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AIPROPX ReportFortune · 2h ago
Why Dubai has become a city of retail traders
Welcome to this week’s Fortune Gulf Brief. Regular readers might notice a different author byline today, that’s because Melissa is taking a well-earned break although, knowing journalists, probably with one eye on her phone and what’s happening in the Gulf. Ordinary service resumes next week.
Until then, I’m Inzamam Rashid, international journalist and broadcaster based in Dubai, and I’ll be your guide to the region for this week.
There’s no shortage of things to talk about. Donald Trump’s pronouncements are increasingly becoming trading signals for investors in the UAE, while Washington’s new economic offensive against Iran comes as Tehran’s currency hits a record low and one of its most important trading partners slams the door shut.
Iran’s currency crisis deepens as UAE lifeline closes
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince goes to Paris and leaves with billions in deals
Pop stars pull out of Abu Dhabi, but the F1 is staying put
So with Melissa temporarily swapping Gulf Brief for the beach, let’s get into it.
Retail trading activity in Dubai has shown signs of significant growth in response to the market-moving pronouncements of President Donald Trump and fluctuations in the prices of gold and oil.
In the first half of 2026, the Dubai Financial Market’s trading value soared 40% year-on-year to $32.5 billion, while Abu Dhabi’s exchange saw $46.6 billion in trades.
There might be another explanation for Dubai’s retail trading boom beyond Donald Trump, war and a very good year for gold: it’s the sort of people who move here.
“Everyone that moves to the UAE is a risk taker by definition,” Tarik Chebib, Capital.com’s Middle East CEO, told me when we sat down to discuss why trading volumes in the region have surged.
Dubai has spent the past decade attracting entrepreneurs, financiers, executives and increasingly wealthy expats from around the world. Many have already taken one fairly major financial gamble, packing up their lives and moving to the Gulf (of course, the lack of tax is another major influence here).
Chebib argues that this has helped create an unusually receptive audience for retail investing. When he arrived in the UAE 11 years ago, he says, conversations about brokerage accounts were relatively rare. Today, most clients arriving at Capital.com have traded before.
COVID accelerated the change. Chebib says more people began thinking: “I want to manage my own money. I don’t want it to be sitting in a bank anymore. I need to prepare for my future.”
There is another very Gulf-specific factor at play. For many of the expats who make up the UAE’s workforce, the traditional financial safety nets found in parts of Europe are less extensive.
“Here, you’ve got to figure it out yourself,” Chebib said. For some, he argues, trading has become one vehicle for doing exactly that.
That doesn’t mean everyone in Dubai has suddenly become a day trader. But the numbers suggest this is no longer a niche pastime. Chebib tells me the UAE retail trading market is now comparable in size to Singapore, a remarkable shift for a market that hardly registered in international research five years ago.
And traders here certainly aren’t short of things to bet on. This year alone, the obsession has shifted from gold to oil during the war, to AI, and U.S. equities. Nasdaq and S&P 500 products remain particularly popular, while Chebib says Gulf traders are already positioning themselves for what comes next.
Which brings us back to Donald Trump. His statements are now moving this increasingly sophisticated—and increasingly heavily invested—audience almost instantly.
Read my full story here on why Trump is becoming one of the Gulf’s most powerful trading signals for the Middle East.
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