Is FBS Safe and Legit?

FBS is a legitimate broker, not a scam. However, your protection level depends on which FBS company manages your account. We checked 20 trust factors and gave it a safety score of 65 out of 100, based on our direct tests, its licenses, security measures, track record, and over 10,000 user reviews.

Written By
Christian Harris

Fact Checked By
Tobias Robinson

Edited By
James Barra

Updated
October 5, 2026

FBS Safety Assessment

We used a data-driven process to decide if FBS is safe. We rated the broker from 0 to 5 in each category, then added up the scores for a total out of 100.

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FBS Safety Assessment
Metric	Score (0-5)	FBS Details
1. Regulated	4/5	Yes – EU clients go to Tradestone Ltd at ‘fbs.eu’, licensed by CySEC (331/17), and Australians to Intelligent Financial Markets Pty Ltd under ASIC (license 426359). Trade Stone SA (Pty) Ltd holds FSCA license 50885, but South Africans are signed up through Belize. ‘fbs.com’ is run by FBS Markets Inc., licensed (number 4077102) by Belize’s FSC under the Securities Industry Act 2021, a low-tier regulator in our regulator banding system.
2. Investor Compensation Schemes	2.5/5	Mostly no – No statutory scheme like the UK’s FSCS covers FBS Markets Inc., the entity most ‘fbs.com’ clients sign with. EU clients get real cover: Tradestone is a member of Cyprus’s Investor Compensation Fund, which can pay eligible retail clients up to €20,000 if Tradestone becomes insolvent.
3. Age	4.5/5	FBS says it started trading in 2009, and its CySEC arm was announced in October 2017. The Australian license was issued in December 2012 to a firm that originally traded as IFGM. In contrast, scam trading brokers often vanish within weeks or months.
4. Listed On Stock Exchange	0/5	No – privately held, so there are no public filings or audited annual reports to check. That said, most brokers aren’t listed on public exchanges.
5. Registered As A Bank	0/5	No – brokers also operating as banks face very strict capital rules that provide strong financial transparency. That said, most brokers aren’t also registered banks.
6. Third-Party User Reviews	4/5	Trustpilot shows under 4.5/5 from over 10,000 reviews, with around 65% five-star and 10% one-star at our checks. That looks strong, but FBS pays for a Trustpilot subscription and invites customers to review, and many five-star entries are one-liners such as ‘Deposit fast’. Invited reviews tend to skew positive.
7. Withdrawal Complaints	3/5	Trustpilot’s summary flags occasional withdrawal delays, strict verification checks and unexpected account debits. One unverified post says FBS blocked a profit withdrawal in October 2024, then wiped a $2,618 balance, later telling the trader it covered a negative balance on another account. However, most Trustpilot reviewers still describe withdrawals as fast.
8. Handling Of Complaints	4.5/5	Trustpilot says FBS replied to 99% of negative reviews, typically within 48 hours, and may use AI to draft replies. Most replies send people to live chat or ‘support@fbs.com’. EU clients can escalate to Cyprus’s Financial Ombudsman. We found no outside dispute body for FBS Markets Inc. clients.
9. Regulatory Fines & Infractions	3.5/5	No published fines, but some regulator warnings. Japan’s Kanto Local Finance Bureau warned FBS Markets Inc. for doing financial instruments business without registration. India’s RBI names fbs.com on its Alert List of unauthorized forex platforms, and Malaysia’s central bank keeps ‘FBS Malaysia’ on its Financial Consumer Alert List. None is a fraud finding.
10. Accounts Audited By Big Four	0/5	No published audited accounts for FBS Markets Inc. on ‘fbs.com’, and we found no Big Four audit report for any FBS entity.
11. Hands-On Testing Experience	4/5	We opened an account in under 10 minutes with Google sign-in, found MT4, MT5 and the FBS app stable on desktop and mobile, and measured average EUR/USD spreads of around 0.9 pips with no commission. Deposits landed instantly and withdrawals took up to 48 hours.
12. Working Support	4/5	FBS offers 24/7 live chat, callbacks, WhatsApp, a Telegram bot, email (support@fbs.com) and a Help Center in seven languages. Its site claims chat replies in under a minute, and our test chats were answered just as quickly. Occasionally, however, some of our emails went unanswered.
13. Security	3/5	Biometric logins and standard account security measures. However, an unsecured server leaked nearly 20TB of data containing over 16 billion records, including passport numbers, ID scans, card photos and passwords; FBS said it secured it three days after being told. Its privacy policy says FBS doesn’t store card data itself, but lets the partner who referred you see some of your information. Impersonators are active too: the FCA warned about the lookalike ‘fbsfxtrading.com’. Only log in at ‘fbs.com’.
14. Realistic Marketing	2.5/5	The homepage leads with $5 deposits and leverage and FBS’s company-written Trustpilot profile claims half its clients multiply their deposit 8 to 10 times and 48% treat FBS profits as their main income. Yet its own EU arm must disclose that the majority of retail accounts lose money.
15. Industry Reputation	3.5/5	Well known across Asia, Africa and Latin America, FBS was Leicester City’s official partner for multiple seasons and claims 100+ awards, mostly from trade magazines and expos. Independent reviewers are split.
16. Segregated Client Accounts	4.5/5	Yes – Tradestone EU states it segregates client money from company funds, so too does FBS Markets Inc. for ‘fbs.com’, although there are no named banks. Global payments also run through a separate Cyprus company, HDC Technologies Ltd.
17. Negative Balance Protection (NBP)	4.5/5	Yes – ‘fbs.com’ lists negative balance protection as active, backed by a 40% margin call and 20% stop-out. The catch: FBS is legally allowed to use funds from one of your trading accounts to cover a deficit (negative balance) in another under what is known as a cross-collateralization or right of set-off clause, so protection may apply across your accounts rather than to each one.
18. Number Of Clients	5/5	FBS says it has 27 million+ clients and 700,000 partners in 150+ countries. That figure hasn’t moved since FBS announced its 27-millionth client in 2022, so read it as total sign-ups, not active traders.
19. Transparent Fees	5/5	Its trading conditions page lists no trading commission, floating spreads from 0.7 pips, and no FBS charge on deposits or withdrawals. During our testing we found no inactivity fee. Overnight swaps apply unless you switch to a swap-free account, and payment providers can add their own charges.
20. Company Transparency	3.5/5	Mostly good, but FBS’s privacy policy names FBS Markets Inc., its incorporation number (000001317) and a registered office at The Bentley in Belize City. But the details shift between some of FBS’s own materials: its Google Play listing gives license 000102/31, while its app description on Uptodown gives 000102/6 and a Guava Street address, which its Trustpilot profile also uses. FBS doesn’t name a CEO or owner.
Total	65/100

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Professional Opinion

Based on my research and hands-on testing experience, I believe FBS is not a scam. The company has been around since 2009, has millions of clients, and holds licenses from CySEC and ASIC. When I tested it, deposits were instant, and withdrawals took less than 48 hours.

However, most people who sign up at ‘fbs.com’ are not covered by these top licenses. If you are not in the EU or Australia, your account is with a Belize company, and there is no compensation scheme if FBS fails.

In 2021, a data leak exposed passport scans and card details. FBS also claims that half of its clients multiply their deposits. All of this means you are trusting FBS more than relying on strong regulatory protection if you are outside of Australia and Europe.

FBS offers MetaTrader, a $5 minimum deposit, and high leverage (via its offshore entity). I suggest using it only for trading, not for storing your savings. For long-term funds, consider a broker regulated by a top authority.

If you plan to use FBS, check which company your account is with when you sign up, since that decides which rules protect you. Ignore the return claims in FBS’s own marketing, pick a leverage level you’d be comfortable losing on, and make sure you’re on ‘fbs.com’ or ‘fbs.eu’ rather than a lookalike from an ad or social post.

You could also try the demo account first, and test a small withdrawal before making a larger deposit.

FBS WebTrader

Safest Alternatives To FBS

FBS is a legitimate broker. However, if you sign up at ‘fbs.com’ from outside the EU or Australia, your account is covered only by a Belize license with no compensation scheme. Brokers regulated by top authorities offer better protection. Check our list of the safest brokers for trading online.

Before you switch, check four things on any alternative: the exact company your account will open with, a license you can look up on the regulator’s own register, membership of a compensation scheme such as the UK’s FSCS, and a clear statement that client money sits in segregated accounts.

After reviewing FBS’s licenses and history, and considering our experience and feedback from thousands of users, we believe FBS is a legitimate broker. However, it is riskier than brokers regulated by top authorities, especially for clients outside the EU and Australia. No broker is ever completely safe. Online trading and broker operations always involve risk.