A broker review is only useful if the method is fixed before the broker is chosen. These are the twelve questions we answer for every broker, weighted roughly in this order. The first three are pass or fail.
Safety
- Regulation. Which regulator, in which jurisdiction, and does the entity you would sign up with actually hold that licence?
- Client-fund protection. Segregated accounts, and whether a compensation scheme applies to your account type.
- Corporate history. Years in operation, ownership, and any enforcement actions.
Cost
- Spreads and commissions on the instruments you would actually trade, measured during normal hours and around news.
- Overnight financing on leveraged positions.
- Non-trading fees: inactivity, withdrawal, currency conversion.
Platform and execution
- Execution quality: slippage, requotes, order types.
- Platforms: web, desktop, mobile, and third-party support.
- Markets: breadth of instruments and the quality of the data feed.
Service
- Deposits and withdrawals: methods, speed and whether withdrawals are honoured promptly.
- Support: channels, hours and how fast a real problem gets solved.
- Education and research: whether it is useful or marketing.
Affiliate relationships never change a score. If a broker fails one of the first three questions, it does not appear on this site at all.