Forex License: Jurisdictions, Steps and the MetaTrader 5 Link

What a forex licence is, and what it is not

A forex licence is a permission granted under a securities or investment-business law that lets a company deal in, or arrange, leveraged foreign-exchange and CFD trades for clients. It is issued by a named regulator, recorded in a public register, and carries ongoing capital, audit, reporting and client-money obligations.

The most common misunderstanding in this market is treating a company registration as a licence. Incorporating an International Business Company (IBC) in Saint Lucia or a Business Company in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gives you a legal entity. It does not give you a forex licence, because neither jurisdiction issues one. Many guides still advertise a "Saint Lucia forex licence"; the regulators say otherwise, as quoted below.

Three terms are worth separating before you compare jurisdictions:

• Licence (or registration) as a dealer — the regulator authorises the activity itself. Examples: Seychelles Securities Dealer Licence, Mauritius Investment Dealer licence, Cayman SIBA licence, Bahamas registered firm, Belize registration to trade in securities.
• Company only — the registry forms the entity; no regulator authorises forex dealing. Examples: Saint Lucia IBC, SVG Business Company or LLC.
• MetaTrader 5 licence — a commercial software licence from MetaQuotes Ltd. It is not a financial licence. MetaQuotes checks your company and its activities before it sells you the platform, which is why the first two choices matter for the third.

FXSUPPORT covers all three layers: licensing and corporate coordination, MetaTrader 5 licence onboarding and MT5 platform support. Confirm any route with local counsel; this is not legal advice.

Licence jurisdictions vs company-only jurisdictions

Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda do not issue forex licences. They are useful for forming the company, but the authorisation to deal with clients has to come from somewhere else.

"Saint Lucia does not currently regulate or licence Forex Trading or Binary Options business."— Saint Lucia Registry of International Business Companies, FAQ (accessed October 2026)

"[The Authority] does NOT issue licences for Forex trading or brokerage activities in this jurisdiction."— Financial Services Authority of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, warning notice, 2 February 2026 (accessed October 2026)

Why Saint Lucia is still a common first step

For many brokers we work with, a Saint Lucia IBC is the starting entity: a licensed agent we work with estimates incorporation at about three to five business days after due diligence, with add-ons such as a legal opinion, incumbency certificate or bank-account assistance generally ready in about a week. IBCs incorporated since 2019 must meet substance requirements and, since 1 July 2021, all Saint Lucia IBCs are subject to income tax. In our experience MetaQuotes has accepted Saint Lucia IBCs with a properly drafted activity clause and legal opinion, but that is our experience, not published MetaQuotes policy. Read more on our Saint Lucia IBC page and the wider IBC company formation guide.

What a Saint Lucia IBC does not do is license you to take retail forex clients; for that, add a licensed entity from the table above.

How to get a forex licence: step by step

Choose the jurisdiction that matches your clients, build the required substance before filing, submit a complete application, answer queries quickly and meet the post-grant conditions. This is the order we follow with brokers.

1. Define the business model. Retail or professional clients, A-book or hybrid execution, target countries, products (FX, CFDs on indices, metals, crypto CFDs) and expected volume. See how to start a forex brokerage.
2. Map target markets to permissions. A licence authorises you where it is issued; it does not let you solicit clients in countries that require their own licence. SVG's FSA puts it bluntly: firms must get authority "from the jurisdiction where their clients are located".
3. Choose the licence jurisdiction and the entity plan. Decide whether the licensed company is formed in the licensing jurisdiction (Seychelles, Mauritius, Belize) or whether you also need a separate operating or technology entity, for example a Saint Lucia IBC.
4. Build substance first. Resident directors, compliance officer, MLRO, office lease and bank account. Seychelles will not accept an application without them.
5. Prepare the application pack. Business plan with projections, compliance, AML/CFT and complaints manuals, client agreement, continuity plan, personal questionnaires and source-of-funds evidence.
6. Document the technology stack. Regulators ask which trading platform, liquidity providers, bridge and CRM you will use. We draft this from the real architecture: bridge, liquidity, CRM.
7. File and respond. Answer each query fully and on time.
8. Meet the conditions of grant. Capital deposit, insurance, auditor appointment, FIU registration, approved trade names and website wording.
9. Apply for the MetaTrader 5 licence in parallel or right after, using the same corporate documents. See the section on the MT5 link below.
10. Go live with monitoring, risk reports and a compliance calendar.

How your forex licence connects to the MetaTrader 5 licence

MetaQuotes sells the platform, not permission to trade, but it checks the company before it sells. Your licence or company documents become the core of the MetaTrader 5 application, so the two projects should be planned together.

"…a registered company, with the relevant business activities registered under that entity."— MetaQuotes, How to start a brokerage business (accessed October 2026)

MetaQuotes now sells MetaTrader 5 only; its MetaTrader 4 page states that MT4 licences are "no longer available for purchase". MT5 comes in three tiers: Entry (1,000 real accounts), Standard (25,000) and Enterprise (200,000). In our experience the first payment covers three months of licence fees, and MetaQuotes asks for a document pack along these lines:

1. Certificate of Incorporation
2. Certificate of Good Standing or Incumbency (if the company is older than six months)
3. Register of Directors
4. Register of Shareholders, showing UBOs (with nominee support documents if nominees are used)
5. Proof of registered address
6. Proof of physical address (utility bill, corporate document or certified confirmation letter)
7. Domain ownership and a compliant website: company name, registered and physical address, email or form and phone, risk warning, jurisdiction disclaimer
8. Confirmation of activities: the Memorandum, or a legal opinion or representation letter
9. Corporate bank reference letter addressed to MetaQuotes, or a certified bank statement
10. SumSub identity verification for the signatory and UBOs

A forex licence strengthens items 7 and 8. With a company-only entity, the activity clause and legal opinion carry more weight, so draft the Memorandum to cover trading of financial instruments, online forex, brokerage and financial services. Details are on our MetaQuotes licence documents page.

Business model + target markets
          |
          v
 Licence jurisdiction?  --no-->  Company-only entity (e.g. St Lucia IBC)
          | yes                          |
          v                              v
 Licensed entity (SC / MU / BZ ...)   Activity clause + legal opinion
          \                              /
           v                            v
        MetaQuotes document pack (10 items) + website check
                         |
                         v
        MT5 licence -> server setup -> go-live + monitoring

After approval come servers, data feed, gateways, groups, symbols and monitoring: see MT5 server setup after licence approval.

Frequently asked questions