Exness, one of the largest contracts for differences (CFDs) brokers by trading volume, stopped onboarding new customers from India on 11 July. The broker has not provided any explanation for the move, leading to widespread speculation on social media about a possible return.

A Massive Market for Exness

Although Exness is no longer accepting new traders from India, it continues to offer services to its existing clients.

India is clearly one of its top markets. According to SimilarWeb, nearly 30 per cent of Exness.com’s website traffic originates from India-based IP addresses, making it the broker’s largest single source of traffic. The site received 40.8 million visits last month.

However, since Exness operates through several domains, it cannot be confirmed whether India is the largest traffic-generating country overall.

While active-client distribution does not necessarily reflect web traffic patterns, India remains one of Exness's biggest markets. No trading platform, whether a CFDs broker or otherwise, would choose to completely exit such a vast and expanding market.

Exness does not currently publish its trading volume or active client numbers, but it did so until early last year. According to the broker, it had 836,873 active traders in March 2024, when its monthly trading volume reached $3.86 trillion.

Privately held CFD brokers typically do not disclose country-specific data. However, iForex, another CFDs broker preparing for a public listing, reported that 17 per cent of its revenue comes from India—second only to Japan. The broker generated $50 million in trading income in 2024 from around 29,000 active clients.

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Is a Return Likely?

Exness mainly operates in India through affiliates and introducing brokers. Many now believe the broker may resume onboarding under a different brand name.

It is also shifting its existing Indian clients from its Seychelles entity to another unit registered in Vanuatu. Again, no explanation was given for the change.

This move has fuelled further speculation that Exness may soon restart onboarding Indian clients.

It’s important to note that CFDs are neither regulated nor banned in India. Offshore brokers operate in a legal grey area in the country.

The Reserve Bank of India, which oversees local forex dealers, recently added 88 entities to a warning list. These include brokers, trading platforms, and even a news website. Exness is among the listed names.

Meanwhile, some Indian clients on Exness have faced payment issues. Several users complained that the bank option for deposits and withdrawals was suddenly disabled. However, in a recent video, one of Exness's influencer affiliates showed that the broker had reinstated bank transfers for both deposits and withdrawals.

India’s securities regulator has also introduced a new payment verification system aimed at protecting retail investors from unlicensed brokers. The rule requires all registered intermediaries to adopt a standardised UPI payment handle. But since CFDs brokers like Exness are not registered in India, these rules do not apply to them.

Source: Finance Magnates