TNFX vs Pepperstone: who each broker is built for
Pepperstone publishes seven regulated entities, with licence numbers printed on its regional footers, from the FCA in London to the Securities Commission of the Bahamas. TNFX Ltd holds one licence, SD133 from the Financial Services Authority of Seychelles. On supervision that is not close. But there is a second question underneath it that decides more cases than supervision does, and on that one the two firms are built for different people: whether the broker will serve you at all, from where you are, with the account you need.
Both platforms
Live chart, on the phone you already have
FSA-licensed broker · Licence SD133
Seven entities against one, quoted from their own footers
Each Pepperstone row below was read from the footer of the matching regional Pepperstone site on 3 October 2026. The TNFX row is the whole of our list. We hold no FCA, ASIC, CySEC or DFSA authorisation and no licence in Iraq.
| Firm | Entity | Regulator and number |
|---|---|---|
| TNFX | TNFX Ltd | FSA Seychelles, Securities Dealer SD133 |
| Pepperstone | Pepperstone Limited | UK FCA, 684312 |
| Pepperstone | Pepperstone Group Limited | ASIC Australia, AFSL 414530 |
| Pepperstone | Pepperstone EU Limited | CySEC, 388/20 |
| Pepperstone | Pepperstone Financial Services (DIFC) Ltd | DFSA Dubai, F004356 |
| Pepperstone | Pepperstone Markets Limited | Securities Commission of the Bahamas, SIA-F217 |
| Pepperstone | Pepperstone Markets Kenya Limited | Capital Markets Authority Kenya, 128 |
| Pepperstone | Pepperstone Financial Services LLC, Dubai | UAE Capital Market Authority, 20200000358 - introduction and financial consultation only |
If supervision is what decides it, this page has already answered you, and the answer is them.
Swap-free: the three questions to ask at any broker
Before you rely on swap-free anywhere, ask three things: is my country on the eligible list, is there an administration charge after a holding period, and how much is it per lot. Those three answers are what separate a swap-free account you can actually hold a position in from one that is a line on a marketing page. To Pepperstone's credit, their swap-free page answers all three in public, which is more than most brokers in this region manage - so here are both sets of answers.
Pepperstone, from their swap-free page read on 3 October 2026. The eligible list runs to 23 countries and it is a serious one for this region: Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Algeria and Morocco are all on it, alongside Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and others. Iraq is not on it, and neither is Syria. The page also states a minimum account opening balance of AUD$200 or equivalent, and that when a trade on that account has been held for 5 days an admin charge per standard lot is deducted from the balance - its charge table gives 100 USD for FX and precious metals, effective from 19 June 2023.
TNFX. Available on any of the five client account types, on request. No country list. No holding period. And nothing replaces the swap - no administration fee, no per-trade fee, nothing that accrues with time against an open position.
That is the whole of this page in one paragraph. If you are in Egypt or Jordan or Turkey you are on their list, you can have a tier-one regulated account, and you should probably take it. If you are in Iraq or Syria you are not on it, and that is the honest reason this page exists rather than a failing on their part. We do not know why the line is drawn where it is and we are not going to speculate; we are telling you where it is drawn so you can find out whether you are inside it before you open anything.
Swap-free here is granted per individual account, by moving that account into a swap-free group. It is not a property of an account tier and it is not switched on by default. On an account that has it, no overnight financing is charged and none is earned; on an ordinary account swap is charged normally. Confirm it is live on your account number before you hold a position over the daily close - and the way to confirm it yourself is to hold one overnight and watch the swap column in MetaTrader stay at zero.
A charge that grows the longer you hold a position is financing, whatever the statement calls it. The question is not what the account is called - it is what happens on day eight, and whether your country is on the list at all.
Leverage and minimums, with the entity attached
Read on 3 October 2026: Pepperstone's trading accounts page - the version footed by Pepperstone Markets Limited, the Bahamas entity - shows Standard and Razor accounts with leverage up to 30:1 for retail clients and up to 500:1 for professional clients. The Razor account is raw spread plus commission on FX and XAU/USD; the Standard account is spread-only.
Their African site, footed by Pepperstone Markets Kenya Limited, said something different on the same day: fixed and up to 1:400 leverage depending on the instrument. That is not an inconsistency on their part, it is the point - the cap belongs to the entity, not to the brand. Both figures are dated to the day we read them and may have moved since, so read the footer of the page you register from and take the number from there.
On minimums, as at 3 October 2026 their EU help page stated plainly that Pepperstone doesn't set a minimum deposit, and their trading accounts page stated that the minimum you can add is $10 or your local equivalent. Both of those pages still resolved when we rechecked them. Ours is a $100 minimum first deposit on a Standard account; the funding rails start at $5 through an Ovadot wallet and $10 by card, USDT, Payeer or Ptop, with an international wire from $100.
Our forex leverage is a ladder on the Turbo account rather than a flat cap, and there is no professional-client route around it: the number follows your equity automatically.
| Equity on the account | Forex | Gold |
|---|---|---|
| $10 - $999 | 1:3000 | 1:1000 |
| $1,000 - $2,999 | 1:2000 | 1:500 |
| $3,000 - $4,999 | 1:1000 | 1:500 |
| $5,000 - $49,999 | 1:500 | 1:300 |
| $50,000 - $99,999 | 1:300 | 1:200 |
| $100,000 and above | 1:100 | 1:100 |
Where Pepperstone is the better answer
Choice of regulator, including a DFSA-licensed entity in Dubai and a CMA-licensed one in Kenya. If you want to be onboarded by a firm supervised somewhere with a complaints route you can actually use, they publish several and we publish none.
A professional-client path to 500:1, if you qualify for it under their rules. We do not operate a professional category at all; our leverage is set by equity, which is simpler but gives you no way to argue your way up.
Platform range is theirs too - cTrader and TradingView alongside MetaTrader, where we run MT4 and MT5 only.
Where we are the better answer
Iraqi funding, which is the honest core of our case. ZainCash, Qi Card and local bank transfer, alongside the six international methods. Withdrawals are paid only to a method in the account holder's own name, never to a third party, so pick your deposit route with the withdrawal in mind.
Swap-free on request on any of our five account types, with no holding period, no per-lot administration charge, and no eligibility list that your country has to be on first.
Support in Arabic, Kurdish and English in your own time zone, a UTC+3 platform clock that matches Iraqi time with no daylight saving, and more than a thousand instruments across forex, metals, indices, energy and crypto CFDs on USD accounts. Orders are passed through to liquidity providers.
The accounts, and the one number people get wrong about us
There are five client account types: Standard ($100 minimum first deposit, up to 1:500), Cent ($100, micro lots, up to 1:500), Turbo ($100, the ladder above), Zero ($500, raw spreads plus a per-lot commission, up to 1:500) and VIP ($100,000, up to 1:100). There is no Fix, Pro or ECN account here - ECN is a legacy platform group rather than a product, and accounts sitting in it cannot be made swap-free.
The number people get wrong is 1:3000. It is real, it is the top of the Turbo ladder, and it applies only while equity is under $1,000. It is not a flat cap, it is not available on gold at any equity, and indices and energy are capped at 1:100 on every account type. The deposit bonus is 50% on the first $1,000 and 20% above it, capped at $10,000 over the life of the account, Standard accounts only, and there is no no-deposit bonus.
Common questions
Does Pepperstone offer swap-free accounts in Iraq or Syria?
Their swap-free page names the countries it offers swap-free accounts to, and on 3 October 2026 that list ran to 23 countries - Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Algeria and Morocco among them. Iraq is not on it and neither is Syria. That is an explicit list on their own page rather than an inference, but lists change, so check it yourself at pepperstone.com before you decide. A TNFX swap-free account has no country list: it is granted on request on any of the five account types.
Is there an administration fee instead of swap?
At TNFX, no. No administration fee and no per-trade fee replaces the swap, and there is no holding period after which something starts accruing. Pepperstone's swap-free page, read on 3 October 2026, states that once a trade has been held for 5 days an admin charge per standard lot is deducted, and its table gives 100 USD for FX and precious metals. Both designs are published and legitimate - an administration charge is one way a broker recovers financing it still pays; absorbing it is another, and it is the one we chose.
Is Pepperstone better regulated than TNFX?
Yes. They publish six entities, including Pepperstone Limited under the UK FCA (684312), Pepperstone Group Limited under ASIC (AFSL 414530) and Pepperstone EU Limited under CySEC (388/20). Their UAE footer also names Pepperstone Financial Services LLC under the UAE CMA (20200000358), for introduction and financial consultation only. TNFX Ltd holds one licence, SD133 from the Financial Services Authority of Seychelles, and no tier-one authorisation.
What is Pepperstone's maximum leverage?
On the trading accounts page footed by Pepperstone Markets Limited, the Bahamas entity, Standard and Razor accounts show up to 30:1 for retail clients and up to 500:1 for professional clients. Caps differ by entity, so check the footer of the page you register from. Our Turbo ladder starts at 1:3000 under $1,000 of equity and steps down to 1:100 at $100,000.
What is the minimum deposit at each?
Pepperstone's EU help page states that Pepperstone doesn't set a minimum deposit, and their trading accounts page states the minimum you can add is $10 or local equivalent. Ours is a $100 minimum first deposit on a Standard account, with funding rails from $5 through the Ovadot wallet and $10 by card or USDT.
Can I deposit with ZainCash or a Qi Card?
With us, yes - ZainCash, Qi Card and local bank transfer are our Iraqi rails, alongside card, USDT, Payeer, Ptop, the Ovadot wallet and international wire. We did not find those methods stated on Pepperstone's pages and we are not going to claim they are absent; check with them.
Which should I open?
If you can fund an account abroad and want FCA, ASIC, CySEC or DFSA supervision, open theirs. If you are funding from Iraq or Syria, need a swap-free account from either, or want the Turbo ladder and understand what it does to your margin, open ours. Run a demo first either way.