The ultimate broker comparison - Matrix quality criteria

You alone have it in your hands!

The trading of leveraged products is very popular. However, it is often not easy to find a suitable provider. While you can rely on the pre-selection of online brokers when trading warrants, it is much more difficult to find the right provider from the large number of supposed specialist service providers when trading contracts for difference and currencies. Together with the intelligence portal Due Diligence Hub, we have developed a matrix that analyzes and evaluates industry representatives based on a quality criteria-based scoring model. In principle, this is a kind of checklist that addresses important questions relating to a business relationship.

The evaluation criteria are user-oriented. One key aspect is consumer protection. Ratings from review portals are less heavily weighted. Quality assurance is rarely carried out here to filter out fake content. There are also often conflicts of interest, as business models are financed by fees. The same applies to industry awards. Here, the impression is often given that there are independent jury criteria that apply equally to all evaluated companies.

Quality features/criteria
Make a selection
My Broker Ranking
My Broker Ranking
1
Before providing a service, every financial service provider is obliged to explain to customers the costs associated with the use of the service in a transparent and easily understandable manner. The term used for this in legal jargon is exAnte. This type of disclosure allows you to determine before entering into a business relationship whether you may be charged for inactivity. exAnte also prevents hidden costs from generating a legal claim.
My Broker Ranking
1

A corresponding licence is required for companies to be allowed to offer financial products and related services. This is granted by an authority governed by the rule of law. If one has a corresponding licence, one may offer financial services within the scope of the licence. Harmonised supervisory law applies in the EU. This means that the exact requirements apply to all EU member states. There is leeway in the implementation itself. This may be the case in principle. It only gets interesting when you look at the level of detail.

In Cyprus, for example, more than 200 companies offer contracts for difference and FX trading. If one believes the published figures of the individual companies, there are mathematically more than 1,000 CFD traders for every Cypriot inhabitant. However, it isn't easy to estimate how many employees are available for the supervision of the investment companies.

My Broker Ranking
1
If you send funds to a broker abroad, the financial service providers are obliged to segregate them. In concrete terms, this means that segregated accounts must be held for a specific purpose - to ensure that funds are misappropriated. In the event of insolvency, the trust accounts' funds are safe from creditors' access. Do you know which institution currently holds your funds?
My Broker Ranking
1
Before you can start trading, you have to make the necessary capitalisation of your trading account. Sometimes the money's path takes on adventurous forms. The money flows via Estonia or Lithuania until they arrive in Valetta, Limassol or Nicosia.
My Broker Ranking
1
When you have a trading account with a CFD or FX provider, it is always a virtual account, regardless of whether you are trading in a demo or in a real money account. The capital that you want to use for trading with the broker is held in a trust collective account. This means that your money is in the same physical location as that of all other users of the service. This is common practice and does not mean anything negative. You should only become aware if deposits or withdrawals are not synchronised between the trust account and the virtual account on the same day. Delays are almost always an indication that a company does not have its processes under control or does not have sufficient human resources.
My Broker Ranking
1
Financial service providers are not vehicle manufacturers who fight for the favor of customers with new, innovative vehicle series at intervals of 5 years. Or sporting goods manufacturers who are always creating new trends. There is a lack of innovation and pioneering spirit among many companies in the sector. Unique selling propositions from which users benefit directly are rare.
My Broker Ranking
1
Does the financial services provider of your choice have at least one outstanding feature that sets its service portfolio apart from the competition and gives you a real customer advantage?
My Broker Ranking
1
The performance of a financial services provider is reflected, among other things, in the scope of products offered to customers for trading. If you think about it, this is in the nature of things. Why should one also limit oneself artificially? The reason why there is often only a limited service portfolio is that the organizational setup of a broker does not allow for more flexibility.
My Broker Ranking
1
Contracts for Difference and FX products designed like CFDs can be traded on margin. The margin rate (%), in turn, is directly (inversely) related to the leverage ("risk multiplier"). Very few industry representatives allow clients to adjust the margin rate to their own needs. The rule is static margin rates.
My Broker Ranking
1
Short-selling strategies, such as those used in the short-selling activities of hedge funds, are generally difficult or impossible to implement in the private investment sector. Contracts for difference can be used to easily and conveniently bet on falling prices, which achieves almost the same effect, provided that the physical value of the underlying is not required. Disadvantage here: You are always bound to the leverage coupled with the CFD. A few providers allow you to simulate physical short selling via CFDs. In this case, you trade at a margin rate of 1, i.e. the equivalent value of your position corresponds exactly to the value you would have to invest in a real short sale (physical).
Total Competition Points
10
ayondo Lab Project

This tool is part of the ayondo Lab and is currently in the beta phase. The further development takes into account feedback from the community. Feel free to check back from time to time and, if you wish, you can send us your suggestions and wishes for improving the information content and usability. If you feel that certain facts play an important role in the selection of a financial service provider that you miss here in terms of content, we would be pleased if you let us know.

You have the possibility to make a preselection via the three options. The presentation of the facts is not always formulated as a question. A 'Yes' can have the meaning of 'applicable' or 'known', a 'No' can have the meaning of 'inapplicable' or 'unknown'.