Capex
Straight Answer on Capex
No, Capex is not a scam in the classic sense: it is a real brokerage brand, launched in 2016 by Key Way Group and merged into the NAGA Group in August 2024, with roughly 1.5M users across 100+ countries. What you will find if you dig, though, is something else worth knowing. CAPEX.com is not CMA-regulated in Kenya, and after the NAGA merger it no longer accepts new clients from this market, with enquiries pointed toward NAGA Markets instead.
That is the honest position. Not fraud, not a boiler room, but a brand that is winding down its direct onboarding in this market.
Who Legally Operates Your Account
In Kenya, the regulator is the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), which governs online forex under the Capital Markets (Online Foreign Exchange Trading) Regulations, 2017. Three licence categories exist: Dealing Online Foreign Exchange Broker, Non-Dealing Online Foreign Exchange Broker, and Online Foreign Exchange Money Manager. Any firm offering online forex to Kenyan residents must hold one of these. Licensed firms must hold minimum paid-up capital of KES 50 million, segregate client funds, cap leverage, and submit to audits.
Historically, Kenyan clients came into Capex through offshore KW Investments Ltd (Seychelles), under a Seychelles FSA licence, SD020. There is no CMA Kenya licence tied to the brand. You can verify who does and does not hold a licence on the official register at licensees.cma.or.ke.
| What to check | Capex position | Why it matters to you |
|---|---|---|
| CMA Kenya licence | None | No local recourse if a dispute arises |
| Offshore licence | Seychelles FSA SD020 | Offshore oversight, not local |
| Onboarding status | Closed, redirected to NAGA | You may not be able to open an account |
| Client fund protection | Varies by entity | Segregation rules differ offshore |
Seychelles FSA SD020 Explained
A Seychelles FSA licence is a real licence, and SD020 is a real registration number. The problem is not that it is fake. The problem is what it covers.
Offshore Seychelles entities ran leverage up to roughly 1:300 historically. The CMA cap for licensed local brokers is around 1:400 for major pairs, and offshore entities like this one have advertised anything from 1:300 to 1:1000+. The licence you are actually protected by, though, is the one in your home jurisdiction, and there is none here.
What the Seychelles licence does not give you:
- Access to CMA's complaints process or the Capital Markets Fraud Investigation Unit
- The KES 50 million capital buffer CMA demands of local licensees
- A guarantee of the audits and reporting CMA requires
- Any Kenyan court's easy jurisdiction over a Seychelles entity
What it does give you, in practice, is an offshore counterparty with an offshore dispute route. That is not nothing, but it is not the same as local protection, and you should price that difference in.
The Problem With Merged Brands
Capex merging into NAGA Group in August 2024 is the detail that changes this review most. It is not an accusation, it is a corporate fact, but it has practical consequences.
When a brand merges, the regulatory perimeter can shift. Client agreements get migrated, platforms change, and the entity that holds your money may not be the one you signed up with. In this case, the public position is that CAPEX.com no longer takes new clients and directs them to NAGA Markets.
For you, that means two things. First, opening a new Capex account may not even be possible right now. Second, if you already hold an account, you should confirm which legal entity holds your funds and under which licence, because the answer may have changed since you signed up.
Reading the Kenya Warning Lists
CMA issues public cautionary statements about unlicensed online forex entities, and it directs victims to the Capital Markets Fraud Investigation Unit. As of 2025-2026 it has jointly warned against unlicensed MMFs, forex and crypto schemes. There is a formal cautionary notice titled "Cautionary Statement: Online Forex Trading by Unlicensed Entities."
Where Capex sits on that list: it is not a named blacklisted firm in the research we have. The CMA register as of the review showed roughly ten non-dealing forex brokers licensed, for example TPXM Global Kenya Limited, licensed September 2025. Capex is not among them, because it holds no CMA licence at all.
The scams CMA actually warns Kenyans about look quite different from a licensed-but-offshore brokerage, and it is worth recognising the pattern:
- Ponzi or pyramid "forex investment" schemes promising guaranteed returns, often run through M-Pesa
- "Account manager" cons where someone trades "on your behalf" for a fee or a cut
- Cloned or fake platforms using a real brand's name and logo
- Social media signal and copy-trade fraud, usually without any licence at all
That is where the word scam actually belongs in Kenya. A brand with a Seychelles licence and a winding-down onboarding process is a different category, with different risks.
What This Means for Your Money
The practical question is not "is Capex a scam" but "what happens if something goes wrong with my account." Here, the honest answer is that you would be dealing with an offshore entity with no local regulator standing behind it.
Then there is the tax side, which nobody wants to read and everybody needs to know. The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) treats forex and CFD profit as ordinary income for most retail traders, not capital gains. It gets added to your taxable income and taxed on graduated bands running roughly 10% up to a 35% top marginal rate. Trading through a company attracts the 30% corporate rate instead. Tax residents file an annual return declaring worldwide income, including foreign-sourced trading gains, between 1 January and 30 June, with installment tax due 20 April, June, September and December. Deductible costs include platform fees, internet and training. Verify all of this with KRA directly, since the numbers can shift.
Costs and Account Sizes
Essential needs USD 100 to start, Original needs USD 1,000, and Signature needs USD 25,000. Spreads on XAG/USD start around 0.3 pips, with Essential more like 1.4 pips, and there is no commission on standard CFDs.
| Item | Capex detail |
|---|---|
| Account tiers | Essential $100 / Original $1,000 / Signature $25,000 |
| XAG/USD spread | From ~0.3 pips, ~1.4 pips on Essential |
| Commission on standard CFDs | None |
| Base currencies | USD / EUR |
| Minimum deposit at Essential | USD 100 |
| Platforms | CapexTrader (WebTrader) + MT5 |
| Instruments | 2,100+, FX, shares, ETFs, indices, commodities, crypto CFDs |
| Islamic account | Yes, swap-free available |
If you want to fund this from Kenya, cards, bank wire and e-wallets are the channels noted, and M-Pesa or local rails are not verified at review. Base currencies are USD and EUR, with no KES account confirmed, so a conversion cost applies on every deposit. The simple test: compare what a broker charging a slightly wider spread but holding a CMA licence would cost you on the same trade, and see what the difference buys you in protection.
Costs of Choosing Wrong
The difference between a good broker experience and a bad one in Kenya rarely comes down to spreads. It comes down to three things.
Regulation first. A broker under a strong regime like FCA, CySEC or ASIC, or a CMA-licensed local entity, gives you a complaints process, capital requirements, and fund segregation rules with actual enforcement behind them. That is not marketing, that is the thing you need when a withdrawal is delayed or a position gets liquidated oddly.
Fund segregation second. Your money should sit in a client account separate from the broker's operating funds. When brokers fail, this is often the only reason clients get anything back.
Track record third. A firm with a decade of clean history and a clear ownership structure is a different counterparty than a brand that changed hands last year. Ask who owns the entity, and whether the answer has changed recently.
Costs, platforms and instruments are the easy part. Every serious broker has MT4 or MT5, spreads in a similar band, and hundreds of instruments. The hard part, and the part that determines whether you are still trading comfortably in five years, is the first three.
Verdict: Worth Your Effort?
So, is Capex worth your time? That depends entirely on what you need from a broker, and the honest answer for most Kenyan traders looking to open fresh is probably no. Not because of fraud, but because a brand that stopped onboarding and has no local licence is not the natural first choice. You can verify licensed brokers yourself at licensees.cma.or.ke before depositing a shilling anywhere.
Choose it when you already hold an account, understand which entity custodies your funds, and are comfortable with a Seychelles FSA SD020 counterparty and no CMA recourse. It can also make sense if you specifically want the 2,100+ instrument range, swap-free accounts, or the CapexTrader plus MT5 setup, and you have weighed the offshore route with clear eyes.
Reconsider when you are opening a new account and want a regulator with local reach, or when you value access to the CMA complaints process and the Capital Markets Fraud Investigation Unit. In that case, a broker under FCA, CySEC or ASIC supervision, or a CMA-licensed local entity, gives you a stronger framework for the same trades and probably a similar spread. That is a preference about protection, not a warning about Capex.
