Which countries should a prop firm consider restricting?
Quick answer
Start with countries under comprehensive sanctions by the UN, US, UK or EU, then add countries whose regulators prohibit residents from using offshore trading platforms, countries your payment provider excludes, and countries where your platform licence does not allow service. Many firms also restrict the United States.
Detailed answer
General information, not legal, tax or regulatory advice. Rules differ by country and change over time; confirm your position with a qualified professional before acting on it.
How to build the list:
- Sanctions: comprehensive programmes from OFAC (US), OFSI (UK) and the EU, plus UN measures.
- Regulatory warnings: for example, India's RBI publishes an Alert List of unauthorised forex platforms, and Pakistan's central bank has prohibited residents from buying offshore forex products.
- Payment provider exclusions.
- Platform licence limits.
- Your own risk view.
Keep the list in your terms with a date, and assign someone to review it when sanctions or warnings change. This is general information, not legal advice.
Publishing the list
Show the restricted list in your terms and on the checkout page, so traders in those countries know before paying. It reduces refunds and complaints.
Revisit regularly
Assign one person to review the list each quarter and whenever sanctions change. Record what changed and the date, so you can show which list applied to each purchase.
A practical shortcut
Ask your payment provider for its restricted list and start from it, then add countries based on regulatory warnings and your own risk view.
PropExecutor team · Updated
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