What is Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)?

The Financial Conduct Authority is the body that authorises and supervises financial firms in the UK. A provider has to hold an FCA permission to serve UK customers, and the licence reference it publishes lets you confirm the status yourself.

Three examples. APM Markets lists 184333, Freetrade lists 783189, and HYCM lists 186171.

A few minutes with the FCA register tells you whether a firm is authorised, what it is allowed to do, and any warnings on record. That answers questions a marketing page cannot.