1. Rating Philosophy
InsideBrokers was built to answer one question on behalf of every trader: "Can I trust this broker with my money?" That question drives every dimension of our evaluation framework.
Our methodology prioritises what genuinely affects a trader's experience and financial safety — regulatory protection, real trading costs, platform reliability, and the quality of support when things go wrong. We intentionally weight these factors based on their practical impact on the average retail trader, not on what makes brokers look good.
We test with real accounts and real money. We verify regulatory status directly with official registers. We benchmark fees against real trades, not broker marketing materials. And we publish findings — positive or negative — regardless of commercial relationships.
2. What We Measure
Every broker review is scored across five core categories. Each category is assigned a weight that reflects its importance to a typical retail trader's safety, cost, and experience:
Capital protection, regulatory tier, investor compensation, fund segregation
Spreads, commissions, overnight swaps, deposit/withdrawal fees, inactivity charges
Platform options, execution speed, charting, mobile app quality, order types
Instrument range, account types, leverage options, educational resources
Response time, availability, answer quality, multilingual support
3. Scoring Criteria in Detail
Below is the full breakdown of every sub-criterion we assess within each category.
3.1 Regulation & Safety 30%
| Sub-Criterion | What We Evaluate |
|---|---|
| Regulatory Tier | Tier 1 (FCA, ASIC, CySEC, BaFin) carries the highest weight; Tier 2 and offshore licences are weighted lower |
| Number of Licences | Brokers licensed across multiple top-tier jurisdictions receive higher scores |
| Investor Compensation | Coverage by schemes such as FSCS (UK, up to £85,000) or ICF (Cyprus, up to €20,000) |
| Fund Segregation | Client funds held in segregated accounts at reputable banks, separate from company funds |
| Negative Balance Protection | Whether the broker guarantees clients cannot lose more than their deposit |
| Regulatory History | Any sanctions, fines, warnings, or enforcement actions issued by regulators |
| Transparency | Publicly available ownership structure, company registration, and financial disclosures |
3.2 Fees & Costs 25%
| Sub-Criterion | What We Evaluate |
|---|---|
| Typical Spread (EUR/USD) | Benchmarked live spread on the most actively traded pair under normal market conditions |
| Commission per Trade | Round-turn commission on a standard lot for ECN/raw spread accounts |
| Overnight Swap Rates | Swap long and short rates on major Forex pairs and indices |
| Deposit Fees | Charges applied to funding the account via bank transfer, card, or e-wallet |
| Withdrawal Fees | Charges applied when withdrawing funds; processing time also evaluated |
| Inactivity Fee | Monthly charge applied to dormant accounts and the threshold that triggers it |
| Currency Conversion | Markup applied when depositing in a currency different from the account base currency |
| Minimum Deposit | Lowest amount required to open and fund a live trading account |
3.3 Trading Platform 20%
| Sub-Criterion | What We Evaluate |
|---|---|
| Platform Options | Availability of MT4, MT5, cTrader, proprietary platforms, web trader, and mobile apps |
| Execution Speed & Quality | Order fill speed under normal and volatile conditions; requote frequency; slippage measurement |
| Charting & Analysis | Number of indicators, drawing tools, chart types, and timeframes available |
| Order Types | Availability of market, limit, stop, trailing stop, OCO, and other advanced order types |
| Mobile App Quality | Feature parity with desktop, UI/UX quality, stability, and performance on iOS and Android |
| Automated Trading | Support for Expert Advisors, algorithmic trading APIs, and copy trading features |
3.4 Product Offering 15%
| Sub-Criterion | What We Evaluate |
|---|---|
| Instrument Count | Total number of tradable instruments across all asset classes |
| Asset Class Coverage | Forex, indices, commodities, stocks/ETFs, crypto, bonds — breadth and depth |
| Account Types | Availability of standard, ECN, Islamic (swap-free), VIP, and demo accounts |
| Leverage Options | Maximum available leverage; retail vs. professional account tiers |
| Education & Research | Quality of educational content, market analysis, trading tools, and economic calendar |
3.5 Customer Support 10%
| Sub-Criterion | What We Evaluate |
|---|---|
| Response Time | Measured across live chat, email, and phone — timed from initial contact to first substantive reply |
| Availability | Hours of operation; 24/5 or 24/7 coverage |
| Answer Quality | Accuracy and helpfulness of responses to standardised test queries |
| Channel Availability | Live chat, email, phone, callback, and social media support options |
| Multilingual Support | Number of languages supported and quality of non-English support |
4. Scoring System
Each broker receives an Overall Score from 1.0 to 10.0, calculated as the weighted sum of sub-category scores. The scoring follows these principles:
- Quantitative priority: Spreads, fees, regulatory tier, instrument count, and response times are all measured against benchmarks — not estimated.
- Qualitative rubric: Platform usability, educational depth, and support quality are scored using a documented analyst rubric applied consistently.
- Peer benchmarking: Scores reflect performance relative to all brokers in our database — not an absolute standard.
- No minimum score floor: A broker with critical regulatory weaknesses can score below 5.0 regardless of strengths elsewhere.
| Score | Rating | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| 9.0 – 10.0 | Exceptional | Top-tier broker across all categories — strong regulation, competitive fees, excellent platform, broad product range |
| 8.0 – 8.9 | Excellent | Strong performer with only minor weaknesses in one or two areas |
| 7.0 – 7.9 | Good | Above average overall with clear strengths but notable gaps — suitable for specific trader types |
| 5.0 – 6.9 | Average | Meets basic requirements; may suit beginners or specific use cases but has meaningful limitations |
| Below 5.0 | Below Average | Significant weaknesses in regulation, fees, or platform quality — we recommend exploring stronger alternatives |
5. Our Review Process
Every review follows a seven-stage workflow. No broker is published without completing all stages.
Our analyst opens a real live account using genuine identity documents. We document the onboarding flow, time-to-approval, required documents, and any friction in the registration process.
We deposit real funds using multiple payment methods (bank transfer, credit/debit card, e-wallets). We record minimum deposit requirements, processing times, fees, and whether the process matches broker disclosures.
We execute real trades across major Forex pairs, indices, and commodities. Spreads, execution speed, slippage, requote frequency, and platform stability are measured under normal and volatile market conditions.
Trading costs are benchmarked against a standardised basket of trades across five instruments. This allows direct fee comparison across all brokers in our database on a like-for-like basis.
We verify all disclosed regulatory licences directly against official regulator databases — FCA Financial Services Register, ASIC Connect, CySEC register, and others. Licence numbers, scope, and current status are confirmed.
We contact support via live chat, email, and phone with standardised queries at multiple times of day. Response time (in minutes), accuracy, and quality of answers are recorded for each interaction.
A second senior analyst independently reviews all data before publication. The Editor-in-Chief approves the final score and verdict. Reviews are published with the analyst name, date, and a "Last Tested" timestamp.
6. Data Sources
Our research draws on a combination of primary first-hand testing and authoritative third-party sources:
| Data Type | Primary Sources |
|---|---|
| Regulatory status & licences | FCA Financial Services Register, ASIC Connect, CySEC public register, BaFin database, SEC EDGAR, FINRA BrokerCheck, and other national regulator registers |
| Live spread & fee data | First-hand measurement via live trading account; cross-referenced against broker's published fee schedule |
| Platform assessment | Hands-on testing across desktop, web, iOS, and Android; analyst rubric scoring |
| Withdrawal processing times | Real withdrawal requests timed from submission to account credit |
| Customer support quality | Mystery shopper approach — standardised queries submitted via all available channels |
| Company information | Official company registrations, broker annual reports, and regulatory filings |
| Regulatory enforcement actions | Regulator press releases, enforcement notices, and public disciplinary records |
| CFD retail loss statistics | Broker-mandated risk disclosure statements (as required by ESMA, FCA, ASIC) |
7. Crypto Exchange Additions
When reviewing cryptocurrency exchanges, we apply all five core categories above and add the following exchange-specific evaluation criteria:
Cold storage percentage, insurance fund size, 2FA/MFA options, withdrawal whitelisting, bug bounty programme, and history of security breaches or hacks.
Number of listed cryptocurrencies and trading pairs, stablecoin support, and speed of new token listings relative to major competitors.
24-hour trading volume (CoinGecko verified), order book depth on major pairs, and spread tightness during high-volatility market events.
Staking, lending, launchpad access, NFT marketplace, perpetual futures, options, and integration with DeFi protocols and Web3 wallets.
Verification tiers and withdrawal limits, geographic restrictions, AML/CFT compliance programme, and regulatory licensing in key jurisdictions.
Availability of fiat deposit/withdrawal methods, bank transfer support, card payments, P2P trading desks, and fiat withdrawal processing times.
8. Review Update Cycle
Keeping broker data current is as important as the initial research. We maintain reviews through two types of updates:
| Trigger | Update Type | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled full re-review | Complete re-evaluation using current methodology across all 5 categories | Annually (at minimum) |
| Fee or spread change | Data update to affected fee fields; re-score if impact on score is ≥0.1 | Within 30 days of detection |
| Regulatory status change | Licence verification update; possible score revision and prominent notice added | Within 7 days |
| Platform major update | Platform category re-tested and re-scored | Within 30 days of release |
| Security incident / regulatory sanction | Expedited full review; warning notice added immediately pending investigation | Within 48 hours |
| Factual correction request | Specific data point verified and corrected if substantiated | Within 5 business days |
Every review displays a "Last Updated" and "Last Tested" date so readers know exactly when the information was verified.
9. Editorial Independence
Our editorial independence is maintained through structural safeguards, not just policy statements:
| Safeguard | How It Works |
|---|---|
| Team separation | Analysts have no access to affiliate commission data. The commercial team has no access to draft reviews or scores before publication |
| Affiliate-blind scoring | Scores are calculated and approved before any commercial team member sees the review |
| Negative findings policy | Reviews must include material weaknesses. Omitting negative findings is grounds for editorial rejection |
| Broker right of reply — data only | Brokers can submit factual corrections to data points. They cannot request changes to scores, rankings, or editorial opinions |
| Correction log | All broker-requested corrections are logged, reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief, and either applied (with note) or declined with written explanation |
| Conflict of interest disclosure | Any analyst with a personal account at a reviewed broker must disclose it. Analysts with material financial relationships may be recused from that review |
For full details, see our Editorial Policy and Disclaimer.