This page explains exactly how FXMARE researches, tests and scores the forex and CFD brokers we review. Our goal is a consistent, transparent and defensible process so you can see why a broker received the rating it did — not just the number. Every broker is measured against the same weighted categories, scored on a 0–5 star scale, and re-reviewed on a fixed cadence. Ratings are our editorial opinion, not personal advice, and our commercial relationships never change a score.
Sponsorship and affiliate status never affect a broker's score.
Scores are decided by our editorial team using the framework below before any commercial discussion takes place. We may earn a commission when you open an account through some links, but a broker cannot pay for a higher rating, a better ranking or a more favourable review. Read our sponsored content policy and affiliate disclosure for the full detail.
FXMARE reviews brokers so retail traders can compare them on the things that actually matter: whether the firm is properly regulated and your money is safe, what it really costs to trade, how good the platforms are, and how the broker behaves when you need support or want to withdraw. We do not review brokers we cannot meaningfully assess, and we do not publish a rating we cannot stand behind.
The whole process is built on four principles:
This methodology sits alongside our broader editorial policy and risk disclosure. Nothing here is a recommendation that any broker, product or trade is suitable for you.
Each broker receives a single overall rating from 0 to 5 stars, calculated as the weighted average of its category scores (see the weightings below) and rounded to one decimal place. We also publish four sub-ratings — Fees, Platform, Support and Trust — so you can quickly see where a broker is strong and where it is weak, rather than relying on a single headline number.
Spreads, commissions, swaps and non-trading charges relative to comparable brokers.
Choice and quality of trading software, instrument range, charting, automation and the mobile app.
Availability, speed and usefulness of customer service across channels and languages.
Regulation, safety of client funds, company history, and the ease and reliability of withdrawals.
As a rough guide to what an overall star band means:
Star bands are a guide, not a formula you can game: a broker can score well on fees yet still carry a low overall rating if its Trust sub-rating is weak, because regulation and safety of funds carry the heaviest weighting.
The overall rating is a weighted average. We publish the weighting we apply so you can see how much each area counts. Safety of your money carries the most weight; cost is next; presentation and extras matter least.
This is the most heavily weighted category, because nothing else matters if your money is not safe. A broker can have the tightest spreads in the market and still earn a low overall rating here. We assess:
We treat regulatory warnings, clone-firm alerts and licence revocations as serious negatives that can cap the overall rating regardless of performance elsewhere.
Costs are the single biggest controllable drag on a trader's results, so this is the second-heaviest category. We look at the true, all-in cost of trading rather than a single headline spread:
We compare like-for-like account types and note where a broker is cheap for active traders but expensive for occasional ones, or vice versa. Costs we quote are indicative and vary with market conditions and account type; always confirm current pricing with the broker.
The platform is where you actually trade, so its quality and reliability matter. We assess the range and standard of software on offer:
Beyond the list of platforms, we weigh execution quality: available order types, charting depth, automation and API access, and how the platform behaves under load. A broker that offers many platforms but runs none of them well will not score highly here.
We assess how broad and deep the tradable universe is, because a broker that suits a scalper of FX majors may be too narrow for someone who wants shares, ETFs or bonds. We look at:
We reward genuine breadth and depth, but we do not penalise a focused FX/CFD specialist for choosing not to be a one-stop shop — context matters, and we say so in the review.
Getting money in is rarely the problem; getting it out smoothly is the real test of a broker. This category feeds the Trust sub-rating. We assess:
Leverage limits and account terms differ sharply by jurisdiction, and we make those differences explicit rather than quoting a single headline number that may not apply to you. We look at:
Because terms vary by country, the figures in a review are indicative for a typical retail client — confirm the exact account type, leverage and protections that apply to you before opening an account. See our risk disclosure for more on leverage and margin.
Support quality only becomes obvious when something goes wrong, so we test it before that happens. Feeding the Support sub-rating, we assess:
Good education and research help newer traders and add value for everyone, even though they carry a lighter weighting than safety and cost. We assess:
Note that broker education is general information, not personal advice — the same standard we apply to our own content in our editorial policy.
Most traders now monitor and manage positions on a phone, so a weak app is a real drawback. We assess:
A broker is only useful to you if it accepts clients where you live, under terms you can rely on. We record:
Availability and terms change, so we always advise confirming directly with the broker that it accepts clients in your jurisdiction before signing up.
Alongside the positives, we actively look for warning signs and weight them heavily — a single serious red flag can override otherwise strong scores. We watch for:
We try to distinguish isolated, unverifiable grievances from genuine patterns, and we say in the review when a concern is unconfirmed. We never present an unsubstantiated allegation as fact.
A review is built from hands-on testing wherever practical — opening or examining accounts, checking live pricing, trying the platforms and apps, and contacting support — supplemented by the broker's public documentation and regulator records. We then score each category against the framework above and calculate the weighted overall rating.
Ratings and rankings on FXMARE are our editorial opinion, formed by applying this methodology to the information available to us. They are not financial, investment or trading advice, not a personal recommendation, and not a statement that any broker is “the best” for you — the right broker depends on your country, strategy, instruments and circumstances.
Crucially, commercial relationships do not influence scores. We may receive a commission when you open an account through some of our links, and that is how we fund our work — but the rating, ranking and content of a review are decided independently of any affiliate or sponsorship arrangement. A broker cannot buy a higher score, a better position or the removal of a criticism. For the full picture of our commercial model, see our affiliate disclosure, our sponsored content policy and how we make money.
We work hard to keep reviews accurate, but the broker industry changes constantly. Spreads, swaps, fees, leverage caps, account terms, platform features and country availability can all change without notice, and may differ by account type, region and market conditions.
For that reason, every figure and feature in a FXMARE review should be treated as indicative. Before opening or funding an account, always verify the current details directly with the brokeron its official website and legal documents. Where a review quotes a number, it reflects our best information as at the “last reviewed” date — not a live guarantee.
We want our reviews to be right. If you believe a rating is unfair, a fact is out of date, or we have missed an important red flag — whether you are a trader or a broker — please tell us. We review every credible report against this methodology, correct genuine errors promptly and transparently, and re-score where the facts warrant it.
The fastest route is our corrections policy, which explains how to submit a correction and how we handle it. You can also reach the editorial team at [email protected]. Brokers are welcome to flag inaccuracies, but a correction request is not a route to change a score we can substantiate — independence cuts both ways.