The foreign exchange market is a global decentralized or over-the-counter market for the trading of currencies. The retail forex market is so competitive that just thinking about having to sift through all the available brokers can give you a major headache. Choosing which Forex broker to trade with can be a very overwhelming task especially if you don’t know what you should be looking for.
In this section, we will discuss the comprehensive Forex brokers rating system used in ForexBrokerExpert.com.
Forex Broker Rating
Forex brokers rating is an excellent and helpful recourse for every trader that facilitates the process of choosing a Forex broker. A rating is an opportunity to get objective and detailed information about a broker. For our annual Forex broker rating, we use an Expert Score rating algorithm.
The Forex Broker Expert Score is a simple but yet comprehensive scoring system that covers important entities to look out for when choosing a Forex broker. The scoring ranges from 1-5. Highest score being 5/5 and lowest being 2/5.
Top Rated Forex Brokers
Take a look at the best Forex brokers in the world ranked by Expert Score.
Top Rated Forex Brokers Comparison
| Broker | Minimum Deposit | Regulation | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | $100 | Central Bank of Ireland, ASIC, JFSA, IIROC, FSB, FSCA, BVI |  |
 | $10 | FCA, CySEC | |
 | $200 | ASIC, CIMA | |
 | $100 | ASIC, CySEC | |
 | $100 | CySEC, FSC | |
 | $250 | N/A | |
 | $250 | ASIC, CySEC, VFSC | |
Forex Broker Rating Variables
The Forex Broker Expert rating system comprises of numerous data points that are summarized in to 6 equal major variables.
- Safety of funds
- Trading Platforms and Tools
- Minimum deposit
- Leverages
- Average Spreads and Commissions
- Payment methods
Financial Regulation
When the Forex Broker Expert reviews a new Forex or CFD broker, the best way to know if they are a legitimate broker is by checking for a valid license and the quality of the license. Many legal Forex brokers, are licensed by a local regulator like ASIC in Australia, FCA in the United Kingdom or by FSB South Africa.
Vantage Global Prime Pty Ltd trading under Vantage FX, is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), AFSL no. 428901, read more.
Corporate Information
We look for credible information regarding ownership. Who are the actual owners of this website? Is it possible to know the names of the founding members? Who are the people running this website and why haven’t they posted their actual names? Now you know why you should stay away from this and any other online anonymous platform.
We go further to compare registered companies, addresses and servers to see whether they are linked to any notorious network.
Trading Platforms & Tools
After checking their licensing and background information, the next step is to check how their platform works. Some Forex brokers offer web based platform, lacking some basic functionalities, readily available with professional trading platforms like the MetaTrader4.
MetaTrader4 on the other hand is equipped with nearly a hundred integrated market indicators and trading robots with the help which you can easily run algorithmic trading sessions. On top of that MT4 comes with an excellent set of advanced charting tools, see metatrader here.
Look at the many options available to investors using the AvaTrade Platform.
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Try a Free Demo Account at: AvaTrade.com, and see how it is.
Trading Conditions
When we want to compare the trading conditions of each Forex broker, the major things we look at are minimum deposit, how high is the leverage, bonus and promotions, compare spreads and commission, execution speed, minimum trade size and multilingual Customer Support Team available 24/5.
Acceptable Minimum Deposit
Forex Broker Expert recommends average minimum deposit amount of $100-$250 for basic account in the Forex brokerage industry. Most of the brokers require a minimum deposit at this level. Some even go as low as $10 or none at all. FCA regulated FXTM requires $10 and ASIC regulated EasyMarkets requires a minimum of $100 to open a standard account.
Spreads and Commissions
For comparing spreads, we use the benchmark EURUSD spread, because the Forex pair is the most popular. Here at Forex Broker Expert, the acceptable typical spreads is below 1.5pips. Vantage FX offers variable spreads with a very tight spreads on the Raw ECN account, averaged just 0.1 pips on EURUSD.
Acceptable Leverage
Maximum leverage ratios up to 1:500 is considered high and can only been seen legitimately in Australia. Some jurisdictions set limitations on leverage, which are significantly lower than this, i.e. 1:50 in the US and 1;25 in Japan.
Most brokers usually offer leverage of up to 1:200 or 1:400, for instance global broker Vantage FX, also holding an ASIC license, provides leverage up to 1:400.
Beware of managed account from a Market Maker
Though market makers are liquidity providers that make money whenever traders lose, one thing about using a market maker is reduced slippage and spreads. But Market Maker offering a managed account is a no for us and they never make it to our best Forex brokers page. Otherwise, if you accept managed account offer from a market maker, they will clearly be in a conflict of interest as they will have an incentive to “lose” your money in their own pockets.
Bonus Offer Warning!
One of the reasons while a broker will withhold your withdrawal request is because you accepted a bonus without knowing what is the terms and condition. The broker might invariably require a minimum trade volume level, which quite too often traders do not read before applying a withdraw request, for instance XM is a Global broker with 2.5M+ clients. Leverage up to 888:1. Bonus up to $5000. T&Cs Apply.
Contract agreement
We do not recommend Forex brokers that impose any restrictions on your right to withdraw your own money no matter how they twist the clause.
Forex Broker Rating Levels
Prime: 4-5 – Well established Forex and CFD brokers, Industry leaders
Excellent: 3-4 – Prime Forex brokers
G00d: 2-3 – Standard Forex brokers.
Conclusion
If you value your money, do not invest in any unregulated or anonymous broker allegedly operating offshore, or associated with shady brands like the ones blacklisted by regulatory agencies.
There are thousands of scams in the forex and cryptocurrency markets, the only way out is to trade with established, tested, more than five years in business and strictly regulated by at least one category 1 authority like FCA, CySEC, ASIC, BaFin, JFSA, CFTC. see here.
We constantly get letters from visitors to ForexBrokerExpert.com that look like this:
Dear Admin ForexBrokerExpert.com,
Thank you so much for explaining how Forex brokers work, and how the scams rip you off.
Please do your part and share this information with your friends! Also, be sure to read about the Best Forex Broker.
Methodology
In-depth Forex Broker Reviews ONLY available at ForexBrokerExpert.com.
Here at Forex Broker Expert, we’re dedicated to helping you get started trading online and have your own forex account. Most importantly, we want to help you make a success of it. Since starting up in 2010, we’ve connected hundreds of thousands of readers to the right forex trading platform for their needs.
We do this through conducting our own research. We’re constantly testing (and re-testing) the most popular forex brokers on the market to give you completely impartial advice about every single broker we feature on our site. We even get people just like you to give them a go and give us their feedback.
Our aim is to provide you with the very best information so you can make an informed decision about which forex broker is best for you – and feel happy with your choice!