How to invest in Saudi Arabia stock market (Tadawul)

Hello, investor! Are you looking to expand your portfolio into the Middle East’s largest stock exchange?

For years, investing directly in the Saudi Arabia Stock Exchange (Tadawul) was difficult for individual foreign investors. Direct access was reserved for large qualified institutions, while most retail investors had to rely on derivatives such as CFDs or on international ETFs.

That changed in 2026. Following a reform by the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA), the Main Market is now open to all categories of foreign investors, institutional and individual alike. Combined with the Interactive Brokers (IBKR) and SNB Capital partnership, accessing Tadawul directly is more straightforward than it has ever been.

In this article, we guide you step by step through how to invest in the Saudi stock market, whether through direct access or through ETFs.

Video summary

Understanding the Saudi Arabia Stock Exchange (Tadawul)

The Saudi Exchange, or Tadawul, is the largest market in the Middle East and one of the largest emerging markets in the world. It is regulated by the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA), which sets the rules for domestic and foreign investors alike, and it is the dominant exchange within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Here are the key facts:

• Listed companies: more than 310 on the Main Market, across 22 sectors, plus the Nomu parallel market, REITs, ETFs and sukuk;
• Market hours: Sunday to Thursday, 10:00 to 15:00 local time (GMT+3);
• Currency: Saudi riyal (SAR), pegged to the US dollar;
• Main index: Tadawul All Share Index (TASI), launched in 1985;
• Foreign holdings: SAR 461.52 billion, around USD 123 billion, at the end of August 2026;
• Average daily value traded: SAR 5.11 billion, around USD 1.36 billion, in August 2026.

Tadawul offers stocks, real estate investment trusts (REITs), ETFs and sukuk, which makes it an attractive destination for investors looking to diversify. Its weight keeps growing as Saudi Arabia pushes Vision 2030, the plan to diversify the economy away from oil.

One number puts the opportunity and the risk in context: foreign investors hold roughly 6.8% of the Saudi market, against 25.3% in India and 58.3% in Brazil. There is room for that to rise, which is part of the investment case, but it also means the market is driven mostly by domestic money.

Historical barriers to foreign investors

Historically, foreign investors faced real obstacles. Direct investment on Tadawul was reserved for locals or for institutions with Qualified Foreign Investor (QFI) status, a framework in place since 2015 that required, among other things, large minimum assets under management.

Everyone else had to open an account with an exchange member such as Emirates NBD or Saudi Awwal Bank, use a swap arrangement, or settle for indirect exposure. Most individual investors ended up using CFDs on platforms such as eToro to track the price of Saudi stocks like Aramco without owning them, or buying an international ETF.

The 2026 reform: Tadawul opens to all foreign investors

On 6 January 2026 the CMA announced the reform that took effect on 1 February 2026. It opened the Main Market to all categories of foreign investors and abolished the QFI framework outright, along with the swap-agreement framework that had been used for synthetic exposure.

Under the new rules, any foreign investor, individual or institutional, resident in the Kingdom or not, can invest directly in shares and convertible debt instruments listed on the Main Market through a licensed intermediary, with no QFI status and no prior CMA approval.

Some limits remain:

• A 49% aggregate foreign ownership cap per issuer, excluding foreign strategic investors;
• A 10% limit per single non-resident foreign investor. Foreign investors resident in Saudi Arabia are not subject to this one;
• Restrictions written into a company’s own articles or into sector rules still apply.

In practice these caps rarely bind an individual investor, but they matter for the market: several analysts see a future increase in the foreign ownership limit as the real catalyst, rather than the removal of the QFI layer, since most large institutions already had access.

This also means the IBKR route described below is no longer the only path to direct ownership. It remains one of the most convenient for international retail investors who want Saudi equities alongside a global portfolio in a single account.

Interactive Brokers and direct access to Tadawul for foreign investors

In a groundbreaking move, Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq: IBKR) announced a partnership with SNB Capital to offer foreign investors direct access to the Saudi exchange. On 9 October 2024 IBKR became the first global broker to provide the service, letting clients trade Saudi stocks directly from their platform, two years before the CMA opened the market to everyone.

With that partnership, IBKR clients can hold Saudi equities alongside other global assets such as stocks, options, futures, bonds and ETFs.

The partnership was launched with a bell-ringing ceremony at the Saudi Exchange in Riyadh, attended by SNB Capital’s Head of Securities, Loai Bafaqeeh, and James Bradie, IBKR’s Senior Executive Officer for its Dubai office.

What can I invest in on the Saudi stock market as a foreign investor?

Through Interactive Brokers you can invest in the products available on Tadawul:

• Saudi stocks: direct ownership of shares in Saudi companies;
• Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs): locally listed funds giving broad exposure to the Saudi market;
• Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs): income-generating property through listed vehicles.

How to invest in Tadawul through Interactive Brokers

To get started, follow these steps:

1. Open an account: if you are not already an IBKR client, you can open an account here.

2. Go to the Settings menu: in your account dashboard, click the user icon in the upper-right corner to open Settings.

3. Open trading permissions: scroll down and find Trading Permissions under the Trading section, then click it.

4. Add permissions for stocks: on the Trading Permissions page you will see the asset classes. Find Stocks and click Add/Edit.

5. Select Saudi Arabia: scroll down to the Middle East section, tick the box for Saudi Arabia and click Continue.

6. Submit the request: a confirmation screen will appear. Approval usually takes 24 to 36 hours.

7. Activate market data: once the permission is granted, subscribe to the Saudi Exchange data in the Market Data Subscriptions section of the platform.

How to buy Saudi stocks as a foreigner

For this example we use Al Rajhi Bank (1120), one of the largest listed companies on Tadawul and the biggest Islamic bank in the world by market capitalisation.

Here is the step-by-step on IBKR:

1. Search for Al Rajhi Bank and select it

• Type 1120 into the search bar;
• Select Al Rajhi Bank – Tadawul from the results.

2. Open the stock page

• You will see the price, performance and charts;
• Press Buy to start the order.

3. Set your order details

• Enter the number of shares you want to buy;
• Adjust the order type, market or limit, according to your strategy.

4. Review and send the order

• Check the details, including the total cost and the estimated fees;
• In this example the fees came to 8.58 SAR, roughly €2. Press Submit Buy Order to complete the purchase.

You are now invested in the Saudi market through Al Rajhi Bank shares.

Two costs to keep in mind. Tadawul trades in Saudi riyals, so IBKR converts your money when you trade and the currency conversion cost applies both ways, although the riyal’s peg to the dollar removes most of the exchange-rate risk for a dollar-based investor. On top of the broker’s commission there are exchange, CMA and depository fees built into Saudi trading costs, which together generally run between 0.12% and 0.18% of the transaction.

Which Saudi stocks can I buy?

As a foreign investor you have access to the whole Main Market through Interactive Brokers. These are some of the largest and most traded companies:

1. Saudi Aramco (2222): the world’s largest oil producer and one of the most valuable listed companies anywhere, and by far the biggest weight on the exchange;
2. Al Rajhi Bank (1120): the largest Islamic bank in the world by market capitalisation, with a full range of retail and corporate services;
3. The Saudi National Bank (1180): the Kingdom’s largest bank by assets, formed from the merger of NCB and Samba;
4. SABIC (2010): a global player in chemicals, petrochemicals, fertilisers and metals, majority owned by Aramco;
5. Saudi Telecom Company (7010): the main telecoms operator, with mobile, internet and enterprise services;
6. ACWA Power (2082): a leader in renewable energy and desalinated water, central to the Kingdom’s clean energy targets;
7. Ma’aden (1211): the largest mining company in Saudi Arabia, in gold, phosphate and aluminium;
8. Alinma Bank (1150): one of the fastest-growing Sharia-compliant banks in the country;
9. Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Services Group (4013): a leading private healthcare provider;
10. Elm Company (7203): a major technology and digital services provider specialising in secure IT.

Rankings by market capitalisation change with the market, so check the current figures on the Saudi Exchange before you decide.

If you want to know how to invest in the biggest Saudi stock of all, we have a step-by-step guide on how to buy Saudi Aramco stock as a foreign investor.

Which Saudi ETFs can I buy?

If you are a foreign investor outside the EU and the UK and want to diversify directly into the Saudi market, there are local ETFs on the Saudi Exchange that you can buy through Interactive Brokers:

1. YAQEEN 30 ETF (9400): tracks the 30 largest companies in the Saudi market;
2. YAQEEN Petrochemical ETF (9401): focused on the petrochemical sector;
3. SAB MT30 ETF (9402): based on the MSCI Tadawul 30 index, which also underpins the exchange’s derivatives market;
4. Albilad Sukuk ETF (9403): Sharia-compliant, invested in Saudi government sukuk;
5. Alinma Sukuk ETF (9404): another sukuk fund for Sharia-compliant fixed income;
6. Albilad Gold ETF (9405): tracks the gold price under Sharia-compliant rules;
7. Albilad MSCI Saudi ETF (9406): diversified exposure across the Saudi market;
8. Albilad US Tech ETF (9407): Sharia-compliant exposure to US technology companies;
9. Albilad Saudi Growth ETF (9408): targets growth companies, focused on small and mid caps.

For details on each one, visit the Saudi Exchange ETF market watch.

Can I buy Saudi local ETFs from Europe and the UK?

No, and the reason is the disclosure rules rather than the Saudi ones. Under the EU PRIIPs regulation, an investment product marketed to retail investors must come with a Key Information Document (KID) setting out its features, risks and costs in a standard format.

Local Saudi ETFs such as YAQEEN 30 (9400) do not produce a KID, so they are not compliant and are not available to ordinary retail clients on Interactive Brokers in the EU. The same practical outcome applies in the UK, where the PRIIPs regime was replaced in 2026 by the new Consumer Composite Investments rules: without a compliant disclosure document, the fund stays off the retail menu.

There is one route around it, and it is not for everyone: investors who qualify as professional clients under MiFID II are outside the PRIIPs retail scope and can generally buy these funds. Qualifying requires meeting strict tests on portfolio size, trading frequency and professional experience.

For the full text of the PRIIPs regulation, see the official EU documentation here.

How to invest in a Saudi ETF alternative (IKSA) from Europe and the UK on Trading 212

In Europe, the most popular alternative to the local funds is the iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia Capped UCITS ETF USD (Acc), ticker IKSA. According to justETF, it is the largest Saudi equity ETF available to European investors, and because it is a UCITS fund it comes with a KID and is available to retail clients.

Here is how to buy it on Trading 212:

Step 1: search for IKSA and select it

• In the Trading 212 app, type IKSA into the search bar;
• Select the iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia Capped (Acc) ETF from the results.

Step 2: open the ETF page

• You will see the price, performance and historical chart;
• Press Buy to start the purchase.

Step 3: set the trade parameters

• Enter the number of shares you want to buy;
• Adjust the order type if you need to: market, limit, stop or stop-limit.

Step 4: review and send the order

• Check the details, including the number of shares and the estimated total cost;
• Press Send buy order to execute the trade.

That is it: you now have exposure to Saudi equities through the IKSA ETF. Bear in mind that the fund holds a capped basket of Saudi shares, so its performance will differ from a direct holding in a single company, and that it is priced in dollars, so a currency conversion applies if your account is in euros or pounds.

New users can also get a free fractional share worth up to €/£100 by signing up with the Trading 212 promo code IITW*.

Why invest in Saudi Arabia?

The Saudi economy is going through a deep transformation under Vision 2030, with a push into energy, finance, tourism, entertainment and infrastructure. Tadawul is the way to buy into those sectors, and the reform of February 2026 removed the last structural barrier for foreign money.

As Milan Galik of IBKR put it:

Risks and considerations

The opportunity comes with risks that are worth naming:

• Concentration: Aramco alone accounts for a very large share of the exchange’s value, and banks and materials dominate most of the rest. A Saudi ETF is less diversified than its number of holdings suggests;
• Oil prices: the budget, the currency peg and much of the corporate earnings base still depend on them;
• Geopolitics: the region is politically volatile and that shows up in valuations;
• Market performance: the TASI fell 12.8% in 2025, a reminder that reform and returns are not the same thing;
• Currency and costs: trading in riyals brings conversion costs, and total Saudi transaction fees add roughly 0.12% to 0.18% on top of your broker’s commission;
• Ownership caps: the 49% aggregate limit can restrict buying in the most popular names once foreign demand approaches it.

Bottom line

Investing in the Saudi stock market is now within reach of any foreign investor. Since 1 February 2026 the Main Market is open to individuals as well as institutions, without QFI status, and Interactive Brokers offers a practical route to hold Saudi equities alongside a global portfolio in one account.

For European and UK investors, local Saudi ETFs remain out of reach because they do not publish the required disclosure document, but the iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF (IKSA) gives similar exposure within a compliant framework, and you can buy it on Trading 212 among others.

We hope this article has given you what you need to start. If you have questions, feel free to reach out to us. We wish you the best in your investment journey.

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