Equiti

Equiti Group traces its origins to 2008, when it was established in Amman, Jordan, under the leadership of founder and CEO Iskandar Najjar, initially as a Middle Eastern foreign-exchange brokerage before expanding into a full multi-asset operation. Over the following decade and a half the group built out a deliberately international structure, with operational hubs in Amman, London and Dubai, and today positions Dubai as the group's principal commercial centre. Equiti is privately held with no listed parent, and reports its regulated subsidiaries' accounts to each respective supervisor rather than to a public market. The group's defining characteristic is its breadth of regulatory footprint relative to its public profile: where many retail brokers concentrate on a single CySEC or FCA licence, Equiti operates separately authorised entities across the United Kingdom, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates and Seychelles, alongside its founding Jordan Securities Commission permission. The product catalogue spans forex, spot metals, energy and index CFDs, share CFDs and a selection of further instruments, though the headline proposition has historically been forex and major-market CFDs rather than the very wide multi-asset ranges offered by IG or Saxo Bank. The group's strongest commercial gravity sits in the MENA region, where its UAE SCA-regulated entity and Arabic-language servicing give it a distinct advantage. It is important to be precise about the European and UK position: Equiti's Cyprus (CySEC) and UK (FCA) entities are authorised to serve professional and eligible-counterparty clients only, not mainstream retail traders, so there is no EU/EEA or UK retail-servicing arm — retail access from those regions runs through the group's non-EU Seychelles offshore book.

Equiti's regulatory framework is genuinely multi-tier and worth unpacking entity by entity, because the protections a client receives depend entirely on which subsidiary onboards them. Equiti Capital UK Ltd is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference number 528328; it is important to note that this UK entity is directed at professional and eligible-counterparty clients rather than mainstream retail traders, so UK retail access in practice runs through the broader group rather than the FCA professional arm. Equiti Global Markets Ltd is regulated in Cyprus by CySEC under licence 415/22 (granted 12 September 2022, company registration HE 415535), but this is a business-to-business liquidity entity, not a retail broker: Equiti's own regulatory disclosures state that its products "are directed to clients classified as Professional and Eligible Counterparties only" and that it "deems its products and services unsuitable for Retail Clients". EU/EEA retail traders therefore cannot open a protected retail account through it, and the Investor Compensation Fund's EUR 20,000 retail cover does not attach to a relationship that is not retail in the first place. Equiti Securities Currencies Brokers LLC holds a UAE Securities and Commodities Authority Category One OTC and FX licence, number 20200000026, anchoring the group's regulated MENA business. Equiti's Seychelles entity, Equiti Brokerage (Seychelles) Limited, is regulated by the Financial Services Authority under Securities Dealer licence SD064 and is the route through which higher-leverage offshore accounts (up to 1:2000) with no fixed minimum deposit are offered to clients outside the EU and UK. The CySEC, FCA and UAE SCA permissions are tier-1 frameworks with meaningful capital, conduct and client-money requirements; the Seychelles FSA licence is a mid-tier offshore regime that does not carry the same compensation-scheme or negative-balance guarantees and should be understood as such by any client onboarded through it. The Jordan Securities Commission permission, the group's original licence, remains in place for its home market. This layered structure means a prospective client must check which entity their account agreement names. Because neither the CySEC nor the FCA arm serves retail, an EU/EEA or UK retail client onboarding with Equiti is in practice contracting with the Seychelles offshore entity — an offshore framework with substantially lighter safeguards, no Investor Compensation Fund cover and no mandatory ESMA-grade retail protections.

Pricing at Equiti is organised around an account ladder rather than a single schedule, and the cost a trader pays depends heavily on the tier they select. The Standard account is the spread-only entry tier, with no separate commission and EUR/USD spreads from approximately 1.0 pip, which translates to an all-in cost in the region of USD 10 per standard lot round-turn on the major pair during liquid sessions. That is uncompetitive against the raw-spread ECN tier offered by the cheaper end of the regulated market, where all-in costs sit closer to USD 6 to USD 7. The Premier account is the raw-spread tier, offering spreads from 0.0 pips on EUR/USD with a commission of roughly USD 7 round-turn per standard lot, which is in line with Pepperstone's Razor account, IC Markets' Raw account and FxPro's Raw+ tier, all of which sit at around USD 7 round-turn, and marginally above Tickmill's Raw account at USD 6. The Premier tier is therefore where Equiti becomes genuinely competitive on cost, but it is aimed at traders running consistent volume who want the tightest pricing rather than occasional traders. A Classic account also features in the group's ladder, sitting alongside the Standard and Premier tiers as a further spread-based option. Swap-free Islamic accounts are available across the suite, reflecting the group's MENA orientation, and are a meaningful draw for clients in markets where overnight interest is unacceptable. A trader running thirty standard lots a month on the Premier account would pay approximately USD 210 in commission plus minimal residual spread, broadly matching Pepperstone and IC Markets at the same volume; the same trader on the Standard account would pay materially more through the wider spread, which is the central pricing trade-off to understand before opening an Equiti account.

The platform line-up covers the two industry-standard MetaTrader terminals plus Equiti's own EQTrader. MetaTrader 4 is offered across desktop, web and mobile, with the full MQL4 Expert Advisor environment, the mature third-party indicator ecosystem and unrestricted hedging and scalping. MetaTrader 5 is available across the same form factors and adds the wider timeframe set, depth-of-market data, the integrated economic calendar, multi-currency strategy testing and the MQL5 algorithmic environment. EQTrader is the group's proprietary platform, delivered as a web terminal with a mobile-adapted application; it covers charting with technical indicators, order placement and management, real-time news and account administration, and is fully synchronised with the desktop and web terminals. EQTrader is a clean, accessible interface for clients who prefer not to install MetaTrader, but it is a lighter tool than the full MetaTrader experience and does not approach the depth of a professional platform. The most notable gaps, consistent with much of the mid-sized broker segment, are the absence of cTrader, the absence of TradingView integration and the lack of a native social or copy-trading platform of the kind offered by eToro or via cTrader's ecosystem at competing brokers. Expert Advisor execution is fully supported on MT4 and MT5. For the great majority of Equiti's forex and CFD clients the MT4/MT5 pairing is more than sufficient, but discretionary traders who have standardised on TradingView charts or who specifically want cTrader's Level II order book will find the offering incomplete.

For EU and UK retail clients, the central point is that Equiti operates no retail-authorised entity in either jurisdiction. The Cyprus CySEC entity (Equiti Global Markets Ltd, 415/22) and the UK FCA entity (Equiti Capital UK Ltd, FRN 528328) are both restricted to professional and eligible-counterparty business, so the standard ESMA retail package — 30:1 major-FX leverage caps, mandatory negative balance protection, segregated retail client money and Investor Compensation Fund cover up to EUR 20,000 — is simply not available to an EU/EEA or UK retail trader through Equiti. Any retail account opened from those regions is with Equiti Brokerage (Seychelles) Limited under FSA Seychelles licence SD064: an offshore relationship offering leverage up to 1:2000 with no fixed minimum deposit, but sitting entirely outside the EU/UK compensation-scheme and negative-balance frameworks. A retail trader who specifically wants ESMA-grade protection should treat Equiti as unsuitable and choose a broker with a genuine EU/EEA or UK retail entity; a trader who understands and accepts the offshore framework can use the Seychelles book on its own terms. Professional clients who meet two of the three ESMA criteria — a qualifying transaction history, a portfolio above EUR 500,000, or relevant industry experience — are the intended audience for the CySEC and FCA entities and are categorised and onboarded accordingly.

The account ladder runs from Standard through Premier, with a Classic tier alongside. The Standard account is the spread-only entry point with no commission and wider EUR/USD spreads from around 1.0 pip, suited to lower-volume or newer traders who prefer simplicity over the lowest headline cost. The Premier account is the raw-spread, commission-based tier with spreads from 0.0 pips and roughly USD 7 round-turn, and is the appropriate choice for any trader running consistent volume who wants the tightest pricing. The Classic account provides a further spread-based option within the structure. Equiti does not impose a fixed minimum deposit to open an account, so clients can fund according to their own risk appetite rather than clearing a headline barrier to entry; higher account tiers still call for enough capital to trade meaningfully, but there is no mandated minimum. Swap-free variants are available across the ladder.

Withdrawals are processed without a broker-side fee across the supported methods, which include bank transfer, credit and debit cards (Visa and Mastercard), and the Skrill and Neteller e-wallets, alongside regional local-payment options where available. Equiti does not levy its own charge on deposits or withdrawals, though the underlying bank or e-wallet may apply its own fee, and currency conversion can apply where the funding currency differs from the account currency. Card and e-wallet withdrawals are generally the fastest rails, with bank-wire withdrawals settling over one to three business days depending on the correspondent banking chain. The funding menu and available rails vary by servicing entity, so the precise options a client sees depend on whether they are onboarded through the CySEC, UAE or Seychelles arm. Overall the withdrawal experience is straightforward, with the main caveat being that the available methods and processing characteristics are entity-dependent rather than uniform across the group.

Equiti suits two clear audiences. The first is MENA-based traders, for whom the UAE SCA-regulated entity, Arabic-language servicing and swap-free accounts make it one of the more credible regulated choices in the region. The second is cost-aware active traders globally who select the Premier account, where 0.0-pip raw spreads and roughly USD 7 round-turn commission put it on a par with Pepperstone, IC Markets and FxPro and only marginally behind Tickmill on the cheapest end. Against those raw-spread specialists Equiti is competitive on Premier pricing but offers a narrower platform set, lacking cTrader and TradingView. Against multi-asset giants such as IG or Saxo it offers far fewer instruments and a lighter research and education stack. The Standard account, with its wider spreads, is the weakest part of the proposition and is hard to recommend for anyone with regular volume. The decisive consideration for any prospective client is the entity question: Equiti's CySEC and FCA arms are professional and eligible-counterparty operations rather than retail brokers, so an EU/EEA or UK retail trader onboarding with Equiti does so through the Seychelles offshore entity — an offshore proposition with higher leverage and lighter safeguards, outside ESMA/ICF retail protection. The 8.0 overall score reflects strong multi-tier group regulation and a genuinely competitive Premier tier, offset by the absence of any EU/UK retail-authorised entity, an uncompetitive Standard account and the absence of the cTrader and TradingView options that traders increasingly expect.