Trust Score

With the prevalence of scams and questionable trading practices, it’s not always easy to know who to trust.

To address this, we’ve created a simple, transparent scoring system that plays a key role in our broker review process and helps traders identify trustworthy brokers.

This is called our Trust Score.

What We Evaluate

Our Trust Score is based on several key factors:

• Regulatory status – Is the broker licensed by a top-tier regulator?
• Track record – Does the broker have a clean history without regulatory violations?
• Transparency – Does the broker clearly disclose its trading conditions?
• Expert opinion – How confident is our expert team in the broker’s integrity?

1-5 Rating

Based on our evaluations of these factors, we score each broker a rating from 1 to 5, with the most trusted brokers scoring 4 and above.

Regulator Risk Classification

One of our main priorities when evaluating brokers is assessing their regulatory status, which helps determine how fair and transparent the brokerage’s trading environment is.

This includes investigating the number of licenses that a broker holds, and crucially, whether they are from credible regulators.

To help with this, we’ve assigned each broker regulator in our evolving database one of three risk classifications:

• Category A – Most trusted
• Category B – Averagely trusted
• Category C – Not trusted

Category A Regulators

Category A regulators offer the highest level of regulatory oversight and financial protection, such as negative balance protection in regions like the UK and Australia, and we assign the highest trust score to brokers that hold one or more licenses from these regulators.

• Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
• Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO)
• Central Bank of Ireland (CBI)
• Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission (CySEC)
• Czech National Bank (CNB)
• Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (DFSA)
• European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)
• Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (Finanstilsynet)
• French Financial Markets Authority (AMF)
• German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin)
• Hong Kong Securities Futures Commission (SFC)
• Italian Organismo Agenti e Mediatori (OAM)
• Japanese Financial Services Agency (JFSA)
• Luxembourg Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF)
• Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA)
• Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)
• National Bank of Hungary (MNB)
• Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM)
• New Zealand Financial Markets Authority (FMA)
• Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF)
• Portuguese Comissão do Mercado de Valores Mobiliários (CVMV)
• Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV)
• Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen)
• Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA)
• UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
• US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
• US National Futures Association (NFA)
• US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC)

Category B Regulators

Category B regulators can provide good regulatory oversight, but may not offer the same level of scrutiny or financial safeguards as Category A regulators.

• Capital Markets Board of Turkey (CMB)
• Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA)
• Indonesia Bappebti
• Jordan Securities Commission (JSC)
• Kenyan Central Markets Authority (CMA)
• Kuwait Capital Markets Authority (CMA)
• Namibian Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (NAMFISA)
• Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA)
• Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
• Securities and Exchange Commission of Brazil (CVM)
• Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC)
• Securities Commission of Malaysia (SCM)
• South African Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA)
• UAE Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA)
• Ukraine’s National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC)

Category C Regulators

Category C regulators are high-risk and should be approached with caution. These regulators are less credible and may offer little to no financial safeguards or legal protections if your broker faces financial difficulty.

Some regulators in this category may not actively oversee brokers, which means traders will be more exposed to misleading trading practices and potential scams.

• Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC)
• Bank of Botswana (BOB)
• Belize Financial Services Commission (FSC)
• Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA)
• British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (FSC)
• Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA)
• Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA)
• Central Bank of Curacao and Saint Maarten (CBCS)
• Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE)
• Central Bank of Lesotho (CBL)
• Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP)
• Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan (CBU)
• Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR)
• Chilean Financial Market Commission (CMF)
• Eswatini Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA)
• Financial Superintendence of Colombia (FSC)
• International Financial Services Authentication (IFSA)
• Jamaican Financial Services Commission (FSC)
• Labuan Financial Services Authority (LOFSA)
• Mauritius Financial Services Commission (FSC)
• Mwali International Services Authority (MISA)
• Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority of Botswana (NBFIRA)
• Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe (SECZ)
• Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB)
• Seychelles Financial Services Authority (FSA)
• St Vincent & The Grenadines Financial Services Authority (SVGFSA)
• Tanzania Capital Markets and Securities Authority (CMSA)
• The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON)
• Uganda Capital Markets Authority (CMA)
• Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC)

Bottom Line

Choosing a broker licensed by a Category A regulator in BrokerListings.com’s Trust Score can help protect your trading capital.

That said, safety while online trading is never guaranteed. Your capital remains at risk.