Every broker comparison is worthless without one skill: checking the licence yourself. Regulators publish registers precisely so traders do not have to trust homepages. In the UK, the FCA Financial Services Register lets anyone search a firm name or reference number, confirm the legal entity, and verify what it is actually permitted to do. The same principle applies everywhere: find the licence number, match it to the register, match the register to your account entity. Five minutes of checking beats five months of chargeback fights. The brokers in our binary comparison, CFD giants and challengers pieces all submit to the same test. Source: UK guide.
The three-match rule
Match one: the licence number on the broker's site against the regulator's own register, character for character. Match two: the registered entity name against the company named in your client agreement and deposit details. Match three: the permission scope against what you were sold, since a payments licence is not a brokerage licence and an offshore entity is not the European one. RoboMarkets' verifiable CySEC licence 191/13 shows what a checkable claim looks like: number, regulator, searchable. Any broker that makes these three matches hard is answering your question. The Warsaw exits show why entity clarity matters when people change. Source: Myfxbook reviews.
Red flags that fail the test
Licence numbers that do not appear in any register. Registers that show a different company name than your agreement. Support that cannot name your account entity without checking. Bonus terms that lock withdrawals behind turnover you were never shown. Review patterns where withdrawals work until size grows. None of these individually convicts a broker, but two together should stop any deposit. Document everything before funding: screenshots of the licence page, the register entry, and the terms version you accepted. The copy-trading risks add a fourth check for mirrored strategies. Source: TradersUnion reviews.
- Search the regulator's own register first
- Match licence, entity and permissions
- CySEC 191/13 shows a checkable claim
- Two red flags stop any deposit
What to do before every deposit
Run the three-match check, screenshot the evidence, start with the minimum deposit, test a withdrawal early while amounts are small, and keep a log of every promise support makes. If a broker passes all of this, it has earned a funded trial, not your trust. Trust accrues in withdrawals, quarterly statements and years, never in homepages. Share this checklist with anyone comparing platforms this week.
Regulators built the register so you would not need to trust anyone. Use it, or donate the tuition.
Walking through the FCA register
On the FCA's Financial Services Register, search by firm name or its Firm Reference Number. The firm's page shows its status, which should read Authorised, its registered address, its trading names and the websites it uses. It also lists the regulated activities it has permission to carry out. For a CFD broker, look for permissions covering dealing in investments as principal and arranging deals in investments, among others. If the website you are using is not listed among the firm's websites, be cautious: clone firms often copy a real firm's name and reference number while using their own websites.
Walking through CySEC's register
CySEC publishes a list of Cyprus Investment Firms with their licence numbers, which take the form of a number and a two-digit year, such as 191/13. Each entry shows the company name, licence status and the services and instruments it is authorised for. CySEC also publishes lists of firms whose licences have been suspended or withdrawn, and warnings about unauthorised websites. EU firms passporting into other countries appear on host regulators' lists too.
Other registers worth knowing
- ASIC's professional register lists Australian financial services licensees by name or licence number.
- The Monetary Authority of Singapore's Financial Institutions Directory lists firms licensed in Singapore.
- The DFSA's public register covers firms in the Dubai International Financial Centre.
- The NFA's BASIC database covers US firms registered with the CFTC.
- IOSCO, the global body for securities regulators, runs an investor alerts portal that collects warnings about unauthorised firms from regulators around the world.
Always open these registers by typing the regulator's address yourself or through a search engine, never through a link provided by the broker.
Clone firms and how to spot them
A clone firm pretends to be a genuine authorised firm, using its name, reference number and sometimes its address, but with different contact details and websites. Victims check the register, see a real firm and deposit, unaware they are dealing with impostors. The defence is to check that the phone numbers, email domains and websites you are using match those on the register, and to contact the firm through the details listed there if anything seems off. Regulators publish lists of known clones.
What the register cannot tell you
A register confirms authorisation and permissions. It does not rate service quality, execution or how quickly withdrawals are paid. It also does not cover entities in other countries that share a brand. The register check is the first step, not the last: after it, read the client agreement, test a small withdrawal and keep records.
A five-minute licence check
- Find the legal entity name and licence number in the client agreement.
- Open the regulator's register yourself and search the number.
- Confirm the status, the entity name and the permissions.
- Check that the website, email domain and phone number match the register.
- Search the regulator's warning list for the brand name.
The bottom line
Five minutes on a regulator's register is the cheapest protection in trading. Do it before every new broker, keep the screenshots and repeat it if anything about the firm changes.
The bigger picture
Retail trading's fraud problem is mostly a verification problem: victims fund entities nobody checked. Registers, agreements and withdrawal tests form a verification stack anyone can run free in minutes. An industry where every trader ran it would starve every scam broker within a year.
What to watch next
Watch regulators expand register data with execution and complaint stats. Watch brokers compete on verifiability as a feature. And watch your own paperwork, because the trader with screenshots wins every dispute.
How do I check a broker's licence?
Search the regulator's own register for the licence number, match the registered entity to your client agreement and deposit details, and confirm the permission scope covers brokerage, using tools like the UK FCA Financial Services Register.
What are the biggest red flags?
Licence numbers missing from registers, entity mismatches, support that cannot name your entity, withdrawal-locking bonuses, and withdrawals that fail as size grows. Two together should stop any deposit.
What is a Firm Reference Number?
The unique number the FCA assigns to each firm on its register. It can be used to look up a firm's status, permissions and approved websites.
How do I spot a clone firm?
Check that the websites, email domains and phone numbers you are using match those on the regulator's register, and search the regulator's list of known clones.
Does a register entry mean a broker is good?
It means the firm is authorised for listed activities. It does not rate service or withdrawals, so test those separately.
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