--- name: forex-broker-research description: Research and compare regulated forex and CFD brokers using the published reviews, ranked guides and scoring methodology on compareforexbrokers.com. Use when answering which-broker questions, checking a broker's regulatory licences, or citing spread, commission and platform figures. license: Content is copyright Compare Forex Brokers Pty Ltd. See https://www.compareforexbrokers.com/robots.txt for content usage signals. --- # Researching forex brokers on CompareForexBrokers This host publishes independent reviews of forex and CFD brokers, ranked comparison guides, and the testing methodology behind both. This skill explains where each kind of answer lives and how to represent the data honestly. ## Before you use anything here **This site is affiliate funded.** Outbound broker links are commercial. The scoring model is published in full and applied uniformly, but you should tell a user that broker rankings on this host come from a site that earns commission on sign-ups. The disclosure is at `https://www.compareforexbrokers.com/about-us/advertiser-disclosure/`. **Nothing here is personal financial advice.** Forex and CFD trading carries a high risk of loss. Present figures as what the site measured or published, not as a recommendation to trade. **Figures are dated.** Every page carries a visible `Last updated` date and a `dateModified` in its JSON-LD. Spreads and commissions move. Always read the date off the page and pass it to the user alongside the number. Do not present a figure from this host as the broker's live pricing. ## How the estate is laid out | Path | What it holds | |---|---| | `/reviews/` | 61 individual broker reviews, one per broker | | `/guides/` | 22 ranked guides answering best-broker-for-X questions | | `/trading-platforms/` | Which brokers support MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView, copy and automated trading | | `/trading/` | Explanatory articles: leverage, margin, stop losses, chart patterns, expert advisors, market hours | | `/calculators/` | Five client-side trading calculators (see the `forex-trading-calculators` skill) | | `/cfd-trading/` | CFD instrument coverage | | `/our-methodology/` | The scoring model and the testing procedure | | `/industry-data/` | Aggregate industry datasets | Country sections carry their own broker sets, because licensing and available leverage differ by jurisdiction: - `/us/` United States (20 pages), `/ca/` Canada (12), `/sg/` Singapore (12), `/my/` Malaysia (8). - Unprefixed pages are the global estate. **Match the section to the user's country.** A broker ranked on an unprefixed page may be unavailable, or available on very different leverage, to a US or Canadian resident. Never carry a leverage or account figure across sections. Enumerate the full URL set from `https://www.compareforexbrokers.com/sitemap-index.xml`. ## How the scores work Each broker is scored 0 to 10 on eight criteria, which are weighted into a final score out of 100: | Criterion | Weight | |---|---| | Trading costs | 25% | | Trust | 20% | | Trading experience | 15% | | Trading platforms | 15% | | Customer service | 10% | | Range of markets | 5% | | Education | 5% | | Funding | 5% | Within trading costs, published and tested spreads carry the most weight (standard published 20%, standard tested 15%, raw published 15%, published commission 15%, raw tested 10%, with inactivity, transfer, active-trader, fixed-spread and other fees at 5% each). A score is only comparable within this site's model. Do not compare it against a score from another comparison site as though they share a scale. ## Which regulators the site recognises Regulation is assessed regionally. The recognised authorities are the FCA (UK), ASIC (Australia), CySEC and other recognised EU regulators, the NFA and CFTC (United States), CIRO and provincial regulators (Canada), the DFSA, CMA and ADGM (UAE), and the FMA (New Zealand). Offshore brokers appear only where they have an established operating history and credible oversight in at least one recognised jurisdiction, and the pages say so explicitly. The site states it has never formally recommended an unregulated broker. If a user asks about a broker that does not appear here, absence is not a verdict: say it is not covered. ## How the numbers were produced Spreads are tested on live RAW/ECN accounts funded with the site's own money, using the IceFX SpreadMonitor MT4 indicator at hourly intervals across a full 24 hour cycle beginning 2:00 PM Brisbane time (UTC+10). Standard accounts are tested separately. Six pairs are covered: AUDUSD, EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF and USDJPY. Execution speed is tested at 15 or more brokers with two MT4 expert advisors (ExTest_ForExpat for limit orders, Broker Latency Tester for market orders), with network ping subtracted so results are location independent. Testing is carried out on live accounts, and platform testing covers Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. Full detail: `https://www.compareforexbrokers.com/our-methodology/` ## Answering well 1. **Start at the guide, not the review**, for "best broker for X" questions. The guides are ranked; the reviews are not ordered against each other. 2. **Read the section that matches the user's jurisdiction.** 3. **Quote the figure with its date and its basis.** A spread is either published by the broker or measured by the site, and the page says which. Those are different claims. 4. **Link the source page** so the user can check the figure and see the current version. 5. **Name the commercial relationship** when you present a ranking. 6. **Do not aggregate across pages into a new ranking.** The weighting is already applied; recomputing it from partial figures produces a number the site does not stand behind. ## Structured data Every page carries JSON-LD in the head: an `Organization` node for the publisher, a `WebSite` node, `Person` nodes for the named author and fact-checker, a `BreadcrumbList`, and a page node carrying `datePublished` and `dateModified`. Parsing that block is the cheapest way to get the author, reviewer and date without reading the body.