A broker review on The Traders Spread ends with a verdict and a rating out of five. The rating is not a survey score and not a sum of feature checkboxes: it is derived from the written assessment, so the reasoning behind every number is on the page for a reader to check.
What we look at
Reviews concentrate on the things that decide what a trade actually costs and how safe the money is: spreads and commissions on the main account types; the regulators each legal entity answers to, and which entity a reader in a given country is actually contracting with; the platforms on offer; minimum deposit and leverage; and how deposits and withdrawals are handled, including fees and timing.
How the score is weighted
- Costs — 35%. Spreads, commissions, overnight financing and the all-in cost of a representative trade, using the broker’s published figures and, where it publishes them, its average rather than “from” spreads.
- Safety — 30%. Regulation of the entity a client actually signs with, segregation and compensation arrangements, negative-balance protection, and any enforcement history we can find on the regulator’s own register.
- Platforms — 20%. The trading platforms and tools on offer, order types, and whether the advertised range is available on the entity being reviewed.
- Funding — 15%. Deposit and withdrawal methods, fees, processing times and the fine print around them.
What the figures are
Unless a review says a figure was measured on a live account, spreads and fees are the broker’s published figures on the date in the text, and regulatory details are as stated by the broker or as shown on the regulator’s register at that date. Where a review reports arithmetic of its own — an annualised financing cost, for example — the working is shown so it can be checked.
What a rating does not mean
A rating is an opinion about a broker as a service on a given date. It is not a recommendation to open an account, a statement that a broker is suitable for any particular reader, or a guarantee about execution, pricing or solvency. Brokers change their pricing, regulation and platform line-up; reviews are re-tested when they do, and the date on the review tells you when it was last checked.
Older reviews
Reviews written before the 2026 review standard carry a notice on the page. Their costs and terms may have changed, and they are scheduled for a full rewrite; several have been withdrawn from search results until that is done.
Independence and disclosure
Some links to brokers are affiliate or sponsored links, and The Traders Spread may be paid if a reader opens an account through them. That relationship is disclosed at the top of every review, the links are marked rel="sponsored", and it has no bearing on the rating. Nothing in a review is investment advice; see the disclaimer and the editorial policy.