Guides
The things a ranking cannot tell you: where the registers are, what a spread costs in money, and which company you are actually signing with.
Each one answers a single question in its first two sentences, shows the arithmetic where there is any, and links to the pages that make this site money — which is disclosed rather than hidden, and is why the advice is written to survive being checked.
How to check a broker’s licence yourself
Every serious regulator publishes a register you can search for free. Here is where each one is, what the statuses mean, and the three things a licence does not cover.
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What a spread actually costs you
Spread and commission are the same cost measured two ways. Here is the arithmetic that turns both into one number, and what that number is on a real trade.
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Which company are you actually signing with?
One broker brand is usually four or five companies with different regulators. Which one you are onboarded to decides your protection, and it is decided by where you live.
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Who is actually behind your prop firm
A prop firm holds no financial licence, so the company name on its terms is the whole of your recourse. Here is how to find it, and what we found behind eight of them.
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Being written
- Static drawdown and trailing drawdown, and which one ends more accounts
- What proof of reserves proves, and the part of the balance sheet it leaves out
- How a compensation scheme actually pays out when a broker fails
- Reading an economic calendar release without being caught by the revision