The three ways broker licence numbers go wrong
We register-checked 58 broker licence records against official regulator registers. 14 needed correcting — and the errors repeat in three patterns anyone can learn to catch.
A broker licence number is the single fact retail traders are told to rely on — and it is copied between websites far more often than it is checked. When we built our licence-evidence log we compiled records from the same public information every comparison site, review and forum post reads. Then we checked each record against the regulator's own register.
14 of the 58 records we have finished checking (24%) turned out to be wrong and were corrected — every correction is logged publicly. The point of this study is not the individual mistakes; it is that they cluster into three repeatable patterns, each of which defeats a different lazy way of "verifying" a licence — and each of which has a simple counter-move.
Informational only — not financial advice. The corrected values were errors in our own compiled records, caught by our register checks; this study does not claim any broker published them. Licences and statuses change — verify on the official register before depositing.
What the register checks found (as of September 2026)
Every figure is computed live from the licence-evidence log. Records not yet checked first-hand are labelled pending — never counted as verified.
Another firm's licence
A real, active licence number — registered to a different company
| Brand | What circulated | What the register shows | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| PU Prime SCB | Bahamas SCB SIA-F216 — registered to Trade Nation Ltd | No Bahamas licence for this brand at all | Jun 2026 |
| StarTrader FSCA | FSCA FSP 50926 — registered to FP Markets | FSP 52464 (StarTrader International Pty Ltd) | Jun 2026 |
| XTB DFSA | DFSA F003484 — registered to XM's Dubai entity | F006316 (XTB MENA Limited) · register | Aug 2026 |
| Capital.com FSA | Seychelles FSA SD150 — registered to Trade Nation | SD101 (Capital Com Stock and CFD Investing Ltd) | Aug 2026 |
Near-miss numbers
A plausible-looking licence number that is simply wrong
| Brand | What circulated | What the register shows | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| FXTM CMA | CMA licence 122 | Licence 135 (Exinity Capital East Africa Ltd) · register | Aug 2026 |
| VT Markets FSC | FSC licence GB23201266 | GB23202269 (VT Markets Ltd) | Jun 2026 |
| PU Prime FSCA | FSCA FSP 51298 | FSP 52218 (PU Prime (Pty) Ltd) | Jun 2026 |
| StarTrader FSC | FSC licence GB22200717 | GB24203371 (STARTRADER Financial Markets Limited) | Jun 2026 |
| Blueberry Markets ASIC | ASIC AFSL 463745 | AFSL 535887 (Blueberry Australia Pty Ltd) | Jun 2026 |
Stale status
A licence whose status changed after the information was written
| Brand | What circulated | What the register shows | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| FXTM FCA | FCA 777911 (Exinity UK Ltd) presented as active oversight | Status 'Authorised — applied to cancel' on the FCA Register API, 26 Aug 2026; removed from the FXTM profile · register | Sept 2026 |
| FXTM FSCA | FSCA FSP 46614, held by 'ForexTime Ltd' | ForexTime Ltd's FSCA application is 'Application Withdrawn'; the group's approved South African provider is Exinity Limited, which the broker discloses as FSP 50320 · register | Sept 2026 |
| FXTM CySEC | CySEC CIF 185/12 listed as active | CIF authorisation withdrawn 20 May 2024 | Jun 2026 |
| Tickmill Labuan FSA | Labuan money-broking licence MB/18/0028 listed as current | Surrendered effective 10 Jan 2025, per Labuan FSA's own surrendered/revoked list | Aug 2026 |
| OKX VARA | VARA licence described as provisional | Full active VASP licence on the VARA register · register | Jun 2026 |
Clone firms weaponise the same confusion
What happens when the wrong-firm pattern is done on purpose.
Everything above was error. Clone firms do it deliberately: they quote a genuine firm's licence number and name so that a victim who checks "does this number exist?" gets a reassuring yes. The FCA maintains a public list of clone-firm warnings — including, for example, a warning about a clone that borrowed the identity of a genuine FCA-authorised brokerage. The counter-move is the same as for the wrong-firm pattern: match the exact entity name, the licence number and the contact details on the register entry — and search the regulator's warning list for the brand too. How clone firms work →
How this study was produced
- • The dataset is our own licence-evidence log: every licence record we publish, with a status of verified, corrected or pending. This page recomputes from it on every build.
- • A record is corrected only after a first-hand check against the regulator's official register (or the regulator's own published documents); the previous wrong value is preserved in the log.
- • Patterns are assigned from the correction notes; the before/after values on this page quote those notes verbatim.
- • Commission weighting: 0%. Affiliate relationships never change a verification status or which corrections we publish.
- • Corrections are also listed in our public corrections log.
What this study does not claim
- • The wrong values were in our own compiled records, sourced from public broker information. We do not attribute the origin of any individual error to a broker, and this study is not a claim of wrongdoing by any firm named.
- • Figures are a point-in-time snapshot (September 2026) and recompute as records are re-checked; 42 records are still pending first-hand verification.
- • A corrected licence record says nothing about a broker's quality or safety — only that a published number and the register disagreed until checked.
- • Informational only — not financial advice. Always verify the entity, number and status on the official register before depositing.
Verify it yourself
Cite this study
Clarytrade, a broker-research database, checked 58 broker licence records against official regulator registers; 14 (24%) required correction. The errors cluster into three patterns: licence numbers registered to a different firm (4 cases), near-miss wrong numbers (5), and stale licence statuses (5). Snapshot: 2026-09-09. Method & corrections log: clarytrade.com/methodology · clarytrade.com/editorial-policy#corrections. Verification queries: hello@clarytrade.com.
Please link to clarytrade.com/research/licence-confusions when citing. Figures recompute as records are re-checked — quote the snapshot date alongside any number.
Coverage: TradeInformer, 18 Aug 2026 — "Clarytrade finds 31% of checked broker licence claims needed correction."