Protection comes before price
Every broker can quote a competitive charge and still be the wrong home for your money, so the sensible order is protection first, price second. A licence tells you a supervisor is watching the firm. A compensation scheme tells you who hands your cash back if that firm stops. Only the second one caps what you carry, and the amounts differ sharply by region, so comparing two brokers means comparing the scheme, not the brand name.
AJ Bell shows the plain UK pairing. Its regulators list names the Financial Conduct Authority, and its protection reads FSCS up to GBP 85,000. Admirals carries a wider supervisory list, FCA, CySEC and ASIC, with protection of FSCS up to GBP 85,000. Read those two side by side and the trade-off is obvious: the same headline ceiling, but a different set of supervisors, and you are trusting a different one to oversee the entity that holds your account.
Protection also answers a narrow question. It responds to a firm that fails, not to a position that loses money, and it caps compensation rather than restoring a full balance. Costs still decide how quickly an account erodes, so weigh the charge pages in the AJ Bell review and the Admirals review alongside the scheme figures instead of treating either as sufficient on its own.
European supervision and the register entry
European brokers split into two groups. One is supervised by a national financial authority and covered by the European investor compensation scheme. The other sits with a central bank, an insurance intermediaries register, or a passport arrangement, and the register you need to consult changes with the activity.
1822direkt lists Europäische Zentralbank (ECB), Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin) and Versicherungsvermittlerregister, which mixes a central bank, a financial supervisor and an insurance intermediaries register, and its protection reads EU ICS up to EUR 20,000. That mix tells you something practical: the entry you verify depends on what the firm is authorised to do, so look for the register that matches the service you are buying rather than the one that sounds most impressive.
Abf Trade Eu is a cleaner case. It lists the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission among its regulators and carries the licence number 171/12, with protection of EU ICS up to EUR 20,000. The check takes minutes: open the commission's register, find the firm, and confirm the number matches character for character. The Abf Trade Eu review records the same details if you want a second reference before you fund an account.
One brand, several supervisors, one question
Alchemy Markets is the clearest case for asking which entity you are actually dealing with. It lists FSA, FCA and MFSA and three separate licence numbers: SD136, 612233 and C56519. Its protection entry reads FSCS up to GBP 85,000.
A single brand can hold permissions in several places, and a compensation scheme applies to a particular regulated entity rather than to a name on a website. So the useful question is not whether the firm is regulated, it is which entity the account agreement names, which register that entity appears on, and whether your deposit route reaches that entity. Confirm all three before you fund anything, and record the licence number in your own notes so a later change of entity is visible to you. The Alchemy Markets review is worth reading for the same reason.
US brokers and the SIPC ceiling
US figures sit in a different currency and under a different scheme, so they are not directly comparable with UK or EU entries. Read them as a separate column rather than as a better number.
Ally Bank lists SEC, FINRA and FDIC and protection of SIPC up to USD 500,000. Two identifiers are given: the FINRA registration 136131 and the deposit insurer certificate FDIC cert 57803. Both are searchable, which lets you test the firm's claims yourself rather than take them on trust. Alpaca lists SIPC with protection of SIPC up to USD 500,000 and the membership reference SIPC member 69928, which appears in the scheme's own member list.
Read the Ally Bank review and the Alpaca review alongside those entries. The practical point is that a higher ceiling is not automatically safer, because any scheme covers particular kinds of holding and only within the entity that holds the membership.
CFD and copy trading brokers
Leveraged products and social platforms are exactly where licence checking matters, because the account can be with a group entity in a small market while the website is marketed elsewhere. The CFD brokers ranking is a sensible place to start a shortlist, then verify each name.
AMarkets lists the Mwali International Services Authority and the Financial Supervisory Commission among its regulators, with licence numbers T2023284 and LLC14486/2023. Amillex lists the Financial Supervisory Commission and ASIC, with numbers GB24203163 and 559321. Both entries are verifiable in public registers, so the check is straightforward.
For either kind of firm, ask what a client money protection ceiling applies to your account and where the money is held. If no scheme is stated for your entity, treat that as an open question and get an answer in writing before depositing. On copy trading platforms the same logic applies with less visible data, which is why the copy trading platforms shortlist is best used as a candidate list rather than a verdict. Check who holds the money, not only who runs the strategies.
Brokers outside the UK and Europe
Some firms on comparison lists are supervised locally rather than in the UK or EU, which changes what stands behind your balance. The licence is still meaningful, but the compensation route is the local one, and a UK or EU scheme will not step in.
5paisa lists the Securities and Exchange Board of India among its regulators. Ajaib lists Otoritas Jasa Keuangan. Al Rajhi Capital lists the Capital Market Authority, with the licence reference 07068-37. Alor Broker lists the Bank of Russia. None of these entries reference the UK or EU schemes, so a reader protected by one of those limits should weigh that gap deliberately rather than assume equivalent cover.
The same rule applies to currency, contract type and the entity holding the account. If your priority is a familiar supervisor and a local compensation route, an entry such as FSCS up to GBP 85,000 is a different proposition from any of these, and the choice comes down to how much certainty about your money you want against what the rest of the offer gives you.
A register check you can repeat
Use the same short routine for every candidate, including the names on the brokers for beginners list, so the comparison stays even-handed.
Take the regulator from the firm's own disclosure, then open that regulator's public register and match the firm name, the legal entity and the licence number. Note the date you checked, because entries change. Next, identify which entity the account agreement names, and confirm that the register entry and the protection scheme belong to that same entity rather than to a related company. After that, check the deposit route: a payment to a personal account or an unrelated entity breaks the chain you just verified. Only then compare charges, and read the review for how the account is funded, withdrawn and supported.
Run that routine on two or three shortlisted firms. It takes less time than recovering an unexplained transfer, and it turns a marketing claim into something you have confirmed in a public record.