This page explains how FX Times works: how broker assessments are produced, what our scores mean, how commercial relationships are disclosed, and how to reach us when we get something wrong.
How we assess brokers
Every assessment starts at the same place: the FCA's Financial Services Register. We confirm that a firm's UK entities are authorised with the relevant permissions before we write a word about anything else, and we tell readers to repeat that check themselves — the Register, not this site, is the document of record. From there we work through the documented facts: published spread and fee schedules, the standard UK retail protections (leverage caps, negative balance protection, segregated client money, FSCS eligibility on firm failure), platform offerings, and — where the parent is listed — the public accounts. Claims we cannot verify are attributed ("the company says") rather than repeated as fact; specifics that can change are stamped "as of this writing"; and we never invent quotes, statistics, spreads, dates, or firsthand trading history. We do not publish trade ideas or forecasts, and no review is a recommendation to trade.
What our scores mean
Scores run 0–10 and are editorial judgments, not averages of sub-scores. A 7 is a sound broker with real trade-offs. An 8 is an easy shortlist entry for the right customer. A 9 is rare and means we struggled to find a meaningful fault. A score says nothing about whether trading is advisable — it is an assessment of the firm, not of the activity. Every review lists genuine cons; if we can't find any, we haven't read the fee schedule closely enough.
Disclosure
FX Times is a commercially supported publication. Posts that contain affiliate links, and posts that are sponsored, carry a disclosure at the top of the post, and sponsored links are marked as sponsored in the page's code. Sponsors never see, edit, or approve editorial copy, and no score or conclusion can be bought — see the advertising page for what is and isn't for sale.
Bylines
FX Times publishes under house bylines maintained by the editorial team. Alistair Penn, the editor byline that signs our reviews, is a disclosed house pen name in the style of publications that write under a collective identity; news items run as Staff, FX Times. We do not publish fabricated author biographies or invented credentials.
Corrections
If we've published an error — a fee, a spread, a regulatory detail, anything — we want to know. Reach the editorial desk via the contact page. We correct promptly and note material corrections in the post.