✔️ Information reviewed and updated in March 2024 by Pedro Martínez González

As there are more and more traders, the offer of brokers has also increased considerably. With so many different brokers, several have emerged that are not worth investing our money in. Then, How does a trader select a good broker? It is likely that with so much offer, you cannot decide which one to choose.

Well, one of the most important points, one of the things that you should definitely pay attention to so as not to have problems when investing, or more likely, after investing with this type of company, is if the broker is regulated or not. To avoid this type of problem, and many others, we must select one with these characteristics.

Nor should you confuse that a broker is licensed, that it is regulated. We will try to explain this in the simplest way possible. A regulated broker is headquartered and controlled by the regulatory body of the place where the broker is resident. But nothing prevents it from operating in other countries. Let's say there is a broker from Germany, regulated by BaFin, after completing the necessary procedures, it will be authorized to operate in different European countries, such as Spain.

The problem is that if I have a problem with the broker and I'm in Spain, I still have to claim it before the German regulatory body. Taking this into account, the best option would be to operate with a regulated broker in the country where we reside. If we are in Spain, then look for a broker regulated by the Spanish CNMV.

We always recommend trading with properly regulated brokers, which in theory implies ruling out those from countries like Cyprus, Vanuatu, British Virgin Islands, or any small island that is a tax haven or that you didn't even know existed.

Why choose a regulated broker?

Un regulated broker it is one that is under the supervision of a legitimate regulatory body. The objective of this type of organizations is to prevent the broker from exploiting the trader, avoid abusive practices, fraud and deception, that is, protect the client. In general, the broker is controlled more, and its quality and practices are controlled.

The regulated brokers they must follow practices regulated by regulatory bodies. The unregulated, should not follow any practice, in case they do not want to follow it

If the broker is not regulated, we recommend you, at least, think twice before investing with this broker.

regulated brokers

How can I know if a broker is regulated?

Know if a broker is regulatedIt is easy, usually a broker, on its website it shows if it is regulated, it usually shows it in an attractive way, since it is something well seen in the broker market, it gives a certain guarantee and legitimacy. If you can't find it on the main page, you can look for sections on the web such as "about us", "why invest with this broker", "regulation", "safety of funds" or sections similar to these.

It is also normal for the broker to provide the registration number, so that one can search and see if it is really regulated or not. If you can't find it in this section, because usually brokers have a chat, or contact section, ask them.

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The lack of this type of information on their websites is a sign that NOT REGULATED, since, as we mentioned before, a broker is usually “proud” of its regulation, since it differentiates it from unregulated brokers, and makes the broker at a higher level than an unregulated broker, the regulation of a broker provides some security to the broker's clients.

Some of the most popular regulators are: FCA (Financial Conduct Authority, in the United Kingdom), BaFin (German regulator), FINMA (Swiss regulator), FMA (Austrian regulator), ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission in Australia ) and SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission, in the United States), CNMV (Spain), CONSOB (Italy), CMVM (Portugal), to name a few regulators.

Not sure about a regulator or your broker's security? Do you think it could be a scam? leave us a comment explaining your doubt or problem. We will reply to you as soon as possible!

About the Author: Pedro Martinez Gonzalez

I'll tell you a little about myself! I am a financial analyst and economist with a master's degree in finance.
About my studies: I studied at the University of Salamanca for a Degree in Economics and then did a Master's in Finance in Madrid.
Do you want more information? You can read more about me here in my biography.

1.051 comments on «How to know if a broker is regulated?»

  1. bryan hossain Reply

    Hello, I have a case of a Broker called Cristina Marielynch, who says she manages this investment fund https://profitunioninv.com where she guarantees returns that are too good to be so real.

    is presented with this Broker/Investment Adviser
    CRD#: 5198063
    15Years of Experience
    this whatsapp number +1 (347) 953-8875

    If anyone has information that can help me validate whether it is a scam or real, it would help me a lot, I have not yet invested or funded the account she suggests.

    • Recommended-brokers.com Reply

      Hello Bryan, we have received several complaints and they clearly seem to be scams, if they insist, don't be in a hurry, don't send money, scammers usually put a lot of pressure on you so that you don't think. We are reviewing several reviews at the moment, but we will put yours as a priority to be able to rate this broker and make a review. Thank you.

  2. Marco Reply

    good night. I have also been scammed by Telemus Capital. I was contacted by a certain Arturo Felipe Martines Vargas with CRD# 5055071, I opened an account with 250 dollars, then they referred me to a financial advisor Daniel Acevedo who made me create an account on Binance, indicating that the withdrawals would be made in cryptocurrencies and it is necessary to have a wallet to make the change to my currency in this case Peruvian soles, I had communication for two days, then I saw that he made an irregular operation on the platform and when I consulted him he told me that I already had knowledge in trading and that he could not help me, that Your supervisor would contact me. I was without contact for almost two weeks, so I started to operate alone, more or less for 2 months with some profits, however in December 2023, a certain Alexander Jacob Santaella came into contact with CRD # 7401561 indicating that he is a FINRA worker, and who received a notification of a failed withdrawal attempt. I had made no attempt to withdraw. But after two weeks the platform's website stopped working. and this Alexander came into contact indicating that they received several complaints for irregular operations in Telemus, therefore they closed their platform and now he would help me recover my money, he was in contact for almost 2 weeks until the first days of January 2024 he wrote to me indicating that he has managed to recover my money and for this it is necessary to create an account in a wallet because the recovery of the money is in cryptocurrencies, so he made me create an account in coinbasewallet and another account in buda.com.
    They actually made a transfer of 22500 USDT but when I wanted to make a transfer, the wallet told me that the asset was on the BNB (binance smart) chain network. therefore it asks me for BNB before I can make a transaction on the BNB network. Given this, this Alexander tells me that he will communicate with the wallet, after a few minutes they call me indicating that they are from coinbasewallet and that due to the motorcycle that deposited me, the account is frozen and in order to make the transaction I must first make a deposit to my account from the wallet for the amount of 2500 Dollars, and this will unlock the account.
    Given this, I flatly refused to do so, because after much insistence he sent me a message indicating that he regrets informing me that Coinbase Wallet has decided that since they have not received any response, they will proceed to permanently close my account.
    Today they called me from a number +447879859820 and +491625345669, indicating that they have found a recovery process that has not finished and that it is important that the process ends, otherwise they will remove the recovery deposit because there are many people waiting to recover their capital .

    I have definitely refused to make any deposit, but I share this situation so that you can advise.

    • Recommended-brokers.com Reply

      Hello Marco, don't pay anything else, if you pay you will lose it anyway, they want you to fall into their trap again, they only lie, nothing they say is true, don't believe anything or pay anything. Thanks for writing about TELEMUS (they are the same ForzaTrade scammers). Currently this broker is considered a SCAM.

      If you are a client, do not make more contributions, their only objective is to steal from you, they manipulate operations manually, they keep the money from when it reaches their accounts, it does not enter the market, everything is prepared for you to lose or make you lose your money to have the excuse to keep it.

      If you decide to withdraw and they request a ransom in the form of commissions, taxes, fees, legalizations, etc. Never pay it! That's the warning, from that moment you have to know that you are a client of a scam broker and no matter how much you pay you will never see your money.

      To help other users or customers, provide as much information as possible, explain how everything happened, where you saw the advertising, who called you, numbers from which you were dialed, emails and everything that comes to mind.

      If you want to recover your money go to our chat or check the form in this link: CLAIM YOUR MONEY

      Greetings.

  3. Enrique Reply

    Good afternoon,
    A person recently contacted me identifying himself as follows:
    I am Alexander Jacob Santaella,
    I tell you the company I work for is FINRA, here we regulate and supervise all investment platforms.
    We also work together with OLAF who are in charge of fighting FRAUD and scams on these platforms.
    Our mission is to control these platforms and if at any time we detect fraud, give them the necessary support and guidance so that
    They can recover all their invested money and the profits they may generate.

    I worked for a couple of years at FINRA, my office is in London; 34 Ladbroke Grove, London W11 3BQ, opposite Bright Horizons Holland Park Day.
    My personal assistant is Dante Cordaro, the WhatsApp number to manage is +34611283962.
    In the following link you can review the company information and the data of both me and my assistant:
    https://brokercheck.finra.org/search/genericsearch/grid

    Additionally, I share our FINRA IDs with you so you can evaluate them.
    FINRA ID Alexander Jacob Santaella, CRD#7401561.
    FINRA ID Dante Joseph Cordaro, CRD#6978642.

    This person offered to help me recover an investment in which they scammed me up to €70.000,00. Could they help me and tell me how I can confirm that these people are who they say or if they are other scammers.
    Thank you.

    • Recommended-brokers.com Reply

      Hello Enrique, that is a whole setup to scam you again, do not believe anything they are telling you, to start you can ask them to send you an email to find out where the information comes from, to follow the organization FINRA is from the USA, no from the United Kingdom and the contact telephone number they have given you is from Spain, be wary of everything they offer you, they are specialists in lying and manipulating people and they have answers for everything you can think of asking.

      If you really want to get your money back go to our chat or check the form in this link: CLAIM YOUR MONEY

      Greetings.

  4. jose Reply

    Good afternoon Eddy
    I have also been a victim and scammed by https ://forexelite .co/ and I have filed a complaint, I hope that on your part you also have one, since the more the better and the greater the hopes of an intervention and being able to recover some of the capital or that they do not deceive anyone else.

    • Recommended-brokers.com Reply

      Hello Jose, thank you for writing about Forex Elite Club. Currently this broker is considered a SCAM.

      If you are a client, do not make more contributions, their only objective is to steal from you, they manipulate operations manually, they keep the money from when it reaches their accounts, it does not enter the market, everything is prepared for you to lose or make you lose your money to have the excuse to keep it.

      If you decide to withdraw and they request a ransom in the form of commissions, taxes, fees, legalizations, etc. Never pay it! That's the warning, from that moment you have to know that you are a client of a scam broker and no matter how much you pay you will never see your money.

      To help other users or customers, provide as much information as possible, explain how everything happened, where you saw the advertising, who called you, numbers from which you were dialed, emails and everything that comes to mind.

      If you want to recover your money go to our chat or check the form in this link: CLAIM YOUR MONEY

      Greetings.

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