Most Trusted Brokers

The most trusted brokers provide a secure and reliable trading experience. With many scams operating in the retail trading space, investors should take precautions to protect their capital. In this article, we list the most trusted brokers in 2024 for trading forex, stocks, cryptocurrencies and more. We also highlight the hallmarks of a reputable trading platform.

Signing Up With Trusted Brokers

Whilst online trading is inherently risky, trustworthy brokers will help keep your capital secure. Investors should be able to safely deposit funds into their brokerage account, execute trades, and withdraw profits without difficulty. The most trusted brokers also offer competitive spreads and commissions alongside a transparent schedule of non-trading fees.

Shady and untrustworthy brokers may charge hidden fees, enforce unreasonable withdrawal limits and have unfair bonus terms and conditions.

Scams

Today, there are multiple scams and hackers in the online trading world. Forex scams are particularly common with some firms offering large no deposit bonuses to reel in new customers but then preventing clients from withdrawing any winnings. Other unscrupulous providers don’t execute positions immediately, instead waiting for the market to move in their favor – eroding clients’ profit margins.

In addition, unreliable brokers may adopt a stop-loss hunting policy. This is a market manipulation tactic where companies profit from causing short-term volatility in certain assets to trigger their clients’ stop-loss orders. For example, if a stock is currently valued at $10.91, clients may have stop-loss orders set at $10.00. If the broker then manipulates the market such that the value of the stock decreases by $0.91, then its clients’ positions will automatically be closed, potentially generating profit for the company. Fortunately this is rare, but it does highlight the dangers of opening an account with an unreliable brand.

Comparing the Most Trusted Brokers

Licensing & Regulation

A key consideration is whether the broker holds a license with a trusted financial regulator. Most forex and stock trading firms make it immediately clear on their website if they are regulated by a recognized authority. This can then be verified by running the firm’s license number and brokerage name through the regulator’s website.

Importantly, companies that hold a license with a top-rated watchdog must follow a number of measures designed to protect traders. These can include providing negative balance protection (ensuring customers can’t lose more than their account balance), limiting the leverage available, restricting unfair bonuses and promotions, and segregating company capital from customer funds.

The most trusted regulators in the retail trading space include:

• The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• The Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEB)
• The US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC)
• The Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission (CySEC)
• The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC)
• The South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA)
• The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC)

Tip: if you plan on using an offshore stock or forex broker that isn’t licensed in your jurisdiction, check they are regulated by a reliable foreign agency. 

Price Transparency

The most trusted brokers are honest about trading and non-trading fees. The top platforms publish a pricing schedule on their website that breaks down minimum and average spreads across various assets, charges for deposits and withdrawals, overnight rates, plus account inactivity penalties.

If you cannot easily find information about a prospective broker’s charges then this may be a red flag. Be aware that some shady firms also adopt extremely short dormancy periods and high minimum deposit and withdrawal limits. Beginners and low volume traders, in particular, will likely want to avoid these.

The most trusted brokers also support reliable and well-known platforms, such as MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5). With that said, some proprietary terminals may also be of good quality, however it is worth testing unknown platforms in a demo account before investing real cash.

Reviews & Ratings

Other key sources of information are trader ratings and detailed reviews. These can help shine a light on issues around transparency, hidden fees and unfair trading practices. We compare and rank many leading brands to help our readers find a reliable provider – see here.

Alternatively, social media sites and forums such as Reddit, Discord and Telegram have large trading communities where users share opinions on specific brands. Just be wary of disgruntled investors that may hold a grudge because their positions didn’t work out as planned.

History

Whilst not always the best indicator, the age of a broker can be another  useful consideration. If a company has been operating for a significant period, they are probably more stable and secure. Both Fidelity and Charles Schwab, for example, were launched in 1946 and 1971, respectively. In the same vein, a brokerage that has only been operating for several months or a couple of years may not have the track record of more established brands.

With that said, it is worth pointing out that even long-standing firms can be unreliable. Robinhood, for example, came under fire in 2021 after it suspended the purchase of stocks in GameStop (AMC). Many retail investors suffered losses as a result and saw the move as a way to side with large banks and hedge funds over their own customers.

Number of Clients

The number of registered accounts that a broker has can also be a worthwhile consideration. Leading brands like Plus500, CMC Markets and AvaTrade have millions of clients in dozens of countries. This is a promising sign that they offer trusted and reliable trading services in all the regions that they operate.

If the information is available, customer numbers over an extended period are also a good indicator. If there have been instances where customer counts have dropped significantly, the broker may have been disingenuous and turned traders away.

Advertising & Marketing

Another useful measure is how trustworthy a broker’s advertising methods are. For example, social media claims of huge welcome bonuses and winnings could be misleading. Equally, messages on social media platforms selling forex, CFD, cryptocurrency or binary options products should be approached with caution. This is not how the most trusted brokers advertise their services to new clients.

Awards

Awards are another way you can determine the quality of a brand. Unsurprisingly, the most trusted brokers have a string of industry awards and accolades on their websites. These can span the quality of ECN trade executions, the reliability of customer support teams, and the breadth of tools and assets. For example, OctaFX recently won the Best Forex Broker in Nigeria 2022 award at the Global Banking & Finance Review.

Bottom Line on Most Trusted Brokers

With suspect actors and fraudulent firms looking to take advantage of novice traders, it is important to open an account with a reliable firm. In this guide, we have listed the key factors to consider when looking for the most trusted brokers. So whether you are looking at trading shares, cryptocurrency or forex, use our list of reliable platforms to get started today.

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