Forex Trading in Thailand: How Beginners Learn and Trade

How people in Thailand learn forex and trade gold, forex and indices with KCM Trade, from practising on a free KCM demo to MT5 on a phone, costs in US dollars, the session hours in Thailand time (ICT) and how the Revenue Department taxes foreign income.

KCM Academy Editorial Team
Editorial policy
Last updated 27 October 2026

Most people in Thailand learn how a CFD, a pip and trading costs work, practise on a free KCM demo, then trade gold, forex and indices in US dollars on KCM Pro or MetaTrader 5. This guide follows that path, the same steps as how to trade forex online.

It covers opening a KCM account, setting up MT5 on a phone, what you can trade, what a trade costs in US dollars, when each session opens in Thailand time, and how the Revenue Department treats income from abroad.

How do you start learning forex in Thailand?

Learn the building blocks first, then practise every step on a demo account, which trades virtual money at live prices, before you open a live account. The six steps below run from the first lesson to a first live trade, in the order that avoids repeat work: concepts, platform, orders, costs, size, then going live.

  1. Learn what you would be trading. A CFD, leverage and margin, and what a pip is worth: what is a CFD, leverage and margin, lots, pips and pip value.
  2. Open a KCM demo in KCM Pro. Register at KCM Pro, open a demo account and practise on its charts. What a demo can and cannot show you is in forex demo account, and MT5 setup is in install MetaTrader 5.
  3. Practise each order type. A market order, a pending order, a stop loss and a take profit: forex order types and place your first trade in MT5.
  4. Work out the costs in dollars. Price the spread and any swap on your trade size before each trade, as in the cost example below.
  5. Size every position from your stop distance. Position sizing and the position size calculator show how.
  6. Go live at the size you practised. When sizing and costing a trade is routine, open a KCM Trade account and log every trade, deposit and withdrawal in a trading journal.

How do you start trading with KCM Trade in Thailand?

Register at KCM Pro, practise on a KCM demo, open an STP account, fund it, then trade live on KCM Pro's charts or in MetaTrader 5 at the sizes you practised. The STP account is held in US dollars, so gold, forex and indices are all priced, costed and settled in one currency.

  1. Register and verify at KCM Pro. Sign up at pro.kcm.trade, then verify your account in KCM Pro. Verification comes before your first trade.
  2. Practise on a KCM demo. Open a demo account in KCM Pro and practise on its charts. It trades virtual money under the same conditions as a real account, you can open as many as you like, and you set its balance in KCM Pro to what you plan to deposit.
  3. Open an STP account. Open it in KCM Pro: it starts from US$20 with no commission, and you choose leverage of up to 1:1000 on forex and gold, or 1:100 on indices, when you create the account.
  4. Fund it under Funds in KCM Pro. The payment methods for the country you registered from show there, with limits and processing times, and each deposit lands in your US-dollar account. KCM's methods include bank cards (Visa, Mastercard and JCB) and mobile banking apps in certain countries, electronic payment systems, USDT and bank cashier slips. In Thailand you can also pay by Thai QR through KCM's local payment gateway. KCM charges no deposit or withdrawal fee, and you withdraw by the method you deposited with.
  5. Trade on KCM Pro or MT5. Trade directly on the charts inside KCM Pro, or install KCM's MetaTrader 5 from the KCM MT5 download page (iPhone, Android, Windows, macOS and a browser WebTerminal) and log in with the login, password and server shown in KCM Pro.

How do you set up MetaTrader 5 on your phone?

Install MetaTrader 5 from KCM's download page, the App Store or Google Play, then log in with the login, password and server shown in KCM Pro. The MT5 mobile app runs on iPhone, iPad and Android, supports every order type and the built-in indicators, and costs nothing to download.

  1. Open the KCM MT5 download page on your phone and tap the App Store link on an iPhone or iPad, or Google Play or the APK on Android.
  2. Open the app, add an account and search for KCMTrade to find KCM's live server, KCMTrade-Live.
  3. Enter the login and password of your KCM account from KCM Pro.
  4. In Quotes, tap a symbol such as XAUUSD or EURUSD and choose New Order.
  5. Set the volume, a stop loss and a take profit, then tap Buy by Market or Sell by Market.
  6. The position appears on the Trade tab. On Android, press and hold it, choose Close Position, then confirm. Closed trades move to History.

Stop loss and take profit sit on KCM's server once placed, so they work even when your phone is offline.

What can you trade from Thailand with KCM?

From Thailand you trade what every KCM client trades: gold (XAUUSD), over 40 forex pairs such as EURUSD, and indices such as US30, in a US-dollar account on KCM Pro or MT5. Profits, losses and costs all come out in dollars, so one set of numbers covers every trade.

KCM's specification tables list these figures for some of the most traded symbols:

Symbol What it tracks 1 lot is 1 pip on 1 lot
XAUUSD Spot gold in US dollars 100 ounces $10
EURUSD Euro against the US dollar 100,000 euros $10
GBPUSD British pound against the US dollar 100,000 pounds $10
US30 Dow Jones Industrial Average 10 × the index $10
US100 Nasdaq 100 20 × the index $20
US500 S&P 500 50 × the index $50

Each of these trades from 0.01 lot up to 20 lots per order. On gold, 0.01 lot is 1 ounce, so a $1 move in the gold price is worth $1 on 0.01 lot and $100 on 1 lot. KCM lists more than 200 instruments in all, with the full tables on its forex, precious metals and indices pages. Gold is covered step by step in how to trade gold, and index CFDs in what are indices.

What does a trade cost on KCM in US dollars?

A trade on KCM's STP account costs the spread, plus swap on nights it stays open where swap-free status does not apply; there is no commission, so the whole cost is one dollar figure. Spread cost is the spread in pips × pip value per lot × lots.

KCM's STP spreads start from 1.2 pips on EURUSD, and on XAUUSD from 1.6 pips. At those spreads, with no commission:

Trade Pip value Spread cost Commission
0.10 lot EURUSD $1 a pip 1.2 × $1 = $1.20 $0
0.01 lot XAUUSD $0.10 a pip 1.6 × $0.10 = $0.16 $0

Costs apply in both directions. On the EURUSD trade, a 20-pip gain of $20 nets $18.80 and a 20-pip loss of $20 becomes $21.20. On the gold trade, a $5 rise in the gold price is +$5, or $4.84 after the spread, and a $5 fall costs $5.16.

KCM gives swap-free status by default on eligible instruments, except to accounts that frequently hold positions overnight. Where swap does apply, right-click the symbol in MT5's Market Watch on desktop and open Specification to see swap long, swap short and the weekday charged three times; a position closed before the daily rollover pays none. The trading cost calculator, pip value calculator and XAUUSD lot size calculator run the numbers for your own trade, and each cost is explained in spread, commission and swap.

What time is the forex market open in Thailand?

In Thailand time (ICT, UTC+7), the Asian sessions run through the Thai working day, London opens mid-afternoon, and the busiest window, the London and New York overlap, runs from about 8pm to midnight. Thailand stays on UTC+7 all year, so only the UK and US clock changes move these times.

Approximate session hours in ICT, for when the UK and US are on winter time:

Session UTC Thailand (ICT, UTC+7)
Sydney 21:00 to 06:00 04:00 to 13:00
Tokyo 00:00 to 09:00 07:00 to 16:00
London 08:00 to 17:00 15:00 to 00:00
New York 13:00 to 22:00 20:00 to 05:00
London and New York overlap 13:00 to 17:00 20:00 to 00:00

When the UK and US are on summer time, London and New York open about an hour earlier in ICT, so the overlap runs about 19:00 to 23:00. The UK and US switch on different weekends, so for a week or two each spring and autumn the overlap is shorter or longer. The forex market hours tool shows which sessions are open now in your own time zone.

MT5 shows quote times in its trading server's time zone, which can differ from ICT. Each symbol's Specification window lists its trading sessions for every day of the week.

A 24-hour strip in Thailand time, ICT, showing Sydney 04:00 to 13:00, Tokyo 07:00 to 16:00, London 15:00 to 00:00 and New York 20:00 to 05:00, with the London and New York overlap from 20:00 to 00:00 highlighted
In Thailand time (ICT, UTC+7) the London and New York overlap runs 20:00 to 00:00 in UK and US winter time; during their summer time, London and New York open one hour earlier.

What is the best time to trade forex in Thailand?

The most active hours in Thailand time are the London and New York overlap, about 8pm to midnight in UK and US winter time, when liquidity is usually highest and spreads on major pairs are often narrowest. Daytime in Thailand falls in the Tokyo session, when yen and Australian dollar pairs are usually the most active.

A currency pair tends to be busiest when the markets for both its currencies are open, and busy hours also bring the largest news-driven moves. Gold and US indices such as US30 and US100 come alive in the same evening window: the New York stock market opens at 9:30am New York time, which is 9:30pm ICT in US winter time and 8:30pm in summer time. Release times for scheduled data are in an economic calendar; convert them to ICT by adding seven hours to UTC. How spreads change through the day is covered in forex market sessions.

Do you pay tax on forex trading in Thailand?

Thailand taxes a resident, someone in the country 180 days or more in a calendar year, on income from foreign sources when that income is brought into Thailand, under the Revenue Department's rules in force since 2024. It goes on the PND.90 or PND.91 return with your other income, due by the end of March.

For the amount to declare, the Revenue Department uses a commercial bank's exchange rate on the day the money comes into Thailand, or the Bank of Thailand's reference rate for the business day before. Keep every closed trade from your trade history and every transfer slip, and ask the Revenue Department how your own trading results are classified.

Frequently asked questions

How do I start forex trading in Thailand?

Learn how lots, pips and costs work, then register at KCM Pro and practise on a free KCM demo with virtual money. When you can size and cost a trade in US dollars without help, open an STP account from US$20, fund it under Funds in KCM Pro and trade the same size you practised.

Can I practise forex for free?

Yes. Open a free demo account in KCM Pro at pro.kcm.trade and practise on its charts. It trades virtual money under the same conditions as a real KCM account, and you can open as many demo accounts as you like.

Can I trade gold from Thailand with KCM?

Yes. Gold trades as XAUUSD on KCM Pro and KCM's MT5, alongside more than 40 forex pairs and indices such as US30, all in a US-dollar account. One lot of XAUUSD is 100 ounces, so 0.01 lot moves $1 for each $1 change in the gold price.

What time does the forex market open in Thailand?

The week opens with the Sydney session at about 4am Monday in Thailand time (UTC+7), and trading runs around the clock until New York closes early Saturday morning. The busiest window, the London and New York overlap, is about 8pm to midnight in UK and US winter time and about 7pm to 11pm in summer time.

Sources

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