Forex Trading in the Philippines: How Filipinos Learn and Practise

A practical guide to forex for Filipinos. It covers practising on a free KCM demo, MT5 on Android or iPhone, MT5 order types, trading gold, forex and indices in a US-dollar account, what a trade costs in US dollars, and the market sessions in Philippine time.

KCM Academy Editorial Team
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Last updated 19 October 2026

Filipinos learning forex start the same way: learn how a pair is priced, practise on a free KCM demo, then trade gold, forex and indices in a US-dollar account on KCM Pro or MetaTrader 5. This guide walks through each step of trading forex online from the Philippines, with the arithmetic shown and the market hours in Philippine time.

How do Filipinos start learning forex trading?

Learn the mechanics, practise them on a demo account, then review every practice trade. Five steps cover it, each linked to the lesson or tool that teaches it, from how a trade is built to the journal that records your practice:

  1. Learn how a trade is built. Start with what is a CFD, lots, pips and pip value and leverage and margin.
  2. Open a KCM demo in KCM Pro. Register at KCM Pro, open a demo account and practise on its charts. A KCM demo uses virtual money under the same conditions as a real account. Pick a demo balance close to what you would really use, so each result feels its true size. MT5 setup is in how to install MetaTrader 5.
  3. Place practice trades. Use the smallest volume the symbol allows, and set a stop loss and take profit on each one (see placing your first trade in MT5).
  4. Size each trade before you open it. Position sizing shows how to fix the amount at stake per trade.
  5. Keep a record. A trading journal turns demo trades into lessons you can review. Then go live with KCM Trade, as set out next.

How do you start trading with KCM Trade in the Philippines?

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. Larger traders can also open an ECN account from US$30,000.
  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. 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 MT5 on Android or iPhone?

KCM's MetaTrader 5 runs on iPhone, iPad and Android, so once your KCM account is open you can trade it from your phone. The app has the same order types as desktop, charts with built-in indicators, and the same login on every device, using the login, password and server shown in KCM Pro.

  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.

To place a trade in the Android app, MetaQuotes' help on opening and closing positions gives these steps:

  1. In Quotes, tap the symbol, such as XAUUSD or EURUSD, and choose New Order.
  2. Set the volume and any stop loss and take profit.
  3. Tap Buy by Market or Sell by Market.
  4. The position appears on the Trade tab. To close it, press and hold it, choose Close Position, then confirm. Closed trades move to History.

What order types does MT5 have?

MT5 has market orders, which fill now at the current price, and pending orders, which wait for a price you choose. MetaQuotes' help on order types defines the four basic pending orders by where they sit and which price triggers them:

Order type Sits Triggers when
Buy Limit Below the current price The Ask falls to your price or below
Sell Limit Above the current price The Bid rises to your price or above
Buy Stop Above the current price The Ask rises to your price or above
Sell Stop Below the current price The Bid falls to your price or below

Buy Stop Limit and Sell Stop Limit place a limit order once the stop level is reached. A limit order fills at your price or better. A triggered stop order fills at the next available price, so after a weekend or news gap it fills beyond your level. When and why each type is used is in forex order types and pending orders in MT5.

What can you trade from the Philippines with KCM?

From the Philippines 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 a KCM 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 40-pip gain of $40 nets $38.80 and a 40-pip loss of $40 becomes $41.20. 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, it is charged each night a position stays open past the rollover, with three nights charged on the triple swap day: right-click the symbol in MT5's Market Watch and open Specification to read swap long, swap short and the multiplier for each weekday. More detail is in spread, commission and swap, and the margin calculator and pip value calculator work out other sizes.

What are the forex market hours in the Philippines?

In Philippine Standard Time (UTC+8), the Asian session runs through the working day and the London and New York overlap falls late at night, from about 21:00 to 01:00 PHT. The Philippines does not use daylight saving time, so only the UK, US and Australian clock changes move these hours.

These are the usual session conventions, shown for when the UK and US are on winter time:

Session UTC Philippines (PHT, UTC+8)
Sydney 21:00 to 06:00 05:00 to 14:00
Tokyo 00:00 to 09:00 08:00 to 17:00
London 08:00 to 17:00 16:00 to 01:00
New York 13:00 to 22:00 21:00 to 06:00
Tokyo and Sydney overlap 00:00 to 06:00 08:00 to 14:00
London and New York overlap 13:00 to 17:00 21:00 to 01:00

When the UK and US are on summer time, London and New York open about an hour earlier, so the overlap moves to about 20:00 to 00:00 PHT. The trading week opens early on Monday morning PHT and ends early on Saturday morning PHT.

For a Filipino with a day job, yen and Australian dollar pairs are most active during office hours, while euro, pound and US dollar pairs are busiest from late evening to past midnight. Gold and US indices such as US30 come alive in the same late window: the New York stock market opens at 9:30am New York time, which is 22:30 PHT in US winter time and 21:30 in summer time. More on session overlaps and liquidity is in forex market sessions, and the forex market hours tool shows which sessions are open in your own time zone. Which currency pairs trade most is covered in best forex pairs to trade.

A 24-hour strip in Philippine time, PHT, showing Sydney 05:00 to 14:00, Tokyo 08:00 to 17:00, London 16:00 to 01:00 and New York 21:00 to 06:00, with the London and New York overlap from 21:00 to 01:00 highlighted
In Philippine time (PHT, UTC+8) the London and New York overlap runs 21:00 to 01:00 in UK and US winter time; during their summer time, London and New York open one hour earlier.

Frequently asked questions

Can I practise forex trading for free in the Philippines?

Yes. Open a free demo account in KCM Pro at pro.kcm.trade and practise on its charts with virtual money, under the same conditions as a real KCM account. When you go live, KCM's MetaTrader 5 has free apps for iPhone, iPad and Android.

What time does the forex market open in the Philippines?

The trading week opens early on Monday morning Philippine time and runs until early Saturday morning. The busiest window, the London and New York overlap, is about 21:00 to 01:00 PHT when the UK and US are on winter time, and about 20:00 to 00:00 in their summer.

How much is one pip worth on EURUSD and gold?

On EURUSD, one pip is worth $1 on 0.10 lot and $0.10 on 0.01 lot. On XAUUSD, KCM's contract is 100 ounces, so one pip is $10 on 1 lot and $0.10 on 0.01 lot, and a $1 move in the gold price is $1 on 0.01 lot.

What can I trade from the Philippines with KCM?

Gold (XAUUSD), more than 40 forex pairs such as EURUSD and GBPUSD, and indices such as US30, US100 and US500, all in a US-dollar account on KCM Pro or KCM's MetaTrader 5, with no commission on the STP account.

Do you pay tax on forex trading gains in the Philippines?

The National Internal Revenue Code taxes resident Filipino citizens on income from within and outside the Philippines, and gross income includes gains from dealings in property. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is the authority to ask how forex gains are classified.

Sources

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