A checklist you fill in, not a rating we hand out
How to Choose a Forex Broker: Your Own Trust Scorecard
Eight checks, one radar. Tick what you have verified, change the weights to match what matters to you, and see what is still open before you deposit.
01How the score works
| Answer | Counts as | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 1 | You found evidence in the register, the agreement or your own test. |
| Partly | 0.5 | Some of it is true, or you found it only in marketing. |
| No | 0 | It is missing or you could not find it. |
| Not checked | left out | Not scored. It lowers the “checked” count instead. |
The score is your weighted average over the items you checked, from 0 to 100. Weights run from 0 to 5 and start with licence, client money and withdrawals highest. You need at least five items checked before a verdict appears. A No on licence or on marketing behaviour stops the verdict whatever the rest says, because those are the checks that most often separate a real firm from a clone or a scam.
Commissions never touch these scores, and we do not publish a fixed score for any named broker. Read how we handle that on How we evaluate brokers.
02The order we would check in
- Start with the entity and licence: Broker Licence Checker, then Regulator Register Finder to open the register.
- Run the Red Flag Scanner on the marketing and the contact you received.
- Read the client agreement for client money, negative balance protection and compensation.
- Estimate your costs with the Trading Cost Calculator and the Deposit and Withdrawal Cost Calculator.
- Deposit a small amount, trade it lightly, and withdraw some. Then come back and mark the withdrawal check.
If you are still comparing options, the broker comparison puts published conditions side by side with the source and date for every cell.
03Questions
How do I choose a forex broker?
Verify the legal entity and its licence in the regulator’s own register, read the client agreement, compare real costs and test a small withdrawal. The scorecard keeps that list in one place.
Is my broker safe?
No tool can promise that. A broker can pass every check and still fail, and a regulated firm can still cost you money through trading losses. The scorecard shows which checks you have and have not done.
Why do you not give brokers a score?
A fixed score would imply a ranking we cannot support, and the answers differ by entity and country. You fill in the evidence for the entity that will serve you.
What does Unchecked do to the score?
It is left out of the average, so it does not help or hurt the number. It does lower the count of items checked, and you need five before a verdict appears.
Why does a No on licence stop everything?
Every other protection depends on a regulated entity that you can identify. If that does not hold, a high score elsewhere does not rescue it.
Do you earn from this page?
Yes, a small text link may appear after a strong result. It does not change any score. See the affiliate disclosure.