Broker research — education first
Choosing a broker, without being sold to.
Start with the six-point checklist for choosing a forex broker, then read how regulation actually protects your money.
A broker is the counterparty holding your money. That makes regulation and real cost the only two things worth deciding on first — and a bonus offer the least important thing on the page.
Last updated 2026-10-13 · No broker rankings published · Affiliate disclosure
Where to start
We publish no broker rankings yet. When we do, every one will be scored against our published review methodology, summarised in the table below, and any affiliate relationship will be disclosed at the top of the page — see the affiliate disclosure. Until then, these are the checks worth doing yourself.
| Criterion | What we check |
|---|---|
| Regulation & fund protection | Licence verified on the regulator's own register; the exact legal entity you contract with; segregated funds; negative balance protection; compensation scheme if any. |
| Real cost | Spread + commission + swap for the same trade across account types, sampled at more than one time of day. |
| Platform & beginner UX | Whether a first-time user can find position size, set a stop, and read total cost without help. |
| Deposits & withdrawals | Methods, stated processing times, fees, and any condition that appears only after depositing. |
| Education & demo | Whether a demo is genuinely free and unlimited enough to learn on. |
| Support | Response on a real question, not a sales question. |
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.
Red flags worth walking away from: guaranteed returns or "risk-free" trading, pressure to deposit quickly, account managers who place trades for you, withdrawal conditions that appear only after you deposit, and any regulator claim you cannot verify on the regulator's own register.
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