Choosing a broker, without being sold to.

Where to start

We publish no broker rankings yet. When we do, every one will be scored against the published methodology below, and any affiliate relationship will be disclosed at the top of the page. Until then, these are the checks worth doing yourself.

1. Regulation — verify it, do not read it

Every serious broker names a regulator. The check that matters is not that a licence number appears on their site, it is that the number appears on the regulator's own register. Look up the firm directly with the authority (for example the FCA in the UK, ASIC in Australia, CySEC in Cyprus, or the CFTC/NFA in the United States) and confirm the entity name matches the one you would be depositing with — not a similarly named offshore subsidiary.

2. What regulation actually buys you

• Segregated client funds — your deposit held apart from the firm's own money.
• Negative balance protection — you cannot end up owing more than you deposited (required in some jurisdictions, absent in others).
• Leverage caps — lower caps look restrictive and are usually protecting you from the arithmetic on the pre-trade checklist.
• A complaints route that is not the broker's own support desk.

3. Real cost, not headline spread

The advertised spread is one component. Total cost per trade is spread + commission + overnight swap, and the mix differs by account type. Compare the same trade — one mini lot, held for the length you actually intend to hold — across account types, rather than comparing marketing numbers.

4. Demo before live, always

A demo account teaches order mechanics and position sizing at zero financial risk. Move to live money only once you can follow a written plan with a fixed risk per trade — and then with money you can afford to lose entirely.