Pepperstone Review Kenya 2026

Pepperstone Markets Kenya Limited holds CMA Licence Number 128. We confirmed it on the CMA licensee register, where a search for Pepperstone returns Pepperstone Markets Kenya Limited at licence 128, one of 14 non-dealing online foreign exchange brokers. Pepperstone does not appear in the CMA's public caution of 11 September 2026, and a search of the CMA's website for Pepperstone returned no results. Pepperstone's Kenyan website footer names Pepperstone Markets Kenya Limited, company number PVT-PJU7Q8K, licensed and regulated by the CMA under Licence No. 128.

The company that onboards Kenyan clients is the licensed company itself. The sign-up said our account would be opened under Pepperstone Markets Kenya Limited, the M-Pesa prompt asked us to pay it, and MetaTrader 5 connected us to its server, PepperstoneKE-MT5-Live01. Its Terms and Conditions (April 2026) are governed by the laws in force in Kenya, with the courts of Kenya having jurisdiction (clause 16.29).

Your money goes into a client money bank account run under the Capital Markets Act and the Online Foreign Exchange Trading Regulations, 2017, pooled with other clients' money, and not used to meet Pepperstone's own hedging obligations (Terms, clause 4.8). The Product Sensitisation Framework says that account is a trust account at a bank licensed under the Banking Act (7.31 and 7.32). Pepperstone provides negative balance protection, so retail losses are meant to stop at your account equity, as the CMA has required of licensed brokers since its Circular No. 03/2023; it does not cover commissions and charges, or a negative balance caused by breaching the Terms (clause 6.4). Pooled client money is kept apart from the company's own, but that is not compensation, and the CMA's Investor Compensation Fund does not cover online forex brokers: section 18 of the Capital Markets Act sets it up for the failure of a licensed stockbroker or dealer.

Complaints go first to support@pepperstone.com. The Complaints Notice promises a written acknowledgement within 1 to 5 days and a final response within 90 days, names compliance.ke@pepperstone.com, and says you can then take the complaint to the CMA. We were not supplied with audited financial statements.

See our guide to the Capital Markets Authority.

Safety signals

Opening was fully online. We chose Kenya as the country of residence, and the sign-up stated that the account would be opened under Pepperstone Markets Kenya Limited, authorised and regulated by the CMA under Licence No 128. Registration takes an email and password, or an Apple, Google or Facebook account. The profile asks for your name as it appears on your government ID, your date of birth (you must be 18 or over), mobile number, address and nationality.

The trading suitability assessment has six questions: employment status, the position you hold, the industry you work in, the source of your dealing funds, the value of your savings and investments excluding your main home, and your annual income. Pepperstone explains that as a regulated firm it must build a picture of your finances and the source of your funds before you trade. The knowledge check asks whether you understand derivatives trading and leverage, and how much experience you have with CFDs, FX or other leveraged products. A declaration then asks you to accept eight documents, from the Terms and Conditions to the Product Sensitisation Framework.

Identity and address are verified through Sumsub: a driving licence, ID card, passport or residence permit issued in Kenya, a liveness selfie, and proof of address, either an uploaded document such as a bank statement or utility bill, or your phone's current location. Pepperstone says verification can take up to 24 hours. We reached that screen about 45 minutes after starting.

A live account is added from the client area by choosing a platform (we chose MetaTrader 5), an account type (Standard, Razor or Managed Account), the currency (US dollars on ours; when we opened the dropdown on 2 November 2026, before choosing a platform, it offered only US dollars and pounds sterling, no KES) and a MetaTrader password. Leverage was set at 1:400. We traded on Standard and did not open Razor or a Managed Account.

1. 1
   Register

   Email and password, or Apple, Google or Facebook; country of residence Kenya, and the account is opened under Pepperstone Markets Kenya Limited.

2. 2
   Set up your profile

   Name as on your ID, date of birth (18 or over), mobile number, address and nationality.

3. 3
   Answer the suitability and knowledge checks

   Six questions on employment, industry, source of funds, savings and income, then two on derivatives, leverage and trading experience.

4. 4
   Accept the documents

   A declaration covering the Terms, Platform Terms, Copy Trading Terms, Order Execution Policy, Privacy Policy, Risk Disclosure Notice, Product Sensitisation Framework and Third Party Terms.

5. 5
   Verify through Sumsub

   An ID document, a liveness selfie and proof of address; Pepperstone says verification can take up to 24 hours.

The client area lists M-Pesa, Apple Pay, Google Pay, cards, PayPal, Skrill and Neteller, all 24/7 and instant at a 0% fee, and domestic and international bank transfer at 3 to 5 business days, also 0%. We tested M-Pesa on 26 October 2026.

We chose USD 10 with a USD 0 fee. Pepperstone showed it as KSh 1,298.03 at 0.007704 USD per shilling, about 129.80 KES per USD, and noted that the transaction would be processed in shillings. The M-Pesa prompt on our phone asked us to pay KSh 1,298 to Pepperstone Markets Kenya Limited, and the client area showed the payment as successful about two minutes after we confirmed it, with USD 10.00 credited. The same screen warns that once you fund by M-Pesa, you cannot use any other withdrawal method until all the money you paid in by M-Pesa has been withdrawn.

Withdrawing took more steps. M-Pesa withdrawals require two-factor authentication, so we had to set up an authenticator app before we could make a request. We requested the full USD 10.58, entered a one-time code from the app, and Pepperstone quoted KSh 1,374.00 at 129.853266 KES per USD with no fee, then emailed a link we had to use within 60 minutes to approve the withdrawal. The status showed Pending at about 12:57 PM, with Pepperstone saying it processes requests within 0 to 2 business days. M-Pesa then confirmed KSh 1,374.00 received from Pepperstone Markets Kenya Limited at 3:18 PM the same day: the full amount quoted, with nothing deducted, about 2 hours 20 minutes after the request.

Because the account is in US dollars, both legs are converted. On 26 October the rates were almost identical, about 129.80 KES per USD in and 129.85 out, and the shillings we received matched the quote exactly, so the round trip cost almost nothing. A second quote on 27 October priced USD 10 at KSh 1,299.04, so the rate barely moved from one day to the next.

Funding methods

Pepperstone's markets page advertises more than 1,400 CFDs. On the Kenyan MetaTrader 5 server on 26 October 2026, the symbol list held 1,662: 1,392 share CFDs, 96 ETFs, 95 forex pairs (majors, minors, crosses, exotics and non-deliverable forwards), 33 commodities including gold, silver and oil, 25 indices, and 21 forwards. There was no crypto group, so crypto CFDs do not appear to be offered to Kenyan clients. Every instrument is a CFD, so there is no ownership of the underlying. We traded EUR/USD only.

On the Standard account we used, the cost of a trade is the spread, with no commission. We saw EUR/USD at 1.0 pip on 26 October 2026 on the MT5 desktop terminal (1.12065 and 1.12075), the web terminal (1.12111 and 1.12121) and the mobile app. That is our observation on one day, not an average. Pepperstone's own average for August 2026 is 1.1 pips on Standard and 0.1 on Razor (pepperstone.com, read on 3 November 2026); it says Standard spreads on major pairs start from 1 pip, and Razor spreads from 0.0 with a commission. Its pricing page puts the Razor commission at USD 3.50 a side per standard lot (USD 7.00 round turn) on FX and gold for a USD account on MetaTrader, and says Standard accounts carry a 1 pip markup on FX instead. Our four trades paid no commission and no swap.

Pepperstone charges no fee to open or close an account, or to deposit or withdraw, except USD 25 (GBP 15) taken from your balance for a withdrawal by international bank wire. Swaps are charged or credited on positions held past 5pm New York time. The Terms say Pepperstone may charge an inactivity fee after an extended period with no trading and will tell you if it does, but give no amount or period.

Maximum retail leverage, from Pepperstone's trading conditions page: 1:400 on major currency pairs, gold, silver and major indices; 1:100 on minor and currency indices; 1:50 on other commodities; and 1:20 on shares. Margins are tiered, so larger positions need proportionally more margin (Tiered Margin table, September 2026).

The account is in US dollars, but Pepperstone states no conversion fee, and on 26 October its M-Pesa rates were about 129.80 KES per USD in and 129.85 quoted out.

Pepperstone offers MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, TradingView and cTrader, with copy trading available per account. We used MetaTrader 5, which connected to the Pepperstone Markets Kenya Limited server PepperstoneKE-MT5-Live01. On the desktop terminal and the MT5 web terminal we placed and closed four EUR/USD trades without problems, using market orders with stop loss and take profit; the order ticket showed depth of market. MetaTrader 5 also offers a demo account for practising with virtual money. We did not test MetaTrader 4, TradingView or cTrader.

There are two apps. The Pepperstone app opens to watchlists, market news and a discover screen of popular markets, and its settings include biometrics and a passcode, which we switched on. With an authenticator app set up, logging in also asks for a one-time code. We did our mobile trading in the MetaTrader 5 app, logged into the same PepperstoneKE-MT5-Live01 account: quotes, charts, order history and deals, with a PIN or biometric lock available in its settings. We used Tradays, MetaQuotes' economic calendar app, alongside it. The apps ran without any problem we could see. We did not place a trade in the Pepperstone app itself.

Pepperstone serves Kenya through Pepperstone Markets Kenya Limited, a CMA-licensed company in Nairobi, under Terms governed by Kenyan law. M-Pesa deposits went to that company in shillings with no fee, and the conversion rates were close both ways on our test. Our M-Pesa withdrawal arrived the same afternoon, and in full. There is a Kenyan support line, +254 20 389 3547/8/9, listed as open 24/7. The account itself cannot be held in shillings: on 2 November 2026 the Request New Live Account form offered US dollars or pounds sterling only. Nor is a swap-free account offered here. Pepperstone's swap-free page on its African site lists the countries it offers swap-free accounts to, from Albania to Kosovo, and Kenya is not among them; the live account form lists only Standard, Razor and Managed Account.

Pepperstone's help centre has FAQs on logging in, funding and withdrawing, and its contact page offers a form. Its "Call or email us directly" page lists the Kenyan line +254 20 389 3547/8/9 as 24/7, +44 800 0465473 for callers outside Africa, and support@pepperstone.com, with complaints going to compliance.ke@pepperstone.com. We did not contact support.

The MetaTrader platforms bring charting, indicators and depth of market, and we used the Tradays economic calendar alongside the MT5 app. The Pepperstone app shows market news and popular markets. On pepperstone.com/en-af, checked on 3 November 2026, the Learn to trade section has 59 guides, mostly for beginners, on CFDs, forex, indices, metals, technical analysis, trading styles, risk and market events, plus 16 educational videos; there is no structured course, and the webinars page listed no upcoming or past sessions. Market analysis is the stronger half: articles from named group analysts (the newest, on gold, dated 2 November 2026), The Daily Fix newsletter, a weekly YouTube programme, The Trade-Off, and a TradingView economic calendar. Funded accounts add Autochartist in the client area and Smart Trader Tools, 28 MetaTrader add-ons offered on request to accounts with USD 500 or more. The material is the group's, not written for Kenya, and we found none in Swahili. We did not use the tools or subscribe to the newsletter.