How we rank — and how we keep commission out of it
Every score on Clarytrade comes from the same rubric. We publish it in full so you can judge whether you agree with our weighting.
The one rule that matters
Affiliate commission is weighted 0%. We earn money when you open an account through our links, and that has no bearing on a platform's score or its position in our rankings. We publish each platform's commission band on its review page. See how we make money.
Eight weighted criteria (0–100)
Regulation & safety
25%Tier-1 licensing (FCA, ASIC, SEC and equivalents), segregation of client funds, investor compensation schemes and negative-balance protection.
Fees & all-in cost
20%All-in cost: spreads, commissions, swap/overnight charges, currency conversion, inactivity and withdrawal fees — modelled on realistic usage.
Platform & app quality
15%Web, desktop and mobile experience: usability, reliability, charting, order types and risk tools. Assessed from platform documentation, feature disclosures and publicly available information.
Asset coverage
10%Breadth and depth across the asset classes a platform claims to serve.
Deposits & withdrawals
10%Deposit/withdrawal methods, measured or reported speed, and friction (verification, minimums, fees).
Reputation & complaints
8%Regulator actions and warnings, complaint volume and severity, and how complaints are resolved.
Customer support
7%Channels, hours and published/reported response standards.
Transparency
5%Clear fee schedules, plain terms, and honest marketing. Hidden fees and misleading promotions lower this score.
What we deliberately separate
Research-based, clearly labelled
Broker data is research-based and checked against public broker disclosures and regulator registers where available. Broker entities, licence status, costs, products and availability can change. Users must verify directly with the broker and official regulator before depositing.
We do not claim live account testing unless we state it explicitly. Where a licence has not yet been confirmed on the regulator's own register, we mark it as still to be verified rather than implying it is confirmed.
Risk level is a label, not a penalty
A CFD broker isn't scored lower for being a CFD broker — it's tagged higher risk. We flag risk prominently so you can weigh it, rather than hiding it inside a number.
Sponsored ≠ ranked
Paid placements are always labelled Sponsored and sit outside the ranked results. We never sell a position in the ranking.
We update and log changes
Every review shows a last-reviewed date. We re-check platforms on a regular cadence and correct errors publicly. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
More about who we are and what we check: About Clarytrade →