 | Open |
| 88 | Mozambique | 49 | Open |
| 89 | Panama | 49 | Open |
| 90 | Sri Lanka | 49 | Open |
| 91 | Trinidad and Tobago | 49 | Open |
| 92 | Jamaica | 48 | Open |
| 93 | Liechtenstein | 48 | Open |
| 94 | Nepal | 48 | Restricted |
| 95 | Seychelles | 48 | Open |
| 96 | Taiwan | 48 | Open |
| 97 | Cameroon | 47 | Open |
| 98 | Israel | 47 | Open |
| 99 | Myanmar | 47 | Restricted |
| 100 | Russia | 47 | Restricted |
| 101 | Tajikistan | 47 | Open |
| 102 | Laos | 46 | Open |
| 103 | Monaco | 46 | Open |
| 104 | Morocco | 46 | Restricted |
| 105 | Botswana | 45 | Open |
| 106 | Brunei | 45 | Open |
| 107 | Costa Rica | 45 | Open |
| 108 | Dominican Republic | 45 | Open |
| 109 | Saint Lucia | 45 | Open |
| 110 | Bolivia | 44 | Restricted |
| 111 | Bahamas | 43 | Open |
| 112 | Bermuda | 43 | Open |
| 113 | Guatemala | 43 | Open |
| 114 | Ivory Coast | 42 | Open |
| 115 | Senegal | 42 | Open |
| 116 | Belize | 41 | Open |
| 117 | Ethiopia | 41 | Restricted |
| 118 | Suriname | 40 | Open |
| 119 | Barbados | 39 | Open |
| 120 | Turkmenistan | 38 | Open |
| 121 | Venezuela | 38 | Open |
| 122 | Guyana | 37 | Open |
| 123 | Iraq | 37 | Open |
| 124 | Madagascar | 37 | Open |
| 125 | South Korea | 36 | Open |
| 126 | Gibraltar | 35 | Open |
| 127 | Nicaragua | 34 | Open |
| 128 | Yemen | 34 | Open |
| 129 | San Marino | 32 | Open |
| 130 | Bangladesh | 31 | Restricted |
| 131 | French Guiana | 31 | Open |
| 132 | Martinique | 29 | Open |
| 133 | Aruba | 28 | Open |
| 134 | Canada | 28 | Open |
| 135 | Cayman Islands | 28 | Open |
| 136 | Japan | 27 | Open |
| 137 | British Virgin Islands | 26 | Open |
| 138 | French Polynesia | 26 | Open |
| 139 | Réunion | 26 | Open |
| 140 | Greenland | 25 | Open |
| 141 | Saint Martin | 24 | Open |
| 142 | Vatican City | 24 | Open |
| 143 | Guadeloupe | 20 | Open |
| 144 | US Virgin Islands | 20 | Open |
| 145 | Faroe Islands | 18 | Open |
| 146 | Saint Pierre and Miquelon | 18 | Open |
| 147 | Puerto Rico | 17 | Open |
| 148 | United States | 16 | Restricted |
| 149 | Switzerland | 14 | Open |
| 150 | Andorra | 10 | Open |
| 151 | China | 10 | Restricted |
| 152 | Guinea | 3 | Open |
| 153 | Liberia | 3 | Open |
| 154 | Sierra Leone | 3 | Open |
| 155 | The Gambia | 3 | Open |
| 156 | Iran | 0 | Restricted |
A broker desert is any country where residents have access to fewer than five internationally recognised trading platforms. In practice, this often means a trader in that country must choose between a handful of low-quality offshore operators, rely on unregulated local firms, or simply forgo participation in global markets altogether. For the millions of traders who live in these regions, the phrase “the global forex market is open 24 hours a day” rings hollow.
Our data paints a stark picture. Across the 156 countries in the BrokerDir database, more than half fall into the broker desert category. The global median is just 52.5 brokers per country, compared to the 30 or more available in the world’s most accessible markets. This is not a marginal gap: it is a structural inequality in how the financial services industry allocates access.
The drivers of broker deserts are complex, but several forces dominate. The first is regulatory friction. Brokers seeking to legally serve residents of a new country typically need a local licence, a local representative, local capital, and compliance with local AML and KYC obligations. In countries where the regulatory framework is unclear, frequently changing, or actively hostile to foreign operators, the cost of entry exceeds the expected revenue, particularly for retail markets with smaller average account sizes.
The second driver is payment infrastructure. Brokers need reliable deposit and withdrawal rails. In markets where international card payments are restricted, international wire transfer is expensive or slow, and local e-wallets are not supported, the operational burden of serving clients climbs significantly. Many brokers quietly exclude entire countries simply because they cannot reconcile the economics of processing payments there.
The third factor is market size and perceived risk. Brokers allocate customer acquisition spend proportionally to expected lifetime value. A country with a small online trading community, limited internet penetration, or significant currency control risk will attract fewer operators; this is not because residents are prohibited from trading, but because brokers have calculated that the market is not worth the infrastructure investment.
In broker deserts, the few operators that do serve local residents are often offshore-licensed. This is not always a warning sign: some offshore-licensed brokers run legitimate, well-capitalised operations. But it does mean the regulatory safety net is thinner. Clients cannot rely on compensation schemes, independent dispute resolution is limited, and recourse in the event of insolvency is typically unavailable.
For traders in underserved markets, this presents a genuine dilemma. The choice is often between an imperfectly regulated international broker and no access to global markets at all. Our data does not prescribe a solution, but it underscores the importance of evaluating the specific broker: its capitalisation, track record, and support infrastructure, rather than relying on the presence or absence of a local licence as a binary signal.
Data source: BrokerDir proprietary database. Broker-country coverage is determined by explicitly mapping each broker in our database to the countries where it accepts residents, based on the broker's own terms of service, georestriction policies, and editorial verification. A broker is counted for a country only when its acceptance of residents from that country has been confirmed.
Broker count definition: The number of distinct brokers in the BrokerDir database that explicitly accept residents of a given country. This is an aggregate count across all categories (forex, crypto, stocks). It does not distinguish between primary and secondary markets for each broker.
Broker desert threshold: Countries with fewer than 5 available brokers are classified as broker deserts. This threshold reflects the practical minimum number of choices required for meaningful comparison and competition. Countries with 0 brokers mapped are classified as having no access.
Trading status: Status is derived from broker count combined with a curated list of countries where trading is restricted by law, international sanctions, or severe capital controls, regardless of broker count. Restricted countries include those subject to OFAC sanctions and countries with documented domestic prohibitions on offshore forex trading.
Regional groupings: Countries are assigned to regions using the BrokerDir geographic taxonomy, which broadly follows UN regional groupings with some adjustments for geopolitical coherence.
Last updated: May 14, 2026. Data is refreshed automatically as new brokers are added and coverage maps are updated.
The markets with the highest broker counts share a cluster of characteristics: stable, transparent regulatory frameworks that are predictable for foreign operators; robust payment infrastructure with wide international card acceptance; significant retail trading communities; and a history of welcoming foreign financial firms. Europe as a whole leads on this combination, with individual UK and EU markets routinely appearing among the best-covered in our dataset.
Southeast Asia also punches above its weight. The region’s fast-growing retail trading participation, improving digital payment infrastructure, and relatively business-friendly environments in several markets have attracted a disproportionate number of international brokers. The contrast with much of Africa and parts of South Asia is stark: similar wealth levels, but different regulatory environments, lead to dramatically fewer broker options.
If you live in a country with limited broker access, your decision-making framework needs to adapt. First, verify your legal position: in some restricted markets, accessing international platforms is a grey area rather than an outright prohibition, while in others it carries genuine legal risk. Second, prioritise brokers with strong capitalisation and long operational histories over those offering the highest bonuses or most permissive conditions. Third, investigate the specific entity and jurisdiction under which your account would be opened: not the group’s headline licence.
The broker desert map is ultimately a proxy for financial inclusion. Where coverage is thin, the options available to traders are fewer, the regulatory protection is weaker, and the potential for exploitation by bad actors is higher. Understanding this geography is the first step toward making better-informed decisions within it.
Personalised recommendation
Answer 6 quick questions and we’ll match you with the brokers that best fit your trading style, experience level, and country.
Find my broker