Worked example
Practising on ADSS's numbers
This is an exercise sheet, not a review. We are going to take three things that ADSS publishes — a spread, a ladder of account types and a list of licences — and turn each of them into something you can do arithmetic with. By the end you should be able to repeat the whole exercise on any firm you come across, which is the actual skill being taught.
The figures we are working from
Nothing below is our estimate. Where a firm has not published something, or we could not read it on a source we trust, the box says so instead of guessing — a habit worth copying when you build your own broker notes.
Exercise one — turn the spread into money
ADSS does not publish a EUR/USD spread we were able to verify, so there is no honest arithmetic to do on this page. Do not substitute a number you read on a comparison site: an unverified spread quietly becomes an unverified cost, and then an unverified plan. Use one of the other examples on the practice index for this exercise and come back to this file for the account ladder below.
Exercise two — read the account ladder
Account tiers are a pricing structure dressed as a status ladder. ADSS offers 3 rungs. Read them as a question — what does each rung ask of me, and what does it give back? — rather than as a set of prizes to climb towards.
- StandardThe entry rung. Whatever the published spread applies to, it is almost always this one — so this is the rung your arithmetic above describes.
- InstitutionalA higher rung usually trades a tighter spread for a commission, a larger deposit, or a status test. Convert both pricing models to money per lot before you decide either is cheaper.
- DemoA higher rung usually trades a tighter spread for a commission, a larger deposit, or a status test. Convert both pricing models to money per lot before you decide either is cheaper.
Account names as published: Standard, Institutional, Demo. Platforms listed: ADSS Platform, MT4, MT5.
Exercise three — what this licence list means for you
A long licence list is not automatically a good sign. What matters to a beginner is a narrower question: which entity would hold my money, and who supervises that entity? Those are often not the same as the impressive name at the top of the list. Here are ADSS's lines, each with a plain reading.
| Regulator | Entity on the register | Number | What that means for a beginner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Market Authority (CMA) UAE, formerly SCA · United Arab Emirates | ADS Securities L.L.C - S.P.C | Category 1 licence 305027; Category 5 licence 20200000217 | a mid-tier regulator: real supervision and a register, usually with a smaller or capped compensation scheme |
| FCA (authorisation ended) · United Kingdom | ADS Securities London Limited | 577453 | a top-tier regulator: compensation scheme, capital rules and a public register you can search yourself |
1 of these line is top-tier — held by ADS Securities London Limited. If you are onboarded to a different entity than those, the protections attached to the top-tier line are not yours, however prominently the regulator's initials appear in the marketing.
The record behind these numbers
- ADSS is the trading name of ADS Securities L.L.C - S.P.C, registered in the UAE under commercial licence 1190047 with a registered office on Corniche Road, Abu Dhabi.
- The UAE entity holds Capital Market Authority Category 1 licence 305027 covering trading broker, clearing, OTC derivatives and financial products dealing activities, plus Category 5 licence 20200000217 for introduction.
- ADS Securities London Limited was FCA-authorised under reference 577453; the FCA register records that the firm can no longer carry on regulated activities.
- ADSS states it is an execution-only service provider and does not give investment advice.
- ADSS's LinkedIn page and site date the business from 2011 and 2010 respectively for its founding and first awards.
What we could not verify
The following are unconfirmed and are deliberately left blank rather than estimated: minimum deposit; maximum leverage; EUR/USD spread; segregated funds; negative balance protection; exact founding year. Confidence in this file overall: high. When you build your own notes on a firm, keep a list like this one — the gaps are more useful than the figures, because they tell you what to go and check.
Run the same exercise on another firm
PipMentor does not rank brokers, does not award badges and does not tell you where to open an account. This page exists so the arithmetic you learn in the curriculum has real numbers to bite on.