The Ultimate Guide to
Best Online Brokers for Vietnam
Vietnam has shown considerable economic growth since the United States lifted its trade embargo against the country in 1994, although the country’s stock exchange was founded rather recently in 2000. Since then, the country has enjoyed steady growth in both imports and exports, with its previous rivals the USA and China becoming some of its most important and valuable trading partners.
Vietnam’s first and primary stock market is the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE or HSX), based as it is in the country’s southern industrial hub of Ho Chi Minh City. The HSX lists stocks, convertible warrants, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), fund certificates and bonds among its securities products. The main HSX stock market index is the VNX Index or VNI, and the VNX50 blue-chip index and the VNXALL broad market index are also popular.
In addition, there is also the smaller Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) located in the capital Hanoi in the North of the country. Recent reports indicate that previously released plans to merge the country’s two stock exchanges have now been scrapped. Instead, the two exchanges will operate separately under the state-owned Vietnam Stock Exchange which is anticipated to be set up by 2020.
Forex traders might recognise Vietnam’s national currency that is known as the Vietnamese dong (VND). The dong is additionally subdivided into 10 hào and then into 10 xu, but those smaller denominations are generally no longer used. While the VND is usually maintained at a fixed exchange rate versus the U.S. dollar, there has been a certain amount of recent pressure to devalue the currency in order to keep exports competitive in the face of trade disputes between China and the USA.
The current State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) was formed in 1976 after North and South Vietnam were united by way of a merger with the National Bank of Vietnam. It serves as Vietnam’s central bank and has responsibility for promoting monetary stability and managing the VND’s foreign exchange rate.
The SBV also acts as the primary financial sector regulator and supervisor in Vietnam that regulates, supervises and provides guidelines for financial institutions, while the State Securities Commission (SSC) takes responsibility for developing capital markets, licensing participants, and issuing and enforcing regulations.
Furthermore, the central bank has sole regulator status when it comes to supervising forex trading in Vietnam. While the SBV essentially outlawed online forex trading by individuals, businesses with a need to buy foreign currencies to make payments can still do so.
How to Trade in Vietnam
Although online forex trading in Vietnam may not be strictly legal, you may still be able to find a foreign broker that will accept you as a client if you live there. Some brokers still maintain versions of their websites in Vietnamese or Tiếng Việt, so that suggests they may be open to taking clients based in Vietnam.
Remember that any broker worth trading through should be regulated strictly and segregate its client funds from its own money to make sure deposited money stays safe. Also, a broker should have a good reputation overall with its clients and provide a satisfactory range of services.
The majority of online brokers will offer demo accounts with plenty of virtual money to let traders practice, test strategies and try out their services. Brokers also offer funded accounts where traders must make a minimum deposit to start trading on margin. Some brokers will also support Sharia law compliant Islamic trading accounts for Muslim traders that have no swaps on rollovers.
It’s also important to note that the asset classes you can trade online can differ notably between brokers. Many online brokers offer some type of forex trading, while contracts for difference (CFDs) are also relatively available and can allow for a broader range of tradable assets.
Biggest Opportunities of Trading in Vietnam
Despite Vietnam being geographically rather small at only 310,070 square kilometres, it has a population of 97.4 million people, ranking 15th overall worldwide by that metric. The country also has 35.8% of its population living in an urban setting.
Furthermore, according to GOV.UK, Vietnam currently offers a number of strong opportunities for businesses looking to export or trade there:
- Vietnam is listed as one of the Department for International Trade (DIT)’s 20 High Growth Markets.
- The country is forecast to be one of the top 10 fastest growing economies in the next decade.
- There has been a continuing liberalisation of its economy and economic reforms with sectors such as retailing being liberalised to attract foreign investment.
- Vietnam is a member of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its free trade area.
- The country has one of highest internet penetrations in south east Asia with almost 32 million having broadband access.
Biggest Challenges of Trading in Vietnam
Vietnam’s closest trading partners are the United States, China, Japan and South Korea in that order as of 2016, according to the World Bank Group. The UK only ranks 9th among Vietnam’s trading partners, so any upcoming Brexit should not have a major impact on the Vietnamese economy.
The country has largely been a net exporter over the past decade, which means that Vietnam’s economy can suffer from trade tariffs or wars, as well as the failure of trade agreements. According to The World Bank, Vietnam had a very high 101.6% ratio of trade to GDP numbers in 2017. This makes its economy vulnerable to trade disruptions.
The World Bank only ranked Vietnam 69th overall for the ease of doing business in the country, and it had an even poorer rank of 133rd for resolving insolvencies. The business environment was also rather unfavourable for enforcing contracts, starting a business, and protecting minority investors, with Vietnam only ranking 62nd, 104th and 89th respectively in those areas.
Summary
Traders and businesses will now find Vietnam a much better environment to do business in than at its troubled times in the past, especially those from the United States since they can enjoy a stable currency regime.
Nevertheless, most forex traders will probably want to deal with a foreign online broker, if they can find one to accept them as a client, due to local restrictions on retail forex trading by the SBV.
When considering the choices for an online broker to trade with from Vietnam, traders should look for one that offers a decent asset class range and has a good reputation with clients. Having a full featured trading platform and competent regulation in their local jurisdiction are also important. Finally, any trustworthy broker should keep client margin deposits segregated from its own money in case financial issues arise.
