Step by step
Our Six-Part Testing Process
Each broker passes through the same six stages, in the same order, with the same analyst checklist. Nothing is scored from a broker's own website or from a demo account.
Real-Money Account Opening
We open live funded accounts with every broker we review, typically depositing £500 by bank transfer and £200 by e-wallet. That means we experience the full onboarding journey a UK trader gets: identity verification, appropriateness questionnaires, funding friction, and any pressure selling that follows. Demo accounts are never used to score a broker.
Live Spread Verification
We record spreads on EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/JPY across a minimum 30-day window, sampling during the London open, the London and New York overlap and the thinner Asian session. Advertised 'from' spreads are compared against what we actually paid, and any gap between the two is reported in the review.
Withdrawal Speed Testing
We submit withdrawal requests across card, bank transfer and e-wallet, at both small and larger amounts, and record the elapsed time from request to cleared funds. We also note any documentation requests, weekend delays or charges that appear only at the point of cashing out.
Platform & Execution Testing
Desktop, web and mobile are each tested for charting depth, order types, execution speed and stability during high-volatility news releases. We cover MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, cTrader, TradingView integrations and every proprietary platform, and we log requotes and slippage where they occur.
Regulatory Verification
Every authorisation is checked directly on the FCA Register, ASIC Connect, CySEC and other tier-1 databases. We confirm the FRN, the permitted scope of business, the legal entity a UK client actually contracts with, and whether FSCS protection up to £85,000 genuinely applies.
Customer Support Audits
We contact support by live chat, email and phone at different times of day, including out of hours, with genuine trading queries rather than scripted tests. We measure response time, accuracy and whether an agent can resolve a real problem without escalation.
Scorecard
Scoring Methodology & Weightings
Every broker receives a score out of 100 built from seven weighted categories. The same weightings are applied to a £0-minimum UK spread betting account and to a $5 offshore ECN account, which is what makes scores across the site directly comparable.
What Loses a Broker Points
- Advertised spreads that we could not reproduce on a live account during normal market hours
- Withdrawals that took materially longer than the broker's published processing time
- Inactivity, custody or withdrawal fees that are not disclosed clearly before you fund the account
- Requotes, repeated slippage against the client, or platform outages during scheduled news events
- Aggressive retention calls, bonus pressure, or support that cannot answer a basic execution question
- Offshore-entity onboarding for UK clients without a plain explanation of the loss of FSCS protection
Data currency
How Often We Re-Test
Broker terms move constantly, so a review is only as good as the date on it. Every page carries a last-updated stamp tied to the checks below.
Quarterly pricing review
Spreads, commissions, swap rates and account minimums are re-checked every quarter on the live accounts we keep open, and the comparison tables are rewritten wherever the numbers have shifted.
Event-driven updates
Any regulatory action, leverage change, ownership change, fee increase or platform withdrawal triggers an immediate review of the affected pages rather than waiting for the next scheduled cycle.
Annual full re-test
At least once a year every broker goes back through the complete process, including a fresh deposit, a live trading window and a timed withdrawal, so scores never rest on stale evidence.
Editorial policy
Editorial Independence & How We Make Money
Forex Trading Vault is free to read because some links to brokers are affiliate links. Here is precisely where that revenue stops.
Rankings and verdicts are never influenced by commercial partnerships. Brokers cannot pay for a higher position, a better score, a softer verdict or the removal of a criticism. Commercial agreements are negotiated by a separate function and analysts are not told which brokers carry the highest commission.
Every review is written by an analyst who has personally traded the platform with real money. Our team includes former institutional traders, CFA candidates and software engineers with more than 50 years of combined experience across FX, equities and derivatives markets.
When testing surfaces a problem, hidden fees, slow withdrawals, misleading advertising or poor execution, we publish it. If we get something wrong, we correct it openly and update the last-reviewed date; readers can flag an inaccuracy at any time by emailing info@forextradingvault.co.uk.
Nothing on this site is personal advice. CFDs and spread bets are leveraged products and the majority of retail accounts lose money, so our job is to tell you what a broker actually costs and how it behaves, not to tell you to trade.
Who does the testing
Our Testing Team
Reviews are attributed to named analysts who carried out the account testing, not to an anonymous editorial desk.
James Hartley
Head of Research & Lead Analyst
12+ years · Forex Robots, Expert Advisors, Automated Trading Systems
Sarah Mitchell
Senior Broker Analyst
9+ years · Broker Reviews, Regulation, Trading Platforms
Daniel Okoro
Technical Indicators Specialist
8+ years · Technical Indicators, MQL Programming, Backtesting
Emma Richardson
Education & Training Editor
10+ years · Trading Courses, Mentorship Reviews, Educational Content
How We Test, Frequently Asked Questions
The questions UK readers send us most often about our review process, answered without the marketing gloss.
1.Do brokers pay to be included or ranked higher?
No. Brokers cannot buy inclusion, a higher score or a more favourable verdict. We earn revenue through affiliate links when a reader chooses to open an account, but commercial terms are agreed separately from the editorial process and have no influence on the scorecard.
2.Do you actually deposit your own money?
Yes. Every broker we score has been funded with real capital, typically £500 by bank transfer and £200 by e-wallet, so that we can test the full journey through to withdrawal. Demo accounts alone are never enough to judge execution or cash-out behaviour.
3.How often are reviews and scores updated?
Pricing and account terms are reviewed quarterly, and immediately after any material change such as a leverage cap adjustment, a fee increase or a regulatory action. Full re-tests, including a fresh deposit and withdrawal cycle, run at least annually for every broker on the site.
4.Why do your spreads differ from the broker's advertised numbers?
Brokers usually quote a best-case 'from' spread captured in perfect liquidity. We publish an average measured across a 30-day sample that includes the London open, the London and New York overlap and quieter sessions, which is far closer to what you will pay in practice.
5.What makes a broker fail your review?
Unverifiable regulation, obstructed or repeatedly delayed withdrawals, undisclosed fees, or systematic execution problems. Where a broker fails on a serious point we say so plainly in the verdict rather than quietly removing it from the rankings.
6.Can I request a broker be tested?
Yes. Readers regularly suggest brokers, and we prioritise those with UK relevance and genuine demand. Contact the editorial team at info@forextradingvault.co.uk with the broker name and what you would like us to test.