Check before you deposit
How to Check a Forex Broker’s Regulation
A licence number on a broker’s website is a claim. The regulator’s own register is where you check it. Pick the regulator, get its official register, and follow the steps. Use the address check to catch look-alike sites.
1. Which regulator does the broker name?
2. Check a web address
Paste any address you were sent, including one that claims to be a regulator. We compare it with the official addresses of the regulators on this page.
01The six steps, for any regulator
- Get the company name from your own paperwork. Use the Client Agreement or the footer inside your account, not the marketing pages. The company that holds your money is the one to check.
- Type the regulator’s address yourself. Do not click a link from the broker, an ad or a message. Clone sites copy the real site, and one real case is below.
- Search by licence number, then by name. The name must match exactly. A similar name is a different company.
- Read the status and what it allows. A cancelled, former or lapsed entry, or one that does not cover dealing for retail clients, is not what you want.
- Match the website on the register with the one you use. If the register shows a different web address, ask the broker why.
- Keep a dated screenshot. Registers change. A date gives you something to point to later.
To see which company holds your account and which regulators the three brokers on this site name, use the licence and entity checker.
02Signs of a clone, tick what you have seen
The FCA lists copied websites, mismatched contact details, claims that official records are out of date and unexpected contact as clone warning signs. We added four more that come up with regulator lookups.
This list helps you decide whether to look closer. It does not label any company as a scam, and it cannot say a company is genuine.
03A real example: a cloned regulator site
May 20, 2024. The FSA Seychelles warned that fsaseychelles.com was cloning its website, and that the cloned page showed a securities dealer licence numbered HM995 for a company that the FSA said is not authorised to offer securities business in or from Seychelles. The FSA said the certificate was forged and that its only official domain is fsaseychelles.sc.
The lesson is the one in step 2. If the register link came from the broker, you may have checked the wrong register. Paste the address into the check above to see the difference between the two endings.
04What a register cannot tell you
- That you can open an account with that company. Brokers use different companies for different countries.
- What protection you would have. Compensation schemes depend on the entity and the country.
- How the broker treats withdrawals or how it executes trades.
- That a regulator checks everything about a firm. Standards differ a lot between regulators.
For those, read the Client Agreement and run the broker through the red flag scanner.
05Every register on this page
Registers can change their addresses. If a link fails, tell us. “Link only” means we found the address but could not read the page, so we do not describe how it works.
| Regulator | Register | Our check, October 20, 2026 | Brokers naming an entity |
|---|---|---|---|
| FCA United Kingdom | fca.org.uk | Opened and read | Exness, Tickmill |
| ASIC Australia | asic.gov.au | Opened and read | None named on pages we read |
| CySEC Cyprus, EU | cysec.gov.cy | Link only | Exness, Tickmill |
| FSA Seychelles Seychelles | fsaseychelles.sc | Opened and read | Exness, IC Markets, Tickmill |
| FSC British Virgin Islands BVI | bvifsc.vg | Opened and read | Exness |
| FSCA South Africa | fsca.co.za | Link only | Exness, Tickmill |
| FSC Mauritius Mauritius | fscmauritius.org | Link only | Exness |
| CMA Kenya Kenya | cma.or.ke | Opened and read | Exness |
| FSC Belize (IFSC) Belize | ifsc.gov.bz | Link only | Exness |
| CBCS Curacao and Sint Maarten | cbcs.cw | Link only | Exness |
06Questions
How do I check a forex broker’s regulation?
Take the company name and licence number from your Client Agreement, open the regulator’s own register by typing its address, search the number and the name, and read the status and what the licence allows.
Is a broker regulated if it shows a licence on its website?
Not necessarily. A licence on the broker’s own site is a claim. Check it on the regulator’s register.
What if I cannot find the broker on the register?
Check the exact company name, the licence number and the right register first. If the entry still does not exist, treat the licence claim as unconfirmed and do not deposit.
Do you earn from the buttons?
Yes, we may be paid if you open an account through them. They only appear for brokers whose own pages name an entity under the regulator you picked. See the affiliate disclosure and how we evaluate brokers.