How to Start a Local Commodities Brokerage Business with Meydan Free Zone

In April 2025, the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange cleared 26,108 commodity contracts in a single day. Every one of those trades belonged to a client, and every client reached the exchange through a broker. Local commodities brokerage is the layer that connects UAE-based traders, refiners, and investors to the commodity contracts listed on their own doorstep, and it is one of the fastest-growing corners of the country's financial market.

The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange closed 2025 with 2,048,556 contracts traded, a 30 percent year-on-year increase, and the total value of those contracts reached USD 46.96 billion, according to the UAE Government Media Office^¹. Gold futures led the surge, with volumes rising 613 percent year on year.

The exchange's Shariah-compliant Gold Spot Contract saw its trade value climb 199.84 percent in the first half of the year alone, according to Arab News^². The exchange's clearing house was also re-recognised by the European Securities and Markets Authority as a third-country central counterparty, a signal of how seriously international regulators now treat the UAE's local commodity market.

[blockCTACostCalculator]

The Local Commodity Market Is Scaling Fast

‍A UAE commodity exchange used to be a regional venue with regional volumes. That has changed. Traded value, gold activity, and international recognition all moved sharply in the same direction over a single year.

Sources: UAE Government Media Office (2026) ; Arab News (2025).

[blockCTANameCheck]

The demand is broad and growing faster than the broker base. The UAE's local commodity exchange recorded more than two million contracts in a single year^¹, and the people behind those trades are not speculators in an abstract market.

They are bullion dealers managing physical gold inventory, jewellery houses locking in metal prices before a production run, and members of the country's large South Asian community hedging rupee exposure through contracts built for exactly that purpose. They are not the only ones either.

Shariah-compliant investors, regional commodity traders, and corporate treasuries are all moving onto the same venue. The activity routes through a small number of authorised brokers, and the volume each of them now handles has outgrown the count of firms licensed to handle it.

The Securities and Commodities Authority licenses every broker that executes commodity contracts on a UAE exchange. Authorisation calls for capital backing, segregated client accounts, and audited compliance with exchange and clearing rules. Those requirements are what earns the market its credibility. 

From bullion dealers and jewellery houses to rupee hedgers and Shariah-compliant investors, the UAE local commodity market rewards brokers built to execute cleanly on a fast-growing exchange.

[blockCTABizActivityList]

Who is this for?

• Precious metals brokers: Firms executing client orders in gold, silver, and other precious metal contracts listed on the UAE's commodity exchange, serving bullion dealers, refiners, and jewellery businesses.
• Currency-linked commodity brokers: Operators handling client orders in rupee and other currency-linked futures listed locally, serving the UAE's large expatriate community hedging home-currency exposure.
• Shariah-compliant commodity brokers: Brokers focused on executing client orders in Shariah-compliant spot and futures contracts, serving Islamic investors, funds, and institutions seeking compliant commodity exposure.

Meydan Free Zone offers 100% foreign ownership, zero percent corporate tax on qualifying income, full profit repatriation, and a fully digital licensing process, providing a regulated and cost-efficient base from which to operate as a commodity broker on one of the region's fastest-growing exchanges.

[blockCTATradeLicense]

6612.96 - Brokerage in Commodities Listed in Local Markets

Under this activity, you are licensed to execute buy and sell orders in commodity contracts listed on commodity exchanges based in the UAE, on behalf of clients. The broker is the regulated intermediary connecting UAE and regional commodity participants with locally listed futures, options, and spot commodity contracts. Revenue is earned through commissions and execution fees on client orders, not through dealing in commodities on own account.

There are clear boundaries on this activity. Local commodities brokerage does not cover dealing in commodity contracts on own account, which falls under a separate financial intermediation classification. It excludes physical commodity trading, refining, storage, and logistics. It also excludes brokerage in commodity contracts listed on foreign exchanges, as well as brokerage in shares, bonds, currencies, and securities, each of which is licensed separately. 

The line is precise. If your business executes client orders in commodity contracts listed on a UAE commodity exchange, you are in. If you trade commodities physically, deal for your own book, or broker contracts listed on foreign exchanges, you are not.

Third-Party Approval: Pre-approval from the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) is required before the trade license is issued.

Anti-Money Laundering Compliance: This business activity is exempt from UAE Anti-Money Laundering compliance requirements.

[blockCTAFawri]

Footnotes

¹ UAE Government Media Office. The DGCX Announces a Strong Operational and Market Performance in 2025. UAE Government Media Office, January 2026.

² Arab News. DGCX Reports 30% Rise in Trade Volumes in H1 2025. Arab News, July 2025.