Three of the major prop firms said last month that the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is now a top growth priority, with one of them making an unplanned expansion announcement directly from a panel stage at iFX EXPO Dubai, held February 10-12 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

The declarations came at a charged moment for the region. Less than three weeks later, Iranian ballistic missiles and drones struck targets across the UAE, including near Dubai International Airport and the Palm Jumeirah, killing three people and injuring dozens more.

The 5ers' Biggest Regional Bet

Nora Bar Tahhan, Managing Director of The 5ers, used the panel to break what she described as the firm's largest-ever MENA expansion.

"I am announcing our plan for another and much bigger expansion for MENA, from this stage," she told attendees, declining to elaborate on specifics. The 5ers, which has operated for a decade, also confirmed it is preparing to launch futures trading products for MENA clients "very soon," a direct response to what Bar Tahhan described as strong regional demand for instruments beyond forex.

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Bar Tahhan framed the region's appeal in structural terms rather than speculative ones. "In MENA, there is a strong trading culture and a high appetite for financial markets," she said. "The young, dynamic population and fast financial hubs push traders to look for stable firms."

Watch the full recording. The rest of the article continues below the video:

Dubai Draws the Industry's Biggest Players

FundedNext, which already operates an office in Dubai, said the region has become central to its business.

"When you fly into Dubai, you see a different vibe, ads for brokerages everywhere," said founder and CEO Syed Abdullah Jayed. "Because of regulatory acceptance and emerging populations moving to the UAE and the broader MENA region, the adoption and growth have been very good."

The firm said it paid out more than $150 million to traders globally in 2025, and that studying that data shaped its understanding of what separates profitable traders from those who fail. Jayed said the pattern is consistent: successful traders "think end-to-end, not just about passing phase one or phase two," remaining disciplined on drawdown limits, position sizing and long-term consistency.

Jayed also said the firm is running internal experiments with Direct Market Access accounts, which would move top-performing traders from simulated environments into live trading. "I can't share all the details yet," he said, but described the internal results as promising.

The broader backdrop has been building for years. The DIFC financial hub added over 1,000 companies in the first half of 2025 alone, with fintech registrations rising 28%, and most CFD brokers in the UAE hold Category 5 licences that allow marketing and promotion in the country while routing actual trader onboarding through non-UAE entities, a structure that has made Dubai a low-friction entry point for financial services firms broadly.

GCC Growth Outpaces Other Regions

IC Funded's General Manager Petros Kalaitzis said the Gulf's growth curve has not plateaued. "The GCC is constantly showing double-digit growth," he said, pointing to volatility in commodities like gold as one factor drawing MENA-based traders into more active participation. The firm, backed by a larger brokerage group, plans to release new product categories by the end of Q1 or early Q2, with updates continuing throughout the year.

The region's economics are compelling for firms. Research published earlier this year found that prop firms operating in high-growth emerging markets can achieve peak return on ad spend of up to 12x, compared to around 3x in the United States. MENA sits firmly within that high-efficiency growth category, making it a priority target well beyond the promotional appeal.

A Shadow Over the Hub

The expansion ambitions now face a question none of the panelists could have anticipated when they spoke in February. Iranian strikes on the UAE beginning February 28 hit near key financial districts, disrupted over 1,400 flights, temporarily suspended UAE stock markets and sent hedge funds and banks into contingency mode across Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

As FinanceMagnates.com reported, the attacks rattled financial firms with offices in the city, raising fresh questions about whether Dubai's long-held reputation as a safe, neutral hub can survive a prolonged regional conflict.

Whether the expansion plans announced with confidence at iFX EXPO proceed on schedule will depend heavily on how the broader conflict develops in the coming months.

Low Entry Costs, High Demand

The core value proposition of prop trading remains intact, at least for now. Jayed put it plainly: a trader wanting to manage a $100,000 account would normally need to put up that capital personally. With a prop challenge, the same access costs $500 to $600 in fees.

"Even if they fail a few times," he said, "the risk-to-reward ratio of the potential return is the best thing about it."

That low entry point has proven particularly resonant across a region with a large young population and an established appetite for financial markets, and it is a dynamic that geopolitical disruption alone is unlikely to reverse quickly.

Regulation Framed as a Filter, Not a Threat

All three panelists said they welcome regulatory oversight, arguing it will clear the market of weaker operators. "Good firms should embrace regulation as a way to clean up the industry and distinguish good companies from bad ones," Kalaitzis said.

Jayed went further, positioning FundedNext as a potential compliance partner. "If regulators decide to enter the market, we want to be the gold standard they partner with to design the best possible compliance," he said. Bar Tahhan added that The 5ers already operates as though it were regulated, calling oversight "a good filter for the industry."

The regulatory conversation is gathering momentum. ATFX's Drew Niv argued at Finance Magnates London Summit 2025 that prop trading will reshape the FX market the way retail trading did 25 years ago.

Whether Dubai remains the anchor for that transformation is now a question with a far more complicated set of variables than it had on February 12.