Our methodology
1. Editorial independence and affiliate disclosure
forextradingapp.net earns affiliate commissions when readers open accounts via links on this site. We disclose this on every commercial page, above the first affiliate link, not only in the footer. Our editorial scores and rankings are determined independently of commercial relationships. No broker has paid to be featured, reviewed positively, or ranked higher than our testing supports.
Author: Max Yao. No credentialed financial reviewer is employed on this site. Per our E1 archetype decision, we replace credentialed reviewer signalling with citation depth (minimum 3 primary sources per claim block, regulator URLs linked) and honest "edited by Max" framing. See Design Brief Deviation 1 for the reasoning.
2. How we verify spreads
Spread data is collected by opening demo accounts with each reviewed broker and recording quotes at three time windows: London session open (08:00 GMT), New York session open (13:30 GMT), and off-peak (21:00 GMT). We average these across 5 trading days. We cross-reference with each broker's published spread disclosures and flag any discrepancy above 0.2 pip.
Spreads marked as "typical" reflect the median of our sample. Spreads during major news events (CPI, NFP, FOMC) are noted separately where relevant and can be 3–10x the typical figure.
3. How we verify regulation
Every broker review links to the relevant regulator register and displays the licence number. We verify each number against:
- FCA register: register.fca.org.uk
- NFA BASIC: nfa.futures.org/BasicNet
- ASIC register: connectonline.asic.gov.au
- CySEC register: cysec.gov.cy
Jurisdiction acceptance badges are based on each broker's published terms and conditions for client onboarding. We test by attempting to create accounts from UK, US, and AU IP addresses where possible.
4. Scoring framework
Our editorial scores (0–10) weight the following criteria:
| Criterion | Weight | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Regulation quality (Tier 1 / 2 / 3) | 30% | FCA/NFA/ASIC = Tier 1; CySEC only = Tier 2; offshore-only = Tier 3 |
| Execution cost (all-in spread + commission) | 25% | Benchmarked on EUR/USD standard lot at London open |
| Mobile app quality | 20% | Charting, order types, stability, onboarding UX |
| Platform breadth (MT4/MT5/cTrader/API) | 15% | More supported platforms = higher score for power users |
| Fee transparency (withdrawal, inactivity) | 10% | Hidden fees penalise score |
5. YMYL compliance
This site is classified as YMYL (Your Money, Your Life) under Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines. Every commercial page includes:
- The FCA/ESMA standard retail-CFD loss warning with broker-specific percentage
- Regulator licence number + register link for each reviewed broker
- Jurisdiction acceptance badges per broker
- Affiliate disclosure above the first affiliate link
- No "guaranteed returns" language, no "get rich" framing
6. Update schedule
Broker reviews are re-verified quarterly. Spread data is refreshed monthly. Regulatory status is monitored continuously — any regulatory action against a reviewed broker triggers an immediate update with a dated notice.
Primary regulatory sources cited: FCA PS19/18, ESMA Decision (EU) 2018/796, CFTC RFED registration requirements, ASIC CP 322. Contact: methodology questions via the GitHub repository.