Methodik

Where the numbers come from

• Fees come from the venue's own published schedule, never from a third-party roundup. We record the URL and the date.
• Licences come from the regulator's own register. We record what the entry actually permits, because an anti-money-laundering registration is not an investment licence and the two are routinely conflated.
• Incidents come from court filings, regulator notices or the venue's own disclosures — not from press coverage of those things.

How we classify a licence

• Full licence — the firm is authorised to provide an investment service, with conduct rules attached.
• VASP / MSB registration — an anti-money-laundering formality. The regulator does not vet the product and your balance is not protected. We label this in plain words on every page.
• E-money licence — covers payments, not investments.

Commission

We earn commission on some venues, and each is labelled on its own page. Commission does not change an ordering: tables sort on the published number. When a paying venue has the worse figure or the worse record, that is what appears.

What we have not verified yet

Every published figure has been checked against its primary source.

Corrections

If a number here is wrong, tell us and we will change it and date the change. Sources are linked so you can check us.