How to choose a broker

Start with the entity, not the brand

Every broker of any size operates several companies, each licensed in a different place, and your country decides which one you will be a client of. The first question is therefore which legal entity will hold your account, who regulates it and what that regulation gives you: leverage limits, negative balance protection, segregated client money and, in a few jurisdictions, a compensation scheme. Two clients of the same brand can have completely different protections. The site's broker pages name the entity behind each licence and the regulation article explains what to look for.

Then the questions, in order

• Is the entity that will hold my account licensed by a regulator I would trust, and can I find it on that regulator's register with the same website and contact details?
• Is client money segregated, and is there a compensation scheme? How much am I comfortable leaving with a company that has neither?
• What does a trade actually cost on the account type I would use: spread, commission and swap, on the pairs I trade, at the hours I trade? The spread and swap comparisons and the cost calculators answer this.
• Does the broker publish execution statistics, and what does its model imply about its interest in my losses? The execution models article covers this.
• Which platforms does it offer, and do they do what I need: automation, charting, copy trading, a phone app that works?
• Can I deposit and withdraw by a method I already use, at what cost and how quickly, and what do other clients report about withdrawals? The complaints section records what is reported.
• Does it offer the markets, the account type, the leverage and, if I need it, the swap-free terms that suit how I trade?
• How does it treat clients when something goes wrong: is there a complaints process, a regulator to appeal to, and a record of responding?

What to weigh lightly

Bonuses, which are banned in the strict jurisdictions for good reason and usually come with withdrawal conditions elsewhere. Leverage above what a sensible position needs. Awards, which are mostly bought. Sponsorships and celebrity endorsements, which are marketing. And the minimum spread, which is the best moment of the best hour, rather than the average you will pay.

How this site helps

Each broker's page records its entities and licences, its scores across eight categories, its published costs, platforms, markets and payment methods, and the complaints and reviews connected with it. The rankings order brokers by the things that matter to different traders, the comparison tool sets any three side by side, and the regulator pages explain what each authority obliges a broker to do. None of it replaces reading the account agreement of the entity you are about to sign with, which is the one document that governs everything above.