How to check a broker independently
Four steps, ten minutes, and you need not believe us — or them.
Find the legal name, not the brand
The website promotes a brand, but the register lists a company. The legal name is typically in the footer, terms, or payment page—look for suffixes like Ltd, S.A., Pty, PT. If no company is named, that itself is telling.
Go directly to the regulator's register
Go directly to the regulator's website by typing its address — not through a link on the broker's site. A licence page on the broker's own domain proves nothing.
Match the company and the number
The name on the licence must be the company you are signing with, and the number must match exactly. A licence held by a sister company in another country is that company's licence, not the one you are about to trade under.
Verify the licence's current status
Registers show status and dates: withdrawn, suspended, ended. A screenshot on the broker's site can be years old; the register is current, and the date you read it is the only date that matters.
Keep these
- the exact legal name and licence number you found
- the address of the register page, and the date you opened it
- a copy of the broker's own licence claim, in case it changes later
How to check a broker independently
Four steps, ten minutes, and you need not believe us — or them.
The register holds the legal company, the site advertises the brand. We match on both, so a trading name finds the company that actually holds the licence.