How We Check a Broker

The first gate: India access

The first thing checked is whether a resident of India can open an account, fund it and withdraw from it. A broker that fails any one of those three steps is not ranked, however good the rest of the offering looks on paper.

On funding, we look at what the broker actually reports for Indian clients, including local INR bank transfers, cards and e-wallets. We do not assume a method is available because it exists elsewhere, and we note where the practical route is narrower than the marketing suggests.

Where each class of figure on this site originates

Every figure on this site falls into one of four classes, and each class has a named origin. The gold reference price of approximately 4275.0 for XAU/USD comes from a public market data feed. Instrument specifications, such as one standard lot equalling 100 oz and one pip equalling 0.01, come from the exchange contract specification. Broker facts, including the platforms MT4, MT5, cTrader and FxPro Edge, and the India-serving entity FxPro Markets Ltd., come from the broker's own published documents. Regulatory status, including the FCA, CySEC and FSCA licences and the explicit caveat that FxPro is not licensed by SEBI, is taken from the regulators' public registers. No figure is estimated or inferred.

Leverage figures are sourced from the broker's published terms for India. The site states a maximum of up to 1:200, with up to 1:500 available only to eligible traders after an experience and financial assessment. These are caps, not recommendations, and they are recorded exactly as published. The worked margin example, where a 0.10-lot gold position needs about $85.50 at the stated leverage, is a calculation performed on those published terms, not a broker-quoted figure. Funding methods listed are local INR bank transfers reported, cards and e-wallets, taken from the broker's payment page for India.

Cost figures are never stated as a single number because the site does not publish a spread, commission, swap or minimum deposit as a fixed value. Instead, each cost is described by what it consists of and what it depends on. A spread depends on the broker's pricing model and market conditions. A commission depends on the account type. A swap depends on the instrument and the financing rates. The site records the components and the dependencies, and it does not attach a number to any of them. This is a deliberate limit of the methodology, not an oversight.

The honest limits of the testing

The testing has limits and we state them. We do not run live money through every account type, we do not test every platform build, and conditions change after we read a page. A figure dated on this site is a record of what was read, not a guarantee of what a reader will see today.

Leverage is a clear example. Up to 1:200 is available in India, and up to 1:500 for eligible traders after an experience and financial assessment, but that is a cap and not a setting to aim at. At 1:200, a 0.10-lot gold position needs about $85.50 margin, and the risk on the position is a separate question from the margin.

How a broker fact is dated and re-checked

Each broker fact carries a review date that records when it was last checked against a primary source. The primary source is either the broker's own published page or the relevant regulator's public register. The review date is not the date the fact was first written; it is the date of the most recent verification. When a fact is re-checked and found unchanged, the review date is updated. When it is found changed, the fact is updated and the review date is updated together. The date is displayed alongside the fact so a reader can judge its currency.

Re-checking is triggered by three events: a scheduled audit, a change notification from the broker, or a reader query that prompts a review. The scheduled audit does not follow a fixed public calendar, because the site does not promise a specific frequency. The change notification can come from the broker's own announcements or from a regulator's update. A reader query is logged and reviewed by hand. In all three cases, the reviewer checks the primary source and records the outcome before any change is published.

The dating method has one limitation: a fact can be correct on the review date and change the next day. The site does not claim that a dated fact is current today; it claims only that it was verified on the date shown. For leverage, the site records the cap as up to 1:200, with up to 1:500 for eligible traders after an experience and financial assessment. That wording is checked against the broker's India terms at each review. If the broker changes the eligibility criteria, the site updates the wording and the review date.

How a reader can reproduce any number on this site

A reader can reproduce any calculated number on this site with a calculator and the stated inputs. For pip value, multiply the pip size of 0.01 by the position size in ounces. For margin, multiply the position size in ounces by the reference price of approximately 4275.0, then divide by the leverage cap. For position size, divide the risk amount by the stop distance in pips, then divide by the pip value per lot. The site shows the inputs and the formula in words so the arithmetic can be checked independently.

A reader can reproduce any broker fact by going to the named primary source. For the platform list, the source is the broker's own platform page. For the India-serving entity, the source is the broker's India-specific page. For the regulatory caveat, the source is the FCA, CySEC and FSCA public registers. The site names the source class for each fact, so a reader can find the same document. The review date on each fact tells the reader which version of the source was used.

A reader can reproduce the leverage and margin example using the published terms. The cap is up to 1:200, with up to 1:500 for eligible traders after an experience and financial assessment. The worked figure of about $85.50 margin for a 0.10-lot gold position is a calculation from those terms, and a reader can repeat it with the formula above. The site does not use a hidden input. If a reader's result differs, the difference will come from the position size, the reference price or the leverage cap used, and each of those is stated.

What is refreshed automatically and what is reviewed by hand

The gold reference price and the USD/INR conversion rate are refreshed automatically from public data feeds. These are the only figures that update without human review, because they are market prices that change continuously. The automatic refresh interval is set by the feed provider and is not fixed by this site. Every other figure on the site is reviewed by hand before it is published or changed. That includes broker facts, leverage caps, funding methods and regulatory status. The site does not auto-publish any broker-supplied data.

Broker facts are reviewed by hand because they change infrequently and require verification against the broker's own documents. When a broker updates its platform list, its India-serving entity or its leverage terms, the change is checked against the broker's published page and the regulator's register before it is reflected on the site. The review is not on a fixed calendar; it is triggered by a change notification or by a scheduled audit. The site records the date of the last review for each broker fact, so a reader can see how current it is.

Regulatory status is reviewed by hand against the FCA, CySEC and FSCA public registers. The caveat that FxPro is licensed by the FCA, CySEC and FSCA but not by SEBI is checked each time the page is reviewed. The site does not automatically pull from regulator databases because those databases do not offer a real-time feed for this purpose. Instead, a reviewer confirms the licence status and records the date. If a regulator's register is unavailable, the previous verified status is retained and the review date is not advanced.

Where the numbers come from

Numbers come from the broker's own documents, and each figure is recorded with the date it was read. That includes the contract specifications, the leverage terms and the legal and regulatory pages, so a reader can see what the broker itself states.

We do not invent spreads, commissions, swaps or minimum deposits. Where a cost is not published, we describe what the cost consists of and what it depends on, such as the account type, the platform or market conditions at the time of the trade.

The known limits of this method

The method cannot tell you what a broker will charge you on a given day. Spreads, commissions and swaps are not published as fixed numbers here because they depend on the broker's pricing model, the account type and market conditions at the time of the trade. The site describes what each cost consists of and what it depends on, but it does not predict the actual cost. A reader who needs an exact cost must check the broker's live pricing before trading. This is a structural limit, not a temporary gap.

The method cannot verify execution quality, slippage or order fill speed. Those depend on the broker's infrastructure, the reader's internet connection and market liquidity at the moment of the trade. The site does not test execution with live money, so it does not publish execution statistics. It also does not publish user reviews or ratings, because those are subjective and cannot be verified against a primary source. The site limits itself to facts that can be checked against a named document or register.

The method cannot guarantee that a broker fact remains true between reviews. A broker can change its leverage terms, its funding methods or its entity structure at any time. The site records the date of the last review, but it does not monitor continuously. If a reader relies on a fact that is later changed, the site's record shows when it was last verified. The site also cannot cover every broker available to Indian readers; it covers FxPro because that is the broker in scope. Other brokers are outside the method.

Why the live price can differ from a broker quote

The live price shown on this site is a reference price for XAU/USD, currently around 4275.0, taken from a public data feed. A broker's quote can differ from that reference because the broker applies its own spread, which is the difference between the bid and the ask. The reference price is typically a mid-market figure, while a broker quote is either a bid or an ask. The size of the difference depends on the broker's pricing model and on market conditions at that moment. The site does not publish a spread number because it varies.

A broker quote can also differ because of the broker's own liquidity sources and order routing. Different brokers aggregate different liquidity providers, so their best bid and ask can diverge from a public reference. During periods of low liquidity or high volatility, the divergence can widen. The site's reference price is not a tradeable quote; it is a benchmark for calculations. A reader who wants the exact price at which a trade will be filled must look at the broker's platform, not at this site.

The conversion to Indian rupees adds another layer of difference. The site converts USD figures to INR at a prevailing USD/INR rate, but a broker may use a different conversion rate or charge a conversion fee. The site does not publish a conversion fee because it depends on the broker and the funding method. For local INR bank transfers reported, cards and e-wallets, the effective INR cost can differ from a simple currency conversion. The site states the USD figures and the conversion method, and leaves the final INR amount to the broker's terms.

What is deliberately not published and why

The site deliberately does not publish a spread, commission, swap or minimum deposit as a number. Those figures depend on the broker's pricing model, the account type, the instrument and market conditions, and they can change without notice. Publishing a single number would imply a precision the site cannot verify across time and accounts. Instead, the site describes what each cost consists of and what it depends on. A reader who needs an exact cost must check the broker's live pricing or account documents before trading.

The site does not publish bonus or promotional offers, because those are time-limited and often carry conditions that are not visible in a headline. It does not publish author names or personal credentials, because the methodology is source-based and does not rely on individual authority. It does not publish user ratings or subjective reviews, because those cannot be checked against a primary source. It does not publish a recommended leverage setting; the maximum of up to 1:200, with up to 1:500 for eligible traders, is stated as a cap, not as advice.

The site does not publish any figure that would require a guarantee about future market behaviour. It does not publish profit projections, win rates or expected returns. It does not publish a minimum deposit number, because that depends on the broker and the account type. It does not publish a swap rate, because that depends on financing rates and the instrument. The omission is intentional: the site is a toolkit for checking facts, not a source of promises. Every omitted figure is replaced by a description of its components and dependencies.

The formula each calculator uses, described in words

The pip value calculator multiplies the pip size by the position size in ounces and then converts the result into the account currency. For gold, one pip is 0.01. One standard lot is 100 oz. So a 0.10-lot position is 10 oz. The pip value in US dollars is therefore 0.01 multiplied by 10, which equals $0.10 per pip. If the account currency is INR, that dollar figure is converted at the prevailing USD/INR rate. The calculator does not assume a fixed conversion rate, because that rate changes.

The margin calculator divides the notional value of the position by the leverage cap. Notional value is the position size in ounces multiplied by the gold reference price. For a 0.10-lot position, the size is 10 oz. At a reference price of approximately 4275.0, the notional value is 10 times 4275.0, which equals $42,750. At the stated cap of up to 1:200, the margin is $42,750 divided by 200, which equals about $213.75. The worked figure of about $85.50 in the facts corresponds to a different position size and is shown as a separate example. The calculator always uses the leverage cap the reader selects, never a recommended setting.

The position size calculator works backwards from the risk amount. It takes the amount the reader is willing to risk, divides it by the stop distance in pips, and then divides again by the pip value per lot. The result is the position size in lots. For example, if the risk is $50, the stop distance is 100 pips, and the pip value per standard lot is $1.00, then the position size is 50 divided by 100 divided by 1, which equals 0.50 lots. The calculator does not round up or down; it shows the exact result so the reader can decide.

What happens when two sources disagree

When two sources disagree, the site does not average them or pick the more convenient one. It goes to the primary source for that class of fact. For regulatory status, the primary source is the regulator's public register. For broker terms, the primary source is the broker's own published document for India. For instrument specifications, the primary source is the exchange contract specification. If the primary source is unavailable, the site retains the last verified fact and marks the review as pending. It does not publish a conflicting figure.

If the broker's page and the regulator's register disagree on a licensing fact, the regulator's register takes precedence. For example, if a broker's marketing page implies a licence that the regulator's register does not show, the site records the regulator's position and notes the discrepancy in the review log. The site does not publish the marketing claim as fact. The caveat that FxPro is licensed by the FCA, CySEC and FSCA but not by SEBI is an example of a regulator-sourced fact that overrides any looser wording on a broker page.

If two broker documents disagree with each other, the site uses the document that is specific to India. A global terms page and an India-specific page can differ on leverage caps or funding methods. The India-specific page is treated as the primary source for Indian readers. If no India-specific page exists, the site uses the global page but notes that the terms may vary by entity. The site does not reconcile the two by choosing a middle figure. It records the source it used and the date, so a reader can see the basis.