How do we rank brokers?

Compare Forex Brokers Logo
Our mission at Compare Forex Brokers has always been to update information and comparisons as per traders’ feedback, experiences and insights. Making informed decisions in the FX industry is integral, and given the recent market volatility, we pride ourselves on ensuring our information is up to date and provides content that is unbiased and open-minded to not only the different backgrounds of traders but also the multitude of strategies and reasons for investment. Based on these reasons, the methodology behind ranking brokers is extensive and complicated. This article will hopefully assist traders in understanding the nuances behind FX trading and how to locate the perfect broker for them.

The process encapsulates a number of key categories, with a plethora of variables. Our team has opened accounts at all major brokers and have been able to perform tests and hands-on demonstrations as to the strong points of a broker within a specific category. In addition to opening accounts, CompareForexBrokers has surveyed brokers in a whole range of areas, assessing their answers and combining the results, information and ratings received from customers to produce an overall score for each broker.

Below, is an example of our ranking system, accumulating the scores in respective categories and providing an overall result for the broker.


Our Rating

The overall rating is based on review by our experts

7.50
Spreads
9 / 10
Leverage
9 / 10
Trading Platform
8 / 10
Risk Management
7 / 10
Range of Markets
5 / 10
Customer Service
7 / 10

Key evaluation categories

Compare Forex Brokers’ evaluation process covers the following key criteria:

Trading Experience

How does a trader place an order? Does the process logically flow from one stage to the next? Once an order has been placed, how is the trader notified of this? Our experts looked at pop-up notices, emails and SMSs on a mobile device once an order has been filled.

Range of Offerings

What are the asset classes that a brokerage firm is offering? What instruments can customers trade online? The highest scoring brokers offer a diverse range of instruments that can be traded online. These include; cryptocurrency, shares, commodities, etc.

Educational Tools

What educational tools and upskilling opportunities does the brokerage offer? How can traders learn whilst trading and what information does the broker provide? Our team scanned broker websites searching for webinars, educational videos and courses that can be accessed by traders.

Trading Technology

What goes on after a trader has submitted an order? What data is available to a trader who is operating an account with a specific broker? Is there real-time information at the fingertips of a customer? Brokers who operate with price improvements strategies and the ability to automate trading via a range of criteria received top marks for this category.

Compare MetaTrader 4 Brokers >>

Compare MetaTrader 5 Brokers >>

Security and Privacy

How does your chosen broker protect your money? What type of security features are offered by particular brokerage firms? Brokers which provide two-factor authentication, high password strength requirements and present statistics on trust and privacy scored highly in this section.

Practicality

How does the process of trading, analysis and information flow? Is the broker’s website easy to navigate? To achieve success in this category, brokers would have had to include aesthetically pleasing features on their website. Ensure that their various features, programs, charts and graphs are customizable to the needs of the trader. And of course, ensuring data is up to date and accessible via mobile platforms.

Customer Service

Our customer service channels operative 24 hours a day? Through what methods are traders able to be in touch with customer service personnel? How much experience does an FX customer service team have? If a broker has customer service channels readily available with short wait times for responses, our experts rewarded these aspects accordingly.

Cost and Funding

What is the bottom line cost for employing a specific broker? What are the different services brokers offer and their respective charges? No two brokers are the same when it comes to cost, the best brokers are those that charge zero to minimal commissions on equity trades as well as those with a lack of inactivity, account transfer and account maintenance fees. Furthermore, better brokers allow traders to fund their account in various ways shown below.

How to select a broker

The most important part of selecting a broker is ensuring that they are trustworthy, as opposed to a broker that has caused alarm bells to ring prior to opening an account.

For this reason, CompareForexBrokers associates itself with brokers who are regulated, whilst including non-regulated brokers solely for comparison purposes.

When ascertaining the trustworthiness of a broker, our team took into account their respective regulatory licenses, corporate structure as well as general public opinion.

See below some of the regulatory licenses that CFB has considered, note that some licenses are regarded higher than others. Brokers that hold regulatory licenses in the highest tier are considered the most trustworthy.

Global broker regulation

Tier 1:

Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) – Australia

Securities Futures Commission (SFC) – Hong Kong

Japanese Financial Services Authority (JFSA) – Japan 

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – United Kingdom 

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) – United States

Tier 2:

China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) – China

Pepperstone well regulated Forex broker

Financial Markets Authority (FMA) – New Zealand

Financial Services Board in South Africa (FSB) – South Africa 

Tier 3:

Mauritius’ Financial Services Commission (FSC) – Mauritius

How do we make money?

At Compare Forex Brokers we pride ourselves on our ability to deliver premium content whilst maintaining an upfront and honest industry image. Compare Forex Brokers is free and the information we provide is unbiased and driven by the methodology outlined above.

However, our partners and affiliates compensate for the work we do through advertisements or exclusive offers. We are not able to amend the content that we write about brokers based on their compensation however we do receive funds if you visit one of our affiliates included below through one of our links:

  • Admiral Markets
  • AxiTrader
  • City Index
  • CMC Markets
  • eToro
  • easyMarkets
  • FP Markets
  • FXCM
  • IG Markets
  • Pepperstone
  • Plus500
  • ThinkForex