Rakuten Securities Review 2026: 14 Million Accounts, Two Licences and Fixed Spreads From 0.5 Pips

Rakuten Securities is the retail brokerage arm of the Rakuten group and, by account count, the largest online securities firm in Japan — the company puts its total at roughly 14 million accounts as of April 2026. For traders outside Japan the name usually surfaces in one of two forms: Rakuten FX, the yen-denominated margin FX service used inside Japan under a 25:1 leverage cap, or Rakuten Securities Hong Kong, an SFC-licensed entity that markets a commission-free, fixed-spread FX platform to international clients at 20:1. Those are not the same product, and conflating them is the single most common mistake in coverage of this broker.

This review treats both doors separately: what each licence permits, what each entity actually charges, which platforms you get, how funding works, and where the model breaks down. We also set Rakuten Securities against UZFX, a multi-asset CFD broker with a US$10 entry point, because the two sit at opposite ends of the retail spectrum — one sells domestic trust and securities breadth, the other sells low-cost access to a wider CFD book. For the broader field, see our 2026 forex broker comparison and the Asia broker round-up.

Research note: figures in this review were taken from Rakuten Securities’ own Japanese and Hong Kong product pages, rate tables and trading-rules documents in November 2026. Spreads are quoted live figures or “from” figures published by the broker, not averages computed by us.

Rakuten Securities at a Glance

Company Background

Rakuten Securities traces its retail lineage to the Japanese online brokerage DLJdirect SFG Securities, which Rakuten acquired in 2003 and rebranded. The Financial Instruments Business Operator registration held by the current entity dates from 2007, and the business has since grown into the group’s investment arm alongside Rakuten Bank, Rakuten Card and Rakuten Wallet.

The commercial logic is unusual among brokers: Rakuten does not primarily sell trading. It sells an ecosystem. A Japanese client can hold equities, mutual funds, NISA tax-advantaged accounts, iDeCo pensions, bonds, listed and overseas futures, FX, CFDs and physical gold under one login, funded through Rakuten Bank, earning Rakuten points on activity. FX is one tile in that mosaic rather than the whole product. Rakuten Securities Hong Kong is a narrower proposition — essentially Rakuten FX plus education content, an economic calendar and technical analysis — and exists to serve clients who want the platform’s pricing without a Japanese residency requirement.

For international readers the practical consequence is that Rakuten is not built to compete with offshore CFD brokers on instrument count or leverage. It competes on institutional familiarity, tight fixed spreads in size, and the fact that a regulated domestic securities firm is holding the money.

Regulation and Client Protection

Two licences, two rulebooks.

Japan — Kanto Local Finance Bureau, FIBO No. 195. Rakuten Securities, Inc. is registered as a Financial Instruments Business Operator, which places it under the Financial Services Agency’s regime: mandatory client asset segregation, statutory conduct rules, and the Japanese retail leverage cap that holds FX at 25:1. Account opening requires Japanese identity documentation, and since January 2016 registration of a My Number (マイナンバー) is mandatory for new accounts — a hard filter that effectively excludes non-residents. The firm has also commissioned third-party assurance over its client-money segregation, a disclosure rarely volunteered by brokers.

Hong Kong — SFC CE No. AIM232. Rakuten Securities Hong Kong Limited is licensed for Type 3 regulated activity, leveraged foreign exchange trading, which is the SFC’s category for retail FX. That licence brings a statutory 20:1 ceiling (the maximum the SFC permits), a defined margin ladder, client-money segregation rules and an audit trail. The margin mechanics are published in detail: 5% initial margin to open a position, 3% maintenance margin at which the firm may close positions at its discretion, and 2% liquidation margin at which all open positions are closed automatically.

What neither licence provides is a tier-1 compensation scheme of the kind ASIC, the FCA or CySEC operate, and neither entity is covered by a deposit guarantee comparable to the FSCS. The Hong Kong entity’s risk disclosure is blunt about the consequence: losses on leveraged positions can exceed the margin deposited. That is not a red flag specific to Rakuten — it is the standard trade-off at any SFC-only or FSA-only venue — but it belongs in the decision.

Trading Conditions

Hong Kong entity: the numbers that matter

The 1K minimum contract is the detail small accounts should note first. At 1,000 units of AUD/USD, one pip is worth about US$0.10, so a US$500 account can hold a position with a stop hundreds of pips away — a genuinely usable micro-lot structure rather than a nominal one. The 5,000K ceiling plus ladder spreads is aimed squarely at the other end of the market: clients who trade institutional size and are price-sensitive to a fraction of a pip.

Japan entity: tighter leverage cap, tighter headline spread

Rakuten FX inside Japan runs under the 25:1 statutory cap, with margin of 4% to 100% of notional depending on which leverage course the client selects — the platform lets you voluntarily reduce leverage, which is a sensible feature for anyone who does not want the maximum available. The advertised headline is USD/JPY from 0.2 pips during core hours, with Rakuten MT4 from 0.5 pips. As always with “from” figures, treat them as a floor under ideal liquidity, not a promise: the broker states plainly that actual spreads are not guaranteed.

Live spreads sampled from the Hong Kong platform

Quotes pulled from the Rakuten FX rate table on 13 November 2026, mid-session, give a realistic picture of what the fixed model costs:

Two observations. First, the majors are competitive with anything in the SFC-licensed tier — a 0.2 pip USD/JPY and 0.3 pip EUR/USD quote is tighter than most commission-free accounts at brokers charging A-book spreads. Second, the exotic and cross pricing widens sharply: USD/CNH at 7 pips and EUR/AUD at 2.3 pips mean this is not a venue for carry trades in illiquid pairs. If your strategy depends on CNH or Scandies, budget accordingly or look elsewhere.

How ladder spreads actually change the cost

The ladder is the most interesting part of the pricing model and the least understood. For ten pairs — USD/JPY, EUR/USD, AUD/USD, GBP/USD, NZD/USD, EUR/JPY, USD/CAD, AUD/JPY, GBP/JPY and USD/CHF — the fixed spread narrows as clip size increases, and the quoted rate applies to the entire position, not just the marginal slice above each threshold.

Rakuten’s own worked example is worth checking, because it shows the mechanic cleanly. AUD/USD is advertised at 0.9 pips standard and 0.5 pips at the large-clip tier. Trade 500,000 AUD in one order at 0.5 pips and you pay 0.5 × 0.0001 × 500,000 = US$25 in spread. Split the same 500,000 into ten orders of 50,000 at 0.9 pips and you pay 0.9 × 0.0001 × 500,000 = US$45. The saving is US$20 — exactly the figure the broker publishes — which is 0.4 pips across the full notional.

That is a real structural advantage for position traders and small funds, and it is the opposite of how most brokers tier pricing, where large orders get filled deeper into the book and pay more slippage. It also means the effective cost depends entirely on order construction: a trader who works 20 small clips through the ladder on a 500K position will pay nearly double the single-order cost. The broker is explicitly paying you to send one clean ticket.

Trading Platforms

Rakuten FX (Hong Kong and Japan). A proprietary terminal available as a desktop application, a browser platform and a mobile app. It offers the full order-type set — market, limit, stop, if-done and OCO — live rate tables with both the sell and buy side and rollover figures, one-click position closing, and two-factor authentication. The current build was recognised as an “Innovative Forex Trading Platform” at the 01 FinTech Excellence Awards 2024, a Hong Kong industry award. It is a clean, functional FX terminal: fast, stable, and deliberately narrow. There is no charting suite comparable to TradingView, no depth-of-market display, and no automated strategy layer beyond standard order management.

Rakuten MT4 (Japan). Full MetaTrader 4 with expert advisors, custom indicators and hedging, on servers the broker says are hosted in Japan — a latency advantage for clients inside the country and a mild disadvantage for anyone running EAs that assume an Equinix LD4 or NY4 round trip. An existing Rakuten FX account holder can open an MT4 account in about a minute.

Rakuten MT4CFD (Japan). Opening this account also provisions two sub-accounts: an MT4 securities CFD account for index CFDs and an MT4 commodity CFD account for gold, silver and crude. It cannot be opened without a Rakuten FX account first, which is an onboarding quirk worth knowing before you plan a CFD-only workflow.

Equities and funds. iSPEED for domestic and US equities, MarketSpeed II for active traders, plus dedicated apps for investment trusts and NISA. These are irrelevant to FX traders but central to why Japanese clients stay: one login, one funding rail, one tax reporting package.

The gap for international traders is straightforward. There is no MetaTrader 5 at either entity, no cTrader, no REST or FIX API for retail clients, and — in Hong Kong — no MetaTrader at all. If your workflow is built around EAs, multi-symbol backtests or third-party signal bridges, the Hong Kong product will feel constrained. Traders who specifically need a broker-agnostic platform should read our guide to forex brokers without MetaTrader, which covers the trade-offs of proprietary stacks in more depth.

Product Range

The Hong Kong entity is a pure FX venue. That is a deliberate regulatory and commercial choice — SFC Type 3 covers leveraged FX, and the firm has not built out a CFD book — but it means anyone looking for gold, index or crypto exposure has exactly one product class to work with. The Japanese entity is far broader, but only accessible to residents.

This is where the comparison with multi-asset brokers becomes concrete. A trader who wants to express a view on the S&P 500, gold and bitcoin alongside EUR/USD needs four accounts at Rakuten and one at a broker like UZFX, whose book spans forex, metals, energies, indices and share CFDs. Depth per asset class versus breadth across asset classes is the real fork in the road, and it is worth modelling before you commit, as our CFD guide for beginners sets out in detail.

Funding, Deposits and Withdrawals

Hong Kong. Online account opening requires an initial deposit of at least HK$10,000 transferred from a bank account in the applicant’s own name at a licensed Hong Kong bank — the “designated bank account” — along with a deposit slip, government photo ID and, for non-permanent residents, a passport. Opening in person at the Hong Kong office waives the initial deposit requirement entirely, which is useful for anyone who wants to fund gradually. Because the designated account is fixed at onboarding and the deposit slip is part of the file, funding and withdrawal rails are tightly bound to one bank account; mismatched third-party transfers are not a workable route.

Japan. Funding runs through yen bank transfer, with integration into Rakuten Bank that the group markets heavily to its own customers. Account opening requires Japanese identity documents and My Number registration. There is no published minimum deposit, and no account-opening charge is advertised — the FX service is spread-only, with overnight rollover credited or debited depending on the pair and direction.

The practical friction for international readers is the HK$10,000 threshold. At roughly US$1,280 it is an order of magnitude above the entry cost at low-deposit brokers, and it is a regulatory requirement rather than a marketing choice. If you are testing a strategy with US$100–500, this is not the venue; our low-deposit broker comparison covers the alternatives, and the US$10 minimum deposit route explains how brokers structure micro accounts at that end of the market.

Customer Support

The Japanese operation publishes unusually specific service hours: telephone lines on weekdays from 8:30 to 17:00 (varying slightly by line), an AI chatbot available 24 hours a day, and operator chat on weekdays from 9:00 to 23:00. That schedule suits a domestic client base trading the Tokyo and London sessions, and the 24-hour chatbot matters more than it sounds for a broker whose clients trade USD/JPY into the New York close.

The Hong Kong entity supports English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese across its platform, documentation and website, runs free seminars, and provides an economic calendar and technical analysis section inside its education hub. The differentiator is the one-to-one support model the firm advertises — a named contact approach rather than a ticket queue — plus the option of walking into the Hong Kong office, which is rare among retail FX venues and useful when a funding or documentation problem needs a human signature.

The weak point is coverage outside Asian hours. There is no published 24/7 telephone line, weekend support is limited to self-service, and clients in Europe or the Americas should expect to wait for the Hong Kong or Tokyo business day. For a broker positioning itself on service quality, the absence of round-the-clock live chat is the most obvious gap versus the offshore competition.

Fees Beyond the Spread

• Commission: zero on Rakuten FX and on the Japanese MT4 and MT4CFD accounts, which are spread-only.
• Rollover/swap: applied nightly on open positions, shown live in the rate table alongside the spread so you can see the carry before you trade. This is the dominant cost on multi-day positions in the ladder-priced pairs.
• Account and platform fees: no subscription or platform charge is published for FX or MT4 CFD use.
• Inactivity fees: none published.
• Currency conversion: relevant if you fund in HKD and trade USD-denominated pairs, or vice versa — the account base currencies are USD and HKD only in Hong Kong.
• Deposits and withdrawals: the broker does not advertise deposit fees; bank charges from the sending institution are the client’s cost.

The cost profile is therefore simple: spread plus swap, with the spread narrowing on size. There is no commission layer to model, no tiered rebate, and no payment for order flow disclosure to untangle. Traders who want to compare that structure against raw-spread-plus-commission models should read our breakdown of how leverage and margin are calculated, since a 0.5 pip fixed spread at 20:1 and a 0.0 pip raw spread plus US$7 round turn at 1:500 are not comparable without putting both on the same notional.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Two genuinely regulated entities: FSA-supervised in Japan (FIBO No. 195) and SFC-licensed in Hong Kong (CE AIM232).
• Fixed spreads from 0.5 pips with zero commission, and ladder pricing that gets tighter — not wider — as clip size grows.
• Micro-lot access from 1,000 units, so a modest account can trade with sensible stops.
• 14 million-account parent with bank, card and payments infrastructure behind it; client-money segregation with third-party assurance in Japan.
• Unusually broad securities shelf in Japan: equities, funds, bonds, NISA, iDeCo, futures and physical precious metals in one account.
• Transparent margin ladder in Hong Kong (5% / 3% / 2%) published in full.
• Two-factor authentication and a platform recognised by a Hong Kong fintech award.

Cons

• Hong Kong entity is FX-only — no indices, metals, energies, share CFDs or crypto.
• HK$10,000 minimum for online opening is steep for new traders.
• Leverage capped at 20:1 (HK) and 25:1 (Japan) by regulation, which will frustrate anyone used to offshore terms.
• No MetaTrader 5, no cTrader, no retail API; Hong Kong clients get no MetaTrader at all.
• Japanese accounts require residency and My Number, so the broader product shelf is closed to most international traders.
• No published 24/7 live support and no tier-1 compensation scheme.
• Exotic and cross-pair spreads widen sharply (USD/CNH at 7 pips).

Rakuten Securities vs UZFX at a Glance

The honest summary: Rakuten wins on institutional weight and on cost per pip at size; UZFX wins on entry cost, asset breadth and platform consistency across devices. A trader in Tokyo with ¥2 million and a yen salary should probably be at Rakuten. A trader in Jakarta or Ho Chi Minh City with US$200 who wants gold, the Nasdaq and EUR/USD in one account cannot use Rakuten Hong Kong at all in practice.

Who Should Use Rakuten Securities?

• Japanese residents — the obvious answer. One account for equities, funds, NISA, FX and CFDs, with Rakuten points and bank integration, is hard to beat on convenience, and the 25:1 cap is the law rather than a broker choice.
• Hong Kong-based traders who value a domestic licence, fixed spreads and the ability to resolve problems in person, and who trade FX only.
• Size traders who routinely send 100K+ tickets in the ladder-priced pairs, where the spread advantage is measurable in dollars per trade.
• Risk-averse clients who would rather have a securities firm with segregated client money than an offshore CFD entity, and who are content with 20:1.

It is a poor fit for anyone outside Japan and Hong Kong wanting multi-asset CFDs, for algorithmic traders needing MT5 or an API, and for small accounts below the HK$10,000 threshold.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Rakuten Securities a safe broker in 2026?

It is one of the better-capitalised retail brokers in Asia, and both entities are regulated by a major domestic authority — the FSA in Japan via the Kanto Local Finance Bureau, and the SFC in Hong Kong under a Type 3 leveraged FX licence. Client money is segregated in both jurisdictions. What it does not offer is a tier-1 compensation scheme like the FSCS, and the Hong Kong risk disclosure states that losses can exceed the margin deposited. Safe in the sense of being a real, supervised, well-funded broker; not safe in the sense of capping your downside.

Can I open a Rakuten Securities account from outside Japan or Hong Kong?

In practice, no. The Japanese entity requires Japanese identity documents and My Number registration, which excludes non-residents. The Hong Kong entity requires an initial deposit from a Hong Kong bank account in your own name, so you need a Hong Kong bank relationship even though the platform is offered in English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese. Traders in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam or Indonesia should look at brokers that explicitly accept their jurisdiction.

Which Rakuten Securities entity has better trading conditions?

They serve different purposes rather than competing. Hong Kong gives you 46 pairs, USD or HKD accounts, zero commission, 20:1 leverage and ladder spreads from 0.5 pips, but no CFDs and no MetaTrader. Japan gives you 25:1 leverage, sharper headline spreads on USD/JPY (from 0.2 pips) and a full MetaTrader 4 stack including index and commodity CFDs, but only if you are a Japanese resident. For pure FX cost, Japan is marginally better; for accessibility, Hong Kong is the only option.

How do the ladder spreads compare with a raw-spread ECN account?

On large clips they are competitive. A fixed 0.5 pip spread on AUD/USD with no commission is an all-in cost of 0.5 pips, which matches a 0.0 pip raw spread plus US$3.50 per side at roughly 0.7 pips round turn on standard lots — with the fixed model carrying no slippage risk on entry. On small clips the ladder rate does not apply, and a raw-spread account is likely cheaper. The model rewards ticket size, not trade frequency.

How does Rakuten Securities compare with UZFX for a new trader?

UZFX requires US$10, charges no commission, is regulated by ASIC under AFSL 001291473 and offers forex, metals, energies, indices, crypto and share CFDs on proprietary web, mobile and desktop platforms. Rakuten requires HK$10,000 for online opening in Hong Kong, offers FX only there, and caps leverage at 20:1. A new trader with a small balance outside Japan and Hong Kong is better served by the lower entry cost and wider instrument menu; a Hong Kong resident who wants a domestic licence and fixed spreads should take Rakuten seriously.

Final Verdict

Rakuten Securities is a broker that does exactly what its licence allows, and no more. Inside Japan that produces an unusually complete retail investment account — 14 million clients, NISA and iDeCo alongside FX and CFDs, spread-only pricing and a 25:1 cap that removes the worst of the leverage temptation. In Hong Kong it produces a narrow, disciplined FX venue: 46 pairs, fixed spreads from 0.5 pips, ladder discounts in size, no commission, 20:1 leverage and a margin ladder published down to the liquidation threshold.

The pricing genuinely deserves credit. A 0.2 pip USD/JPY and 0.3 pip EUR/USD quote sampled mid-session, with no commission on top, is tighter than most commission-free accounts in the SFC tier, and the ladder mechanic — where a single 500K ticket saves US$20 versus ten 50K tickets on AUD/USD — is a real structural advantage that favours position traders and small funds rather than punishing them. The transparency is also above average: the 5% / 3% / 2% margin structure and the live rollover column in the rate table tell you your costs before you commit.

The limits are equally clear. The Hong Kong entity is FX-only, so gold, indices and crypto require a second broker. HK$10,000 online is a meaningful barrier for new traders. There is no MT5, no cTrader and no retail API, and Hong Kong clients get no MetaTrader at all. Support is business-hours, not 24/7, and neither entity carries a tier-1 compensation scheme. None of these are defects in a domestic securities broker — they are the shape of the licence — but they narrow the audience considerably.

If you are in Japan or Hong Kong and want a supervised, bank-adjacent broker with tight fixed spreads, Rakuten Securities belongs on your shortlist. If you are elsewhere, or you need a multi-asset book at a low entry cost, the model simply is not built for you: compare against UZFX for a US$10 multi-asset alternative, against our ASIC-regulated broker guide for tier-1 oversight, and against the full broker comparison if you are still mapping the field.

Risk Disclaimer: Trading forex and CFDs involves significant risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. Leverage can work against you as well as for you. You should consider whether you understand how leveraged products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Spreads, leverage and deposit requirements quoted in this review were published by Rakuten Securities in November 2026 and are subject to change by the broker and by regulation. Always conduct your own research and consider seeking independent financial advice before trading. This review is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.

Last reviewed: 14 November 2026. Research and editorial by the MarketCFD broker review team. Related reading: UZFX review 2026, best forex brokers in Asia, low-deposit brokers.