Forex Broker Regulation & Safety

1. Find the entity, not just the brand

Brokers run several companies under one name. Look at the bottom of the broker's website (or its legal documents) for the company name and licence number that will open your account. That company, not the brand, is what the regulator supervises.

2. Check the licence on the regulator's own register

Search the regulator's public register for the licence number and the company name. The website address on the register should match the site you are on. Every Bridge Report links each licence to its register so you can check it in one click.

3. Know the regulator's tier

We group regulators in three tiers. Tier 1 (for example the FCA in the UK, ASIC in Australia, CySEC and other EU regulators) has the strictest rules on client money, capital and leverage. Tier 2 supervises for real but with lighter rules. Tier 3 regulators are offshore: licences are easy to get and protection is thin. See Methodology for the full list.

4. Protections that matter

• Segregated client money: your deposit is kept apart from the broker's own money.
• Negative balance protection: you cannot lose more than your account balance. It is required for retail clients in the EU, UK and Australia.
• Compensation schemes: if a regulated broker fails, schemes like the UK's FSCS or the EU's investor compensation funds pay back eligible clients up to a limit, only at that entity.

5. Watch for clones

Scammers copy real brokers' names and logos on look-alike domains. Regulators publish warning lists; we collect them on Scam alerts. If a site asks you to pay through a personal account or a messaging app, stop.

6. Read the broker's own loss figure

Regulated brokers must publish the share of their retail CFD accounts that lose money. It is usually between 60% and 85%. We show each broker's own figure on its pages.