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How to choose a forex broker: the checklist

By Saad El Soussi, UAE-authorized finfluencer · Updated 2026-11-08

Choose the regulator first and the broker second. Look the company up on the regulator's own register (links below), not on the broker's website, and make sure the entity you sign up with is the licensed one, not a sister company in an offshore centre. Then check what the licence gives you: in the European Union, leverage is capped at 30:1 on major pairs and 20:1 on gold, positions are closed at 50% margin and the account cannot go below zero; in the US, margin is at least 2% on majors; offshore licences usually give none of this. After that, compare the things that cost you money every day: spread at the hours you trade, commission, overnight swap, and how long a withdrawal takes. We do not rank brokers, we name none on this page and nobody pays us for it.

Step 1: find the licence and check it yourself

Every honest broker prints its regulator and licence number in the footer of its website. Do not stop there: open the regulator's register and search for the exact company name. Three things to confirm:

The entity matches. Many brands run several companies: one licensed in the EU, one in Australia, one in an offshore centre. The protections depend on which company your account agreement names, so read the agreement, not the home page.
The licence covers what you trade. A licence to give advice or to run a payment service is not a licence to hold client money for leveraged trading.
No warning against it. Regulators publish lists of unauthorised firms and clones. A company that copies a licensed firm's name and number is the most common forex scam, and the US regulator says so in its own forex fraud advisory.

The official registers (all checked 3 November 2026)

Where	Regulator	Where to look the broker up
European Union (Cyprus)	CySEC	Register of Cypriot investment firms
European Union (Germany)	BaFin	BaFin company database
European Union (Denmark)	Finanstilsynet	Virksomhedsregister
United States	CFTC / NFA	NFA BASIC (every registered firm and its disciplinary history)
United Arab Emirates	Capital Market Authority (the former SCA)	uaecma.gov.ae, licensed entities and the finfluencer list
Saudi Arabia	Capital Market Authority	Authorised Persons
Australia	ASIC	ASIC registers
South Africa	FSCA	fsca.co.za, search for the financial services provider

Other EU regulators (for example in France, Italy, Spain or Poland) keep registers in the same way; the national regulator's name is on the broker's licence page. We do not serve residents of the United Kingdom, so UK rules are not covered here.

Step 2: know what the licence actually protects

A licence is not a guarantee that you will make money or that the broker is good. It is a set of rules the broker must follow and a place to complain. The rules differ a lot by region:

	European Union	United States	Typical offshore centre
Maximum leverage, major pairs	30:1 (3.33% margin)	50:1 (2% margin floor)	Often 500:1 or more
Maximum leverage, gold	20:1 (5% margin)	Set by the broker	Often 100:1 to 500:1
Negative balance protection	Required per account	Not required	Rarely
Automatic close-out	At 50% of required margin	Broker's own rule	Broker's own rule
Compensation if the broker fails	National scheme, e.g. Cyprus ICF: the lower of 90% of the claim and €20,000	None for retail forex	Usually none
Bonuses and trading incentives	Banned	Allowed	Common
Loss-percentage warning	Mandatory, with the broker's own figure	Not mandatory	Not mandatory

Sources: the EU rules are ESMA's product intervention measures of 27 March 2018, which national regulators then made permanent (ESMA press release; the same release states that 74 to 89% of retail CFD accounts lose money). The US margin floor of 2% on major pairs and 5% on others is 17 CFR § 5.9. The Cyprus compensation ceiling is from the CySEC Investor Compensation Fund page. Offshore figures are typical, not regulated minimums; read each broker's own terms.

What the leverage cap means in money: one standard lot of EUR/USD at 1.0800 is $108,000 of exposure. The margin is $108,000 ÷ 30 = $3,600 in the EU, $108,000 ÷ 50 = $2,160 in the US and $108,000 ÷ 500 = $216 at 500:1. Lower margin lets you open a position that is far too big for your account; it does not change the odds. Our margin calculator does this for any pair and leverage.

Step 3: the costs that hit you every trade

Spread. The difference between the buy and sell price, paid on every trade. Check it live, on a demo account, at the hours you will actually trade, including around news. An advertised "from 0.0 pips" is the best case. Example: a 1-pip spread on EUR/USD costs $1 per 0.10 lot per trade; a $0.30 spread on gold costs $3 per 0.10 lot (10 ounces). Twenty gold trades a month at that spread are $60 before anything else.
Commission. Some account types charge a lower spread plus a fixed commission per lot. Add the two together before comparing.
Swap. The overnight financing charge or credit per lot per night, in the contract specification. Irrelevant for a day trader, decisive for a swing trader holding gold for three weeks. Wednesday usually counts three nights.
Deposit, withdrawal and inactivity fees, and the conversion rate if your account currency differs from your bank's.

Step 4: the things you only notice when it matters

Withdrawals. Test one early with a small amount. The same method you deposited with, no extra documents beyond the initial verification, and a stated number of days. Any pressure to "trade a bit more first" is a reason to leave.
Client money. The agreement should say your money is held in segregated accounts, separate from the company's own.
Execution. Does the platform show requotes or slippage on normal days? Does the broker publish an execution policy? Is there a maximum spread at which your stop can be filled?
Minimum lot 0.01 and a stop-loss order on every instrument you trade, so you can follow position sizing with a small account.
Platform and data. Charts, order types (stop, limit, trailing stop), a mobile app that places orders reliably, and a demo account that uses the live price feed.
Support and complaints. A human who answers in your language, and an independent route (ombudsman or regulator) if the complaint is not solved.

The 12-point checklist

The company in my account agreement appears on the regulator's own register under the same name and number.
No warning or clone alert against it on that regulator's site.
I know which protections apply to me: leverage cap, negative balance protection, close-out level, compensation scheme.
The spread on my market, measured live at my trading hours, is acceptable, and I know the commission.
I know the swap per lot per night on my market.
The minimum trade size is 0.01 lots and stop-loss orders are available.
Client money is segregated according to the agreement.
A small withdrawal went through in the stated time with no new conditions.
The demo account uses the live price feed and the same platform as the live account.
No bonus, no "account manager" calling to suggest trades, no pressure to deposit more.
Fees for deposits, withdrawals, inactivity and currency conversion are written down.
There is an independent complaints route I can use from my country.

Red flags

Promised or "guaranteed" returns, or a manager offering to trade the account for you.
A licence number that returns nothing, or a different company, on the register.
Deposits in crypto only, or to a personal account, or through a third party.
Withdrawals that need "tax", "insurance" or "unlock" payments first. No real broker does this.
A website registered weeks ago, no physical address, no named directors.
Being contacted first, on social media or by phone, by someone who wants to help you open an account.

Where SesTrading stands

SesTrading is not a broker and does not hold anyone's money. We teach, and our VIP gold trades (entry, stop loss, targets) go to members on Telegram, where the weekly results are published including the losing trades. Members trade in their own accounts at a broker of their choice. Saad Nizar El Soussi is listed by the UAE Capital Market Authority as an authorised finfluencer; the licence box below links to the register. This page does not recommend a broker and is not paid for by one.

Once the broker is chosen, the platform is usually MetaTrader. How to use MetaTrader 5 walks through the demo account, the order window, stop loss and take profit, and the margin figures, so that the first live order is not the first order.

Questions before you open an account?

The Telegram bot answers in English, explains how the VIP gold trades work and where the weekly results, including losing trades, are published. Trading is risky; most retail accounts lose money.

Open the SesTrading botOn Telegram

Questions people ask

What is the best forex broker?

There is no single best one. The right broker depends on where you live (which regulator protects you), what you trade (spread and swap on that market) and how you trade (day trades or positions held for weeks). Use the checklist above instead of a ranking; most rankings are paid placements.

Is a broker with higher leverage better?

No. Higher leverage only lets you open bigger positions with the same deposit. In the EU the cap is 30:1 on major pairs and 20:1 on gold for retail clients; a broker offering 500:1 is usually outside those rules, which also means no negative balance protection and no compensation scheme.

How do I check if a forex broker is regulated?

Find the regulator and licence number on the broker's site, open the regulator's own register (links in the table above), search the exact company name and compare the number. Then check the regulator's warning list for clones. If the name on your account agreement is a different company, check that one.

Can I lose more than my deposit?

With a broker under the EU rules, no: negative balance protection is required per account for retail clients. In the US it is not required, and most offshore brokers do not offer it. You can always lose the whole deposit.

Does SesTrading recommend a broker?

Not on this page. We teach, and members trade in their own accounts at the broker they choose. Whatever broker you consider, run it through the checklist first.

Authorized in the UAESaad Nizar El Soussi, founder of SesTrading, is listed by the UAE Capital Market Authority as an authorized finfluencer (entry 193, added 24 September 2026). Check the official list.