How We Rank Brokers
Our scoring, data sources, update cadence and limitations — in one place.
BrokerFit is a data-driven comparison service. We do not provide investment advice and we are not a broker. Our job is to aggregate publicly available data about online brokers, normalize it, and present it so a retail investor can compare like-for-like.
This page documents exactly how we score brokers, which sources we use, how often the data is refreshed, and where our methodology has limitations. If you spot an error, please contact us — corrections are published publicly.
Scoring Framework
Each broker receives a score on six criteria. Weights reflect what a retail investor is most likely to be harmed by — regulation risk outweighs a pretty UI.
Regulation & Licensing — 30%
Active licenses from Tier-1 regulators (SEC, FCA, ASIC, CySEC, BaFin, FINMA) score highest. Offshore-only licenses (SVG, Mauritius, Seychelles) score near zero. Points are deducted for sanctions, fines, or license suspensions in the past 36 months.
Fees & Spreads — 25%
Commission per trade, spread on majors, financing/swap charges, inactivity fees, withdrawal fees. Compared against the median of licensed competitors in the same segment.
Deposits & Withdrawals — 15%
Supported methods (SEPA, SWIFT, cards, crypto), minimum deposit, processing time, and whether the broker accepts residents of the target country.
Instruments & Markets — 15%
Asset coverage: US/EU stocks, ETFs, bonds, options, futures, FX, CFDs, crypto. More markets = higher score, but only if pricing is transparent.
Platforms & UX — 10%
Web, mobile and pro platforms (MT4/5, TWS, proprietary). Reliability during volatility, order types, charting, tax-report export.
Country Availability — 5%
Whether a resident of the target country can legally open and fund an account. Based on the broker's own country-access policy and applicable sanctions.
Data Sources
Every data point is traceable. We prefer primary public registers over broker marketing pages.
- Public regulator registers: SEC EDGAR (US), FCA Register (UK), ASIC Professional Registers (AU), CySEC Register (EU), BaFin Unternehmensdatenbank (DE), FINMA list (CH).
- ESMA public warnings & national blacklists for offshore and unlicensed firms.
- Broker-owned properties: terms of service, fee schedule, country availability page — archived with date of retrieval.
- Exchange rates: Frankfurter (ECB reference rates) + open.er-api.com as fallback.
Update Cadence
Broker core data (licenses, country access, commission structure) is reviewed monthly. Exchange rates refresh every 30 minutes. Blog articles are dated with a visible "Last updated" field and reviewed at least every 6 months.
Limitations
We do not have insider access to brokers. Some data (execution quality, support response time) comes from documented public reports and cannot cover every scenario. Scores are a decision-support tool, not financial advice. Regulation can change without notice — always verify a broker's current license on the regulator's website before depositing.
Affiliate Disclosure
BrokerFit earns a commission when a user opens and funds an account via our tracking links (CPA model). This revenue does not influence scoring, ranking or content. We publish the same methodology for partner and non-partner brokers. Where a partner broker ranks lower, it stays lower — we would rather lose a commission than publish a misleading ranking.
Corrections & Feedback
Found an outdated fee, a wrong license number, or a broker restriction that's changed? Email us and we will investigate. Verified corrections are rolled out within 7 days and the change log is visible in the page's footer.