How we research and review brokers
Clarytrade is an independent broker scanner and comparison service. This is the policy behind every score, scan and comparison on the site.
Independence — commission is weighted 0%
We earn affiliate commission when you open an account through our links, at no extra cost to you. It is weighted 0% in our scoring and never changes a score or rank. Sponsored placements, if any, are labelled and sit outside the ranking. See how we make money.
Research-based reviews — sources, not marketing
Reviews are research-based. We use published broker information, regulatory registers, pricing disclosures and platform documentation, scored against our published 8-criteria method. We do not claim live account testing unless we state it explicitly, and figures are indicative — always verify directly before depositing.
Compliance-first, risk-first
We show risk before any click-out, disclose every affiliate link, and never call a broker “safe”, promise profits or give financial advice. Trading involves risk and most retail CFD accounts lose money. See the risk disclosure.
Updates & accuracy
Every review shows a last-reviewed date. We re-check platforms on a regular cadence and update figures when terms change. Broker terms, fees and availability change often — the date tells you how fresh our snapshot is.
Corrections policy
If we get something wrong, we fix it and note the change. Spotted an error or an out-of-date figure? Email corrections@clarytrade.com or contact us and we'll review it.
Who produces this research
Aleksandr Filatov
Aleksandr Filatov is the founder of Clarytrade and runs its research process: checking broker licences and legal entities against official regulator registers, reading fee and client-agreement documents first-hand, and maintaining the public licence-evidence and corrections logs. Reviews are research-based and follow the published methodology; affiliate commission is weighted 0% in scoring, and errors are corrected publicly.
We don't publish reviews under invented expert names. Authorship is the editorial team's unless an individual reviewer is named. About & reviewers.
How a broker review is produced
- 1Gather sources: regulatory registers, the broker's own legal/pricing/platform pages and public disclosures.
- 2Score against the fixed 8-criteria method (regulation, cost, platform, assets, deposits, support, reputation, transparency).
- 3Flag risk and red flags plainly — leverage, offshore entities, withdrawal friction — before any affiliate link.
- 4Record the last-reviewed date and re-check on a regular cadence; correct errors publicly.
Corrections log
When we find an error in our data — a wrong licence number, an outdated fee — we fix it and log it here with the date and what changed. Spotted something off? Email corrections@clarytrade.com or use report an issue.
| Date | Subject | What was wrong | Corrected to |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-10 | XM inactivity fee | Our database listed “$15 after 12 months”. | XM's documents state $10/month after 90 days of inactivity; the 12-month clause is agreement termination, not a fee. |
| 2026-09-15 | XM — ASIC licence | CORRECTED 2026-09-15 after a first-hand read of ASIC Professional Registers Search (search 443670): the licensee is now 'TRADING.COM MARKETS PTY LTD (formerly known as TRADING POINT OF FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS PTY LTD)', status Current, AFSL 443670, commenced 23/12/2013, ABN 32 164 367 113, WeWork L13 333-339 George St Sydney. We had published the former name. This also explains the entity's absence under its old name from ASIC Report 828's list of active retail CFD issuers. Whether XM-branded retail services are offered in Australia under this AFSL still needs XM's own Australian disclosure. | Trading.com Markets Pty Ltd (formerly Trading Point of Financial Instruments Pty Ltd): 443670 |
| 2026-09-09 | FXTM — FCA licence | FCA Register API 2026-08-26: Exinity UK Ltd, status 'Authorised — applied to cancel' — the UK entity has APPLIED TO CANCEL its FCA authorisation. FXTM does not onboard UK clients via Clarytrade (GB excluded); do not present FCA as active oversight going forward. Earlier confirmation: FCA clone-warning page named the genuine firm. Re-read 2026-09-09 direct from the FCA Register API (Firm/777911): 'Exinity UK Ltd', status 'Authorised - applied to cancel'. | Exinity UK Ltd (fmr Forextime UK Limited): 777911 |
| 2026-09-09 | FXTM — FSCA licence | Was 'FSP 46614' under the name 'ForexTime Ltd' — a row that carried no source and no check date, and contradicted the broker's own disclosure. FXTM states FSP No. 50320 consistently on fxtm.com/en, fxtm.com/za and forextime.com/za, and its own crypto-leverage PDF names the holder: 'Exinity Limited ... is licensed by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) of South Africa, with FSP No. 50320 and is a licensed Over the Counter Derivative Provider.' 46614 is most likely the pre-rebrand ForexTime number. ENTITY CONFIRMED FIRST-HAND 2026-09-09 on the FSCA's own entity search (OTC Derivative Providers lookup, browser read): 'EXINITY LIMITED — Status: Approved, Public Company, 173 Oxford Rd, Rosebank, Non Bank, Foreign.' The same lookup returns 'FOREXTIME LTD — Status: Application Withdrawn' (35 Lamprou Konstantara, Kato Polemidia, Limassol, Cyprus) — i.e. the entity name we previously published against this licence has a WITHDRAWN FSCA application, which corroborates the correction. NUMBER STILL BROKER-DISCLOSED: the ODP register publishes no licence number and the FSCA's FSP-number search host is still 404 (checked 2026-09-09), so 'FSP 50320' remains Exinity's own disclosure while the ODP authorisation itself is now register-verified. | Exinity Limited: FSP 50320 |
| 2026-08-22 | FXTM — CMA licence | Was wrongly '122' (source at the time: Exinity press release). Now confirmed first-hand on the CMA Kenya licensees register — licence No. 135 held by Exinity Capital East Africa Limited. Status stays 'corrected' so the original error remains in the public corrections log. | Exinity Capital East Africa Limited: 135 |
| 2026-06-19 | FXTM — CySEC licence | CIF withdrawn 20 May 2024 — removed from data.ts. | Entry removed from our data — no such licence is listed. |
| 2026-09-15 | VT Markets — ASIC licence | CORRECTED 2026-09-15 after a first-hand read of ASIC Professional Registers Search (search 516246): the licensee is 'CENTFX GLOBAL PTY LTD', status Current, with former names '* VT GLOBAL PTY LTD', '* VINALYTICS AU PTY LTD' and '* STARGAZER CAPITAL PTY LTD'. We had published the former name VT Global Pty Ltd (wholesale-only licensee; VT Markets Pty Ltd was its authorised representative). Whether VT Markets still operates in Australia under this AFSL, and under which name, must be read on VT Markets' own Australian disclosure before the number is presented as VT Markets' licence. | CentFX Global Pty Ltd (formerly VT Global Pty Ltd): 516246 |
| 2026-06-19 | VT Markets — FSC licence | Was wrongly GB23201266. | VT Markets Ltd: GB23202269 |
| 2026-06-19 | PU Prime — FSCA licence | Was wrongly 51298; corrected to FSP 52218 (PU Prime (Pty) Ltd, 18 Cavendish St, Claremont, Cape Town). | PU Prime (Pty) Ltd: FSP 52218 |
| 2026-06-19 | PU Prime — SCB licence | SIA-F216 belongs to Trade Nation Ltd — removed; PU Prime has no Bahamas licence. | Entry removed from our data — no such licence is listed. |
| 2026-06-19 | StarTrader — FSCA licence | Was wrongly 50926 (FP Markets'). | StarTrader International Pty Ltd: FSP 52464 |
| 2026-06-19 | StarTrader — FSC licence | Was wrongly GB22200717. | STARTRADER Financial Markets Limited: GB24203371 |
| 2026-09-15 | Blueberry Markets — ASIC licence | Was wrongly 463745. The corrected value was read first-hand 2026-09-15 on ASIC Professional Registers Search: 'BLUEBERRY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD', status Current, AFSL 535887. | Blueberry Australia Pty Ltd: 535887 |
| 2026-08-25 | XTB — DFSA licence | Was wrongly F003484 (that is XM's). Register content (via index; direct fetch 403s to automation): Category 3A, licensed 08-Jul-2021, retail endorsement, DIFC Dubai. | XTB MENA Limited: F006316 |
| 2026-09-15 | IG — ASIC licence | CORRECTED 2026-09-15 after a first-hand read of ASIC Professional Registers Search (search 220440): 'IG MARKETS LIMITED', AFSL 220440, status CEASED (commenced 03/07/2002, ABN 84 099 019 851, address unknown). We had listed this as IG's current Australian licence on the strength of an IG-authored letter. IG's current Australian licence is held by its Australian subsidiary and must be read on the register (search 'IG Australia') before any ASIC number is presented as current. | IG Markets Limited (AU): 220440 |
| 2026-08-22 | Tickmill — Labuan FSA licence | Money-broking licence SURRENDERED effective 10/01/2025 per Labuan FSA's own 'Surrendered & Revoked' list (as at 29 Jan 2026). A July-2024 Tickmill client agreement still hosted on tickmill.com states the entity is 'authorized and regulated' under this number — the document predates the surrender. Not listed by Clarytrade as current regulation. | Tickmill Asia Ltd: MB/18/0028 |
| 2026-08-30 | Capital.com — FSA licence | Was wrongly SD150 (that is Trade Nation's). 2026-08-30: the entity could NOT be located on the FSA's capital-markets directory via automated reads (the table may be JS-rendered) — manual browser check queued; number remains company-disclosed as Seychelles FSA publishes none. | Capital Com Stock and CFD Investing Ltd: SD101 |
| 2026-06-19 | OKX — VARA licence | Was 'provisional'; full VASP licence, active, read on VARA register. | OKX Middle East Fintech FZE: VL/23/12/003 |
Licence corrections are drawn directly from our internal evidence log; corrected values should still be verified on the regulator's official register before you rely on them.
Related: methodology, how we make money, about, regulation. Policy last updated June 2026.