How to verify a forex broker license: entity, permission and domain

Find the legal company first

Open the broker’s client agreement and identify the named counterparty, registered address and regulatory number. Look for the legal entity shown during onboarding—not merely the parent brand in the page footer. Save the exact spelling and document date.

Search the official register

For the UK, FCA’s Firm Checker and Financial Services Register are primary sources for authorization status and permissions. Other jurisdictions have their own registers. Use the supervisor’s official domain and verify the company identifier, authorized activities and, where provided, trading name and contact details.

A company appearing in a generic company registry is not proof of permission to provide leveraged retail derivatives.

Check the matching domain and onboarding flow

Fraudsters sometimes impersonate licensed companies. Compare web address, email, contact details and any published warnings against the regulator’s record. If a referral redirects to a different entity or website than the review describes, stop and verify again.

• Exact company name in the client agreement.
• Supervisory authority, license number and scope.
• Contact and website matching the register.
• Country eligibility and professional/retail classification.
• Current warnings, restrictions or revoked permissions.

What a review should disclose

Every broker profile should state which entity was checked and on which date. If no suitable regulatory verification is available, that limitation belongs beside the comparison, not buried in a footer. Authorization reduces some risks but never guarantees investment returns.