Best Trading Platforms

Best Trading Platforms in UAE for Long-Term Investing

January 16, 2023

This guide covers the best trading platforms in UAE for long-term investing. Each of our top-rated brokers offers different long-term investment services, but all of them offer a broad range of assets to invest in, great fundamental and technical analysis tools, historical stock price data, economic calendars, and comprehensive watch lists.

For this guide, we have analyzed and compared the top 5 trading platforms in UAE for long-term trading in seven major categories to help you make an informed decision.

Top 5 Long-Term Investing Trading Platforms in UAE

Interactive Brokers – Best for Long-Term Investing in Stocks and ETFs
Sarwa – Best for Beginners
Saxo Bank – Best for Professionals
Charles Schwab – Best for Mutual Funds
TradeStation – Best for Research and Education

RANK	BROKER	GENERAL	PLATFORM SCORE	BEST FOR	WEBSITE
#1	Interactive Brokers	Different financial instruments	4.9 / 5	Best for Long-Term Investing in Stocks and ETFs	Official Website
#2	Sarwa	Commission-free stock	4.7 / 5	Best for Beginners	Official website
#3	Saxo Bank	Zero commission trading on mutual funds	4.9 / 5	Best for Professionals	Official website
#4	Charles Schwab	Different trading instruments	4 / 5	Best for Mutual Funds	Official website
#5	TradeStation	Very professional proprietary trading platform	3.7 / 5	Best for Research and Education	Official website

Best Brokers in UAE For Long-Term Investing Reviewed

Below is a detailed breakdown of the 5 best long-term trading platforms in UAE including pros, cons, and key features.

01. Interactive Brokers – Best for Long-Term Investing in Stocks and ETFs

Interactive Brokers is our top-rated broker for long-term investing in stocks and ETFs because it offers access to 17,500 stocks, 110 ETFs, 45,000 mutual funds, and thousands of bonds. They also provide access to penny and OTC stocks listed on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board and long term investment recommendations from IBKR’s dealing desk.

Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation (TWS) platform allows users to scan the markets for long term investment opportunities using IBKR GlobalAnalyst. This is a great feature for long term investors of all levels.

Interactive Brokers does not charge any commissions on stocks and ETFs. Investors only pay fixed fees from $0,25 to $0,85 on options contracts.

Interactive Brokers' Key Features for Long-Term Investors:

Wide Range of Available Assets – access to 17,500 stocks, 110 ETFs, 45,000 mutual funds and thousands of bonds.
Penny Stocks and OTC Stocks – Access to thousands of penny stocks and OTC stocks listed on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board.
Broker-Assisted Trading – The IBKR Stock and Option Order Desk and the IBKR Corporate Bond Order Desk provide help facilitating trades and find price improvement or additional liquidity for large trades.
TWS Trading Platform – offers limitless customization options and trading features
Advanced Analytical and Market Research Tools – allow users to scan the markets for opportunities with or to rebalance their portfolio accordingly.

Minimum Deposit	$100
Available Financial Instruments	Stocks, Options, Futures, ETFs, Warrants, SSFs, Forex, Metals, Indices, Mutual Funds, Fixed Income products
Trading Fees	Commission-free US stocks and ETF trading, Either fixed at $0,85 per contract or tiered from $0,25 to $0,85 per contract, based on monthly trading volume options and futures trading fees, between 0,08 and 0,20 basis points, based on monthly trading volume on forex pairs.
Trading Platform	Trader Workstation, IBKR EventTrader, Client Portal, IBKR Mobile, IBKR GlobalTrader, IMPACT
Account Types	Individual, Joint, Trust, IRA, UGMA/UTMA Accounts
Type of Broker	Market Maker
Regulatory Bodies	US SEC and CFTC
Deposit Methods	Bank wire transfer, ACH transfer, transfer from another broker, check
Maximum Leverage Ratio	2:1

Interactive Brokers Pros:

Broad range of different financial instruments and asset classes available
Great proprietary ‘Trader Workstation’ trading platform with many advanced trading tools and over 100 different order types
Excellent research and educational tools available

Interactive Brokers Cons:

No Islamic accounts available
Some research tools are not free
Very complex fee structure

02. Sarwa – Best Long-Term Investing Broker for Beginners

Sarwa is a top choice for beginner long-term investors because they offer access to personalized long-term investment portfolios, free financial advisory services and commission free stocks and ETFs.

Sarwas list of long-term investment portfolios include a Conventional, Halal, Socially Responsible, Conventional Crypto, and Socially Responsible Crypto portfolio. All of the pre defined portfolios can be traded on different risk exposure levels.

Sarwa additionally offers a self-directed trading option that enables users to trade with stocks, cryptos and ETFs on their own. While there are no commissions charged on stock and ETF trades, Sarwa charges competitive trading fees of 0,75% on cryptocurrencies.

Sarwa also offers personalized financial planning, investment, tax planning and risk management services. Users can visit Sarwa’a physical offices in Dubai or Abu Dhabi in person or get in touch with them online.

Sarwa’s Key Features for Long-Term Investors:

Broad Range of Available Assets – access to stocks, ETFs and cryptocurrencies
Proprietary Trading Platform – offers simple and intuitive trading features for long term investors
Full-Service Broker – users have access to personalized financial planning, investment and wealth management, tax planning, and risk management services.

Minimum Deposit	$1
Available Financial Instruments	4,000+ US stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies
Trading Fees	Commission-free stock and ETF trading, 0,75% crypto trading, 0,50% to 0,85% yearly Sarwa Invest Service fees, depending on account balance
Trading Platform	Proprietary desktop and mobile trading platforms
Account Types	Starter, Standard, Premium, Platinum
Type of Broker	Direct market Access (DMA)
Regulatory Bodies	FSRA, ADGM
Deposit Methods	Bank wire transfer
Maximum Leverage Ratio	1:1

Sarwa Pros:

You can physically visit one of Sarwa’s offices in Dubai or Abu Dhabi and receive face-to-face financial advice
Commission-free stock and ETF trading
Minimize your risks and maximize your returns with the different available investment portfolios

Sarwa Cons:

Doesn’t offer high-quality research and educational tools
Limited choice of available assets compared to other brokers
Crypto portfolios have only 5% exposure to Bitcoin and other digital assets

03. Saxo Bank – Best for Professionals

SaxoInvestor trading platform is Saxo Banks flagship platform for long term investors featuring curated stock lists, trending investment themes, expert insights and managed portfolios. This makes Saxo Bank a top broker for professional and institutional long term investors.

Investors receive curated live market research and in-depth macro analysis directly and can choose to invest via their relationship manager or dedicated sales manager. Users that prefer to invest on their own can make use of top-tier analysis provided for free or implement research from BlackRock, MorningStar, Nasdaq, and BrownAdvisory.

Saxo Bank allows long term investors to buy, trade or hold stocks, ETFs, bonds, mutual funds, futures and advanced financial instruments. Users can also make use of automated trading through Expert Advisors, trading scripts, or other forms of automated trading software via Saxo’s available APIs.

The minimum deposit at Saxo Bank to open an account is $2,000. They offer a special Islamic swap-free account available for those who wish to invest according to Sharia law.

Saxo Bank Key Features for Long-Term Investors:

Wide Range of Available Assets – access to 22,000 stocks, more than 3,000 ETFs from 30+ exchanges, bonds from 26 countries in 21 currencies, 9,000+ CFDs, 3,000+ energy, metals.
SaxoInvestor, SaxoTraderGO and SaxoTraderPRO – access to the full specter of different trading tool and features required for long term investing.
Broker-Assisted Trading – all users get access to a relationship manager and dedicated sales trader which help with live market commentary, risk management, and post-trade support.

Trading Room & Managed Portfolios – access to trading insights from in-house strategists and managed investment portfolios.

Minimum Deposit	$2,000
Available Financial Instruments	9 Crypto FX pairs, 190 FX pairs, 9,000+ CFDs, 22,000+ stocks, 300+ futures, 40+ FX vanilla options, 3,000+ options, 3,000+ ETFs, bonds from 26 countries in 21 currencies
Trading Fees	$1 on US stocks and ETFs, $1,25 per options or futures contract, $0 mutual funds, 0,05% on government bonds. Managed investment portfolios cost an average of 0,98% management fees per annum
Trading Platform	SaxoInvestor, SaxoTraderGO, SaxoTraderPRO, SAXO-API
Account Types	Saxo Account, Joint Account, Corporate Account, Professional Account, Demo Account, Islamic Account
Type of Broker	ECN and Direct Market Access Broker
Regulatory Bodies	DFSA, ADGM, ASIC, CySEC, FCA, FSA, MAS, FINMA, AMF, NBB
Deposit Methods	Debit card, bank wire transfer, stock transfer from another broker
Maximum Leverage Ratio	50:1

Saxo Bank Pros:

Great proprietary SaxoInvestor platform with lots of professional features
Regulated all over the world, including in the UAE by the DFSA and ADGM
Zero commission trading on mutual funds and competitive fees on other assets

Saxo Bank Cons:

High minimum deposit required to open account
High non-trading fees
Complex fee structure

04. Charles Schwab – Best Mutual Funds Long-TermTrading Platform

With access to over 7,100 no-transaction fee mutual funds and thousands of index funds, regular stocks and ETFs, Charlse Schwab is the top choice for long term trading with mutual funds. They also charge low expense ratios of 0,4% on passively managed and 0,69% on actively managed mutual funds.

Charles Schwab fully customizable SmartEdge® platform allows long term investors to easily spot new opportunities with the help of built-in fundamental and technical tools, custom screeners, and watchlists. They also offer a personalized Portfolio Builder, which helps users to create their own long term investment portfolio based on their financial goals.

There is no minimum deposit required to open a trading account with Charles Schwab.

Charles Schwab Key Features for Long-Term Investors:

Broad Range of Available Assets – Invest in thousands of global stocks, ETFs, bonds, and mutual funds through Charles Schwab.
Penny Stocks and OTC Stocks – Trade and invest in Over the Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB) and Pink Sheet securities through Charles Schwab’s desktop and mobile trading platforms at a fixed fee of $4,95 per trade.
SmartEdge® Trading Platform – This fully customizable trading platform helps you find opportunities with custom screeners, watchlists, and high/low tools and lets you research each trade using built-in fundamental and technical tools plus advanced charting. Additionally, the trading platform allows you to quickly build, edit, and place trade orders with the All-in-One Trade Ticket® and monitor orders, positions, and buying power at a glance.
Broker-Assisted Trading – Do you prefer investing via a dealing desk rather than an online platform? No problem. Simply call 0800-626-4600 to place broker-assisted trades at a low, competitive service charge of $25.
Trading Ideas – Find favorable investment opportunities through Charles Schwab’s daily financial blog, investing insights magazine, podcast, or Schwab Live Daily.

Minimum Deposit	$0 for an investment account and $25,000 for a margin account
Available Financial Instruments	Stocks, ETFs, options, OTC equities, mutual funds, futures, futures options, new issue CDs, forex pairs, treasuries, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, government agencies, STRIPS, commercial paper, mortgage-backed securities, collateralized mortgage obligations, unit investment trusts, REITs
Trading Fees	Commission-free stocks and ETF trading, mutual funds up to $74,95 per purchase, $1 per bond with a $10 minimum, $0,65 per options contract, $6,95 per OTC equity order, $2,25 per futures or futures options contract
Trading Platform	SmartEdge® Trading Platform, Schwab Mobile App
Account Types	Brokerage & Trading Account, Retirement Account, Small Business Retirement Account, Checking & Savings Account, Robo & Dedicated Advice Account, Trust & Estate Account, Global Account, Brokerage Account + Specialized Platforms and Support for Trading, Schwab One® Brokerage Account
Type of Broker	Broker-dealer
Regulatory Bodies	SEC and FINRA
Deposit Methods	Bank wire transfer, direct deposit, automatic investment plan, Schwab Bank Bill Pay, check, Schwab Mobile Deposit, transfer between Schwab accounts, transfer from another broker
Maximum Leverage Ratio	2:1

Charles Schwab Pros:

Great choice of different trading instruments
Very good proprietary SmartEdge® Trading Platform
Zero commission trading on stocks and ETFs, very competitive fees on Bonds and mutual funds

Charles Schwab Cons:

High minimum deposit for non-US clients
High withdrawal fees of $50
High penny stock and OTC stock trading fees of $6,95 per trade

05. TradeStation – Best Brokers for Research and Education

TradeStation offers an extensive research department that provides users with valuable stock market insights and historical data that goes back as far as 1920. Additionaly users get access to dynamic hot lists and detailed analysis of top buys & sells allowing users to follow trends of professional investorurs. This makes TradeStation a top broker for long term investors looking for great research and education tools.

TradeStation does not charge any commission on stock and ETF trades and a low fees of $0,60 to $1,50 per contract per side on options and futures. The minimum deposit at TradeStation to open a margin account is $2,000 and $5,000 to open a futures trading account.

TradeStation Key Features for Long-Term Investors:

Great Choice of Different Trading Instruments – Invest in thousands of stocks, 2,000+ ETFs, options, futures, futures options, cryptocurrencies, penny stocks, and 2,000+ mutual funds with TradeStation.
Low, Competitive Trading Fees – Commission-free equities and ETF trading, between $0,60 and $1,50 per contract, per side options, and futures trading, and from $2 + 0,025% crypto trading.
Professional Proprietary Trading Platforms – TradeStation’s award-winning trading platforms help you design, test, optimize, monitor, and automate your investments and trades and feature dynamic market-scanning tools, fully customizable charting, fast and reliable order execution, and advanced order management. One of these trading platforms is specialized for options and futures, called FuturesPlus.
High-Quality Trade Ideas – TradeStation provides you with historical stock, futures, and index data that goes back as far as 1920, so you can back-test and evaluate trade ideas.
Algorithmic Trading – Build your own equities, futures, or crypto trading API in C#, C++, Python, PHP, or Ruby or deploy Expert Advisors, trading scripts, or other forms of automated trading software

Minimum Deposit	$5,000 for futures accounts, $2,000 for margin accounts
Available Financial Instruments	Stocks, ETFs, options, futures, futures options, crypto, IPOs, mutual funds, bonds
Trading Fees	Commission-free stocks and ETFs, $1,50 per contract, per side when TradeStation Select member
Trading Platform	Web-based platform & mobile app (FuturesPlus)
Account Types	Demo, individual, joint, retirement, entity
Type of Broker	Broker dealer
Regulatory Bodies	SEC, CFTC, and FINRA
Deposit Methods	Wire transfer
Maximum Leverage Ratio	4:1

TradeStation Pros:

Great choice of different financial instruments to invest in
Competitive trading fees; zero commission stock and ETF trading
Very professional proprietary trading platform for both desktop and mobile usage

TradeStation Cons:

Not compatible with MetaTrader 4/5, cTrader, or any other external trading platform
Charges fees for some market research tools
No Islamic accounts available

How Business24-7 Selected The Top Brokers for Long-Term Investing in UAE?

To create our list of the best trading platforms in UAE for long term investing, we analyzed and compared 89 online brokers available in UAE in nine different categories. We checked

Long-term Investment Vehicles – availability of stocks, ETFs, bonds, mutual funds, or cryptocurrencies.
Trading Fees – competitive trading fees and good overall trading conditions.
Broker-Assisted Trading Availability – availability of broker-assisted trading
Range of Trading Platform Features – availability of watch lists, economic calendars, technical analysis tools such as indicators and chart drawing toolkits.
Research and Education Material – fundamental analysis research tools in the form of historical price data and professional analytical insights.
Customer Support
Availability for United Arab Emirates clients

Long Term Investing Definition

Long-term investing is an investment strategy of buying and holding investments for a period of 10 years or longer. Long-term investors tend to take on higher risk for the potential to earn higher returns over time.

Long Term Investing Strategies in UAE

The most common long-term investing strategies in UAE include: buy-and-hold, passive, active, and growth investing. Below we break down each one of them in more detail:

Growth Investing – is a long term investment strategy where investors aggressively invest in assets (growth stocks), which typically grow faster in value than the rest of the market.
Active Investing – requires a hands-on approach where the investor constantly rebalances his or her portfolio to reach the highest yields possible.
Passive Investing – is a long term investment strategy where the investor buys and holds an asset for a longer period of time.
Buy & Hold – investors buy certain assets and hold on to them for a long period of time, no matter whether the market goes up or down.

Advantages of Long Term Investing

Long-term investing has many advantages compared to short-term trading, such as reduced costs, tax advantages, and compound interest. Below, we will outline these advantages in detail.

Reduced Costs – Long-term investing comes with fewer commissions and trading fees compared to short-term trading.
Tax Advantages – Long-term investors can make use of tax advantages such as IRAs and 401Ks in the USA. In other countries, there are similar tax benefits, and in the UAE there is no capital gains tax at all.
Compound Interest – Long-term investors benefit from compound interest because they can reinvest their dividends and capital gains to buy more equities.
Risk/Reward Ratio – Long-term investors can use investing techniques such as dollar-cost averaging to reduce their average investment per share and increase their risk versus reward ratio.

Difference between long term investing and day trading

The difference between long term investing and day trading is in the number of trades the trader opens in a defined time period. While long term traders open and hold positions for a longer time period (10 plus years), day traders open and close positions on a daily basis.

Which assets are best suited for long term investing

The most commonly used financial instruments for long-term investing are stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs.

Contents

1 Top 5 Long-Term Investing Trading Platforms in UAE