Best FCA Regulated Forex Brokers
& Trading Platforms
Is it important to Trade with FCA regulated brokers? We have filtered the most trusted & transparent
FCA Regulated Brokers for trading 
Forex, Stocks, Indices, Crypto & Commodities
Best CFD trading platform for UK traders, Award winning xStation5 trading platform
XTB
4.8/5 ratings
Platforms
- MetaTrader 4
- MetaTrader 5
- App & Tablets
Regulated By
- FCA,CMB,BaFin
- Users
- 525,000+
Year Established
- 2002
- Min Deposit
- £0
Trading Instrument
- CFD, Crypto
- Payment Method
Features
- Most exponential grown CFD broker
- Over 525,000 customers trust XTB
- 5-star Rating on Trust Pilot
Risk Warning: CFDs are leveraged products 73% of traders lose money when trading CFDs with XTB
8 Best Forex Trading Platforms of 2023
Our Featured List
A background on FCA & What is prudential regulation?
We have done our best to compile to test and research FCA Regulated Brokers to help you stay safe when trading CFDs, Stocks, Forex or Cryptocurrencies.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the UK’s regulator of firms providing financial services and markets, overseeing 58,000 operations across the country.
They strive to ensure these organisations are run with integrity and transparency – ultimately aiming for all consumers to get a fair deal.
Additionally, FCA seeks that their regulations assist in helping individuals and small & large businesses as well as provide benefits towards economic stability on an overall basis.
What do they do?
Financial regulation plays an integral role in the modern economy, affecting countless facets of daily life – from pension and ISAs eligibility to credit cards, direct debits and loan investments.
With over 2.2 million people employed in financial services within the UK alone, it’s no wonder that this sector contributes a staggering 65.6 billion pounds worth of taxes to our country’s economic growth each year!
When staying abreast with current market trends keeps business fair for shareholders while creating opportunities for investment through customers – we are not only helping maintain but also increasing confidence amongst global investors towards the British finance hub as well as boosting domestic trustworthiness on all levels!
How do they do it?
The FCA’s objective is in ensuring that the markets in their jurisdiction function well, and their operational objectives follow these guidelines:
- ” To protect consumers – they secure an appropriate amount of protection when it comes to consumers “
- ” Protection of financial markets – they enhance and protect the truthfulness of the United Kingdom’s financial system. We will cover the Investment Markets (Stock and OTC derivative markets) “
- ” To promote competition – they promote effective competition “
FCA is an independent public body, and it charges a fee (FCA fee) to the companies it regulates, this is how FCA is funded entirely. The Treasury is responsible for the United Kingdom’s financial system and so FCA is accountable to the treasury and the parliament.
This is no different in the United States where the US Congress created the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to carry out the same objectives.
FCA set up
The FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) operating in the United Kingdom is considered to be one of the best-reputed regularisation organizations worldwide for the regulation of financial firms and forex brokers.
Before 2013, the regulatory process for financial companies was carried out by the FSA (Financial Services Authority).
To streamline the whole regulation process and ensure truthfulness and transparency in the United Kingdom’s markets of finance, a resolution was passed by the United Kingdom government.
The Financial Regulatory Authority forms part of the agreement between the European Economic Area (EEA) and also the MiFID.
This allows online trading platforms regulated by the FCA to be able to function in all parts of the European Union without having to set up offices in other European countries.
There is a baseline that has been stipulated by the MiFID, which sets the tone for the regulatory framework. This baseline is enforced via specific regulatory authorities of different countries that form part of the European Union.
Today, the United Kingdom is critically acclaimed in the world for having the best regulatory systems in place that ensure the prevention of broker scams, financial malpractices, as well as other kinds of frauds that impacts both institutional and retail traders (traders of Forex, Stocks, Commodities etc.).
It also leads to loss of confidence in the financial markets for in general public when such scams are uncovered.
FCA Regulated Brokers are committed Towards Client Fund’s Protection
The FCA is fully committed towards the protection of funds of customers. It does so by pursuing various regulatory protocols which prevent brokers in the jurisdiction of the FCA to commit any fraud of financial nature.
They lay out strict guidelines from time to time and all brokers regulated by the FCA have to adhere to these strict guidelines. FCA-governed brokers are required not to use the client’s funds for any other purposes.
FCA requirements are long-listed for Financial Investment Brokers so they can offer the best services to their clients. One of the most important requirements that Forex brokers have to be compliant with is keeping clients’ funds in separate accounts from their company’s accounts.
To ensure that the client’s positions are maintained in the United Kingdom market, all FCA brokers are required to maintain a minimum of one million pounds as operating capital. This is not a fixed number and as the number of traders along with trading capital increases, this also goes up.
Established forex FCA-regulated brokers such as & XTB all have more than 500,000 plus active traders.
The broker is obliged to make sure that the processing of all withdrawals happens instantly and that the company’s financial obligation is met without fail. Brokers need to submit various financial statements to the FCA periodically.
This includes audit reports which have to be submitted every year. This helps ensure that all the facts submitted to the FCA have an accurate representation. FCA is very strict when it comes to the reports related finance of its member companies.
They actively engages with member brokers and audit firms to make sure that the financial data match what is expected.
FCA and Traders
FCA’s handling of Abuse
Investors always have recourse and are encouraged to use their rights when they are dealing with fraudulent brokers who have failed to comply with the guidelines of the FCA. FCA recommends that the investor uses the services of a financial ombudsman or approaches the court to find a solution if they are not getting a satisfactory level of service or they think that they are falling prey to a scam. Note that the FCA, it will not get involved if there is a problem between the investor and the company, but they will undertake investigations in instances of consumer abuse and fraud. The broker faces harsh punishments leading up to permanent cancellation of the license or hefty fines if the broker is found guilty of not following FCA guidelines.
The FCA provides access to its excellent database which includes a lot of data about regulated brokers, financial malpractices, scam findings and other such data. Investors are encouraged to go through this online database before starting to invest in a company. The United Kingdom government has granted a lot of power to the FCA so they can ensure that businesses work within the set-up rules and frameworks. FCA, being an independent agency is always on the lookout for financial scams to act as a deterrent for companies that may be looking to commit some kind of fraud.
The FCA is also very strict in its guidelines when it comes to platform tampering, price manipulation and issues arising out of interest conflicts between the company and the investor. Usually brokers on the dealing desks and market makers usually open positions that are opposed to the investors, the FCA guidelines are clear that there should not be any interest conflict between the trader and the broker. Given how strict FCA is in its regulation and the follow-ups, most brokers operate within FCA guidelines and stay ethical in their business practices. Also, FCA-affiliated brokers have a much lesser chance of getting into financial scams like platform rigging and price manipulation.
FCA (2019) Update for All Retail Traders
Important Notice: As of 7th December the FCA outlined that only Professional experienced investors that have more than 500,000 euros of trading capital only have access to trading Binary options. Binary Options trading is classed as Tax-Free High-risk Derivative for Retail (New) Traders that has two main outcomes; either the trade is successful and generates a significant return, or it’s unsuccessful and the full investment amount is lost.
ESMA (European Securities and Market Authority) placed a temporary ban on Binary Options in the early Summer of 2018. The FCA estimates that a permanent ban on binary options could save retail customers up to £17m in annual losses.
Why should you trust the FCA?
FCA happens to be a non-profit organization which has even used taxpayer’s money for its functioning. The FCA is answerable to the United Kingdom Parliament for its regulatory framework and gets funded completely via membership fees. Being an autonomous agency, the FCA is on the side of the trader rather than being on the other side. The FCA works towards increasing the confidence and trust among investors by following various procedures. All brokers regulated by the FCA are given unique IDs. These IDs can be verified against the FCA database. Sometimes, a trader may claim that they are not based in the United Kingdom. It is recommended that the authenticity of such traders be verified by the investors personally as far as FCA regulation is concerned. The verification of FCA regulations is very easy to do. You just need to complete the online FCA register and do a quick search to see if the FCA number (e.g. XTB FCA number- FRN 522157) is the same as whatever description has been given to you by the broker.
This is what FCA protection brings you, so be wise and verify your trading broker’s authenticity with the FCA database before giving them your money.
FCA Contact Number & Details
Website: www.fca.org.uk
E-mail: consumer.queries@fca.org.uk
UK Telephone contact – 0300 500 0597
Contact Number (Abroad)- +44 207 066 1000
