How we rate brokers
Every broker in our directory carries a single TW Score from 0 to 10. This page explains exactly how that number is built, and how we keep it independent.
What the TW Score measures
The TW Score blends two things: our editorial assessment of a broker's regulation, business and platform, and the ratings left by registered traders. The aim is one honest number that reflects both documented facts and real user experience.
The formula
TW Score = 0.6 times the data score plus 0.4 times the community score, rounded to one decimal and capped at 10. The data score is our editorial assessment. The community score is the smoothed average of trader ratings. We weight the data score higher because it rests on verifiable public records, while community sentiment carries less weight and grows in influence as more reviews arrive.
Our editorial data score
The data score is the average of five indices, each scored from 0 to 10 by our research team. Their meaning adapts to the broker's category, so a forex license is read differently from a crypto registration:
- License: the presence and strength of the broker's licenses, from top-tier regulators to offshore.
- Regulatory: the strength of the overseeing authority and its investor protections.
- Business: company age, scale and operational stability.
- Software: platforms, execution, pricing and available instruments.
- Risk: fund segregation, compensation schemes and other safeguards.
The community score
Registered traders rate a broker from one to five stars. We convert these to a 0-to-10 scale and apply Bayesian smoothing, so a broker with two glowing reviews does not outrank one with hundreds of consistent ratings. Ratings from verified clients count double. Written reviews appear on the broker's profile; star-only votes still count toward the score.
New brokers
A broker with no ratings yet shows its editorial data score alone, not a borrowed average. We would rather show our documented assessment than invent a crowd opinion that does not exist. The blend with community ratings begins with the first real vote.
Keeping reviews honest
Each trader can rate a given broker once. We rate-limit rapid submissions, moderate reviews after posting, and keep suspicious activity out of the score. Brokers cannot buy, edit or remove trader reviews.
Where our data comes from
Editorial data is built from primary sources: public regulator registers such as the FCA, ASIC, CySEC, SEC, FINRA, NFA and CFTC, the broker's own website, and our own written summaries. We do not copy other rating sites, and we do not apply scam labels. Regulatory data reflects the public registers at the time of review and can change.
Editorial independence
A broker cannot pay to raise its TW Score or its position in the catalog. Paid placements and affiliate links, where present, are labeled and kept separate from the rating. Our assessment is based only on the criteria above.
Keeping ratings current
We revisit broker data as registers and platforms change, and each profile shows when it was last updated. If you spot something out of date, use the report link on the broker's profile and we will review it.