Independent broker ratings

Every rating here is backed by evidence you can check.

We score forex brokers against one published formula: regulation, fund safety, costs, transparency, complaints and platform. Then we show our working, and log it every time a verdict changes.

58 Brokers rated

38 Scam

10 High Risk

3 Neutral

7 Trusted

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Airmarkets Review: Accounts, Platforms and Published Terms MISA (Mwali, Comoros) · BFX2026046 (MISA Mwali), IBC HV00726496 Company Profile 18 Oct 2026 HighMarkets Review: Accounts, Platforms and Published Terms FSA Seychelles · SD218 (FSA Seychelles), company 8438281-1 Company Profile 18 Oct 2026 tastyfx Review 2026: IG’s US Arm, and the One Tenth That Keeps It Out of Trusted CFTC / NFA · NFA ID 0509630. Registered as a Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer only, not as a Futures Commission Merchant. Not an SEC-registered broker-dealer. · forex Neutral 7.4 /10 12 Oct 2026 OANDA Review 2026: Eight Licences, One Capital Record Worth Reading ASIC, CFTC / NFA, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), FSA Japan, FSC British Virgin Islands, MAS · NFA 0325821 (USA); FCA 542574 (UK); AFSL 412981 (Australia); MAS Capital Markets Services Licensee, no number published by MAS (Singapore); BVI FSC SIBA/L/20/1130; Kanto Local Financial Bureau 2137 (Japan, claimed) · cfd, commodities, forex, indices Neutral 6.7 /10 12 Oct 2026 FXNovus Review 2026: AMF Blacklisted, No ODP Licence CySEC, FSCA, Unlicensed · FSP 50963 claimed by the firm, South Africa. No FSCA OTC Derivative Provider authorisation in any status, checked 4 October 2026. Group company Peaksight Ltd holds CySEC licence 440/23, confirmed on the CySEC register. · cfd, crypto, forex Scam 1.1 /10 4 Oct 2026 XTB Review 2026: Fined PLN 20 Million Over How It Sold CFDs Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) · FCA 522157; KNF-supervised in Poland; Belize company 153,939 with FSC Belize registration 6442514 · cfd, commodities, crypto, etfs, forex, indices, stocks Neutral 6.8 /10 20 Sep 2026

Recent verdict changes

12 Oct tastyfx Review 2026: IG’s US Arm, and the One Tenth That Keeps It Out of Trusted Neutral First rating. Neutral 7.4, the top of the Neutral band and one tenth below Trusted. Corporate history verified at source: IG Group completed its acquisition of tastytrade on 28 June 2021 per IG Group's own investor relations release, and IG US was rebranded to tastyfx on 24 June 2024 per the Business Wire release issued by IG US Holdings, Inc., a subsidiary of IG Group Holdings plc. Capital figures from the CFTC's Selected FCM Financial Data as at 31 July 2026: adjusted net capital $67,394,162 against a $21,997,522 requirement, a cushion of about 3.06 times, the widest of the four registered Retail Foreign Exchange Dealers, on $49,950,447 of retail forex obligation. tastyfx is registered as an RFED only, not as a Futures Commission Merchant, and states on its own site that it is not an SEC-registered broker-dealer. Pricing read from the firm's own published table: Standard from 0.8 pips with no commission and no minimum deposit, Zero+ from 0.0 pips with $5 per lot, Prime from 0.6 pips with no commission and a $50,000 minimum. Platforms read from the firm's own platforms page: tastyfx web, mobile app, MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, TradingView, ProRealTime and a FIX API. Complaints scored 7.0 rather than higher because the NFA BASIC record could not be read directly: BASIC's firm search would not return results, and a targeted search of cftc.gov and nfa.futures.org for tastyfx LLC and its former name IG US LLC returned no enforcement action or reparations case. That is recorded as a search result, not a register reading. Fund safety 6.5 reflects the American regime rather than the firm: retail forex funds are not segregated, there is no compensation scheme, and NFA Compliance Rule 2-29 forbids a member from representing otherwise.

12 Oct OANDA Review 2026: Eight Licences, One Capital Record Worth Reading Neutral First rating. Neutral 6.7. Entities verified at source on 12 October 2026: NFA BASIC shows OANDA Corporation, NFA ID 0325821, as an approved NFA Member registered as Futures Commission Merchant and Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer with Regulatory Actions flagged Yes; FCA register shows OANDA Europe Limited, FRN 542574, authorised since 17 May 2011 and able to hold and control client money; OANDA Australia Pty Ltd, AFSL 412981, is current on ASIC's AFS Licensee dataset; the MAS Financial Institutions Directory shows OANDA Asia Pacific Pte Ltd as a Capital Markets Services Licensee dealing in OTC derivatives and an Exempt Financial Adviser; the BVI FSC register shows OANDA Global Markets Ltd as a currently regulated entity dealing as principal. Japan, Canada and Poland are recorded as the firm's own claims and were not independently checked. Complaints 4.5 rests on the CFTC order of 21 August 2020, a $500,000 penalty for failing to meet minimum net capital from 26 April to 21 August 2019 and breaching the equity withdrawal restriction through dividends on three dates, read alongside Brazil's CVM alert of 8 January 2025 naming OANDA Global Markets Ltd over the Portuguese-language BVI page. Fund safety 6.5 reflects FSCS cover for the UK entity against no compensation scheme for the US, Australian and BVI entities. Capital figures are from the CFTC's Selected FCM Financial Data as at 31 July 2026: adjusted net capital $33,191,483 against a $26,783,414 requirement and $132,445,959 of retail forex obligation. Ownership changed on 1 December 2025 when FTMO completed its acquisition of OANDA Global Corporation from CVC Asia Fund IV, after approvals from five regulators.

8 Oct AvaTrade Review 2026: Downgraded to High Risk After a Second Reporting Penalty Neutral → High Risk Downgraded from Neutral 6.0 to High Risk 5.3. This is a correction of our own oversight, not new information in the world. The 5 September 2026 review published the condition 'a further regulatory finding on data or reporting integrity in any jurisdiction' and its changelog claimed ADGM 190018 had been read at the register. The register entry was read; its Regulatory Actions tab was not. That tab records '09 Jun 2022 | ADGM imposes financial penalty for breaching Common Reporting Standard Regulations requirements | CRS Penalty Notice'. The FSRA's own ten-page notice, re-read at source on 8 October 2026, states 'The total penalty/Administrative Fees imposed by the FSRA on ATME is AED 119,000' and records a failure to accurately report 'the jurisdictions of residence of four (4) of its Clients', a failure to document and keep due diligence records, and a failure to obtain self certification forms. Complaints and conduct 4.0 to 3.0 on that finding read alongside the Japanese business improvement order of 14 May 2024. Regulation 7.5 to 6.5: the licences remain genuine and AVA Trade EU Limited C53877 was re-confirmed authorised at the Central Bank of Ireland register on 8 October 2026 with no revocation, but the ADGM licensee has been penalised by its own regulator. Transparency 4.5 to 3.5: AvaTrade's UAE English site advertises 400:1 while its UAE General Terms and Conditions effective 3 February 2026 name AVA Trade Middle East Limited, FSP 190018, as counterparty, and ADGM COBS 23.6 [VER24.160926] requires 3.33% retail margin on major currency pairs, which is 30:1. Fund safety 6.5 to 6.0: no compensation scheme exists in ADGM and the UAE agreement names none across 38 pages while disclosing that a credit institution default 'may prevent or delay our ability to control your assets'. The pooled client account disclosed in the same agreement is ordinary omnibus practice and is not scored against the firm. Cost and platform unchanged. The affiliate link and the commission relationship have been removed from this review and its sub-pages, because the disclosure policy permits an affiliate arrangement only with a broker rated Trusted or Neutral.

4 Oct FXNovus Review 2026: AMF Blacklisted, No ODP Licence Scam First rating. Site and all legal documents read at source 4 October 2026 at fxnovus.com. AMF Forex blacklist entry for www.fxnovus.com confirmed at amf-france.org, published 7 May 2025. CMF Chile warning confirmed via IOSCO I-SCAN warning ID 40605, published at the NCA 28 August 2025. FSCA ODP register searched 4 October 2026: 'Novus' returns no record in any status, with a control search confirming the register and search both function. CySEC register of Cypriot investment firms confirms Peaksight Ltd, licence 440/23, registration HE 433420, as stated in the client agreement. Client Agreement version 0.6 June 2026 supplies the jurisdiction exclusion, the Peaksight group statement and the South African governing law clause. General Fees version 0.4 May 2026 supplies the inactivity schedule and the 30 USD wire withdrawal fee. FSP Licence Number 50963 is recorded as the firm's own published claim: the legacy FSCA FSP search remains unreachable, so only the ODP position is register-verified.